HOPE!

It was a Saturday morning, the beginning of a weekend for Rohit. Given a choice he would complete his sleep quota for the week and laze around. A typical hostel like habit. As he was stretching himself across the bed like a cat and casting himself in the perfect posture to sleep, “Rohit, get up fast! It’s late. You need to go to the bank. Get up fast! Please! Get up! Get up!” shouted Priya, Rohit’s wife. Priya was an early riser and loved her morning time. Rohit just acknowledged the morning alarm coming from Priya with a saddened “Ok! Ok!” from Rohit. Very reluctantly, just like the postmen deliver the mails in the buildings without lifts, Rohit pushed himself, just like a cat, getting into different acrobatic poses, out of the bed finally. Priya smiled to herself and experienced a sense of small victory.

 

Rohit got ready and sat at the dining table. Priya felt like returning the favor, so she had cooked Rohit’ s favorite ‘dosa’ for breakfast and served it with piping hot ‘sambhar’ and ‘chatni’, followed by strong filter coffee, just the way Rohit liked. Rohit was delighted and grasped that listening to his wife had paid him well. He was gathering his learnings from his newly married life experiences. Priya also finished her breakfast and got ready to step out. Rohit had to go to the bank to submit his KYC documents and also make a withdrawal for the monthly expenses. He collected the necessary documents, put them in the backpack, and locked the door and both of them stepped out of the house. They both sat in the car and drove to the bank. The bank was nearby, two blocks away. As they reached the bank, Rohit smiled and realized that Priya was right. Coming early on a Saturday morning indeed had helped them find a parking spot on the bank premises. He smiled looking at Priya. Priya knew what it was for. Priya said, “say thank you!” and smiled. Rohit giggled and said “Thank you mam. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

 

Both of them stepped into the bank. Rohit spotted the counter for submitting the KYC documents. Meanwhile he asked Priya to fill out a withdrawal slip and take the token. Priya asked for a pen as the one in the bank is always engaged. Rohit has realized that if you want to get done faster in a bank, carry your own pen. That saves almost half the time. He put his hand in the front pocket of his backpack and pulled out a black ball point pen just like a magician would pull out a rabbit from the hat. Abraka Dabra!!

 

Rohit submitted his documents, the officer verified them and gave him an approval on the KYC. He mentioned that within 24-48 working hours he would receive an email about the confirmation on KYC. Rohit thanked the officer, took his backpack and moved towards the withdrawal queue. By now the crowd had increased and Priya was waiting in the queue with the token for her turn. There were about seven odd people in front of her in the queue and easily about fifteen people behind her. Rohit walked up to her and asked her to sit on the bench. He took the slip from her and stood in the queue. After a while his token number reflected on the screen and he walked up to the counter. The teller was a lady. She looked a little irritated already. It didn’t look like a good day for her. She signaled me to hand over the slip. Rohit did so. His withdrawal request was for ten thousand rupees. As she verified the account and was about to hand over the money, an office boy called her and told her that the boss wanted her to handover forty thousand in his cabin. She gave the office boy a repulsed look and murmured “Ok!” signaling him to go away. She looked at Rohit and remembered that she had to hand over the money to him. She opened the drawer. Took two bundles of hundred rupee notes out of the drawer and handed it over to Rohit and asked him to leave. Rohit attempted to count at the counter but the teller told him, “Sir if you count here, you will be holding up the line. Can’t you see the crowd? Please move away from the counter and count it somewhere else. Please leave! Fast!” Though she was using ‘please’ in her sentence, he sounded very impolite. Rohit didn’t appreciate it. 

 

He got a little irritated and walked away from the counter towards where Priya was sitting. Priya sensed the irritation on Rohit’s face and asked him about the reason. Rohit narrated what happened. Priya said, “Forget it Rohit. It’s ok. She might not have had lovely ‘dosas’ for breakfast, so her mood must be a bit off. Did you get the money?” “Yes, I got it. But this is not the way to treat customers Priya. I don’t   appreciate it.” “Its Ok Mr. Customer. Forget it. Why do you want to spoil your mood over a very trivial transaction? Let’s go to Big Bazaar for grocery shopping. You also need to buy your deodorants and shaving foam right?” Rohit was preoccupied with the transaction and nodded to what Priya said. 

