15. THE FAN-MAIL GATE (YEAR 1972)

STRESS, SUCCESS AND EVERYTHING IN-BETWEEN

The Highs and Lows of A Woman’s Journey in the Corporate World

CARE: This is Chapter 15 of my book Stress, Success and Everything In-Between. These are individual anecdotes but to understand the professional journey in totality, I would recommend reading the book from Chapter 01 onwards.

Before I share some stressful hard core banking episodes from my professional life, here is some more trivia. 

On 17^th March 1972, when my father returned home in the evening, he handed me a copy of Femina, a popular magazine for women. I looked at him inquisitively, but he asked me to go through it. He had an enigmatic smile on his face. 

 

Femina 17th March 1972

 My happiness knew no bounds when I saw my photograph under the Young World Column in the magazine.

“How has it appeared here?” I asked my father excitedly, but he shrugged his shoulders and feigned ignorance. I suspected he could be behind it, but who was really interested in knowing that. The exciting part to my young mind was that my photo had appeared in Femina with a write-up. It read as follows:

MULTI-LINGUAL BANKER Pretty Ranjana Sharma has recently joined the Xxxxx Xxxx xx Xxxxx as a Probationary Officer at Lucknow. She has also been selected as Staff Officer in the Reserve Bank of India. She took her Master’s degree in Political Science from Lucknow University in 1970, in first division, securing first position among the successful candidates, and won two gold medals. She also topped the list of successful candidates for Proficiency in French in Lucknow University in 1969. She is also well-versed in Sanskrit, Bengali, Urdu and English. Ranjana is a forceful debater and a confident speaker. As leader of the opposition in the University Parliament, she toppled the ‘Government’ in the 1969-70 session and herself became the ‘Prime Minister’. For about a year and a half before taking up her current assignment, she worked as Head of Department of Political Science in Vivekanand College for Women, University of Delhi. Ranjana has a zest for life and is keenly interested in shooting and badminton, carrom and bridge, painting and pop music.

Three days later, the messenger in the bank unexpectedly dumped a dozen letters on my desk and said, “Your letters!” All the letters were from strangers, the readers of Femina.

The inflow of letters increased as the days passed, adding to my fan-mail collection. In a short while, it swelled into a big bundle of about 100 letters from different young men and their parents, appreciating my achievements and asking me to pass on the letter to my parents for matrimonial alliance purposes. For a week or so, it had become our daily practice at home to read them in the evening and laugh. It did not matter to anybody as I was already engaged to be married shortly.

One particular letter was quite unique. It was the only one which had come from abroad in an “Air Mail” envelope, with red and navy-blue stripes. It was on crisp rice paper and written in a unique style. The handwriting of the sender was pure calligraphy. He had also attached his visiting card, a folded visiting card that had all his 7-8 businesses mentioned inside. He was of Indian origin, was educated in England and owned several business organisations in Kenya. What he wrote was interesting, “ …Browsing through Femina at a friend’s place last Sunday, I came across your photo and instantly knew that I have known you from my previous birth. I want to meet you and would like to visit India as soon as possible. Please tell me when I should come to Lucknow to meet you….”

We were all amused, but I did not respond to his letter. When I shared it with my fiancé, we laughed at the prospect of his landing in Lucknow and finding the two of us getting married.

He sent me a few more letters but I still did not respond. And lo and behold! One day, a messenger came running to the Lunch Room and announced in a breathless voice, “Madam, International call for you! Please come quickly.” Getting an international call created a ripple in the office, and everyone wanted to know who had called and whether I had relatives abroad.

After several daily calls in subsequent days, I somehow managed to dissuade him from calling me up, and his plans to visit Lucknow fizzled out. But I still remember the excitement and the curiosity it ignited amongst the colleagues in the branch about Miss Sharma receiving international calls.

Fast Forward to 1973: I was married and brought my fan mail to my nuptial home in Delhi. One day, hubby saw them and was agitated that the bundle of letters was occupying precious space in the cupboard. I tried to explain that these letters were priceless as they pandered to my ego. But he insisted I destroy them and create space in the small almirah that we shared. I did not want to create a marital discord and hence shredded them with a heavy heart. 

Fortunately for me, my mother had retained a copy of the Femina, which had led to this massive inflow of fan-mail. I have shared the cutting from that magazine in this blog. 

 

Looking back, I feel bad that I destroyed those letters. Had I not done so, I would have shared them with you all, my readers today.

(To be continued.....)

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