ಅಕ್ಕನ ನೆನಪು

ಎನಿತು ದೂರವೋ

ನಿನ್ನಯ ಪಯಣ

ಬಲ್ಲವನೊಬ್ಬನೇ

ಆ ವೆಂಕಟರಮಣ !

ಅಹುದು ನಿನ್ನದು

ನಿಜ ಸುಖಮರಣ

ಇರದೇ ಹೋಯಿತು

ಆ ದೇವಗೆ ಕರುಣ !

ತೆರೆದಿಹ ನಿನಗೆ

ಸ್ವರ್ಗದ ದ್ವಾರ

ಓ ದೇವನೆ ನಿನಗೆ

ಬೇಕಿತ್ತೇ ಈ ಅವಸರ?

ಅಕ್ಕನ ಮನದ

ಆಸೆಗಳು ನೂರು

ಈಡೇರಿಸುವವ

ನೀನಲ್ಲವೇ ದೇವರು?

ಎಲ್ಲ ಆಸೆಗಳ

ನಡುವೆ ನೀನು

ಒಂದಾಸೆಯನು

ತೀರಿಸಿದೆಯೇನು?

ಅಹುದು ಅದುವೇ

ಮುತ್ತೈದೆ ಸಾವು!

ನೀಡಿದೆ ನಮಗೆ

ಈಪರಿ ನೋವು  

ಹುಟ್ಟು ಸಾವಿನ  

ನಿಗೂಢ  ಅಂತರ!

ಅಕ್ಕನ ನೆನಪು

ನಮಗೆ  ನಿರಂತರ

                      ಎ ವಿ ಕೃಷ್ಣಮೂರ್ತಿ

                       

Oh Kolkata! - Episode No.15

By the time Arup Guinn took charge as Senior Manager, Maller had already left the branch. I had taken charge as Manager-Credit from Mallya. But I could hardly get any insight into the department as Mallya left immediately thereafter. Ramamurthy was kind enough to post Babu to my department to handle pre-sanction advances. But Ramamurthy also left the branch well before Mr.Nayak reported from Mumbai. Das was given charge of staff matters and Goyani that of deposits as soon as they joined the branch. This set up was in place by the time Nayak came from Mumbai.

Once Maller left the branch, I had resigned myself to travel by mini-bus to the office daily. No doubt it was an inconvenient journey in addition to the cost. However, I knew the (free) travel by a private car daily was definitely a luxury and the facility for me was gone with Maller’s departure. But to my pleasant surprise, the first thing Mr. Guinn did on joining the branch was to tell me that he would pick me up daily in his car! He also told me that it was easy for him as he was staying only a few buildings away from my residence! That settled my daily travel arrangement for the rest of my stay in Kolkata! Guinn was also lucky, as the bank decided to replace the old car used by Maller with a brand new Premier Padmini car!

The personalities of Guinn and Maller were quite in contrast. Guinn had joined the bank as a direct officer and had become a Senior Manager at a young age. He was an M.Tech from IIT Kharagpur. He had earned a good name in the bank and that was why he was given charge of the Senior Manager of the prestigious branch of Canning Street. He was also a no-nonsense personality and was a taskmaster. The only common factor with Maller was that he also acted tough in the matter of staff discipline. I should say that the Union leaders were not exactly pleased with his posting. The fact that he was a Bengali did not make much difference to them at all. But happy they were indeed to get rid of Maller!

As already mentioned by me, the pre-sanction department was in a total mess at the branch. The worst casualty was the filing of correspondence and other documents. I had selected a young clerk called Ajoy Bhattacharji to assist Babu. The three of us as a team streamlined the department within a matter of three months. Guinn gave us a free hand. By the time Mr. Nayak joined the branch, the things were more or less in a good shape.

Guinn helped me in developing one skill for which I will remain indebted to him for life. While I was in Shimoga Main branch, my mentor BGR (B G Rao) had encouraged me to develop skills in correspondence. In fact under his guidance two of us (me and KNV) were the only persons privileged to get our official letters typed out by the typist! But I was only accustomed to write out the drafts and never thought that I could dictate them to a stenographer.

