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.

Second Week:The world of government schemes

When I was preparing for PO exams , I used to mug up the full forms of various government schemes without actually knowing in detail about the process and the way it functioned.My training in a rural branch has given me an opportunity to study closely the link between State Bank and the government schemes.

Various schemes like MNREGA , KCC, SGSY,PMREG,ABRY and many more are linked to the common man through the block and bank.Bank acts as the agency through which either the salaries earned are passed on to the people or the loans are approved to the eligible candidates.

Daily we see hordes of rural folks lining up for their payment of MNREGA and other yojanas. As a person who has been in non-rural areas for most part of my life , the first question that came up to my mind was "Why these folks do not go to ATMs saving their time? " The problem is that most of them are illiterate and so poor that even an annual deduction of ATM charge is too much for them.What baffles me the most is that not only ladies , elderlies but also a substantial portion of the youth is not able to sign on vouchers.Clearly the government schemes like SSY have a lot of hurdles to cross.

Mean while the World cup fever is at its max and the dozen strong staff at our branch is having lot's of discussion , analysis and what not !!I hope India wins this time.