Page 21 - A Banker Down the Rabbit Hole

completed sixteen years of studies that is called M.Sc. degree. "His next
query was, "After studying so much, can't you find a job?" I said, "I can
get a job now but I shall get a better job after spending three to four
more years for Ph.D. "Now my mother pitched in and told me, "The family
now needs your support and you must find a job. "This was a clear and
genuine signal for me to go for a job. I started preparing for IAS and
cleared the preliminaries. This also helped me get prepared for the
selection process of the post of a Bank Probationary Officer as a by-
product and I applied with some banks. I wanted to have any reasonably
good job coming my way at the earliest under such financial constraints.
But I kept the desire of pursuing a doctorate burning inside me.

Excitement of appointment as a Probationary Officer
I can recall vividly the last few months of the Emergency Rule in India. It
was a time when I had to struggle a lot with the local administration
regarding the demolition of the boundary walls of at least 30 houses in
our area on the pretext that there was an encroachment by the residents.
No notice was sent and no reason was given. Nobody was even ready to
listen.

Residents were not told how much the encroachment was so that they
could rebuild the walls as per rules to stave off the chilly winter winds of
January in Northern India. During the last several weeks, all the requests
and representations had fallen on deaf ears.

For seeking help, I thought of meeting up a senior advocate of our city
at his residence who had, incidentally become the Revenue Minister of
the state. I took a delegation of a dozen residents in the biting cold and
met the honorable minister. I questioned the wisdom of the Administrator
in demolishing the houses, "How he came to know about the
encroachment and how much of his claim was as per the revenue
records? The revenue records must be having the width of the road. The
distance from the middle of the road can reveal how much the
encroachment was or there was no encroachment at all."

18 | A Banker down the Rabbit Hole