One of my Registrars went to UK for
appearing for MRCOG examination some time ago. She wanted a
recommendation letter from me. I gave it to her. The UL authorities
asked me about her, with a view of verifying the statements therein.
The answer was to be faxed.
“Sir, will you please fax it
urgently” she asked me on phone from UK.
“First thing in the morning” I
assured her.
I sent the fax the next morning. It was
pretty expensive, compared to local faxes. I noticed the cost also
because I had to spend the money myself, which perhaps would not have
happened if the office had sent it, after charging the student
appropriate fee. Anyway I did not mind doing it for my one time
student. In the afternoon I got a call from her again.
“Sir, the local office says they have
not received your fax” she said in semi-panic.
“Take down the fax number and
acknowledgement number” I said and gave her the numbers. An hour
later I got a call from her father, who had been a civic body big
boss before superannuation.
“This fax that you say you have sent
or whatever” he said. “The UK office has not received it yet.”
I wanted to get mad at him because I
did not like his insinuation that I was just saying that I had sent
it without actually having sent it. Furthermore, I had sent it
spending my own money, when it was not my job to do so. If the guy
did not want to spend money for it, he could at least be grateful for
it. I kept my temper.
“I have the acknowledgment” I said
quietly.
“Will you give it to me?” he asked.
“If you send someone to collect it, I
will.”
“I think the letter should be faxed
again” he said.
“I will give the letter to you” I
said. “You can fax it.” I should have done that the first time, I
felt. But I had done it for my old student, not her father. He
sounded unhappy about it, but agreed to do so. He asked another very
senior professor to collect it from me and fax it. That person
obliged, probably because it was a give and take of some sort.
All this happened many years ago. But
every time someone uses the word ‘whatever’, which I dislike for
the attitude behind, I think of this person who thought it was his
right to get his work done by civic employees, even when he was not
civic bid boss any more. Perhaps it has to do with the power the IAS
cadre wield throughout their careers.
