Dear,.......,
Hello. Writing a blog on my mother yesterday put me in a sombre mood all day today. I feel I should have done more than what I did for her. But life is very complex. I was probably constrained by events around me then that did not allow me do more for her. Writing more on the subject would hurt me. I will move on to the narration of the activities around me in the year 1964 after I joined service in All India Radio at Srinagar.
Before 1960, it was Radio Kashmir under the state government. It was then amalgamated with All India Radio and it became All India Radio Srinagar Station. At the time of amalgamation, the staff was absorbed in parallel cadres. All the engineering operators who were at least matric pass were made Assistant Engineers. (This was an appeasement for the Kashmir staff. In the rest of the country no Matric pass was appointed as an Assistant Engineer) And then there was an Assistant Engineer who was completely uneducated. I will describe to you each and every one of the staff. I will not name them. I will call them AE-1, AE-2 and so on. I will start with the Assistant Engineer that I described in my blog dated 06 May. Let us call him AE-1. He was a matric pass and had been recruited as a technician. He had not been trained even as a technician. He must have got the job on some recommendation. He did not have any technical knowledge but would manage to run a transmission, He would know the operational steps including system bypass that would be needed to continue the broadcast service during his shift. I could not learn anything technical from him except to operate and run the equipment. His lack of technical knowledge did not please a new boss in late 1964 and he was transferred to All Indias Radio Lucknow. (When a staff member would be useless, he would be transferred those days) Now let me describe AE-2. He was a graduate and was better in technical knowledge. But his attitude would be casual. He would mainly be there during maintenance shifts. If I would ask him to explain something which I did not know or understand, he would be sarcastic in responding. He would therefore not pass on his knowledge. I would avoid seeking his help because of the fear of him ridiculing me. He had a dishonesty streak in him. He would be submitting fake vouchers for petty payments. He would take items from engineering stores for his personal/ domestic use. This includes lamps, dry cells and wires etc. His dishonesty streak landed him in a very bad situation and ultimately affected his health. Around 1970's he was promoted to the post of Assistant Station Engineer. He was made incharge Community Listening Centre (CLS) in Srinagar. CLS was responsible for installation and maintenance of community radio centres in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. These community radio stations were called "Halka Radio" Fixed frequency tuned radio sets with a horn loudspeaker were installed in all the localities of each block called halka. The frequency was tuned for Radio Kashmir broadcasts. Such sets were installed in all towns and in Ladakh and Kargil areas also. Batteries packs were issued for locations where there would be no power supply. These dry battery packs were huge sized and very costly too. Unfortunately when the Radio Kashmir staff was integrated in All India Radio, the employees of CLS were not integrated. The employees suffered a lot. They could not benefit from Central pay scales nor considered for revision pay scales in State pay scales. The staff was a frustrated unit. They would do lot of dishonest acts like selling battery packs to private parties and selling of spares which would normally be required for repairs of the halka radios. Now when AE-2 took over, the staff knew that he could be used to further their evil designs. In no time, some of the ring leaders among the staff asked him to change their date of births in the office records. They wanted lowering of age by five to ten years. He did not agree because he thought that he could be caught and penalised for such an act. The staff went against him. They thought of plans to implicate him.
They made two plans which destroyed him. First was that there was an auction of junk in the office. He got hundreds of rupees after the auction was over. He should have deposited this amount in the government accounts. He did not. After a month, a ring leader among the staff complained against him. He mentioned that he had auctioned the junk and got thousands which he had not deposited in the government accounts. AE-2 was asked by the disciplinary authority to respond. He responded by saying that he had got only Rs. 26/- as auction proceeds. He mentioned that because of an oversight he had not deposited the money. Then he sent Rs. 26/- and requested that the case be closed.. The case was not closed but it was proved beyond doubt against him. After a prolonged enquiry he was suspended. Simultaneously another plan was for his lady steno to complain that AE-2 called her to his office chamber for taking a dictation. She said that he misbehaved with her in the chamber. AE-2 had many bad traits but he could have never done it. He had two daughters and he was most respectful to ladies. This complaint devastated him. He was suspended. I happened to see him once after this. He looked a broken man. I was shocked. A few months later I went to Delhi and pleaded his case with a senior officer who also belonged to my community. He was reinstated. He ultimately retired as a Superintending Engineer. But he never returned to his usual self. He would keep in touch with me on telephone till he died around 2005 or 2006. I wanted to learn technical knowledge from him but I learnt two things which remained with me all my life. Number one, never to submit false vouchers and get blackmailed by staff. And number two, whenever, I would have my lady steno in the room, the door would always be open. In fact whenever a lady staff or some company representative would come to my room, I would keep the door open. These two habits have ensured that I had an honorable position in the office alway.
Bye for today. I shall move to AE-3 tomorrow. I am describing each one of them to show how different people are different. We should be able to judge properly and associate ourselves with people from whom we can learn and disassociate with people who are bad. If we do it correctly, it will make us and our families better persons with strength to cope with the ups and downs of life.
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