Chander Gupta
Toeing the government policy, the month of September was observed as ‘Hindi Maah’ (Hindi Month) and September 14 as Hindi Diwas (Hindi Day) in the Public Sector Bank (PSB) I have since retired from. The objective of commemorating Hindi Month and Hindi Day has been to promote and encourage the use of Hindi in official work, especially in Hindi-speaking areas. Various competitions were held to test the proficiency of employees in the knowledge of Hindi. Winners were felicitated and feted.
This episode dates to Hindi Month approximately 20 years back. Our Zonal Office announced an essay competition in Hindi for employees working under its jurisdiction, which was wholly a Hindi-speaking region. Different topics were given for officers and clerical staff. Those adjudged 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the respective category would be entitled to prizes.
I was heading one of the branches in the zone. Always keen to write, I composed the essay in Hindi on the given topic complying with the word limit. I submitted my entry to the Rajbhasha Vibhag (Official Language Department), nodal office for Hindi at the Zonal Office. Presuming a tough competition as our zone consisted of around 200 branches, I did not fancy a chance at the podium.
After a few weeks, I received a call from the Rajbhasha Vibhag to intimate that my entry for the essay competition had been adjudged 2nd, belying my own expectations. I was further told that the winners would be felicitated during the ensuing Performance Review Meeting. I brimmed with joy that my essay had won second place at the zonal level.
On the D-Day, I reached the zonal office fifteen minutes before the meeting was to commence. Since there was time, I first landed in the Rajbhasha Vibhag to meet the officials there to thank them for bestowing honour by choosing my entry for the second spot. After greeting me, they made an interesting revelation. I took their leave to hurry for the conference room where the prizes for Hindi Month competitions were to be distributed.
At the venue, I took a seat among the participants. I had presumed that the prizes would be given away at the beginning of the Performance Review Meeting so that the winners could leave after collecting their respective prizes. However, the deliberations for the Performance Review began first. As I was not a participant in the P-Review Meeting, it became very boring for me to wait the entire day sitting in the Conference Room to listen to the heated discussions on business. Being scared of seniors, I could not even leave in the middle.
At long last, the meeting drew to a close. By that time everyone looked weary and in haste to leave. But Rajbhasha Officials, who were waiting in the wings with trophies, requested our General Manager to give away the prizes to the winners. When my name was announced, I strode up to the General Manager to receive the prize amidst ritualistic applause. Impulsively, I requested the GM to let me speak a few words. Getting the nod, I revealed to the audience what I had been told by the Rajbhasha Officials in the morning. The surprising news, which brought the entire house down with laughter, was that there were only two entries in the competition in which I won the second prize.