78. THE ACID WELL FUMES (2002)

 STRESS, SUCCESS AND EVERYTHING IN-BETWEEN 

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

CARE: This is Chapter 78 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 right from Chapter 01 onwards.

M/s Baddi Chemicals (not the real name), a non-performing asset parked at the branch, owed the bank a large sum. The factory, a skeletal monument of their failed ambition and past indiscretions, lay idle, mocking our attempts to recover the bad debt they had become.  We at the bank were relentless in our pursuit of recovery. But the owners, the masters of evasion, remained elusive, leaving behind a trail of broken promises. After months of relentless follow-up, we succeeded in contacting the owner. He allowed us to inspect the unit. He also grudgingly agreed to meet us there. 

I, along with the concerned officers, reached the defaulter unit at the mutually agreed time. The factory, located in a desolate area about fifty kilometres from the city, seemed to exude an air of defiance. First, the gatekeeper, a harbinger of their contempt, stopped our entry into the unit. The promised meeting with the owner was aborted as he did not turn up, a petty act of defiance. Instead, he sent a representative with a condescending attitude, who arrived an hour late.

Reeking of indifference, he led us through the decaying industrial shed until we reached a precipice – a gaping well. Out of my curiosity to know what it was, I climbed a dozen steps. But my accompanying officers discreetly preferred to stay away. The well was without any railings, its depths shrouded in an ominous mist. The factory representative urged me to have a closer look at it, his eyes gleaming with cold intensity.

The air, thick with the acrid stench of acid, burned my nostrils. I recoiled as the fumes emanating from the well assaulted my senses. But the fellow insisted on explaining the process, oblivious to my distress. His voice was like a silken caress that masked a disturbing ruthlessness. I noticed the flicker of malice in his eyes, a chilling reflection of the fate that awaited those who dared to irritate them.

As we drove back from the factory, my eyes stinging, my companions whispered tales of the sinister usage of the well. It was the final resting place for the dissenters, a frightening testament to the brutality of promoters. They shared that even the human bones will dissolve in it within less than a week.

Fear, cold and insidious, gripped my heart. But it was not fear that fuelled my resolve. It was a burning rage, a vow to ensure that one day, the bank would reclaim every penny from this rogue defaulter.

When the SARFAESI Act came into force, M/s Baddi Chemicals, the embodiment of greed and cruelty, was the first to fall, a poignant reminder that justice, however delayed, would ultimately prevail.

And finally the day, the sale proceeds of M/s Baddi Chemicals were credited to the account, the burning of my eyes and nostrils subsided!

(To continue....)

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