Telling signs

When you begin to get subtle hints that your presence (or absence) does not make a difference...

You know, in India a person is measured not by the person he or she is but by what job, what position he or she holds... the Ministers and the Babus have the right of way everywhere, also cricketers and filmstars, I guess.  Of course if you are a university or IIT professor, it is not so bad either... but give it up, and say you are bekar, or that you are self-employed, or that you have retired, ... and slowly you begin to notice the difference. I guess the first time I noticed was when some people at RGU asked me to come and give a talk... I agreed and even started preparing for it. But then one of the organisers asked me for my institutional affiliation and I said I didn't have one anymore. I never heard back from them! I'm not sure when I have actually last spoken (or been invited to speak) at an event that I have not organised myself. Not that I want to speak anywhere but slowly the realisation seeps in.
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