Remembering Shri A.V. Singh

Around 2000, perhaps, I dropped into Shri A. V. Singh’s room in Vallabh Bhavan. He was not my boss then, but he had called me over for a brief chat. When I entered his room, he was focused on his desktop computer and asked me to take a seat.

He then put on a headset with a microphone and began dictating a Cabinet Note, perhaps.

When he was done, he said,

“Now, my PA is redundant. The computer is my new PA.”

“Which software is that, Sir?” I asked.

“Dragon NaturallySpeaking.”

“Isn’t that rather expensive, Sir?”

“It costs less than my PA. It’s peanuts for the Corporations under me.”

That was a period when only a few colleagues were hands-on with computers. Voice recognition technology was in its infancy and struggled to understand Indian spoken English.

But AVS was an exception. Ready to learn new things and quick to learn.

When he became Chief Secretary, mobile phones were the new rage. Ministers brought their phones to Cabinet meetings, but never bothered to switch them off. An exasperated CM, Digvijay Singh, announced a fine of 500 rupees for any attendee whose phone rang during the meeting.

One day, during a meeting, a phone spoke in chaste Bhopali, “मियाँ, तुम्हारा फोन बज रिया है,” and kept repeating it. It was the Chief Secretary’s phone.

CM looked at CS and said with a twinkle, “You must pay the fine. A rule is a rule.”

AVS quipped, “But my phone never rang. It just spoke. Fine is not payable.”

A wonderful repartee! Much laughter. The meeting continued thereafter.

That was Shri A.V. Singh — technologically adventurous, quick-witted, and never short of a repartee. I shall remember him with affection.

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