Vasudevan got his promotion and was posted as the Branch manager of Unison bank of India. He was taking charge of a brand new branch. This means a lot of opportunities, fresh accounts and huge transactions as that was the only bank in the town - Bommikuppam. Those were the days, when computers were unheard of and banking was based on trust and understanding. It was a powerful, esteemed post for the managers and Vasudevan was welcomed by the Panchayat heads. He enjoyed the honor and respect.
In the initial few days, he had more visitors than customers and Vasudevan thought 'Today's visitors, tomorrow's customers'. Moreover, almost all visitors brought gifts for the manager - Milk, sugarcane, jaggery, home-made sweets, etc. Since Vasudevan realized that it was more out of respect than bribe, he accepted them with a smile.
Soon, all the hype withered out and Vasudevan realized it is not an exciting job after all! If there were 3 customers a day, Vasudevan would call it a 'busy day'! Work was getting mundane and spending time became tougher as his family also had gone on a vacation. He made it a habit to talk nicely and spend more time with his customers.
On one such not-so-busy day, Ramasamy came in to open an account in his name. Vasudevan checked the ration card and residence address. Ramasamy signed a few papers and the account was created in a jiffy. On the next day, Ponnammal, came into the bank, bringing her ration card with a request to open the account. Vasudevan smiled and told her 'You are very special! You are the first woman to open an account here'. When almost all the formalities were over, Vasudevan told her, 'Bring your photograph and give it to me and I'll open the account for you'. Ponnammal went back with a puzzled look.
After some time, Ramasamy walked in with the Panchayat head. It was obvious, that Ramasamy was angry and would pounce on Vasudevan any time. Vasudevan was perplexed and before he could open his mouth, Ramasamy yelled, 'How dare you ask my wife for her picture? I came in yesterday to open an account and you didn't ask! And you tell her, she is special!' Panchayat head, an old man, looked sourly at Vasudevan and asked, 'What is all this Sir?'
Vasudevan, started explaining with a sorry face and finally, Ramasamy and the Panchayat head smiled! Ramasamy shivered in embarrassment. Vasu, sighed in relief.
What do you think could be the reason? Well, it is not rocket science. But just thought I will let the readers guess for sometime. Post in the comments and I will give the answer next week.
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11 comments:
Was she a minor or some thing ?
ferrari,
Nope. Then Vasudevan wouldn't have been perplexed. He would have threatened Ramasamy instead.
yadhvi,
ration card-la kudumba thalaivar photo mattum dhaan irukkum, wife photo irukkaadhu.
I guess that could be a reason.
Aana logic idikkudhe...photo ration card vandha kaalathula banks ellamum computerise aayiduche...may be i am wrong.
Yadhvi,
I could not think of any logical answer to it.But thinking laterally the answer below might satisfy the situation.
In Bommikuppam people worshipped the goddess by name 'Ponnammal'. Naturally most of the people in the town named their daughters as Ponnammal. It so happened that in Ramaswamy's family, apart from his wife his sister(or his mother) also had the same name.The manager anticipated the difficulty in identifying the account(or ledger or bank book) by its name in such a situation(but they should still have a unique account number!!!),probably he thought a photo id might help him in case of these confusions.:-D
BTW did you lose any bet when asked about the dosuments required for opening an account in SBI - like one of those ads in the TV. :-)
Maybe The manager wanted to publish her photo saying that she was the first women to create an account in his bank!!!
Is it some kind of promotional offer for women??
srivat,
good imagination... yeah it is to resolve an identity crisis...aana Ponnammal story ellam too much...
balaji,
idhu late 70s kadahi...so no photo identity card
Now for the answer....
Ponnammal was an illiterate and hence would be using her thumb impression.
Those days, the signatures were manually verified prior to transactions and since the it was beyond the scope of the bank employees to verify thumb impressions, the photo was supplementary verification.
idhu konjam kastamaana answer thaan.
balaji,
Proper Nouns ellaam mattum dhan maathi irukken...Matha padi idhu oru unmai sambavam... Vasudevan RBI ku panna recomendation le dhan ellaar photos um ketka aarambichangalo ennavo?
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