Guinn was observing that I was spending considerable time in replying the letters received from different sections in the Circle Office. The letters used to pile up whenever I took leave. Once when I reported back after about three days of leave, I found no letters pending on my table. To my surprise I found that all the letters received in my absence had been replied by Guinn personally. I could not believe that he could do it, in addition to his other duties. Guinn told me that it was too simple. He had used the services of a stenographer. I was not even aware that the branch had a steno. He immediately called a person called Manas, who had been entrusted with a routine department as a clerk. He asked me to use his services in future to speed up my correspondence.

I was not sure that I could dictate letters to the steno easily. But Guinn told me that I had good English writing skills and I had to only try to learn the art of dictating. Thanks to him, I started from the very next day and my confidence grew over a period of time. When Mr. Nayak landed in the branch, he told me that he was envious of me as he himself was not using a steno! This skill stood me well in my subsequent assignments. It helped me that all the branches I was posted to had a steno among the employees.

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Mr. Bolar Ramanath (B R) Nayak was a highly popular person in Canara Bank in Mumbai. He had the privilege to head major branches in Mumbai and New Delhi. His name used to appear often as an achiever in the circulars issued by the Mumbai Circle Office. The last branch he headed in Mumbai was the biggest and the most prestigious branch - the Fort branch. His next expected posting was either a Divisional Office or a Circle Office. As such, he was not quite happy in his posting to our branch. But once he took charge, he never looked back.

My Senior Manager Guinn had one drawback. He was blunt in his talk and diplomacy was not his forte. Besides, as a postgraduate from IIT, he preferred to speak in English. He was quite uncomfortable with the Konkani-speaking management at the Kolkata Circle Office. But that was exactly the strong point of Nayak. Even though his mother tongue was not Konkani, he could speak the language very fluently. He used it to his full advantage. He was also a very friendly personality and made it a point to maintain a very good rapport with the top management in the Circle Office and Head Office. This quality helped him obtaining special permissions and sanctions for the deserving customers and staff of the branch.

The first question Nayak put to me on being introduced to him was to ask me about any impediments in discharging my functions as a Credit-Manager at the branch. I frankly told him that I needed training in the credit appraisal as my exposure to pre-sanction department was very limited. Nayak spoke to the DGM immediately and I was posted for a credit appraisal programme at the staff training college in Bangalore in the very next week. It was a 15-day programme that helped me in picking up skills in the corporate credit appraisal. At the personal level it helped me in completing my private work in Bangalore at the cost of the bank!

But getting the theoretical training was one thing and handling the corporate accounts was another. I definitely needed more exposures and guidance. That was exactly what Nayak gave me in the days that followed.   

------- (To be continued)

A V Krishnamurthy

Oh Kolkata! - Episode No.14

Padmanabhan reported back at the branch only after a gap of more than a month. He was a pale shadow of the original Padmanabhan we had seen till that fateful night of 13^th September. He was not in a position to handle the staff matters; neither he was in a position to handle the Deposit Section for which I was in-charge. The physical attack had a lasting effect on him and he was unable to come out of the trauma. Ultimately he was transferred to a peaceful local branch.

Mallya was entrusted with the staff matters in addition to his Credit Department. He had a tremendous capacity to handle workload and could also deal with staff matters in his own way without much tension. But there was an impression that his ‘one-man show’ in the Credit Department was adversely affecting the quality of work in the department. The branch had over Rs30-crore advances and the number of credit files was nearly three hundred. That was quite a big volume of business in those day standards. There were consortium advances and a very good number of major corporate accounts including GKW, WSEB, HMV, Sarabhai Chemicals, Tractor India, Bengal Flour Mills, etc. While two officers were handling post-sanction department, the entire pre-sanction work including preparation of credit reports was exclusively handled by Mallya without the assistance of even a single clerk. Even though there were three typists, their services were not being utilized regularly. An in-fighting was also going on between Maller and Mallya as the former was of the opinion that Mallya was favouring certain undeserving parties.

Ramamurthy (DM) was not at all happy with the working of the department and was repeatedly hinting me that I would be given charge of advances. He had also assured me that he would give me a capable officer to handle the pre-sanction portfolio. But he could find no suitable officer among the 13 scale I officers at the branch. As I had observed in the major Mumbai branches, very few officers in our branches were fit to handle this portfolio. It required capacity to understand the nuances of assessment of credit limits and the ability to handle correspondence with clients and sanctioning offices. Most of the officers were just interested in handling routine departments and were not prepared to undertake the (perceived) ‘risk’ of handling advances. Besides, whenever the branch was able to identify the capable officers, the administrative offices would snatch them away by getting them transferred to their end at the earliest!

