I'd gone to my bank this morning to sign the 'Life Certificate', a document that needs to be rendered every year - to the bank that disburses one's emoluments - to validate one's existence! And I was reminded of the exercise last time, when both mom and I'd to go through the rigmarole. Of course, it was done earlier towards the end of Nov '15 as is the normal practice but owing to the demonetisation and the consequent, heavy load of work that had come up on the banks all over the country, the exercise had got delayed this year.
Mom's account was in the State bank of Travancore at Kottarakkara but since she was here, it was the local SBT that used to endorse her certificate. The soft spoken, genial and decent, Subhash was the Manager and he used to club mom's verification along with my course mate's, who lives nearby. Mom had a special affection for Subhash because he hailed from Kurichi, a hamlet close to her dad's ancestral 'Puthuvayil House' at Neelamperoor, near Kottayam, where she'd spent a good part of her childhood and we all visited, many a time, subsequently. She used to tell him about those halcyon days of her's when her uncle - P Kesava Panicker, the older and the only brother of PN Panicker - used to ensure that she got whatever she had wanted! I used to tell mom that his time was precious and that we shouldn't delay him but he used to beckon to me that all was well and that he'd all the time in the world to listen to my old lady!! Damn sweet of him!!!
There's an apocryphal story* about she wanting to pluck a mango that dangled delightfully and enticingly low - yet out of reach - and she'd insisted upon plucking the fruit herself and her uncle had got a makeshift wall erected so that she could climb upon it and do what she had wanted! And Subhash was a good listener!! He, incidentally, retired on 31 Mar '16 and had gone back to Kurichi, where he leads a quiet life these days.
Now, looking back at the whole sequence of events there seems to be a conspiratorial angle. Did mom take her eternal flight because Subhash - the genial gentleman from her neck-of-the-woods - was not going to visit her anymore to endorse her 'life certificate'? Conversely, why did Subhash have to retire so soon, his age notwithstanding?
* Note. The story was narrated to me by none other than Maheshwari Peramma, P Kesava Panicker's eldest daughter, on her recent visit to our place!
Tailpiece.
Sad to hear that our ophthalmologist-next-door is planning to shift to another location where there was adequate parking space for the vehicles that fetched her patients. The coming of the gate at the entrance of our enclave's driveway has taken its toll, huh!?
Mom's account was in the State bank of Travancore at Kottarakkara but since she was here, it was the local SBT that used to endorse her certificate. The soft spoken, genial and decent, Subhash was the Manager and he used to club mom's verification along with my course mate's, who lives nearby. Mom had a special affection for Subhash because he hailed from Kurichi, a hamlet close to her dad's ancestral 'Puthuvayil House' at Neelamperoor, near Kottayam, where she'd spent a good part of her childhood and we all visited, many a time, subsequently. She used to tell him about those halcyon days of her's when her uncle - P Kesava Panicker, the older and the only brother of PN Panicker - used to ensure that she got whatever she had wanted! I used to tell mom that his time was precious and that we shouldn't delay him but he used to beckon to me that all was well and that he'd all the time in the world to listen to my old lady!! Damn sweet of him!!!
There's an apocryphal story* about she wanting to pluck a mango that dangled delightfully and enticingly low - yet out of reach - and she'd insisted upon plucking the fruit herself and her uncle had got a makeshift wall erected so that she could climb upon it and do what she had wanted! And Subhash was a good listener!! He, incidentally, retired on 31 Mar '16 and had gone back to Kurichi, where he leads a quiet life these days.
Now, looking back at the whole sequence of events there seems to be a conspiratorial angle. Did mom take her eternal flight because Subhash - the genial gentleman from her neck-of-the-woods - was not going to visit her anymore to endorse her 'life certificate'? Conversely, why did Subhash have to retire so soon, his age notwithstanding?
* Note. The story was narrated to me by none other than Maheshwari Peramma, P Kesava Panicker's eldest daughter, on her recent visit to our place!
Tailpiece.
Sad to hear that our ophthalmologist-next-door is planning to shift to another location where there was adequate parking space for the vehicles that fetched her patients. The coming of the gate at the entrance of our enclave's driveway has taken its toll, huh!?
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