Banking on nostalgia

My illustrious career spanning nearly 35 years in Canara Bank came to an end last year when I retired as an officer from the esteemed Bank which was nationalised in 1969 when I was barely 11 years old by that time.

When I look back at the splendid moments of my professional life, my heart and mind would be imbued with nostalgic and indelible memories.

When I was working at Unguturu (Krishna District) branch in early 1980s, a high school teacher by name Ramesh Chand used to visit the Branch along with his son who was then a small kid.

Interestingly, that small boy later achieved laurels in his life as a political leader and became MLA of Gannavaram now. He is none other than Vallabhaneni Vamsi.

In late 1980s , on one day at Daba Gardens branch at Vizag , a senior citizen walked towards me when I had called his token number to make a payment of the maturity proceeds of his Fixed Deposit.

I was absolutely elated after seeing his name on the Deposit Certificate. Curiously, I asked him " Sir? Are you famous writer and novelist Raavi Sastry?" He gave an affirmative answer by nodding his head.

I was ecstatic to have my favourite writer before me and went on applauding him for penning great books like Rukkulu, Alpajeevi, Rattalu-Rambabu and so on. He was so humble in his response that he just smiled for being showered lot of encomiums by me.

In the same branch, famous actress of Tollywood Rajasree who was heroine to NTR, ANR and Kanta Rao in a number of films used to approach us with no hubris for her locker operation and other transactions.

I was voiceless at her simplicity despite being the dream girl of 1960s. Also , I had the privilege of serving DV Subba Rao, famous advocate and Vizag Mayor for several years.

He was so ordinary in his behaviour where he used to stand before the counter by politely refusing the VIP service offered by the head of the branch.

Pramod Dattaram Kode , the famous judge of TADA court in Mumbai who tried Bollywood hero Sanjay Dutt in the famous case of Mumbai Bomb Blasts of 12 March 1993 for allegedly possessing weapons illegally and his alleged links with terrorists used to frequent our branch with a number of security personnel armed with automatic weapons around him at our New Marine Lines branch near church gate station in Mumbai in the early years of this century.

In spite of being encircled by several gunmen, he would interact with us freely with lot of cordiality. Interestingly, he had the distinction of not going on leave even for a single day for 11 years from 1996 to 2007 even on the occasions like demise of his parents and getting his hand fractured due to lot of importance attached to that case involving notorious terrorists .

When I was working at Basheer Bagh, Hyderabad in the end of 2015, the suicide of famous hero of Tollywood Ranganath who was an esteemed customer of our Gandhinagar branch, Hyderabad shocked me the most.

He was as great a human being as an actor with a great philosopher in his thoughts . The deposits standing in his name was later paid to his 2 daughters and a son under death claim settlement.

Among my colleagues, I admire Bura Ranga Rao who made correspondence with our Zonal Office relentlessly for six times to successfully get back Rs.10 disallowed to him in his LTC Bill.

When I told him that he could as well sacrifice the paltry amount instead of making so many representations, he quipped " It is not the amount that matters.

If I keep quiet now , the same injustice will be meted out to my colleagues like you in future ".

The same Bura Ranga Rao fought bitterly for justice by even taking up his case to the level of Chairman of the Bank with regard to low rating given to him in an unjust manner while his performance being evaluated.

Eventually, he scaled greater heights in his career and in the trade union as well for his gumptions and performance.

I salute my Bank which nurtured me with great care that transformed me from an introvert at the beginning of my career to a confident and capable officer at the end of my service where my services were hired by even other Banks as guest faculty for their staff training colleges.

Raveendra Babu Narne