Humility of Babu

By Vijay Kumar

LOOK closely at this car. It is not decorated for a wedding; see the red beacon on top. It is a Government car and the one who is in the driver's seat is an IAS officer, a District Collector and the one sitting in the backseat in uniform is the government driver.

The District Collector of Akola, G. Sreekanth drove his driver, Digambar Thak in grand style to the office on October 31, the day of retirement of the driver. The driver had served 18 collectors in his career spanning thirty years and it was a great day for the retiring driver when the collector drove him to the office on his last working day, leaving a permanent happy moment in the life of the driver.

Just a few days ago, I was in a High Court - waiting for the lift. Outside the lift there was a board, "Only for Judges". Even then, as a practice, it is used by everybody but is left free whenever a judge arrives. As I was waiting, a judge walked in with his liveried peon. As I was talking to the judge, a couple of other lawyers and a lawyer's clerk joined us. When the lift arrived, we all gave way to the judge and stayed back. But the judge invited us all in and insisted that we all go with him. When we all got in, the liftboy asked the clerk to stay back. The judge said, "let him come in, we can all go."

I have seen in Government offices the lifts being stopped for the exclusive use of the boss and other employees and visitors are prevented from entering the lift when the boss is in.