1st Day Experience @ new branch

It was 9 AM in the morning .. like always I was hurrying up through the morning chores to reach my branch in time .. but with one exception , from today onwards I would be going to a new branch.SBI Gorakhpur is a huge branch , a mammoth compared to my first branch. With 150 staff on roll , without any doubt it's the biggest branch in the region.

Founded in 1923 it has a heritage status now and is currently run by Scale V officer.My BM's a nice gentle man who welcomed me to the new branch .

I was given the task of completing the CIS data rectification ( related to advances ) which kept me busy till the last days of May.

Last day @ my first branch

The days once I returned from SBLC lucknow passed like a breeze as we were immersed in our daily chores , and by the time I realized , the last day 24th May came knocking !

I could not have asked for a better branch as my first one. The people here were amazingly warm and hospitable , taking care of me like their own brother . I will always remember this phase of my career and will draw inspiration when I am at my lowest ebb.

The staff gathered mid afternoon and arranged for a small but impressive farewell with garlands and sweets and a memorabilia as well . More than that , it's the great time I had here that I will remember at the chore of my heart.

Tomorrow on wards a new branch , newer challenges wait for me .From a small branch I have been transferred to the biggest in the region , the Gorakhpur branch , one of the oldest in the region ( established in 1923) .

Hoping that things turn out well there also .

SBLC Days

After going to home for 2 days to see my nephew , I packed my bags to set off for Lucknow. At about 2 PM I reached the place and was quite impressed with the arrangement.My room mate was a nice guy and soon we developed a good bond .By night almost all the fellows had come in and the place was buzzing with young recruits .

The next two weeks were a mix of class room and lab training .But more than that I developed long lasting acquaintances with my batch mates and hope that we will be there with each other in our highs and lows.

There was equal share of fun and masti as well. We went to Residency park as part of training and enjoyed a lot there.The penultimate day , we had a cultural show and I was very happy that every one had appreciated my performance as anchor of the show.

We had an exit test at the end of the training on 30th April where I performed quite poorly .DGM sir was our chief guest for the felicitation ceremony where he wished all of us a great career.

As the day came to end , it was time to pack our bags and return to the respective branches.The past days at SBLC were great and had just breezed away. Hoping to meet again at the next phase of class room training we all bade each other good bye and left for our respective destinations.

Farewell time .

Our second man of the branch and asst . mgr. sir was relieved a couple of days back . This is the hard reality of the a banking career. Frequent transfers are the order of the day and more often then not , a promotion is accompanied by a transfer order .Though in this case the good thing was that our sir always wanted to go to his native place Allahabad and he has succeeded in going there.

But for all of us it was a very hard pill to digest that from the next working day he will not be with us .Sir was a great guy to hang out with .Though in his 40's he has the energy of a young man in his teens and that made him special .

Also we had a farewell for my TO colleague who would be going to his next branch on 15th this month . I had a very nice time with these people and the warmth with which they welcomed me in the branch and helped me learn the basics of banking is something I will always cherish.

Mean while I am getting more and more aware of the deposits side of banking . I created SC's for outstation cheques , transferred funds , created bulk postings ,FD's and RD's .Hope that by the time I leave this branch I am well versed with the general aspects of banking.

Welcome Mr. Auditor!

As per the schedule the auditor was to arrive on 6th April .Hence , on 5th April our branch resembled a mini-war zone. BM and a couple of other guys were busy compiling and purifying the various data .I was a bit surprised that still the bank uses now obsolete dbms software like foxpro to manage it's data ,but it also speaks volumes about the sustainability and longevity of such softwares.

On the other hands our other Asst. Mgr. sir was checking for any discrepancies on the deposit's front. The MRO was putting all the KCC and tractor loan documents in order with the aid of the messenger . As the sun went down , my BM gave me the task of arranging the print outs of the various reports in proper order .We had to prepare 5 copies of the reports that contained all the data and declarations regarding the previous FY.

The next day , at about 11AM the auditor arrived at our branch and was quite surprised with the ever exploding crowd that visits our branch.He was a nice guy and after asking for few files , checking the various reports and asking few questions to the BM on advances front, signed all the reports by 8PM .

We had dinner together , my first official dinner with BM , auditor and few other colleagues , and then went to railway station to see him off.

The height of the day was when my branch manager thanked me for my work .One of the good qualities of my BM is that he is very humble and encourages newbies like me even for the smallest of the task.

The whole day was an eye opener on the necessity of keeping the books in order and working as per the guidelines.Also it helped me learn the various facets of annual closing .

This being a statutory audit was the easiest of the three auditing cycles that a bank has to go through in an year.We are waiting for the circle audit which may happen in May and finally , come November the annual central audit will take place.

Pension- the harbinger of hope for the elderlies.

April 2 was a normal day for me and my team in the branch.As usual BM and other senior staff had already arrived at 9:30 AM and I was on my way to the branch thinking of my future and the road that lies ahead .It was 10 by the time the SBI logo in blue background was visible to me and I got off the auto.

Like every day, there was a huge rush of people mostly rural folks from the nearby dozen villages which come under our branch service area.But the striking feature of the crowd was that most of them were in their late 60's and 70's , their facial topography being a live case study of the years gone by .

To die is not an easy an instantaneous process like switching on or off.People wither away gradually , the once jovial , ready to take on the world attitude of the youth gives in to the irritative , sad , desolate mindset that most of the aged folks have . And there is a very good reason for such a development.

Most of these senior citizens as we say in banking terminologies stay lonely or in a corner of their house without much interaction with the family.They do find solace in interacting with each other and talking about the yester years with glee and passion.

Pension in such circumstances is like nectar to them . It's a sort of guarantee for them that for the next month they will not be forced to live at the whims and fancies of their off springs. The queue was quite big , so all the three cashiers were working full throttle.

Though the whole body refuses to co-operate and gives away slowly as we reach our end, the eyes are always with you. The body may creak , limbs come to jam , breath get choked but the expression in the eyes say it all.

And the eyes of these old folks resembled a happy man who was able to win a sort of mission by being able to get his money after waiting in the queue for quite a lot time .I cannot forget the expression of an old lady who's a regular customer of our branch and directly barges into BM's chamber , hugging him like her own child and commanding him to do her stuff.Quite an experience.

Mean while a good news for me.. My PF Id got activated !!!

3rd Week: The Closing feast!!!

With 31st of March only a few days away , this week was marked by the efforts of the staff to update all the records , loan docs , ledgers and countless other things . My BM enlightened me on the various facets of closing and the perils of getting a an MoC. MoC or Memorandum of Change is a type of request for change given by the statutory auditors who come in the first week of April if they find any thing not as per the standards .That change even a simple one is seen with crossed brows by higher officials.

Hence , every branch makes an effort not to get any of those MoCs .One can certainly see the tension and the sense of urgency in the supervisory staff to complete the things off and leave no stone unturned.

1st April being the annual closing day , was a Non Banking Day ,however , all the staff came and completed the pending tasks as a preparation for the auditing in the coming week.
The world cup has now entered the last stage and the victory over Aussies and Pakis was enough reason for celebrations by the staff.

As I write this SL inning is about to come to end in the first final between two Asian sides and I pray that we win this time .Tomorrow's Sunday and I would sleep late , preparing for another exciting week that's about to begin.