FROM EXECRABLE TO LAUDABLE...

Abominable, execrable, egregious, reprehensible, obstinate, obdurate, testy, techy, yokelish … the lists goes on… These were few of the words from GRE Word List that we managed to rote, thanks to the gibing qualities that our redoubtable registrar possessed! (Point to note: He was officially the registrar much later than he actually thought he was…) Every damn attestation and all multitudinous signatures on the worthless forms needed HIS signature. (Note again: We address the Almighty Lord with a capital ‘H’… Note my all Capitals for our great registrar… Hold on… It isn’t out of respect! It just signifies the amount of frustration, built up over the years against HIM!)

Well… just to give you a picture of HIS… He was a 50+ man with grayish-white hair, on the verge of being completely bald, donned a formal (?) shirt which was never tucked in, and always moved with a bunch of papers to-and fro from his cabin to the principal’s room… Students queued up in front of HIS cabin, and the kind of devilish smile which HE gave, every time HE entered HIS cabin, sure won HIM a lot of subdued swearings … All of us wanted HIM to sit on HIS chair and start off with HIS invaluable (to be precise… ‘worthless’) autographs on our forms. Well, but the wait was never so short… How would HIS ego get satisfied if HE didn’t keep poor students waiting for long hours? Oh... how HE loved throwing papers on students’ faces whenever he got irritated. How much HE enjoyed putting poor students on a grueling wait… a wait which started with a couple of hours, and extended well beyond days and months! And what were we waiting for? A little signature which looked like ants having a feast!

In the course of so many years, you would hardly ever find a student who hadn’t faced the atrocities of facing the registrar! I still remember my first day in college, when I had to get some formalities done, which included attestation… I was new to the system. HE was not officially the registrar then. Not knowing how things worked in my new college, I headed directly to the actual registrar’s office, who wasn’t there at his desk. Later someone told me that in order to get things done, you had to go to HIM… and there I was waiting outside HIS cabin. And guess how HE welcomed me? … with a cold stare, as if I’d caused great disrespect to him by approaching the registrar prior to approaching HIM!

That day marked the beginning of my laborious journey for the next four years in college. I feared every attestation and every form which needed HIS signature! Well… The same was the case with most of my friends. One never knew when HE would be out of HIS mind, and might just shower you with some egregious curt words. In a year or two, HE was promoted to HIS most coveted post of the Registrar… and our already sunk faces sank all the more! Well, with the passage of time, we learnt to keep a straight face and endured the agonizing torture, as there was no way out.

I completed my graduation, and started my new lease of life, where I didn’t have to encounter HIM every now and then. But lo’ here again after about half a year, I learnt that I needed my rank certificates from college. I had to gather courage to face the torture yet again… As is the case with any office, your work never gets done on time. So I had to get the certificates verified first. That would take two days. And after that was done, started the long wait to get the most sought-after autograph.

Last Friday, I left my office at 11 a.m. for fetching HIS sign, saying I would be back in an hour or so. Wasn’t I being too optimistic! Well, all set, I reached the college office, and then began the harrowing wait one more time! HE looked at me. And this time, very courteously said, ‘Madam, would you mind waiting in for some time… I’ve got to finish of with some important work.’ Well… As if I had any choice, I smiled back and waited in HIS cabin. As I waited for HIM, memories flashed by. How HE insulted the students, HIS damned attitude. Everything… Well… HE entered the cabin momentarily. I was relieved, that my worked would get done any moment now… but lady luck never favoured me in this case! Three people from the staff entered the cabin with flowers and best wishes cards and from their conversation I realised, it was his last working day!!! Phew… wasn’t I happy?

Well… NO… I don’t know. I was suddenly sad that a hard working person like him was bidding adieu to his workplace of thirty-three long years. Oh how he must be feeling? Now, again as I waited I went back to the days when he made us wait long hours. Suddenly I realised, it wasn’t any fault of his. (Look at how I have stopped using all capitals for him… after all he too is a human…) He worked day in and out. He had never taken a casual leave in the past thirty three years of his work life. (Is that realistic?) Well… he’s proved that it is indeed possible. Then I saw him talking and comforting a girl who hadn’t filled up her KT exam form and it was the last day.(this time around he looked like an angel to my eyes… amazing na!). He was running helter-skelter writing required letters and doing all formalities to ensure that she doesn’t loose her semester. That’s when I realised that he didn’t make us wait for nothing over the past few years. And about the irritated and frustrated look that he carried on his face always, I’d say it's humane… Toil, travail and trudge throughout, and get paid nuts. What else do you expect out of that man?

Well… He got back into his cabin and this time, signed all my eight rank certificates. Yes, and this time I did not mind waiting for my turn. Today, he appeared like a father figure, a gentleman, and a real hardworking man… an epitome of perseverance. And for once I thanked him from the bottom of my heart and wished him all the luck for whatever he does in his future years. I was about to leave his cabin, when I turned back and asked him, “Sir, could I click a photo of yours?” (Well… yet again a modern day gadget proved useful in seizing a lifetime moment…) He obliged and smiled for the photograph. And that was smile of a Satisfied man, a smile which is so rare, so precious.

This reminds me of these lines from The Village Blacksmith.

“His brow is wet with honest sweat,

He earns whate'er he can,

And looks the whole world in the face,

For he owes not any man..”

-Ships