The man was relishing his upcoming ”Good Days”! After all, in next one and half years, he would hardly take the trouble of attending office!
With much ”pride”, he was asserting that he is in possession of ”handsome” number of accumulated medical leave! So he has planned to take medical leave for nearly a month, thereafter join office for a day or two and again take several-week long medical leave and this cycle would continue for the next 18 months till his retirement!
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Following his retirement, this man would receive life-time pension and would get credited with various retirement benefits! Yet what would be his contribution to office and thereby to the society in last 18 months despite drawing salary from State! Absolutely nil! Just not an iota of conscience, thereby enabling him to plan how would he enjoy a field day by continuing to furnish ”manufactured” medical certificates by paying money to any equally unscrupulous doctor!
Following almost 3-month stringent lockdown, Government offices in West Bengal started to function with depleted manpower in roster basis. But due to hard practical reality of much-reduced public transport amenities with majority of employees living far off Kolkata, stringent attendance often does not get demanded in certain reasonable offices. Yet this man is seen twice/thrice a week since second week of June in sparsely-attended office. Despite knowing fully well that much lesser attendance would not lead to any stern question from the highest authorities with absolutely no fear of leave getting deducted also; this man continued in his mission by overriding all norms of getting infected with Covid-19!
Is our man a 20-something young man or in his 30-s? Neither is he in 40s nor in mid-50s also! Rather when he started his religious rush towards office following first phase of unlock, his retirement from service was hardly three months away! And throughout this period, not only has he finished all pending jobs at his disposal (due to uninterrupted lockdown of nearly 3 months) and made all things up-to-date; he has also accomplished a very very important assignment of a long-absent colleague also, again at his own accord in absolute voluntary fashion just for the sake of the office and fellow colleagues! Those who are directly fighting the pandemic are indeed “Covid-warriors”. But people like him who perform their job fearlessly selflessly by braving to workplace in these pandemic times, that too at the fag end of service life; also merit the same recognition.
Will he get rewarded for it in cash or kind? No. Will he receive a “Certificate of excellence”? No. Will the office and his colleagues remember his selfless service? Hardly anybody. Yet our man did it with his sheer inspiration being to remain true to his job, office colleagues and the society at large. And most importantly to remain accountable to his own conscience.
What a sharp contrast to that “intelligent folk” who proudly flaunted his tactics to shirk office works in last 18 months prior to his retirement by taking refuge in Medical leave through the backdoor in non-Covid times!