While I was thorough with post-sanction documentation and other aspects in view of my experience in the inspection department, my exposure to pre-sanction portfolio was very limited. Hence I was hesitant to take charge from Mallya unless I was given a suitable officer. Ramamurthy had to postpone my posting to advances department as the bank took time to post another Manager in place of Padmanabhan. It was exactly at that time that an officer called Shankar Babu was posted to our branch on promotion from the Avenue Road, Bangalore branch. Almost simultaneously, the officer in our section, Mr. Kayal went on long leave. Babu was given charge of Kayal’s department.

I found in Babu an excellent capable officer. He straightaway fitted into the department and started handling the work efficiently. He was well organised and was very systematic in his approach. By the time Kayal came back, Babu was fully conversant with the entire department. I also came to know that Babu had worked in pre-sanction department at the Avenue Road branch in Bangalore. I decided that I would request Ramamurthy to place him in the advance department when I took charge there.

The summer of 1985 saw major changes in the set up of our Circle Office in Kolkata and in our Canning Street branch as well. The DGM R V Pai was transferred and NM Kamath was posted in his place. In our branch there was a total change of management except for me. While Ramamurthy was transferred to L C Road branch in Kolkata, Maller was transferred back to Tamil Nadu. Mallya was also transferred to a Kerala branch. With that an (violent!) era in Canning Street branch came to an end!

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I could hardly devote any time for my personal matters till the 13^th Sep incident reached its logical conclusion at the branch. By that time somehow our family had settled down in Kolkata. While we were happy with the school education for our two sons, we were missing certain conveniences that we were accustomed to in Mumbai. We used to enjoy the quality of milk both from the government dairy and the private milk dairies in Mumbai. However, the quality of milk was very poor in Kolkata. The mother Dairy used to supply skimmed milk through their ATM type outlets. We had to insert paid-plastic coins in the slots and collect the milk that used to pour down from the machine, in vessels. The cow-milk supplied by the Bihari Bhaiyas used to be only slightly thicker than water! We had to simply forget the creamy milk and thick curds of Mumbai!

I had been told that the area where our house was located was blessed, as it was very close to the private residence of Jyothi Bosu, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal. Unlike the other places in Kolkata, where the frequent load-shedding was a routine, our area used to have power continuously. But unfortunately this position did not last long. As luck would have it, Jyothi Bosu moved to Raj Bhavan from his ancestral home after a short time. With that our luxury of load-shedding free days also came to an end!

Kolkata was known for burglaries in those days. It was highly risky to keep the house locked. But we had a taste of this burglary even when we were at home during the night. As the kitchen was very small, we had very little space to keep the provisions and vessels. As a result, we had kept the gas cylinder in the window itself in the available space there. One fine (!) morning my wife was unable to light the stove. When she looked at the cylinder, she found that the regulator was missing! The burglar had knocked it off by inserting his hand through the window!

I rushed to the gas distributor as soon as he opened his shop. I had thought that it was only a question of paying the charges for a new regulator. But it was not that simple as I thought. I was told that I had to file a police complaint about the burglary. The police had to investigate and try to catch the burglar. Only when they gave me an endorsement that they were unable to catch him and were closing the case, the distributor would give me a new piece on payment of the cost! While I could file a complaint at the Gariahat police station immediately, it was difficult for me to wait for the closure of the case. It was quite an experience for me. Fortunately our branch had a customer who was a gas dealer. He was kind enough to help me out.

There was one major benefit for us in moving to Kolkata. The cost of living was substantially lower than Mumbai. The transportation costs were highly subsidized. The journey by tramway was the cheapest. While the minimum charge was 20 paise for the ordinary class, the same was 25 paise for the first class! The first class compartment had fans and the same were missing in the ordinary class. That was the only difference! I was witness to an incident when a Bengali lady entered into a first class compartment by mistake. When the conductor asked her to pay 25 paise for a ticket, she realised her mistake. She immediately wanted to change the compartment rather than paying the additional 5 paise. But the tram had already started moving. She simply jumped out of the moving tram! She wanted to save those 5 paise at any cost!

