oFFice oFFice

Its 11:00 am and all the government offices, Banks and all were just opening up now. It was complimentary off for 2 hours on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan in all the government organizations. I was the 1^st in the queue of water bill submission, not for submitting the bill but for the complaint. I was here with my sister; she had paid her water bill last month but still these govt. authorities had sent this month’s bill with addition of previous month’s bill and fine for not submitting it on time (That’s quite common mistake by the officials).

As the billing window open, after few minutes of argument the bill collector at last agreed to check his records. That too of no use, as his records were also showing that we have submitted the bill on time and the bank also processed the same. So he asked me to go to MC office to rectify it because it’s their mistake and they need to update their records.

I have travelled 5kms to oriental bank office and now need to go to MC Head office nearly 10 kms away at another corner of Patiala and that too because of no mistake of mine. As we reached MC office, I was so surprised on seeing the condition of the office. I came at the inauguration of this building 7-8 years ago with my friend; his father was at some high position in MC so we got the passes for the function. At that time we admired the architecture of the building, it was designed so beautifully for a government office’s use. But now I felt pity on its condition, water logging at the entrance, floor tiles worn out badly, doors and windows were like smashed by a bomb blast, and garden was full with wild bushes; grass has not been shown a blade from last many months. Thank god lift was working, but it will scare the hell out of you once you step into it.

I asked the gate keeper for the concerned person and got the reply “Andar Chale jayo”.

Inside it looked more like a warehouse of files than an office. The entrance was aisled both sides by Elmira’s with the worn out files hanging outside and above them. I wonder in this technology driven decade what the hell these files are doing here. As we turned to the left towards working area, It reminds me of my school staffroom which is still pictured in my mind regarding the fact I had seen that 12-15 years back. Wooden tables with metal legs and drawers have been placed in L shape with piped chairs weeded with plastic strips. 

70% of the tables were still to be occupied, rest 30% are just been occupied. I looked around for a helping hand and asked an old fellow regarding my complaint, he directed me towards an empty table. “That place, Wait there”

We moved to the assigned table. I have to look for a comfortable chair as almost all the chairs were in bad condition and some of them were held in position with jugaad. The table in front of me is having glass top of it having pictures of almost all the devi-devtas and calendar of last two years along with this year’s calendar. I wonder if the person sitting here is keeping record of the previous years or will plan his year ahead depending upon his past records.

Three mid aged persons were sitting next to us discussing the current affairs holding pieces of today’s newspaper. I think there’s only one newspaper in this office and that is being circulated in every body’s hands in pieces till they crammed it all. After making us wait for 20 minutes one of them slid his chair to us for hearing our concern. I was surprised that why the fellow has waited for such a long time to shift to us if he knew we were waiting for him only. He looked at few files called few persons and told us that it’s a typing mistake by computer operator and will be modified. He asked us to wait for few minutes as the operator starts the computer.

15 minutes have been passed and I was tired looking at the people around wasting time in stupid chat some females on the back table discussing about their suits and some newly opened fabric shop in some market. One old aunty was talking on from last half an hour and so loud as if she is talking with a person on the opposite roof. I asked the same fellow who was busy in the newspaper and got a reply “wait, computer garam hoan nu time laganda”. I was astonished that is it a super computer or what? It reminds me of my school days when we used to think that there will be a big computer in some corner of the world where all the data is stored.

We had no option other than to wait for the computer to heat up. I was scanning parts of the building, not even a single window pane is in good condition, and all the curtains are hanging only from one or two points, saw a big mouse entering through the window and jumping over files placed atop of an Elmira. An electric heater placed in a corner used for the tea making but dangerously plugged in a broken switchboard.

I asked him again after waiting for 10 more minutes. He called some body and told me that it will take few more minutes as computer is in the basement and a person is already there to start it. I urged him to be quick and asked why the computer is placed in the basement when they have so much space here only. On his reply I got to know that he is not talking about the computer but the server room. For him all this is a one thing called computer. And none of the persons sitting there knows anything about computer and they have hired a computer operator for doing small jobs of data feeding in it.

After waiting for around two hours and computer was still in the process of heating up, I requested him for some other option and he took our complaint on a paper and assured us to put it in records when the computer starts. I had no trust on that person if I will do this task properly but had no other option. We have to wait for next month’s bill to make sure whether our complaint has been done or not. We took stairs to come down from the third floor instead of that scary lift.

I thanked GOD that I am not working in a govt. office, and thanked my MNC for providing me such good work facilities.