My First Day in Bank of India – Part 1

G. Bhadani - 1974

My rendezvous with Delhi had remained romantic till I received my selection order from BOI directing me to report to RM, Delhi. My posting to the capital city of India ignited many flames concurrently inside me and took my imagination on a mythological and historical trajectory. Travelling back millennia of years in time, I was transported to the Mayan palace city of Indraprastha as described in the Mahabharata; Delhi of the Rajput kings who battled with utmost valour against foreign aggression; I moved in the lanes and by lanes of the Delhi of the Delhi Sultanate ruled by Sultans and Razia Begum, the first female to rule largest parts of India (incidentally, the second female to rule India after Razia Sultan was at that time ruling India, Indira Gandhi); the grandeur and glamour of the Mughal Court in all its splendour and glory when all roads of South Asia, Middle East and Central Asia would be leading to Delhi, unfolded in a flash; and, it was followed by the decaying days of the Mughal empire, when the descendants of the monarchs that ruled one of the largest empires on the earth of that time alongside the House of Ottomans, The Tsars of Russia and The Chinese Emperor, had become confined to the Red Fort and a pensioner of Queen Victoria. When I received the orders to report to RM, Delhi, I felt a little elated as the thought struck me that I was going to a historical city, the immortal city, a city where in modern times, just one hundred one years before, in 1911, when the English ruler of India, King George V and his consort, Queen Mary, had held a Durbar and where Edwin Lutyens  had conceptualized and given shape to a new capital city of India on and around the Raisina Hill in a record time of a couple of years.

However, it was simply the romantic feel of a young Bhadani. The train from Patna to Delhi dislodged me at Delhi (Old Delhi) railway terminus and the first thing that overwhelmed me was the peculiar smell of a metropolis that permeated the environment and I was jolted to face the realities of a new life. I searched a hotel nearby and put my luggage there – just a suitcase with shaving kit and some shirts, trousers, etc., and of course, some books. I stayed in that hotel for about ten days till branch people where I was to be posted somehow searched a room for me near the branch. I didn’t like the hotel but I liked the foods in nearby eateries and devoured many exotic things during next 10 days. Choices for a Patna boy were endless in the labyrinths of old Delhi for a variety of sweets, snacks and foods. Interestingly, I even got a barber in a saloon who told me of his pedigree that took him to the Royal Courts of the Great Mughals!

Next morning, as guided by the hotel people, I hired an auto rickshaw and reached RO Delhi on Parliament Street. I was asked to meet one Mr. Mitra who took my papers and asked me to wait for some time. Then he called me and told that we are in the process of deciding the branch where you shall be posted and asked me to do a little more waiting and do whatever I like for around one hour as the RM was pre-occupied with some work. I lodged myself on a sofa and started reading a newspaper and was simply overjoyed at the recognition as someone has served tea with crisp biscuits in beautiful crockery of bone china. I thought: “This bank would certainly take care of its people.” By around noon, Mr. Mitra handed me a letter, asked me to take an auto rickshaw or a taxi and report to Bank’s Bank Street Branch (Karolbagh). A bank branch was neither familiar nor unfamiliar to me as I have seen some during my student life. As I was a student of commerce, I had a rudimentary knowledge about banks but I did not know exactly what people would be doing behind the counters. At the branch, I met the accountant, Mr. D. S. Jain, a charming man of around 40 plus. The Manager was Mr. M. S. Ganguly who wished me well in BOI and asked Mr. Jain to introduce me to staff-members. When I came out, Mr. Jain offered tea to me which was brought out by one Mishra ji. I learnt later on that Mishra ji was cash peon. I also came to know after few days that Mishra ji would generally be first guru to Probationary Officers though he would avoid probationary clerks with a barge pole. Being in close proximity to a Probationary Officer had certain in-built advantages. These advantages included getting overtime sheets initialed by such POs, getting second signature on vouchers for petty expenses once the same was signed by Mr. D. S. Jain (Accountant) as other officers would sometimes challenge the expenses. All these “technical things” were explained to me by Passbook writers (Michael Dias, Bhargava Desai and Vinay Sabbarwal) who were students employed as casual workers and who would come to the branch late afternoon to update passbooks and write statement of accounts. With these three persons, I became a bit closer as they were of my age and they were always helpful to me in unravelling the mystery of day-to-day banking. 



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