More often we hear engineering and construction feats that technical staff at project sites achieve under extreme and challenging conditions. Acquiring land required for the project, and managing the expectations and aspirations of local people and land oustees is a challenge that is faced by and left to HR department (erstwhile P&A dept. of the hey days). Heroic stories of personal risk-taking beyond the call of duty from the early phases of project life are neither popular nor shared widely. Here is a story that I was involved first hand as a young executive in NTPC, which left a lasting impression on me.

Sometimes in life, you hear from someone a story from his childhood without him knowing the kind of role you played in the making of the story.

During a recent visit to a site, almost 20 years after the glorious project days, while passing around the beautiful fountain in front of the township gate of NTPC's Talcher Kaniha Project in Odisha, the driver of the car narrated his childhood memory of an incident. The incident has become a story of the past. People involved in that fateful incident are now faithful old employees of the company. Although many people might have forgotten the story, there are others like our driver, whose words triggered open a floodgate of vivid memories. We smiled at each other while showing our Identity (ID) cards to the security guards for entry to the township on our way to the Guest House. I closed my eyes and the old incident replayed like a movie in front of me.