CHURNING OF THE OCEAN OF MY LIFE PART 14

 

                 LIFE IN DAVANGERE CONTINUED.

 

 

The lightens falls right on my head. With my usual audacity and not surrendering before the Management I survived but I was hurt severely, the wounds remained to consume me later.

 

Revenge and justice are rivals. In the Bank revenge won and justice died a miserable death, with Devil’s Advocates ruling roost. Read.

 

 

Before I go into the details of my life in Davangere, I have to mention one important aspect in my life. Introspection of retrospective events involving the attitude of kith and kin after all I did to them post the tragedy of my father's death, gives me ripples in my heart and butterflies in my stomach. Soon after my marriage in the Registrar office in June 1977 and 2^nd September 1977 traditionally, on my mother’s wish , I attended a written test on 11^th September 1977 for an officer trainee post in Corporation Bank Limited. As was my habit, I never prepared for these competitive tests.  I passed with flying colourscolors On November 15^th, I was interviewed. It was a strange and tragic coincidence that I was interviewed in LIC and Corporation Bank Limited on November 15^th only and in both the institutions, I did not complete my total service.

 

I was selected and my mother, brother and sisters vociferously objected to my leaving Hyderabad. “Who will feed us? How can Chinnabbai (my younger brother) alone maintain the family? Who will get the elder sister married? Who will bear the educational expenses of the younger one?  There were so many questions that I had no answers to. Why did they not ask these same questions when I was bearing the burden of the whole family alone, with the support of Rs.135/- from my brother, who was an intern in the Telecom Department?  Why didn't they ask themthe elder brothers for three helping hands? It was not to be. As my elder brother warned, it was a heavy load on my shoulders. There was no way out. In the meantime, my wife was pressuring me forto start a new life in a new, uncharted place as the wife of an officer of the Bank. She never saw beyond her place and Hyderabad. It was a difficult decision. Finally, they took an oath from me that I would send Rs.200/- pm , out of the rupees seven hundred rupees, I was about to earn with a wife and child in the making. They knew very well that I would never fail in my duty. This additional burden of about 30% of my earnings and my outstanding debts in Hyderabad, because of the burden of a big family, acted on my psyche and though, Though I was very courageous, I was slipping into depression whenever I was short of enough finances. I never broached this issue with my wife, who was too young and bereft of a father’s love since childhood.  Her nature was such that she was always in high spirits. She was not a quarrelling type; she never complained about our poor living conditions. In Bellary, I owned a kerosene stove, a few utensils, two water glasses, one mud pot for water, bathroom essentials, a mat, two pillows and a bed sheet to cover both of us. First In the first month, there was no fan. Then I bought a table fan. When we shifted to Davangere, we carried all our belongings in the bus, as coolies carry their household items on their shoulders. The greatness of my wife was that she always considered the brain she earned in her life. She never asked me to buy a saree. When I bought her two nighties after two years of leaving Hyderabad, I still remember the glow inon her face. 

 

Thus started my life in Karnataka.

 

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Life was thorny and bumpy in Danvangere. My finances have been in the doldrums. With the commitment to send Rupees two hundred to Hyderabad, rent of rupees two hundred, and two kids who required protein food added to my misery. The only relief was that my wife was not demanding. She learned from childhood with what was available. One way I came out of the misery was by skipping rent payments. The landlord was also the landlord of the bank premises, the manager’s quarters, a shopping complex on the ground floor and other tenements. So, knowing well that my rent was not being credited to his account every month, he asked his accountant to ignore the issue because of the name and fame I earned in the banking circles. I skipped many payments. Besides, I was raising hand loans wherever possible. I could not repay a few loans, but the lenders ignored it. The borrower cum friend of Shivayogappa started defaulting on his loan payments. Shivayogappa tried his best, but as the borrower incurred losses, he could not press for payment. As my quarters were above the bank premises, the staff knew I lacked basic furniture and other household items. So, Shivayogappa suggested that the borrower would manufacture two steel cots for my residence, and I could repay his instalments to cover the cost of beds. This added to my financial burden. But,I needed cots as my wife, my daughter and me were sleeping on the floor. 

