Sort of.

That is, he came to the Doon Hospital and he participated in a formal event which included unveiling Foundation stones for three new units there.

But he was too busy to climb the stairs to see Gubbara.

So we did our best to bring a little flavor of how different a place it is by the way we approached the occasion.

We were told we would have to present him with a “bouquet.” Nobody mentioned what kind of bouquet it should be.

We were also told he wouldn’t have time to speak with us (busy man! the CM! many things to inaugurate!). But he couldn’t resist.

When he saw us standing there waiting so patiently, all our balloons in a row, he just had to stop and find out what we were about. We got to explain who we were, why we do what we do, the way the EIC functions and how many more kids need what we have to offer. He listened patiently, asked good questions and then continued on into the formal function.

There it was the usual government function tamasha: a long row of dignitaries seated on the stage, a stack of flower bouquets piled up like dead bodies on the floor behind them, and random people called up to the dias to present these “tributes” to the hapless officials. Our name wasn’t called, so egged on by my friend Shaila Brijnath, I just grabbed two of our balloon bouquets and joined the procession.

To their credit, both the sitting CM and the ex-CM (N D Tiwari) laughed merrily when I presented them with our offering while the MC did a masterful adlib – explaining that we were giving this unusual tribute because we had named our centre Gubbara (Balloon), is liye. The crowd loved it and ours was the only presentation to get a spontaneous round of applause.

But in the end, the Chief Minister did not see the Early Intervention Centre. And that was a pity. Because this CM is running on an anti-corruption platform. And what better example of what a corruption-free India could look like than Gubbara?

Constructed in time, and well under budget. Designed to be beautiful as well as functional. Staffed by a dedicated team of modestly paid professionals. Built to serve every child in need of its services, without preference or need of influence.

True to form, our inauguration was cheerful and fun, regardless of the CM’s presence. We were thrilled that Dr S S Sandhu, the Health Secretary, made the effort to come up and even took a long, serious tour of the place to get a true sense of what it was about.

Those red helium balloons have leaflets attached to them. We asked the Secretary to release them into the air in the hope that when they float down to earth, someone who needs to know what we are doing will find that piece of paper and make their way here to us.

Even if the Chief Minister couldn’t. This old woman did. She was just passing by from one of the wards and was curious about what we were all so happy about.

She was so impressed, she brought her friends to meet us too.

and though she was still serious, they found it all as amusing and exciting as we did.