The Bengali families in general were masters in realizing the value of money. This was applicable to both men and women. They would pay nothing more than the minimum price for each and every commodity. They were bargain masters and even a wily trader could not cheat them as far as the pricing was concerned. Perhaps this was the main reason for the lower cost of living in Kolkata. Kolkata is known for the famous Bengali sweets. These sweets are made of only pure milk and no ghee is used. People of all strata of society relish sweets and spend money on them. Eating of sweets became a daily habit for us as our children became very fond of them. These sweets were also being sold at very low prices.

The new management team at our branch was a surprise packet. While Maller was replaced by a Bengali Senior manager from a local branch, Mr. Arup Guinn, the other three were all from Mumbai. Mr. B R Nayak, the Divisional Manager of Fort Mumbai branch, was posted in place of Ramamurthy. The replacement for Padmanabhan was my own ex-colleague in inspection Mr. Das who actually belonged to Kolkata. The other Manager was a Gujarati, Mr. Goyani, from the Foreign Department, Mumbai. The new team was in place by May 1985 and a new era had commenced in the Canning Street branch.

------- (To be continued)

A V Krishnamurthy

Oh Kolkata! - Episode No.13

The bank management headed by the Dy.Gen.Manager, Mr. R V Pai, at the Circle Office in Kolkata, was quick to act. Having been briefed by Ramamurthy, the Divisional Manager, during the previous night itself, the DGM had ordered the AGM Mr.K V Bhat to visit the branch in the morning to conduct an enquiry on the episode and to submit a report to him for further action. Mr.Bhat arrived at our branch at the opening hour itself.

As we reached the branch in the morning, we found all sorts of stories spreading fast about the episode in the previous night. The actual participants in the episode were in great demand to give their versions. All the employees were highly agitated, in view of the fact that such an incidence of violence had never taken place earlier in the history of the branch. The branch had a strength of 130 employees and about 15 employees were either participants or witnesses to the episode. The officers including Mr.Mallya, the Manager in-charge of credit, were also eager to hear directly from us. The arrival of Mr.Bhat for the enquiry further increased the tension in the branch.

There was one great relief for me right in the morning. As I was sitting in a different wing and as there was nobody else to take my place there, it was felt that it was operationally difficult for me to hold the first set of keys. Hence a decision was taken to hand over the same to Mallya who was sitting in the main branch. This decision relieved me from the ‘onerous’ duty and enabled me to concentrate on my routine work.

We were eager to know the names of employees that were given to the Police Officer in the night by Maller. Maller had kept it a secret without disclosing the same even to us. Naturally the same names were furnished by him to Mr. Bhat also. By the afternoon, Mr. Bhat had completed the enquiry by recording the statements of all the persons involved in the incident. It seems he had already recorded the statement of Padmanabhan at the hospital.

By evening a rumour started spreading that the bank had suspended some employees and charge-sheeted the others involved in the physical assault. The Union leaders were highly agitated. No other bank management had taken such a severe action in the past in the history of Canara Bank in Kolkata. The day passed off peacefully. But there were definite signs of trouble in the offing in the wake of expected action by the management. Meanwhile there was no let up in the non-cooperation by the Union and we could go home only late in the night as usual.

At about 3 pm on the next day, the expected orders reached the branch. The rumours were indeed right. The bank had served orders of suspension on five leaders and charge-sheeted another seven employees. The moment the orders were served on the employees, all hell broke out at the branch.

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I do not wish to elaborate here the sufferings undergone by us in the next few days. Suffice to say that it was the ‘allopathic dose’ that was given to us, as had been threatened by the Union leaders earlier. The non-cooperation spread to each and every department and I was tied up in my own department till late in the night. There used to be frequent demonstrations at the branch with employees from other branches also joining the party.

The names of two of the employees who were charge-sheeted led to quite a bit of surprise and shock. Maller had named one Mr. Chandan and another Mr. Nitai as the employees involved in the physical assault. No doubt these two were among the cashiers who were present at the time of assault. But they were excellent workers and known to be such ‘softies’ who would not dare to hit even mosquitoes! Charge-sheeting of these two, created a lot of heartburning among the Union members. Some of them vociferously demanded explanation from the Union leaders. They felt that the records of these two employees were spoiled because of the wrong handling of the situation by the leaders. The leaders were at a loss to give proper explanation and convince their members.

