Amid rampant rudeness and brashness of staff, distraught customers of SBI yearn for succour.

By enduring inexpressible tribulations, such as, skyrocketing inflation, never-ending responsibilities, unforeseen illnesses, deadlines and timelines, the salaried-class of India eke through daily turmoil, and yet, put their hard-earned money into a non-profitable savings account venture, hoping to keep it secure but, all they receive in return is a meagre 4 percent interest rate coupled with sheer brusqueness in speech.

Uncivility of officers in public sector banks is no secret. Nonetheless, a leeway in minimum balance to maintain the life-savings compels the hapless investors to delve deep into reserves of forbearance while withstanding the tantrums of the ill-mannered staff under duress, and an ever-declining interest rate. In actuality, most nationalised banking institutions are ill-famed for brashness. However, the government-owned State Bank of India breaches all records of rudeness and irreverence.    

A quintessential case in point, are the employees working at the State Bank of India's Janakpuri district centre, notorious for a whole gamut of insolent and contemptuous workers, starting from the cashier to the deputy branch manager. Perhaps, their snappish propensities germinate from a stress-overload or the inordinately delayed remuneration scale revisions. Irrespective of the reason, the sinless customers bear the brunt of the ire, most of whom are mild-mannered senior citizens. 

However, the heartless banking staff is unaware of concepts akin to compassionate empathy, patience, and proactiveness. 

Almost as if, they got dragged into the profession of banking, with a German Mauser placed on the forehead! Not in the least, for every single one of them made a conscientious career selection after prudently discerning the various pros or cons a vocation in a financial sphere of activity might bring.      

On Monday dated March 12th, my ageing mother, ailing from hypertension and diabetes, accompanied by me visited the same bank branch to submit Form 15H,  otherwise, taxes get deducted on the whatever minuscule fixed-term deposits she has for subsistence. Try to fathom the plight of a widowed woman in the midst of financial ruination, struggling to make ends meet with not a penny in pension funds, and yet, repeatedly paying obeisance to boorish individuals for saving whatever pitiable resources remain. 

Ideally, for people with a well-placed ticker, such profound heart-wrenching accounts or even a sight of an elderly tottering towards their desk, should evoke soul-stirring compassion. Undoubtedly, these mortals staring at the computer screens, aren't the ones that inculcate a semblance of empathy in their everyday lives. Ergo, it's about time to expose the hideous face behind the feigned earnestness of the so-called economic soldiers.

This scathing write-up inscribed in trueness, endeavours to unmask each episode of impertinence, verbatim, and in a chronological sequence of occurrence. Herein, are the two repulsion invoking imperious characters at the district centre SBI branch - 

1. The Haughty lady - Wearing spectacles, Mrs Kaur, perennially squats on the chair of counter no. 26 assigned to those intending to open a fixed deposit. 

Dare to spend few moments besides her desk, & watch the unladylike spectacle in which she retorts to queries of customers that are mostly the meek elderly. 

It's almost as if insensitivity is entrenched in the psyche, thereby becoming a habit. Just before my mother quizzed her regarding the submission of Form 15 H for saving tax on the FD's totalling to a meagre 2,20,000, and yet, all the remnant resources to sustain ourselves, the uncouth woman shouted upon another old man who dared to ask a pertinent question. 

"Will you kindly guide me in filling this form. It is quite complex for someone my age." Mother requested in an angel's voice. 

"Helping you is not my job. If I waste time filling your form, will you do my work, instead?" retorted the female, in a tenor, defying polite refinement. 

To this, I replied, "Then, who will? Even a basic helpdesk is missing in this branch."
Then, go to the Manager he will assist you." She blurted. 

Standing at the same counter, another son escorting his mother intervened, "This counter is for handling transactions relating to term deposits. And, the annual submission of Form 15 H is the essential component of this procedure instated by the government for the aged. In case, it's such a hassle, why don't you petition to remove the same?"

Realizing the gravity of the matter and comprehending the simmering unrest among the customers, the ungracious woman officer backed down. 

Coincidentally, the Manager's seat was vacant. A young female, sitting at the opposite end of the table directed to the Deputy Manager for getting the work done. Momentary as it was, her affability seemed like a whiff of fresh air amid the vitriolic negativity.  

As we headed towards the deputy manager cabin, the sight of the person recalled bitter memories from last year. 

2. The abhorrent foul-mouth - Lo and behold, O. K Dasturi, the Deputy Manager, with a perpetual frown, having a stark resemblance to a disgruntled Adolf Hitler.  
Apparently, his faculties aren't merely restricted to louring at the distraught instead, the acrimony runs intravenously, thereby, becoming the reason for causticity, flowing in the garb of unwarranted barbs and distasteful rebuffs.   

Incidentally, while filling the same senior citizen tax rebate form, precisely a year ago, this abhorrence causing lout, displayed his discourteous demeanour, too. Using his tone, reminiscent of a hoodlum, the Assistant Manager shouted out instructions to make several changes in the complicated form. 

Since I was accompanying mother, she didn't have to fret over the unending corrections. Imagine the plight of those forlorn elders, who visit banks across the nation, in solitude.  

He vociferated instructions to make several changes in the over complicated form, in a tone reminiscent of a hoodlum. Since I was accompanying mother, she didn't have to fret over the unending corrections. Imagine the plight of those forlorn elders, who visit banks across the nation, in solitude. 

Still, the boor didn't stop there. Upon successful completion of the convoluted form, his chair was conspicuously empty. Witnessing my perplexed look, the counter 26 lady said, "He's inside the cabin next to the cash counter. Go and ask him to return."

As I stood outside the cabin, the deputy manager was chatting with a female colleague bearing a coquettish grin. My presence extracted an eyebrow gesticulation from the female. Getting caught red-handed frittering time was a tad excessive to digest for his fallacious (founded on mistaken belief) self-esteem, as he blurted, "I'm not lounging idly."

To which, I replied, "never mentioned it." Perhaps, the guilt-trip evoked a semblance of conscience, mostly laying in comatose dormancy within the employees of public sector banks. 

Flashing to present time, