Will, Hill and The Way

Nobody knows which passenger,
would have thrown the seeds
of a tomato after eating it
from the window
while travelling in a train,
but one seed decided to live
amidst the continuous movement
of up and down trains,
it grew and flourished as a plant
by ripping the stones around
with whatever available
beside the railway track
to bear the fruit
to perform its karma and dharma…

This is not the story of a seed. There are a plethora of such instances around us. I’m going to share a story of Pratima, a lady officer in the Bank, who was born in a very poor scheduled caste family, who used to work hard throughout the day to get the meal in the evening.

But even after that she passed Class VII and started working as a part-time sweeper in the Bank. She used to sit late in the office for two hours in the evening, read the newspaper and prepare for the matriculation.

After four years, she appeared for matriculation examination as a private candidate and passed in first class. Then she became a full-time messenger and after passing the promotional test, she was promoted as a clerk in the Bank.

When she was a clerk, she used to sit in the branch for three hours after the end of duty at five in the evening and prepare for the trainee officer examination. She got apt guidance from two officers posted in the branch, who used to ask and tell the answers to probable questions that could be asked in the examination.

And in the first attempt itself, she passed the trainee officer examination with flying colours to be promoted in the officer cadre. She didn’t stop thereafter. She didn’t miss any promotion and got promoted from Asst Manager to Deputy Manager, Manager, Chief Manager and now to Asst General Manager.

She has headed big and reputed branches and handled all various types of banking business. Her bosses were happy with her self driven quality and they never felt the need to follow up the work assigned to her.
She has always been applauded for her performance and now selected for the elite CGM club.

She has still chances to forge ahead. I salute the spirit of Pratima and her thinking and struggle against all kinds of adversity. She has proved once again,

where there is a will,
there is a way;
and where there is no will,
there is always a hill…

P.S. Incidentally, another struggler, Smt. Draupadi Murmu, the first tribal and the second woman is going to become the next President of India.

–Kaushal Kishore