 

Both of them walked towards the car. Once in the car, Rohit realized that he had not counted the money and it’s his duty as a customer to do so. So Rohit opened the zip of his backpack and pulled out the two bundles of notes. He looked at them and felt something was not right. He had felt it at the counter as well but got diverted into the tiff. It was a hundred rupee notes bundle. Priya looked at the confused expressions and asked “Now what happened? Everything alright?” Rohit handed over one bundle to Priya and asked her to count it and he started counting the remaining one. Both were busy counting the notes. After a while both were done. Rohit asked, “How much?” “Twenty-thousand,” Priya said. Rohit’s face was full of numbness. He kept staring at Priya. Priya said, “What’s the matter Rohit? Why are you giving me a stare? Did I do something wrong?” Rohit impatiently said, “Twenty thousand! Even I have twenty thousand with me. How much did you put on the withdrawal slip today?” “Twenty thousand.” said Priya. Now Rohit understood the issue. He told Priya, “We had asked for twenty thousand and the lady had handed over forty thousand in haste.” Both looked at each other. In one instance there was a smile on their face and a twinkle in their eyes. But immediately in the next instance, the moral police hit them hard on the head bringing them back to senses. “Now what should we do?” both of them asked each other. Technically that money was there now as it was the mistake of the bank and they had to absorb the loss.         

So it was easy for them to walk away with that excess cash. This was the critical time to test the quality of values, learnings, morals, and ethics their parents had given them. Without thinking twice Rohit put the money back into the backpack. Priya watched him without knowing what would happen next. Rohit took the car keys, opened the door and stepped out of the car. Looking at this Priya also stepped out hurriedly. 

 

Rohit started walking swiftly towards the bank entrance. Priya had to almost jog a little to catch up with his pace. He entered the branch and walked towards the teller counter. As he reached there, he saw that someone else had taken over the counter. Rohit could sense the reason for this replacement at the counter. He walked up to the branch manager’s cabin. Priya followed. He opened the door and asked permission to come inside. He could see that same lady who had handed over the money to Rohit at the teller counter was sitting at the desk. Her body language suggested that she was in a lot of distress. Hearing my voice the lady turned back and looked at me. She couldn’t believe that it was me. She kept staring at me. It was clear from her look that she had been crying a lot. Her makeup was all a mess and her face was as pale as the desert sand. She regained her senses, looked at the manager and weeping again told him that Rohit was the guy. 

The manager immediately called me inside the cabin. Rohit and Priya sat down and asked the lady to control herself and calm down. Rohit told the branch manager the entire incident. He opened the backpack and pulled out the two bundles of notes and placed them on the table. That was the most joyous sight for the lady, maybe her lifetime best moment. I was her lucky angel for that moment. At this point she felt ashamed of herself because of her impolite behavior earlier. She apologized sincerely for that behavior. She was so delighted that there was a miraculous transformation in her. She was over delighted and she couldn’t thank me enough. Meanwhile the branch manager asked for the register and verified the serial numbers of the notes and confirmed the authenticity. He thanked me for such a noble gesture and asked the office boy to bring some hot coffee for everyone. The lady didn’t stop thanking us and assured us a great service anytime they wanted. They all smiled on that. They all were happy. Rohit and Priya were smiling, secretly celebrating their parent’s victory and thanked them in their minds for giving them such values. Rohit looked at Priya. He could see a lot of pride in her eyes. She indicated so through her eyes. Just then the coffee arrived and all entered into a casual chit chat while sipping coffee. The cabin was full of happiness, gratitude, pride, strong values and an enormous amount of hope. Hope that the honesty and goodwill still prevails, hope that morals and ethics still prevail. The same hope which is a way of life that makes us look forward to the next day in life!            

 

© - Rahul Shinde 08/JUN/2020