We were tempted to ask Maller the reasons for including the names of the two. He simply told us that it was self-explanatory. We could not make out anything and were clueless. Maller explained to us that the management would always like to hit the Union where it hurts most. It likes to strike at the underbelly of the Union and in the present case it was the names of these two employees that did the trick. The two were excellent workers who cared a lot about their service records. They were expected to come out successful in the promotion test and interview once they became eligible. They would definitely curse the Union for the rest of their career/ life for spoiling their records. Maller was quite aware that the two were nowhere near the scene of action on that night. But by adding their names he had created a situation that the leaders were finding difficult to wriggle out! We were stunned to hear the explanation of Maller!

The management allowed the agitation by the Union to continue and peak out (at our cost!). Ultimately there were negotiations leading to the withdrawal of suspension orders. However, the charge-sheets were kept open. The Union agreed to withdraw its non-cooperation and to restore normal working at the branch. The sordid chapter at the branch at last came to an end.

There was a comic side of the episode of assault at the branch. People simply could not understand as to how Maller managed to evade physical assault on him, while Padmanabhan was being badly thrashed. Nobody could believe that Union members were kind enough to spare Maller and their target was only Padmanabhan. But there was indeed an explanation and it was quite funny. Maller (malla means wrestler in Kannada) being a wrestler, managed to evade the blows by ducking below the table once the candles on his table were extinguished! But Padmanabhan, who belonged to the Malayali warrior community of Nair, simply fought it out even though he was outnumbered by 1:10! It was believed that he had returned the ‘favour in kind’ to at least some of his attackers!

------- (To be continued)

A V Krishnamurthy

Oh Kolkata!- Episode No.12

By this time, the leaders had exhausted their energy and they suddenly realised that Maller was about to lodge a police complaint against them for the physical assault. Within no time, they planned their strategy and one of the leaders also called the Lal Bazar police station from a telephone line in the banking hall. Their version was – the management was not accepting cash from the cashiers and was holding them in captivity by not even allowing them to visit the toilet! Their request to the Officer-in-Charge was to release them from ‘captivity’ at the earliest!

Hardly within a matter of 15 minutes, the Officer-in-Charge of Lal Bazar station arrived at the branch premises with a small battalion of police constables. The armed-guard at our office had, meanwhile, locked the premises and had not allowed anybody to enter or leave the premises. He opened the doors only after the police party arrived at the branch. The moment the officer entered the premises with his men, the leaders requested him to permit them to go to the toilet urgently as they could not hold back their ‘urge’ anymore!

It appears Mr.Burman, the Officer-in-Charge, was quite familiar with such drama and tactics adopted by the workers in Kolkata. He simply asked them to hold back their ‘urge’ for some more time and walked into the cabin of Maller. Maller started explaining the situation to him. But the leaders wanted the officer to hear their version first. Burman knew exactly how to handle such a situation. He asked both Maller and the Union leader to first ensure that the cash was counted in full, tallied and kept in the strong room. He also told both of them to submit their version to him - only in writing - later. Meanwhile, permission was also given to the employees to visit the toilet under the supervision of the constables!

While Maller started typing out the letter of complaint in a typewriter in his cabin, all of us moved back into the cash-cabin and started counting the cash once again. One of the leaders also started typing out his complaint letter in a typewriter in the banking hall. Some of us were apprehensive that there may be some shortage in cash and we may land ourselves in the Lal Bazar police station to account for the shortage! But fortunately (and thanks to the integrity of the employees), the cash was found tallying straightaway. With great relief, we kept the cash in the strong room under the police supervision. By that time it was almost 1 am in the night.

Maller had prepared a list of employees, who had assaulted Padmanabhan, with their staff numbers. Burman collected the same along with the letter of complaint from the Union. He asked all of us to leave the premises without any further delay. While the employees left immediately, it took some more time for us to leave, as Padmanabhan was not in a good physical condition. We had to walk a good distance to reach BBD Bagh where Maller used to park his car. Actually it used to be a crowded parking place in the peak hours. But by the time we reached there, the car was waiting alone desperately, in the large parking plot, for its owner!

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Mr. Ramamurthy, the Divisional Manager of the branch who was on sick leave, had tried to call Maller at about 11 pm over phone. He was aware that the cash counting used to be over only by that time. But somehow he was not getting the line. He called his residence at about 11.30 pm and was told by Maller’s wife that Maller had not come home. He became restless but did not know what to do. He called Maller’s wife again at 1 am and found that there was no information from Maller even to his wife. He rang up the DGM and was advised to go to the branch immediately along with some other local Branch Managers to see what exactly the situation at the branch was. Ramamurthy collected a few Managers including Rangaraya, the Senior Manager of Lake Road branch and proceeded towards our branch in the dead of the night.

