Sribatsa has been an epitome of professionalism and integrity. I have been seeing him in our part of the city since we moved to our house thiteen years ago.
I see him on a hot May day, scanning innumerable mysterious switches inside a box fixed to a telephone pole, near the college playground; sometimes I see him negotiating an improvised ladder to reach a defect in the overhead telephone lines near our house. He would get into our house and, knowing where our fixed telephone has been placed, would walk up to it and examine the heavy instrument, to listen to the bizarre sounds coming out of the receiver. He would then connect his grotesque looking hand- phone to our telephone and speak to some unseen person. Then our phone would suddenly spring back to life, after having been dead for three days.
I always consider him a "miracle man" and respect him. He too has been always courteous and reverential towards me. In spite of our bonding, he would never listen to me if I tell him, during a chance meeting on the road, about malfunctioning of my telephone. He springs to action only after a complaint has been communicated to him by his office through his telephone.
He sounded somewhat melancholic while he reported it to me, a month ago, about his impending retirement. He knew this news would upset me.
This morning I saw him on the pediment near the local telephone exchange. He wished me. I stopped walking and preferred to talk to him while waiting for my friend. I was anxious to know how he would spend time on retirement after a few days.He had been avoiding answering this question earlier. This morning, however, he opened his mind. Maybe by now he has decided on what he would do..
He will be engaged in mushroom and poultry farming and help his son to grow in this business. He has bought adequate land, not far from our city and start his venture soon. He looked both confident and contented.
"Why did you not go back home in the evening but preferred to sleep in the Telephone Exchange?" I asked. His reply only confirmed my faith in this person-- a man of integrity and professionalism. The recent road digging in the area had affected many telephones in the Court complex nearby and he had been asked to complete the rectification job quickly. He worked late into last night and did not like to return home, miles away, on his bicycle.
He slept inside the Telephone Exchange, his Temple, for decades, the door of which may not open for him for a night's shelter, once he walks into retirement after a few days.
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26th August, 2017
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