Hemashri, an officer in the Northeast, offers an insider’s view of exploitation, discrimination, and the rude, arrogant behaviour of the creamy layer within the administrative services. Here’s a fictional account of a real-life situation. We are introducing a new weekly column, beginning this Tuesday. A Different Truths exclusive.

He walked with a certain air – strutting like a peacock, which was and is the charisma of the service he was associated with. An administrative service that is the dream job of millions of Indian youths even today! Maybe it is the ultimate hangover of colonialism that lingers on! A job that many aspire to and admire serves as an instant ticket to elitism. A tough competitive examination procedure is followed to select them.

However, unlike the real Alexander the Great, this Alexander the Great may never ask a local “Porus” how they would like to be treated. Thus, the saga of Babu-crazy bureaucracy lives on.

Shibaji Bhajikhamtuk Gokhale was a moderately good-looking man. He, however, had a very fine sense of dressing! He was a young man, around 42 years old. However, what stood out was his limited interest in his work. This man had perfected the art of living “cool” in this stressful world. These OEWs (one-examination wonders) were the marvellous geniuses of the art and craft of delegation. This was not the kind of delegation taught in B-school management courses. Instead, it was total abdication, where the credit for any project was entirely theirs and the blame, someone else’s – a heads I win, tails you lose situation.

This unique delegation was the secret tool of survival for these ‘generalists’ in this tough world, which specialists otherwise dominated! Many wanted to dub this generalist-versus-specialist equation the manifestation of the underlying clash between mediocrity and meritocracy.

According to some, Juwalamukhi had been suffering from a perennial deficiency in interpersonal skills. She was a middle-level Babuni, an officer of the outcaste provincial service. She needed 20 years of service to reach that level. Taking her deficiency as a cue to improve, she had been trying her best to survive by adopting every tactic she could muster. Her arsenal included techniques of voice modulation, where she was barely audible in the presence of this royal group. Another strategy was to remain silent and limit interactions with this species to avoid conflict and its consequences.

This time, Juwalamukhi got to play the role of Gokhale, the secretary’s proxy, attending all his meetings on his behalf. Providence had gifted her with a role reversal. She had learned to adjust to it because such gatherings often proved valuable learning experiences. On several occasions, she had to endure rude remarks from seniors asking why she was representing “His Highness Babu” or where he was. His work was to shift his entire responsibility to someone else. He farmed out his work. This was a unique experience in which he shifted the onus of the task to his next junior. Instead of acting as a leader to motivate or guide his team effectively, he shifted responsibility to others. Maybe work was a headache for him. Perhaps abdication was – and still is – the instant cure. He would rudely threaten subordinates to produce results. Who said, “Work is worship?” Here, work was a football to be kicked into another’s half. In this game of football, securing a goal wasn’t the target. All that mattered was how quickly one could kick it off! Maybe this was the style of a colonial master’s delegation, but was it a useful management practice in the contemporary world? They were the typical Babus of a post-liberalised India! I wonder what these ‘Brown Sahibs’ were taught in that magnificent school, which is located in the picturesque clouds amidst the mountains!

Twenty-six years ago, India liberalised its economy to end the licence raj, with a commitment to govern as a strictly regulatory entity. These high-caste Babus were still flaunting their pre-Raj style of deliberation, unaware of the paradigm shift in governance priorities! Despite her utmost sincerity in discharging every single responsibility, Juwalamukhi found that this Big Babu spoke to her very rudely. Gokhale’s way of crude deliberation bordered on verbal abuse. She noticed that, for several days, her morning ritual was his ill-tempered comments. He attacked her dignity. These morning sessions left her extremely irritated, but still, she did not react. Perhaps most women learned to bear it all from their mothers and grandmothers, without a complaint. Could a woman afford to upset His Lordship, seated on a high horse? He, the self-appointed lord and master, represented the patriarchal system!

That day, as Juwalamukhi was struggling to complete an important file, her cell rang with a call from His Highness on a landline. As she received the call, his rude voice blurted, “Aap ko Jumbotron ke larka logo ke sarr pe baith kar kaam nikal lo, samjhe? Mujhe result chahiye, result. Samajh Gayi na.” Please complete the work promptly. Result (I need a result). Before she could reply, the phone was disconnected. Totally disgusted by his choice of words, she redialled his number, and after several rings, he answered with his typical “Helloooou!” Without any introduction, Juwalamukhi retorted, “May I know why you are treating me so rudely despite my doing everything so sincerely? Listen, I will lodge a complaint against you.” She disconnected the phone and felt utterly flabbergasted at her reaction. Perhaps another unfortunate chapter had begun. After five minutes, her cell buzzed again and again. His Highness was calling through his personal assistant. She did not receive the call. It kept on ringing, not once or twice, but several times.

She had no regrets about her behaviour. How long was she to endure? Juwalamukhi saluted those who could endure uncouth behaviour indefinitely and were instead boastful about it. She told herself, “They are great souls, but I am an ordinary creature.”

The corporate world strictly evaluated productivity, fairly ruthlessly. Based on results and productivity, they decided who was indispensable in terms of performance. The reputed corporate houses conducted programmes to improve employees’ motivation and enhance performance/productivity. They designed an incentive and reward system to acknowledge competence or efficiency.

How could the government insulate itself from such practices when efficiency was – and is – such a crucial issue? The Indian public sector (read: government offices) did not adopt best practices from the corporate world to create a healthy work environment. Lesser mortals still clung to government jobs so that the dear ones might get the pittance even after they went to the graves. So in the public sector, these Big Babus’ arrogance, rude behaviour, and mental harassment were routine, and any refusal made life pure hell! Juwalamukhi was grateful to her dad for one thing. He did not teach her to fear anyone. She felt amused to see some of her friends being scared of the Big Babus! They were revered as gods simply because of their official designations! She was to witness situations when they even refused to sit before their lords and masters. In the presence of Big Babus, their voices trembled or choked with fear.

An officer’s job was to analyse issues objectively, conduct critical analysis, derive an actionable implementation agenda, and relentlessly pursue compliance. Instead, they spent most of their time flattering these Big Babus with what they loved to hear. Such an all-pervasive, flattering culture had spoiled so many projects. Why weren’t most people self-respecting individuals who politely and firmly placed their points of view with due justification? This practice had been going on for so many generations that it seemed irreversible. The obfuscation thickened.  

Perhaps this was one of the reasons that people who often spoke reasonably and wanted to live with dignity were marginalised and pushed to the periphery. Juwalamukhi still thought, who needed to be in the centre, hogging the limelight, by uttering gibberish and enduring utter nonsense?

Anyway, Juwalamukhi’s humble justification was that, since she treated everyone with due respect, why should she endure such indignity? The flatterer crowd was forever in the rat race for the moon. But this stupid woman, Juwalamukhi, stood for a dignified existence, not only for herself but also for everyone who worked with her!

Life moved on for poor Porus…

No, Alexander the Great ever asked Porus, “How should you be treated?”

©Hemashri Hazarika

Photos from the Internet

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Hemashri Hazarika

Hemashri Hazarika is an Officer of the Assam Civil Service since 1997. Her research on Assam Civil Service brought reforms in 2015. A first-class Postgraduate in Economics from Gauhati University, she was awarded JRF/NET by UGC in 1997. Her experience as a bureaucrat has sensitised her to human sufferings. A solutionist by passion, she takes an active interest in issues related to Governance, Development, Women, Children, etc. Reading, Writing, Speaking and Painting are her hobbies.