Our car driven by Maller was moving towards South Kolkata on Sarat Bose Road at about 1.30 am, when we suddenly saw Ramamurthy’s Ambassador car coming from the opposite direction near the Lansdowne Market. In fact these were the only two cars on that road at that late night! Ramamurthy was greatly relieved to see us. But he grew very tense on knowing that Padmanabhan had been physically assaulted and the police had to visit the branch.

All of us got down from our vehicles and there was a lengthy discussion about the stand to be taken and the strategy to be adopted in the aftermath of the physical assault. It was decided to admit Padmanabhan to a hospital and obtain a medical certificate about his physical condition. In any case, it was also decided that he will not attend the office for a minimum of one week. As Padmanabhan was carrying the first key to the strong room, it was found necessary to hand it over to another Manager. As I was the only other Manager present at that time (Mallya was enjoying a sound slip at that late night at his house oblivious of the real-life drama that took place in the branch!), it was decided that I should receive the keys from him then and there itself!

It was nearly 2 am in the night when I was dropped at my house by Maller. My wife was waiting for me anxiously and desperately. There was no way I could send her any message about the situation in the branch. She was relieved to see me at last! But for me it was a sleepless night. The repeated assurances given to me by Maller that the employees would never resort to physical violence had been proved to the contrary in his very presence! To add to my further trouble, I had been entrusted the responsibility to hold the first key that was held by Padmanabhan so far. While nobody knew what exactly could be the situation at the branch on the next day, it could not be expected to be better in anyway. The bank management was expected to take severe action on the employees responsible for the physical assault. That in turn could invite more trouble from them than it was so far. The cash department, in any case, would be the centre of action and this time I was supposed to be in-charge directly as the first key holder. I was almost sick with the thought of all these situations that were to unfold, as I got up in the next morning.

------- (To be continued)

A V Krishnamurthy

I Don’t Know, Son! – 71

The Tej Software!

Son: The recent Tehelka episode in Goa appears to have resulted in some software innovations, dad.

Father: Like what? Go on, son.

Son: A startup company is reported to have launched a new software to protect women while moving in lifts, dad.

Father: Interesting. Go on, son.

Son: The women can press a button marked W on entering the lift and then the relevant floor button, dad.

Father: Go on, son.

Son: The lift would then allow nobody else inside and would take the woman directly to the desired floor, dad!

Father: Wonderful! Go on, son.

Son: The startup has named the software ‘Tej’ in honour of the person who inspired the new product, dad!

Father: I don’t know, son!

The Art of Drum Beating!

Son: The Bangalore High Court has lashed out at Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) for its failure to explain how it arrived at the tax dues of Rs16 crore from Wipro Technologies, dad.

Father: Go on, Son.

Son: The judge also gave a dressing-down to BBMP for resorting to drum beating in front of Wipro Office without properly calculating tax dues, dad.

Father: Go on, son.

Son: While nobody in BBMP is quite sure as to how they arrived at the Rs16-crore tax, they say they definitely know something for sure, dad.

Father: Like what? Go on, son.

Son: They say all of them know how to beat the drums, dad!

Father: I don’t know, son!

The Heckle & Jeckle Puzzle!

Son: The controversial Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi is in the news once again for all the wrong reasons, dad.

Father: Like what?  Go on, son.

Son: Afridi has described former cricketers Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Akhtar as Heckle & Jeckle, dad!

Father: Go on, son.

Son: The two had made critical comments on Afridi’s performance in the recent ODI series against South Africa (SA), dad.

Father: Go on, son.

Son: Afridi lashed out at his former teammates at the airport on his arrival in Pakistan from SA, dad. He told the reporters that he doesn’t care about the comments from “Heckle & Jeckle” and Mr. Bean, dad!

Father: Go on, son.

Son: The reporters were curious to know who was Heckle and who was Jeckle, dad.

Father: Go on, son.

Son: But Afridi told them that he would leave it to them to decide, dad!

Father: I don’t know, son!

Misbah on a Search!

Son: Yousuf and Akhtar have not taken kindly to Afridi’s comments on them, dad.

