Kamal Ghorui
Sometimes, an innocent self-recommendation becomes a recommendation or marketing. I had passed Matriculation in 1966 from a remote village government school in Charkhi Dadri district of Haryana. At that time, there was an acute shortage of science teachers in that area. Our headmaster temporarily employed an FSc (12th Pass) as a science teacher on the recommendation of the Sankrit teacher from Uttar Pradesh. He was relieved before the final examination, and there was no teacher to accompany the students in the science practical examination. The practical examiners generally give outstanding marks in the practical tests on the recommendation of the school teacher.
Our practical tests were at Charkhi Dadri, 35 km from our school, and none of our teachers accompanied us. The examiner was a Sikh teacher from the Ambala side, and so it was more frightful for us. Somehow, I dared to meet the teacher and prayed for higher marks in the hope of qualifying for a merit scholarship. The teacher said,“ Oye, tushi apni safaris khud hi karate ho ( you do your own recommendation)”. I politely answered, “Sir, you can get any practical done by me”. I completed my practical well in time and showed it to the teacher. He said ‘good’ and asked me to help one more student. He awarded me 29 marks out of a total of 30, which enabled my merit scholarship by about 15 marks.
I was trying for admission of my daughters in a newly opened Kendriya Vidyalaya in Patna. There was a huge rush of parents, and a teacher was explaining the categories of different departments and institutions. After his briefing, I asked, ” You have not mentioned the category of the RBI/NABARD, then he promptly replied in the affirmative, as his sister was married to an officer in NABARD, the newly created financial Institution. Thereafter, he became my recommendation for guidance, and both of my daughters got admission.
In another instance, on transfer from Patna to Lucknow, my daughters were admitted to two Kendriya Vidyalyas about 12 km from each other. I requested an inter-school transfer and met the principal at the school where I wanted the transfer. The principal, on hearing my Haryanvi tone in Hindi (I lived in a village for up to 30 years), asked me, ” Are you from Haryana? I promptly answered in the affirmative and also said, “Sir, you are also from Haryana, as you have understood my wordings. Then, it became a friendly conversation, and he said, if anyone is transferred, it will be your daughter.
Once on transfer to Arunachal, I reached Guwahati airport, and at the arrival point, two employees of a helicopter service were personally asking the travellers to Itanagar. I jokingly asked them, ” Is that tempo (helicopter visible from there) yours?. It was a surprise to them as someone was calling the helicopter at a tempo. They asked me about the tickets, which were specially booked for the Arunachal VIPS only, as it was a subsidised service by the state. He asked, do have a ticket? I said ‘no’, but I can purchase. They asked me to wait a few minutes, and then one of them came to me, sir, there is one ticket available out of the total seven tickets. Thus, I reached one day ahead and also befriended the PWD Chief Engineer journey one hour journey. He was kind enough to drop me off at an unknown place to me. Is it self-recommendation or marketing?
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