 

The Life of a typical middle class man

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, as my wife was carrying a second time and her services were required to attend to the delivery of a child by my elder sister, she went to Hyderabad. I had to eat out many times since I did not have enough time to cook with work at the bank consuming my whole time. At this time, Mr. Joshi was hosting lunch for me every Saturday and Sunday in his room. He was a great cook. This cemented my relations with other staff members who used to gather at his room for lunch. Mr. Karvey was transferred after a tenure of three years in the Branch was over.  Dinesh Kamath was posted in his place. This guy was a specimen. He was drinking regularly and was a chain smoker. He was a bachelor. From what I understood with his continuous chatter, his drinking and his smoking were that he failed in love because of his parents, and he used to stay in a state of depression.  I do not know what magnetic power I had, but every staff member and officer tried to be close to me. Most of them used to discuss their personal, family and official problems with me and seek advice. Dinesh Kamath, fifteen days into his posting, made a peculiar request. Since I was staying alone, he asked me to allow him to stay in my quarters. He did not vacate his room as he said it was for a fortnight. But he stayed put until I received a communication from my wife that she was arriving. During his stay, he was drinking daily, smoking heavily and talking restlessly. I was not in a position to follow what he was telling, but I knew he had a lot of issues back home. When my wife returned home, the front room was filled with bottles, cigarettes, beedis and ash. Initially, she thought I was drinking and smoking but when I brought Dinesh home, he clarified.

 

One more incident that shook me and remained in my memory demon house. When my wife was coming back with my first child of a month and twenty days age, she confirmed she was travelling by Amaravathi Express on a particular day. As the express halts at Hospet, a four-hour journey from Davangere. I applied leave for a day the maximum allowed per month, stayed in a lodge overnight and went to the station to receive them. The train came. There was no sign of my wife, child and my wife’s sister. I verified the passenger list on the coach number they provided. There, they were. But they did not get down. If you just imagine the way a man, already under family and official stress reacts in such circumstances. I was totally out of my mind. What happened to them? I do not know what any other person would have done. Mostly, a timid person would have filed a missing complaint and left for Davangere. There were no phones these days to contact them.  I sat in the station for an hour or two lamenting about what transpired. It struck me that I should leave for Davangere or go to Guntur in search of them. Then, I got an idea that very few would have gotten. I thought, if some unforeseen event took place before they started, one of them would certainly contact our Branch by telegram. So, I called our manager and he revealed that I got a telegram and he did not open it. I told him what happened and requested him to read the telegram, which read “Missed the train. Will start tomorrow” . It was great relief.  I waited in the lodge for another day and went to station next day. I had no coach number. Finally, they got down from an ordinary coach, that I would never have imagined my wife and kid to travel. I asked foor the reason. It is stunning to observe how simply the other people take the whole issue. My wife said, “We thought thee train was the next day. When we verified the ticket the next day, the train already left. Is it a big issue?”  I was furious. How can I make her understand the agony I passed through the whole night, not sleeping and while asleep having nightmares. My only thought was how they would travel in a cramped ordinary coach with a child who is not even two months old. That was the first time I lost my temper on my wife and shouted. She, instead of feeling sorry, shouted back.  For a week thereafter, I could not recuperate from depression. How can I manage life with so reckless and easy-going girl. She or her sister did not have an iota of repentance. Already I had a hell of experience with my written test in LIC of India. Now, this. This will be a lifelong issue and it remained so.

 

She missed the train

 

 

With two children my wife was totally engrossed in the household work throughout. I was engrossed in Bank work the whole day, some days stretching to late in the night. I was yet to be confirmed in the job. It was always on my mind. With my experience with various executives who firmly believed that I do not deserve to continue in service as they were under the impression that a Telugu-speaking Director recommended me against the advice of a South Canara based Director (such an insult to the deemed owners of the Bank?) , I was fearing that the present Regional Manager, who was envious of my fast growth and my efficiency and who too had the confidential information about my supposed recommendation by Dr. C. Narasimham, I was spending sleepless nights thinking that the RM would show some excuse to  dismiss me, as rules permit such dismissals. An interview was held in Regional Office by the RM. Only the RM interviewed me. I expected him to question me about my routine work in the two branches. Instead he concentrated on RBI policies, IDBI refinance, Bank Guarantees, Letters of Credit, Management policies etc. I could not answer a single question. He asked me bluntly “What are you learning for two years?” I answered meekly that none of the subjects on which he asked questions fell in the purview of my work in the branches. Then he disposed me ooff with an assumed vexed feeling.