Father: Go on, son.

Son: They say they have also criticised Misbah-ul-Haq many times. But he never hit them back like Afridi, dad.

Father: Go on, son.

Son: But it seems they have badly underestimated Misbah, dad.

Father: How come?  Go on, son.

Son: According to sources, he is right now searching for appropriate names for the pair (better than Afridi’s) through Google search engine and would announce the same shortly in a media interview, dad!

Father: I don’t know, son!

A V Krishnamurthy

Oh Kolkata! - Episode No.11

The massive show of strength by the Union at our branch was indeed a highly provocative step taken by the leaders and the display of the cartoon was only to add fuel to the fire. It was a great challenge to Maller. The Union was aware that Maller was not a man to be cowed down by its usual antics. But this ‘special show’ only appeared to have strengthened his resolve to take the leaders head on in the continuing daily drama.

But for some of us at least the situation appeared to be quite unnerving. We could not foresee any peaceful end to the animosity that was developing between the Maller’s team and the majority of staff members. We were also afraid that cash department being a highly sensitive and risky segment, any shortage either willful or otherwise may lead to a highly complicated situation. We were repeatedly assured by Maller and his close confidants that the Union members will never resort to any physical violence and will not involve themselves in any such activity that will question their integrity.

As for me, the life in Kolkata at that stage was quite in contrast to the peaceful and comfortable life I had led in Mumbai for the past seven years. The trouble in the branch had started exactly by the time I was about to settle down with my family in Kolkata. I could hardly devote any time to my family affairs as I used to reach home only late in the night daily. As it was my first posting as a Manager, I had several ideas in my mind to prove my ability as a Manager. My plans included an excellent relationship with the branch staff and an exposure to the rich Bengali cultural heritage. But, ironically, here I was placed in a situation that aimed at teaching them a lesson of their life! Maller knew my dilemma and that I hated the hostile atmosphere prevailing in the branch. He was repeatedly assuring me that things would turn out for the better in due course.

It was not clear to us at that stage under whose directions Maller was acting in his mission to teach a lesson to the Union leaders. The fact that he had been given a free hand by the DM Ramamurthy proved that he was receiving moral support and instructions from the Circle Office. The staff matters at the Circle Office were being handled at that time by Mr.Annappa Pai, the AGM. The other AGM, Mr. K V Bhat was handling advances exclusively. It was presumed that Maller had the backing from none other than the DGM R V Pai himself.

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The day of 13^th September 1984 turned out to be the ‘D’ day in the history of the Canning Street, Kolkata branch. Mr. Ramamurthy, the Divisional Manager, was on leave as he was sick. Even though the day began just like any other day in our office, a sort of apprehension started growing right from the morning at the branch. The Union leaders were found to be huddling and discussing in hushed voices. Maller had his sources in the minority Union. He got confidential information from them that the leaders were up to creating some trouble and there would be definitely some drama or incident on that day. Maller was also warned that thirteen (13) was a very inauspicious/ominous number and it would be better for him to lie low on that day!

Another development at the branch by that time had also caused lot of anxiety for all of us. As we were being held up at the branch till late in the night, the availability of the person who would start the generator (a private contractor), during load-shedding was very critical. The person concerned had been instigated and he flatly refused to stay beyond the normal office hours. However, there was a hardworking peon in the cash department by name Bijoy (belonging to the minority Union), who used to help in starting the generator. As luck would have it, Bijoy was also on leave on the 13^th.

As mentioned by me earlier, it had become a routine for me to go to the Main Branch at the end of the day after completing the work in the Deposit Section (in a separate wing). I used to join the team in the cash section led by Padmanabhan (Manager) for counting the huge amount of cash. Subramanian, James, Radhakrishnan and Garpure were also joining me there. As we joined the team on the 13^th September, we could find the atmosphere very grim. We continued counting the cash and we saw the Bengali officers going out of the office one after another after completing their routine work. Mr.Mallya, who was in charge of advances, also left the office at about 7 pm. While Maller was sitting alone in his cabin at the one end of the branch-premises near the entrance, we were in the cash counter situated at the other end. The main branch premises was very huge and it used to take quite some time to reach the cash counters from Maller’s cabin near the entrance. The strong room (where the cash is stored at the end of the day) was in a corner near the cabin. The generator room was also situated near the strong room.

