September 16, 1975 - TOTTERING STEPS INTO THE UNKNOWN

 

September 16, 1975. My first day in the bank. Executive Trainee. The fulfilment of an ambition. I wanted to begin as a Manager. 

It was the culmination of a search that lasted more than three years after I finished my PG. Of course there was an interlude of an year soon after the PG. I taught English in a Junior College at Honavar, Karnataka.

The only hitch when I longed to become a Manager was, I had no idea what the job entailed. On the job, I learned that it meant you had  to undertake  the lowliest or the meanest tasks out there  more than anything else with gusto to be a Manager.  I learned delegation would get me nowhere. I learned the man on the job had to be a situational Manager. 

The sum total was the Manager had to be a jack of all trades - That the Manager had no power to inject his own desires - That he had to learn to conform. His Will had no priority at all.

Here am I, exactly 51 years after that eventful day and 16 years and 4 and a half months from the date of superannuation.

The journey had taken me far. It was exciting. It was excruciating. I could never predict what the next moment was going to be. The feeling remains the same, even today.