Exams are on for the kids and vacation is on for the faculty, but since we are all working on the forthcoming NBA experts' visit, none has gone on vacation. I really do enjoy these times when children are writing their exams - it is a time of hushed silence broken when the exams get over and there is sudden outbreak of voices from all over...it is a time when one actually hears the birds in the trees. I am waiting for the yellow flowers and the mayflowers to come out in burst of colours. Now, one can only smell the typical canteen smells - saambhar, parottas, vadais, etc., - wafting in the air. Work is afoot on office modernisation - gone in a few days from now will be the typical government furniture - large teakwood tables and straight back chairs and files all over. Modern filing cabinets and trendy furniture in false-roofed rooms, and yes, please add the automation software to be installed - gosh, you will find a different world altogether. Some things will never change, ofcourse, like the worn pathways where student feet have trudged on year after year after year.