As we were counting the cash, we could see the Union leaders and some other Union members sitting not too far from the cash counters and playing cards. They appeared to be just spending time in anticipation of certain event in the branch. James, who knew each of the employees by their names, told us that they were definitely up to something. We also found that the receipt cashiers were joining the card-playing group, after handing over cash to us for counting, one after another. By that time it was already 10 pm in the night. Suddenly Padmanabhan told us that Bijoy was on leave and in case of load-shedding, there was nobody who could start the generator. All of us felt that the situation could be very grave in such a case.

We had completed the counting of nearly 80 percent of cash by 11 pm, when the lights went off all of a sudden! It was almost pitch dark in the large premises of the bank. In the normal course, Bijoy would have run to the generator room and started the generator. For quite some time nobody moved and all of us sat inside the cash counter silently. The card-playing group was also sitting silently waiting for our moves. We could see Maller in his cabin at the far end lighting candles and doing some work as if things were quite normal.

After waiting quite for some time, Padmanabhan asked two of the cash peons (belonging to the majority Union) to go and start the generator. They simply refused his orders stating that it was none of their business! Then Padmanabhan told them that it was not his business also and simply continued sitting silently with all of us. The stalemate continued for quite some time and our apprehensions were simply mounting in view of the huge cash lying in an open position.

After some more time, two of the leaders of the Union came inside and asked Padmanabhan to get the generator started. He told them that their Union members had refused to start it. The leaders made it clear that it was ‘none of their business.’ Padmanabhan reiterated that it was also ’none of his business.’ The leaders then went out and discussed the matter with the senior leaders. They came back again and threateningly asked Padmanabhan to start the generator without any further delay. He bluntly told them to mind their business.

The leaders went out and there was a discussion among them. Suddenly we found them forming a procession one behind another. Led by the senior leaders in the front, the parade started from the cash cabin and moved towards the cabin of Maller at the far end! As the procession started, the slogan shouting also began and the vast premises of the Canning Street branch started reverberating with the sound of the slogans at the dead of the night in total darkness! For all of us sitting in the cash cabin it was a blood-chilling experience! Indeed the situation appeared to be going totally out of hands. We were simply clueless as to how the things would turnout in the end.

The procession ultimately reached the cabin of Maller and the slogan shouting reached its crescendo! We could see Maller sitting quite cool in the cabin as if he was totally oblivious of the happenings inside the branch premises! The leaders at the front-end barged inside the cabin and asked Maller to get the generator started so that the cash counting was completed and their members were allowed to go home. Maller simply told them it was none of his business to start the generator! A serious argument followed.

We found the situation quite explosive at that stage. Padmanabhan told us that he would go to the cabin to support Maller as there was every chance of a physical assault on him. He moved out and simply ran all the way to the cabin. I also tried to follow him with the other officers. But in the prevailing high level tension, we were very shaky and could not move fast. Meanwhile, Padmanabhan had pushed himself into the cabin and joined Maller in his arguments with the leaders. The arguments reached a very high pitch when all of a sudden somebody broke the glass sheet on the table of Maller and in the process extinguished the burning candles. We were almost half-way to the cabin at that time and were shocked to see the sudden total darkness in the cabin. But it appeared to be a ‘free for all’ in the cabin and we could hear fisticuffs. As I reached near the cabin along with the other officers, I could see Padmanabhan being dragged outside the cabin after being hit repeatedly! He was finally pushed into a corner outside the cabin by the group in a very bad physical condition. By this time, Mr.Garpure, an officer who was with us, went inside the generator room and managed to start the same. With the lights on, all of a sudden, we could see the faces of all the persons involved in the physical assault very clearly.

While the physical assault had ended with Padmanabhan being pushed into a corner outside the cabin, the ‘oral assault’ started in its full once the lights were on. They used their choicest words to abuse Maller and his Chelas! We had no option other than simply hearing them. Meanwhile, we made efforts to revive Padmanabhan by making him drink water. While he regained his consciousness, he was indeed in a very bad state of affairs.

In the tension prevailing at that time we had totally forgotten to see what exactly was the state of affairs of Maller – suspected to be the original target of attack. We looked at his cabin with great anxiety. And Lo! There he was! Sitting comfortably in his seat and ringing up the telephone number of the officer-in-charge at the Lal Bazar Police Station!

------- (To be continued)

A V Krishnamurthy