 

And on the 18^th December 1979, I received a letter from Head Office in a closed cover in my name. I opened it with shivering hands.  The axe fell. My training period was extended by six months.  That day, after going home I wept copiously. The hard work I did in the Bank was dumped in the garbage bin. A five-minute interview decided my fate. My problems were multifarious. By extending my training period the RM still retained his power over me to dismiss me after six months, getting the maximum work from me these six months. My financial position was so bad at that time that spending another six months with a meagre income of Rupees Eight Hundred with wife and two children to feed, not being eligible to raise any personal loans from the bank to reduce my burden of loans outside, my falling back by six months in seniority when compared to my colleagues and many other minor and major issues depressed be for a week by which time I regained my earlier aplomb.

 

Employee’s shattered dreams.

 

 

Then it happened. After a week the Regional Manager visited our Branch as part of his regular visits. Seeing me, he smiled as is his practice. The Branch was not yet open and only our manager was in the Branch, as both of us used to be in the Branch by 9.00 a daily. I do not know what demon entered my brain. The RM was sitting in the manager’s cabin. I went inside. After the usual pleasantries, I told him I wanted to talk to him. The first sentence I uttered was “Sirr! You might be knowing about the extension of my training period”

 

I will reproduce the conversation that took place.

 

“Yes! I only recommended the extension”

 

“Sir! What prompted you to recommend the extension? Did you get reports that I was inefficient, not a fast learner or an escapist ? I heard that you were taking my name in all the branches that I was the most efficient officer you had ever seen in your service. Manageers and officers were coming to me to get advice in difficult situations. I remained very obedient to my superiors, Sir!  Then, what was it that you found lacking in me that prompted you to take such drastic step in my case, Sir?”

 

Color in his face changed. Apparently, he was furious that his judgment was questioned by a trainee, whose fate is in his hands. The manager, timid by nature, was moving in his chair uncomfortably.

 

“You failed in the interview. You know well that you did not answer a single question I asked”

 

“I know that I did not answer a single question, Sir. It was because the questions you asked me were not in the realm of my work. You mostly asked about corporate policies. You knew I was efficient, honest, hardworking with managerial capacity. You observed me working for two years. But I am sorry you decided I was useless in fifteen minutes of interview. I am really surprised what the policy of the Management is in this regard”

 

He became furious.

 

“Do you know with whom you are talking?” he shouted.

 

“I know Sir. I am talking with Mr. K.R.Mallya, the Regional Manager who can dismiss me here , this minute without blinking. But, my name is Chandramohana Rao, a sincere and hard-working officer. I am ready to be dismissed this minute, if you feel I am unfit for the job, Sir. “I said cooly.

 

He shouted at the Manager. “Is this the way you are managing the Branch? Send him out immediately or I do not know what I will do”

 

I said good-bye to him but not without a parting shot. “That is your strength and my weakness, Sir. But my heart is very strong. From the day I joined the Bank , the only words I heard were that I would not continue in the bank for long. Hence, I am prepared for the worst and I am confident of living with my head high. Sir! Good Bye!”

 

In the midst, he said I should read all circulars emanating from all the higher offices. I asked him how many officers are able to read circulars. We are working twelve hours a day with unionism rampant in the Bank. I said that in the coming interview too, I would not be able to answer the type of questions he asked this time. This was directed at his prestige, he understood. Then you will meet your fate, he said. I replied “be it so”.

 

And I came out. I waited the next week for dismissal orders. They did not come. Reason may be, because he already extended my probation, he has no reason left to dismiss me. The only way he could do it was by showing my incompetence, an opportunity he missed. The lightning fell right on my head but , I defied it and survived at least for the next six months.

 

Justice and Revenge.

 

 

After a week, I recollected all my energies and tried another method to target the Management and Regional Manager.