Short Circuit

                                   

 
                              
       The life of a West Bengal Civil Service(Exe.) Probationer at the district headquarters as part of induction-level training was usually arduous, but very interesting at the same time. Unlike All-India Service Probationers, their counterparts in the State Civil Service, had a mixed taste of acceptance by the officers and subordinate staff posted at the district. The upper-class probationers were often treated with a conscious display of measured deference by one and all, especially in remote districts, except of course,by their seniors in All India Service like the District Magistrate and the ADM(s).The reason for this attitude might partly be attributed to the fact that the subordinate officers and assistants at the D.M office did not find too many All-India officers around. On the other hand,the WBCS(Exe.)  officers in the district were sighted and interacted with very often.The State Service probationers started taking their lessons on down-to-earth approach towards his co-workers in a large office from the day one. As far as the senior members of their Service were concerned, all the birds of the same feather might not necessarily be warm in their dealings with their young colleagues. Some might be too inflated with a perceived sense of self- esteem to accept the new entrants as their equals. But certainly there were many seniors who always extended a helping hand to put the new-comers at ease in office as also in a conducive social environment. In fact those were the persons who left such a deep imprints in the somewhat insecure minds of  the probationers that they could vividly recall all such touching moments throughout rest of their service life.

          Now getting into the ruminating mode, I can recall how excited we (being accompanied by another Probationer) were to submit our joining reports as advised by the Senior Deputy Collector who looked after the training programme of the Probationers. We were attached to all the sections as per the training schedule to learn how government machinery at that level worked. By virtue of being the immediate supervisory officer, the Sr.D.C was regarded by the Probationers to be their local guardian. It was rewarding for them to keep him in good humour, particularly for those who might be in the habit of overstaying at their respective home towns on weekends/holidays for a day or two as per 'verbal arrangement'. The training diary maintained by us used to be submitted to the District Magistrate through the Sr.D.C. On a couple of occasions, the D.M. summoned us to his office chamber to enquire about the progress on our training inputs. We thanked our star profusely after each such round of knee-jerk interactions. Fortunately for us, the D.M. we were blessed with was very well-disposed towards us and had a lot of confidence in our abilities. There was shortage of Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collectors at the office, as the district, as per the prevailing perception, was not a preferred destination for senior officers. Even then, it was not common to invest the probationers with special powers of the Executive Magistrates under Cr.P.C and Certificate Officers under Public Demand Recovery Act. We were allotted separate cubicles which was not a common phenomenon at that time.

          But such "exalted" position enjoyed by us, did not deter our superiors to allot odd jobs to us, sometimes resulting in bruised ego of an "A" group officer. It appeared to us that all odd jobs around the office that required an authentic and reliable performance awaited to greet us too very often. On one occasion we were given the onerous task of physically verifying the content of kit bags meant for Presiding Officers on election duty numbering hundreds. It was an exercise to ensure that all the printed instruction sheets issued by the authorities from time to time had been rightly stuffed therein without fail. But later in our career we felt that such treatment did us good in many ways. Sometimes I confronted people and situation in such process that gave me the opportunity of enjoying hilarious moments.
           One day in the office I was called into the office chamber of the Additional D.M to be told by him that the Circuit House required a thorough facelift as part of the preparations to receive the constitutional head of the State. There was not much time left for the impending visit of the V.V.I.P. It was of an utmost importance to finish the work on "war footing"(my perception , not the actual words of the concerned officer). In order to keep a pair of vigilant eyes on the progress of the renovation work, I would be stationed at the Circuit House for the entire working hours until completion of all aspects of the assigned renovation work. The Public Works Department(PWD), I was told, had already taken up their part of the renovation work of the old Circuit House building in right earnest. A fresh coat of colour on the exterior and the interior of the building had indeed brought out a gleaming look. The garden in front of the building looked neat, with the wild bushes having been cleared and flower tubs having been placed to beautify the frontage by the PWD. Everything was completed with a break-neck speed by them so that the DM office could start the interior decoration part of the total renovation work without any loss of time.
          On my arrival at the Circuit House the following day, I found two tailors with their sewing machines getting ready to handle the huge bulk of  the inputs--yards of silken/satine furnishings to cover and adorn the sofa sets, chairs, and tables. Besides, the building that appeared to have been built in pre-independence period had doors and windows double the size ( both in height and width) of their modern version normally found in apartment blocs.The old curtains, probably put up years ago, needed  replacement before the arrival of the most honoured guest. Each of those curtains would have two separate parts stitched separately. All the four suites wore different wall colours too.To make the matter a little more complicated, the size of all the doors and the windows was not uniform. Hence an extra amount of care was required to ensure that there was no mismatch in size or colour of the stitched pieces  of the curtain halves vis-a-vis the designated places for their use. I had to remain vigilant regarding  those aspects all the time as the tailors appeared to run their sewing machines too hard for me to be confident about their quality of work. On the other hand I could not ask them to slow down a bit, as the D-day was approaching  very fast (at least that was what I was feeling then all the time). At last by the third day of tireless work by them,  and quite a few rounds of fixing and re-fixing, the upholsteries and the curtains could be replaced with the new ones. I was congratulating myself for achieving so much in such a short time.

