After withdrawing the maximum amount allowed in an ATM per day transaction, I offered the security guard of the ATM, 20Rs as tips.The security-guard should be about 60 years of age. He is a typical MADARASI- oiled hair, dark skin, thick mustache- atleast as novelist Chetan Bagath would expect Tamils to be. Usually in metropolis like Chennai city, if persons like him seek help from us, particularly in identifying an address,I MAY not attend to because I believe that to get an address clarified you need a face value. Not every address seeker gets the required assistance because WE PEOPLE are practical and cautious. However I personally envied his dense lock of hair. Even if Amazon forest's Ervamatin-promoters spend some billions in marketing their apparent hair-growth oil they may not succeed in capturing Indian market if there are hairs as his.
Unlike the other usual older security guards of ATMs , he was very fit i.e without any baggy-belly or hanging waist-line which is my definition of being fit. He also had perfectly dressed himself in his uniform with his shirts tucked in and polished black shoes, that made him look like a retired ex-service man. According to Myntra app(online fashion market place), dressing is an art and thus he appeared to be an artist. But I had more than one reason to begin a short conversation with him.
Although initially reluctant to speak he became much responsive and interactive subsequently. There was enormous pride in him when he said he was once a practising farmer- THE FEEDER OF PEOPLE, he claimed. Leave aside all natural, governmental/market policy led complications, a farmer still practises agriculture with deep felt conviction and heart felt pride, he averred. He expressed with a poetic note that when the crop is ready for harvest, a farmer feels just like a to-be mother pregnant lady. Equally he had expressed an inferior feeling when he said that he was forced to give up farming when his agricultural land was acquired for a road extension project.
But I had a larger role to defend my self-respect in front of an unknown person. So I did not tell him that in software-services industry, ENGINEERS ARE BELITTLED and could be easily removed from the job even without fulfilling the mandatory regulatory obligations such as notice period etc, when he questioned if we could be denied our economic livelihood in the way he was forced to.
Nevertheless it appears that the promised road extension project did not kick off even after five years, instead an Indian made foreign liquor factory (the life line for Tamilnadu's Revenue generation) was established nearby where some of his long time former farmer-colleagues found unmatching job.But he claimed to have declined the job of security guard in the factory because his CONSCIENCE prohibits him from working for a SAARAAYA KADAI(liquor shop).
"I have not even smelled alchohol in my 75 years of living. Never had I been hospitalised in my life so far.NAL OLUKKAM(MORALITY) romba mukkiyam thambi" , he continued.
"I have never fallen asleep in my duty hours and have never rested in the ATM cabin when a customer is using it. Manushanaa DHARMATHUKKU(morality/ethics) kattu padanum" , he followed.
When he began talking about Law of Dharma, I was about to dwell deep on my private-ethics in professional career. I really wonder if I have any such ethical underpinning. However the number of pages of colour print-outs for personal use, accessing facebook and whatsapp during office hours, submitting fake receipts during onsite travel etc did not flash in my mind. Instead I felt that it is high time I stopped the conversation with him lest feel outraged.
Before I left the place, he asked me a final question to which I did just smile.
" Thambi neenga enna aalunga?" ( which caste do you belong to?)
Whenever I cross that ATM locality, I continue to remember that person and his dignified look when he declined to take that 20Rs. Perhaps even a larger denomination of money will not have compromised his integrity.And thus I had a reason to begin a conversation with him.
Salute you Thatha. Thats all I can do because I am a PRACTICAL person.
Unlike the other usual older security guards of ATMs , he was very fit i.e without any baggy-belly or hanging waist-line which is my definition of being fit. He also had perfectly dressed himself in his uniform with his shirts tucked in and polished black shoes, that made him look like a retired ex-service man. According to Myntra app(online fashion market place), dressing is an art and thus he appeared to be an artist. But I had more than one reason to begin a short conversation with him.
Although initially reluctant to speak he became much responsive and interactive subsequently. There was enormous pride in him when he said he was once a practising farmer- THE FEEDER OF PEOPLE, he claimed. Leave aside all natural, governmental/market policy led complications, a farmer still practises agriculture with deep felt conviction and heart felt pride, he averred. He expressed with a poetic note that when the crop is ready for harvest, a farmer feels just like a to-be mother pregnant lady. Equally he had expressed an inferior feeling when he said that he was forced to give up farming when his agricultural land was acquired for a road extension project.
But I had a larger role to defend my self-respect in front of an unknown person. So I did not tell him that in software-services industry, ENGINEERS ARE BELITTLED and could be easily removed from the job even without fulfilling the mandatory regulatory obligations such as notice period etc, when he questioned if we could be denied our economic livelihood in the way he was forced to.
Nevertheless it appears that the promised road extension project did not kick off even after five years, instead an Indian made foreign liquor factory (the life line for Tamilnadu's Revenue generation) was established nearby where some of his long time former farmer-colleagues found unmatching job.But he claimed to have declined the job of security guard in the factory because his CONSCIENCE prohibits him from working for a SAARAAYA KADAI(liquor shop).
"I have not even smelled alchohol in my 75 years of living. Never had I been hospitalised in my life so far.NAL OLUKKAM(MORALITY) romba mukkiyam thambi" , he continued.
"I have never fallen asleep in my duty hours and have never rested in the ATM cabin when a customer is using it. Manushanaa DHARMATHUKKU(morality/ethics) kattu padanum" , he followed.
When he began talking about Law of Dharma, I was about to dwell deep on my private-ethics in professional career. I really wonder if I have any such ethical underpinning. However the number of pages of colour print-outs for personal use, accessing facebook and whatsapp during office hours, submitting fake receipts during onsite travel etc did not flash in my mind. Instead I felt that it is high time I stopped the conversation with him lest feel outraged.
Before I left the place, he asked me a final question to which I did just smile.
" Thambi neenga enna aalunga?" ( which caste do you belong to?)
Whenever I cross that ATM locality, I continue to remember that person and his dignified look when he declined to take that 20Rs. Perhaps even a larger denomination of money will not have compromised his integrity.And thus I had a reason to begin a conversation with him.
Salute you Thatha. Thats all I can do because I am a PRACTICAL person.
No comments:
Post a Comment