Call of Duty
When my sister and I were school goers, we used to stay at a rented house closer to her school. That home has many sweet memories and remain a favorite till date.
One saturday morning, we had a visitor. I was in 8th grade then.Dad was on his
28days leave from Abudhabi. He used to work in off shore rig back then. I
opened the door and saw a person in white shirt and black pants.What caught my
eye was his golden framed spectacles. I closed the door half way and went back
to dad telling him he has a visitor.Dad went to the door and ushered that
person in. I heard him saying " My son don't know you.Sorry that he kept
you waiting here.Please come inside."
Then they discussed many things over a cup of tea. When he left, dad told me
"You shouldn't have left him waiting at the door. He is a Bank
manager". From next time onwards, I made sure he was welcomed
properly. He was a very unassuming , humble person.
Now I understand the relevance of his visiting us at home. It was in mid 1990s.
He was a branch manager at SBT. The four lettered private banks were not as
prolific back then. So a Bank manager had no need to visit a customer's
house.
Over the years, he became a friend of dad's and Suresh uncle for us.He was
given the charge of a branch in Ollur, a small town in Kerala. That branch was
facing shut down and he was in charge of bringing some business. Dad, being
an NRI back then was a premium customer. At times, he went on to the extent of
delivering cash at home when dad was away. ATMs were a rare sighting in those
days.
Dad says Suresh uncle used to travel up and down to Trivandrum (6 hrs away
from here) every weekend to meet his parents.He was working so hard and yet he
had a wonderful work-life balance. He used to visit many of his customers at
their office/home and saved the branch from closure . Later on , he got a
transfer with a promotion.
Thinking about it now makes me realize he was a great manager indeed.
Arun
Babu.
No comments:
Post a Comment