Baptism by fire

Baptism by fire

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It was a taut game, points going neck to neck.

From the left corner of the net I flicked the shuttle over the net to the back court of our opponent, Harnal who was covering back a 6ft towering personality smashed it and the shuttle fell just outside the court. I shouted out but Harnal had already moved to the other half of the court taking it granted for a point scored. I looked up at some of the spectators standing by the side of court for their judgment but they all looked at Harnal who was glaring at them, they meekly said ,”The shuttle fell on the line.”

I was not satisfied but my partner Gandhi accepted it to be out. Thus the game went on with Harnal and Marwah winning that game.

 It was every evening scene in Gauhati Refinery Officer’s club of IOC. Mr.Harnal the second most powerful man of the refinery was a badminton fanatic, Marwah was his permanent partner with me and Gandhi as his opponent. The best court was reserved for us and we would get the new shuttles. Sometimes the feather of the Aeroflight shuttle would get frayed then Harnal would shout for new shuttle and we too would join in the shout when PRS our club secretary and Executive Engineer of Electrical department would run inside for shuttle cursing us.  Marwah, Gandhi and me were just Engineer Trainee, the start of our career. All the officers were scared of Harnal, he would pick us up from our hostel for the game every day. The towering figure of Harnal would enter the club like a general with his racquet held as rifle and we would follow him with lot of swagger. Any officer or their wives playing in our court would immediately vacate, PRS would be waiting with new shuttles. PRS would make sure that flood lights were properly aligned with all bulbs burning. He would often request us to save him from the wrath of Harnal. Our playing badminton game every day was a daily humiliation for PRS which we never realized , for us it was still an extension of our college life, staying in hostel with common mess and no direct duty assigned during training period.

But then fortune took a turn fort worst for me. Harnal was transferred to Barauni refinery and Marwah who was  senior to us got confirmed when Harnal was still there and managed a general shift  posting in testing department courtesy Harnal. Gandhi was selected for short service commission in Army so I was left behind. PRS got promoted as DyChief looking after electrical maintenance and power station. I was undergoing specialized training in power station and another 4 months or so was left. PRS was holding a grudge against us because of all those humiliation he underwent in the club. I was the only one got caught in his firing line. He knew that the club was the life line for us bachelors. I was a duly elected club committee member and would be active  in organizing various activities of the club.  He wanted to clip my wings by putting me in shift duties in the power house immediately after his taking over charge which would give him sadistic pleasure of my not able to attend the club regularly. Our protector Harnal was not there, he was succeeded by one Kaushal to whom PRS was reporting. That guy Kaushal was not much clubbing type and I did not know him well because I was pretty low in the hierarchical order.

Duly PRS took out an order for me to go in shift of one Jaiswal and who would come out in general shift. For me going in shift meant missing club most of the days, it would have been a punishment for me as i explained. As I had not completed my training period yet so some of my seniors from production department advised me to write a letter for early regularization to Assistant Engineer (that was the designation those days) as I had been asked to take full charge. I wrote such letter to Mr.Kaushal with a copy to training officer, did not mark any copy to PRS. I was lucky that i had lot of well wishers due to my taking part in football, badminton and club activities.

 On the given day I was walking towards the refinery in general shift when PRS who was passing me in his jeep stopped and asked, “How come you are coming in general shift? You go back and come in evening shift.” 
With a deadpan face I said, “ What shift? I am still a trainee so cannot take charge.”

“How dare you challenge my order? You are still a trainee! I will make sure that you go to shift today.” Fuming he drove off.

That incidence of my defying PRS became a talking point of the refinery. My friends and fellow football players got worried about my future, I was cool.

A big meeting took place in Kaushal’s office with PRS , Executive Engineer Power Station and Executive Engineer Training to decide about my fate. Later on I heard that one question from the Executive Engineer Power plant decided the issue.

It was Mr.H C Goswami an Assamese gentleman who was power plant incharge said,” He is still a trainee. Who will be responsible if any accident takes place in his shift? I know for a fact he had unofficially handled shift many times to help the shift engineers  those who wanted to go for some urgent business but this is a regular shift duty.”

Finally it was decided that I could not be put in shift as the training period was not over. Those days the training periods were sacrosanct and no one of the local management could fiddle with it. The corporate office in Delhi used to send posting order after completion of training period.

By the time I completed my training period the order came from Delhi  for my transfer to Barauni refinery, PRS could not have his revenge of putting me in shift.

The above incident was my introduction to the real world of dog eat dog meat, the shark tank !