KiK-starter

I was 20 years old when I got the order to join SBM before 7th Nov at C S Pura Branch. The only other clue was that the place was in Gubbi Taluk, Tumkur District, Karnataka. It was the year 1983 and I had passed out from college only a few months back. I had made a decent use of those months learning accountancy just as a well wisher had suggested since I had not studied the subject in college. 

My mother had insisted that my father accompanied me on my first journey outside the safety of home in search of my destiny. It may sound cliched but I felt like a lost puppy. After an adventurous travel with no knowledge of the local language and the geography, we managed to reach our destination well after office hours on the last date for joining. Technically, my candidature had turned void but the manager did not want to lose the opportunity to have another working hand. He asked me to type my own joining letter in dim light at 08 pm and he suggested that my father and I stay in his house for the night. I started my banking career in right earnest on the next morning and was in deep anguish when my father took the bus leaving me alone. The only proper building in the village was the bank branch and the manager’s house was above the bank. I had to find a place to stay and one of the other staff members agreed to accommodate me in his single roomed abode until I find a place for myself. 

The manager requested me to sit behind the counter on the next day attending to customers. They would ask me questions in Kannada and I had absolutely no understanding of the language. The manager assisted me for the entire day while the other members of the staff did their work in the only other room of the branch. A Gubbi man was the cashier and his cubicle was next to my seat. I needed to take the linguistic problem head on and what I did was to transliterate some questions and answers on a sheet of paper and stick it on to the inside of the counter. I would check for equivalents and did a fairly good job of handling the customers very soon. But there was a need to get a better grip on the language. My neighbour’s daughter, the 3 year old Rashmi, became my Kannada teacher for the next few months (I hear that she is a successful doctor in Bangalore now). While my Kannada was getting better, Partha from Chennai joined the branch as the new cashier. He was a new recruit and also had no understanding of the local language. We became great friends in due course and learnt cooking as we moved into a small asbestos sheeted room. 

In the initial months of my stay in the village, I went to Madras or Bangalore during most weekends. In course of time I learnt to enjoy the sights, sounds and greenery around me. Partha and I would spend the evenings walking around or meeting up with the village agricultural officer who would give us deep insights on his job. My boss, the manager, could be seen working  even even on holidays. That was the time when government owned banks were asked to grant small loans at low interest rates for ‘upliftment of the poor’.

I was reading a novel on a Sunday evening in my room when I heard a knock on the door. Partha was off to Madras and I wondered who it was. A frequent visitor to the bank whom we knew as a loan agent was at the door . We exchanged pleasantries and the man came to the point very soon. He informed me that the manager needed help in getting documents ready for the loans and I should help him on weekends and holidays. I told him that I will discuss the matter with the manager and do the needful. He was impatient and came up with an offer to pay a bribe to work on weekends. I refused the offer and threatened to report him to the manager. He did not look worried and increased the offer. It was at that moment that I realised the reason for the manager working beyond office hours. I did not want to be dishonest and managed to hold on to that virtue throughout my career.

There was another branch of the bank in Kallur which was 7 kms away. Partha and I went to that place on a weekend to meet our colleagues at that branch. We decided to play some badminton in a marriage hall that was converted to a playing area with appropriate line marking. It was adjacent to a temple. We had a lot of fun and played for a couple of hours. I could not stop myself from thinking that a posting in Kallur would have been better. We got back to our village by the last bus. 

It seemed strange that my transfer to Kallur branch arrived in ten days and I was to shift to the branch within a week. Did the divine spirit residing near the badminton court overhear my thoughts? God only knows! 

Kallur is a silk weavers’ village and the branch had better turnover than my earlier branch.  The manager was a very friendly person and he helped me find a place to stay. I moved into my room only to hear rumours that an old lady, who was a money lender, had passed away in the room just a few months back and she continued to haunt the place as there are unrecovered debts. I had no option but to coexist with the ghost and so I did! Over the next few days, I realised that the sounds that I heard from the false roof ceiling were caused by rodents and not the old woman’s spirit. 

My father underwent a hernia operation in Madras and I took leave for a week to be with him. While he was recuperating we would chat for long periods of time. During one of these conversations, he queried me on my plans for the future and about the possibility of getting promoted to the officers’ cadre within the Bank. When I told him that competing to become a direct officer in another Bank would be better than waiting for a promotion within, he asked me to take immediate steps to equip myself to take on these tests. I signed up for a postal coaching program and the lessons kept me occupied with my hours outside of the bank for the next few months. The good looking daughter of the house owner was no distraction to the task at hand. I chugged along with my preparation. 

The manager of the Kallur branch was transferred and another one from Bangalore joined the branch. He made frequent trips to meet his family in the guise of official work at HO. I had told him many times that I endeavour to continue my studies if I am posted to a large town or city where such facilities are available. When he got back from one of the these trips, he asked me if I would want to move to Trivandrum as they are looking for staff to open a new branch there. I jumped to the idea and he urged me to go Bangalore the very next day and meet the Regional Manager. I did not have to think twice and boarded the first bus. The RM was only too willing to put my name up for transfer. I received my transfer order within a week. I packed my bags in anticipation of living in a city that can offer me some education and enriching friendships.