Officially Counted

Just a few days before we moved from Noida to Delhi, I heard a knock on the door. We usually don't get many visitors during the day unless it is a courier so I was a little curious.

It turned out to be a fellow from the Census Board. He had come to officially count us for the 2011 National Census of India.

The man came carrying a briefcase filled with very large, multiple forms with well-used sheets of carbon paper slipped in-between. All of the forms were printed in Hindi. Fortunately my census taker turned out to be a High School teacher on assignment with the government for a year. He spoke English quite well and helped walk me through all of the forms and the simple questions about our family. After about 15 minutes we were finished. Off he went, with a polite smile, a soft handshake and a wag of his head, to the next flat in our building.

The experience immediately made me think of my Dad, a retired High School teacher. Dad became a Federal Government census-taker in the mountains of rural Georgia during the 2000 US Census. If you know my father you know he has the gift of gab, and loves to explore back country roads - perfect man for the job.