          But my story on the visit of the V.V.I.P and his overnight stay at the Circuit House did not end with that. On the second day of my deployment there, while pacing around the place I noticed that the signage, by the side of the main entrance on the road, was in a bad shape. The painted surface of the signage bore the marks of natural decay and  the written letters thereon had got blurred. At least it was not commensurate with the new-look building radiating in the lap of lush greenery. I asked the Nazir Babu (the head assistant in the house-keeping section of the district office) to immediately get a painter to give a fresh coat of colour to the signage and write the words "Circuit House" afresh. On my third day, as I busied myself with the tailors in the 'curtain-and cover' front, with occasional anxious glances towards the main gate in search of a painter who should have started his painting job, a young man with brushes and colour container entered the scene late afternoon, much to my relief. But such composure of mind  gave way to anger while returning home at the end my day's work I found that the display structure was painted deep yellow alright, but it was left totally blank. However, Nazir Babu, who was on the same spot, assured me that the painter would certainly complete his assigned job, well before the arrival of our honoured guest around 10-am the following day. He had left the board that way, as after putting second coat of yellow as base colour, time was needed to dry up so that he could inscribe the word in black on it the following morning. I could not but accept the explanation.

           Next day I took up my position in the newly-opened control room set up at on the rear side of the verandah of the Circuit House around 7-00am along with a couple of officers. I started goading Nazir Babu to get the painter immediately to finish the job. Fortunately for me, the DM and the ADM were not likely to visit the premises as they would first go to helipad at the nearby school ground. Even then I was restless, as I looked at the blank signage. At last I felt relieved as I saw from the control room that the painter had begun his work. After an hour and so, the the roaring of the hovering VVIP helicopter indicated that the houred guest could arrive at the Circuit House any time after his landing at the helipad and inspection of the guard of honour etc. The men in uniform got alerted by their superiors. All of them took up their respective positions. I walked over to the main entrance to make a last minute check that everything was alright.

             I was visibly upset when I found that the painter was standing with a somewhat confused expression before the half-finished writing on the board. So far he had written  --"CIR     HOUSE". I could not solve the puzzle and lost my cool.
      I said,"Are you playing? Don't you see the VVIP could arrive any moment? Why don't you complete your writing instead of staring at the vacant highway?"
       In a trembling voice he replied," Sir, what is the correct spelling  of "Circuit"?". "After giving double coat of yellow to the whole stuff, the old words are no longer visible and I feel confused how to spell the word. So I have already painted the letters that would certainly figure on the signage and waiting to get the reliable tip on the missing letters. Is it "Circit", Sir? But I vaguely remember that the writing had 12 characters in total.I wanted to go inside to ask you about it. But the police did not allow me to enter into the compound anymore" 
      I told him," You are wrong. It is "CIRCUIT" and you finish writing  before my eyes." He did it, and I hurried back to the Control Room to join my colleagues.
          The visit of the VVIP  passed off without any more hitch. After a couple of days, the painter came to my office chamber to obtain "Work done" endorsement on the bill to claim his fees. Obviously, I did it. But I had the irrepressible curiosity to know how he would have managed the situation, if I had not come out of the compound to see if writing on the signage was complete. His candid answer was " I had devised a way out, in case no reliable help to resolve my doubt on the correct spelling of "circuit" was forthcoming. I would have put a full stop after "CIR" to shorten the word." To my second query on what about the gaping blank space left between "CIR." and "HOUSE" in that case; showing sparks of his management skill, he replied "I would have painted "Ashok Chakra"* or an arrow sign indicating the direction of the main gate within a circle to fill in the gap."
           I thanked my stars many times that the compulsive ingenuity  of the painter did not get a chance to find its expression on the signage at the end. 
   
     * The wheel of much-adored Emperor Ashok, the Great, a part of India's national  emblem.

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