21. ON HOLDING HANDS OF A COLLEAGUE (YEAR 1973)

STRESS, SUCCESS AND EVERYTHING IN-BETWEEN
The Highs and Lows of A Woman’s Journey in the Corporate World

      CARE: This is Chapter 21 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.

During the Intermediate Training Programme, a Senior Faculty member was leading a post-lunch session on Cash Handling Procedures in the branch. Unfortunately, the subject was mundane and unexciting. It was compounded by the participants' drowsiness after a hearty lunch.

After the session, during the question-and-answer session, an enthusiastic participant posed an intriguing query. He asked, "In the Strong Room, when all the cash is spread out on the table before the joint custodians, and a sudden power outage occurs, how does one ensure that the other custodian hasn't surreptitiously pocketed a few packets of notes?"

The seasoned faculty member was probably used to such questions. He responded with a confident smile, "Good question! According to the Bank's Book of Instructions, in the event of a blackout, the joint custodians are expected to immediately hold each other's hands and maintain this contact until the power is restored or a lamp is brought in."

Not fully satisfied, the inquisitive learner again inquired, "What if one of the joint custodians happens to be a woman?"           

This jolted all the lethargic sleepyheads into alertness. The confident faculty member was momentarily taken aback. He mulled over the question and admitted that the Bank's historic Book of Instructions offered no guidance for such an eventuality. As these instructions were written more than two centuries ago, with no female presence in the Bank, such a scenario had not been envisaged. He promised to contact the Central Office to request the necessary clarification for addressing such a situation.

It was evident that the Bank would now need to adapt and change some of its rules and regulations with the entry of female officers.

(To be continued....)

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