Page 94 - A Banker Down the Rabbit Hole

and proper place of shop. Also, they would certainly not insure the iron
rods lying on the roadside unlocked without any security. Of course, my
insistence on the paper work annoyed the big boyz.. immensely. They
even questioned my authority when I refused to disburse loan which was
supposedly perceived as a birth right as it was a Government of India
Scheme.

To my amazement, they resorted to creating a ruckus inside the branch.
I even contemplated offering them some hospitality as they were big wigs
of the area. Instead of tea, usually offered as an affordable hospitality, I
immediately ordered cold drinks for all of them to cool the tempers in
an anxious attempt to avoid conundrum as they were accompanied with
jeep full of armed men.

I told them that I was an employee and not owner of the bank. I was
duty bound to observe the guidelines of the bank and the loan schemes.
Even the Government scheme specified some conditions which should
be fulfilled. No one can force me to disburse without taking safety
precautions as per bank rules. It puts my job at risk. I least expected of
them to jeopardize my job. Considering that I gave them such a lot of
respect, I pleaded some reasonableness.

They then tried to influence me, saying, "It would have been better had
we gone to another bank, paid Rs. 2000/- each and got loan months
before." I knew it was a smart ploy to offer money to any manager to
get work done. I told them politely, "If you feel I am insisting on too many
formalities, you can guess how many more formalities the other bank
manager would ask you to do to save his skin because he was taking
money for giving a loan." They told that they were now stuck up. I
requested them to approach the other bank and I could forward the
application to Industry Department with a No Objection Certificate (NOC)
so that they could get the loan from some other bank.

They asked for my suggestions as to what activity they should do to avail

A Banker down the Rabbit Hole | 91