"You see that person?" someone murmured while I was trying to suppress my seventh yawn of the morning. We were in the middle of a meeting called by a government agency, and the time was being put to (good or bad) use by dignitaries on the dais making speeches. I looked in the direction pointed at.
"Yes. What about him?" I asked.
"You don't know him?"
"I do. But what is it that you want to say about him?"
"I don't know why he is here. But it cannot be for an academic purpose."
I knew him. I could understand why this speaker said that about him. I kept quiet.
"You know he chaired many important chairs?"
"Huh?" I said.
"Dean of this college, Director of that institute, Director of some obscure department of the university, Dean of that third institute, then chair of his specialty in a fourth institute and so on."
So that was the chairing-many-chairs business.
"That is impressive" I said.
"You must have read about the financial scandal he was in before some minister bailed him out."
I recalled reading that in a newspaper a few years ago.
"I remember a story about him. Want to hear it?"
A story seemed a lot more interesting than the repetitive speeches coming from the people on the dais.
"OK" I said.
"A number of people were called to the university for some work. Both of us were there. When the clerk asked him how he had reached the university, so that he could pay the traveling allowance, he asked the clerk what transport was permitted. The clerk said first class railway fare or taxi fare. So he said he had traveled by railway - first class. The clerk asked him for the railway ticket, to be submitted to the accounts section. That got him in a fix. He thought about it a bit and said he would not take any traveling allowance, without giving any reason for it. The clerk managed to look puzzled and I managed to look not embarrassed for my one time teacher. I knew he had no first class railway ticket, because he had not traveled by first class."
"Ah!" I said. I understood that he was trying to make some money. "What did you tall the clerk about your travel?" I asked just to avoid discussing the embarrassing topic any further.
"I said I had gone there by bus, and gave him my one rupee ticket. The clerk looked embarrassed at the idea of paying me one rupee as travelling allowance. He asked me to keep it and paid me a princely sum of fifty rupees."
The bus ticket to the university located at one end of the town costing only one rupee suggested it must have been about thirty years ago. This person asking for one rupee seemed unreal.
"That must have been thirty years ago" I said.
"Yes. In thirty years his dishonesty has increased manifold as he chaired chair after chair. I am afraid to be under the same roof as him."
Suddenly I was afraid to be on the same academic platform as him too. I managed not to say 'me too'. But it was tough.
(Note: read he/she and him/her in place of he and him respectively. That is to protect the identity of the person concerned. Normally I do it as I type. But this time I did not do it because someone told me it makes reading the article less interesting.)
"Yes. What about him?" I asked.
"You don't know him?"
"I do. But what is it that you want to say about him?"
"I don't know why he is here. But it cannot be for an academic purpose."
I knew him. I could understand why this speaker said that about him. I kept quiet.
"You know he chaired many important chairs?"
"Huh?" I said.
"Dean of this college, Director of that institute, Director of some obscure department of the university, Dean of that third institute, then chair of his specialty in a fourth institute and so on."
So that was the chairing-many-chairs business.
"That is impressive" I said.
"You must have read about the financial scandal he was in before some minister bailed him out."
I recalled reading that in a newspaper a few years ago.
"I remember a story about him. Want to hear it?"
A story seemed a lot more interesting than the repetitive speeches coming from the people on the dais.
"OK" I said.
"A number of people were called to the university for some work. Both of us were there. When the clerk asked him how he had reached the university, so that he could pay the traveling allowance, he asked the clerk what transport was permitted. The clerk said first class railway fare or taxi fare. So he said he had traveled by railway - first class. The clerk asked him for the railway ticket, to be submitted to the accounts section. That got him in a fix. He thought about it a bit and said he would not take any traveling allowance, without giving any reason for it. The clerk managed to look puzzled and I managed to look not embarrassed for my one time teacher. I knew he had no first class railway ticket, because he had not traveled by first class."
"Ah!" I said. I understood that he was trying to make some money. "What did you tall the clerk about your travel?" I asked just to avoid discussing the embarrassing topic any further.
"I said I had gone there by bus, and gave him my one rupee ticket. The clerk looked embarrassed at the idea of paying me one rupee as travelling allowance. He asked me to keep it and paid me a princely sum of fifty rupees."
The bus ticket to the university located at one end of the town costing only one rupee suggested it must have been about thirty years ago. This person asking for one rupee seemed unreal.
"That must have been thirty years ago" I said.
"Yes. In thirty years his dishonesty has increased manifold as he chaired chair after chair. I am afraid to be under the same roof as him."
Suddenly I was afraid to be on the same academic platform as him too. I managed not to say 'me too'. But it was tough.
(Note: read he/she and him/her in place of he and him respectively. That is to protect the identity of the person concerned. Normally I do it as I type. But this time I did not do it because someone told me it makes reading the article less interesting.)
