At the outset itself I say that I am writing this post to convey the extremely pleasant experience I had at the Karnataka Bank Ltd. in Jayanagar 3rd Block west branch of Bangalore. It is not very often that you come out of a bank or a public office feeling pleasant, but this was an exception. My wife and I went to this bank last Tuesday to transact some business. We happened to contact a person whose name I vaguely caught as Prakash. He is a bespectacled man, somewhat thickset and of middling height by Indian standards and with receding wispy hair and has thick eyebrows. When we encountered him he was extremely busy attending to various tasks and he politely offered us two chairs. As soon as he could get some respite in a couple of minutes, he asked us the purpose of our visit. We told him. He immediately busied himself on the task by keying in a set of queries onto the computer and even as he was attending to it, the telephone on his taable rang. Some customer had made a call seeking some clarifications and he meticulously explained all the facts related to the caller's query with earnestness and placed back the receiver. Soon he got back to our work when there was another call from someone else. Business calls on the telephone require more attention as they are not present on the premises to assess that there could be other tasks that the officer could be engaged with. Consequently he attended to the second call too. Later he got back to our task and the telephone rung yet again. This time the call was for someone else in the bank and he transferred the call to the relevant person and told him by calling out his name.
As I was seated before him I found him not only attending to all the telephone calls that came to the bank but also efficiently attending to the job we had assigned him to the best of his ability. I found him to be extremely involved in his work and was admirably cheerful and calm. Towards the end of our transactions we had to collect three bank certificates. Usually it is the case that they ask you to come on another day to collect them, but Prakash was so considerate that he pleaded with his reluctant colleague to hand over the certificates failing which, he told the other person, "... or they would have to come all the way here just for this."
Seeing his excellent attitude to work in sharp contrast to my own nature, before returning I paid him generous compliments from my heart. "We had excellent service from you! Thank you very, very much!!" I told him beaming, and not feeling satisfied with the compliments I had paid him, I thanked him yet again. He jus smiled and nodded his head.
Actually, there was a fourth certificate which was to be opened three days hence on Friday. So I had to visit the Bank yet again on Friday. He just couldn't recognise me even though I had visited the Bank barely three days ago. He was as courteous as ever and on the job with extreme concentration and attention. He asked me the purpose of my visit and I told him. Again he was as eager to satisfy my banking requirements but this time he again needed his reluctant colleague's cooperation. As his colleague was quite reluctant to respond to his pleadings I said that I would visit the bank again on the following Monday. (Actually this is the sort of experience one has in public offices in India). Prakash looked quite apologetic and concerned but without much furore he asked me to return on Monday.
Now the purpose of my writing this entry in the blog is that I find Prakash's nature extremely admirable. Though I had lavished him with generous praise and appreciation he was never carried away by it. An ordinary soul like me would have marked out the man who praised him because praise doesn't come easily in India. While people are quick to complain for any deficiency, praise is very, very rarely showered on a person who genuinely merits it. It is hence quite natural to remember a person who gives praise. But Prakash just keeps doing his duty with sincerity and ease and doesn't seem to hanker for praise or recognition and like a yogi, acknowledges it and moves on.
Today (Monday 21st March) I again found that he scarcely recognised me, but as always, was eager to satisy his customers.
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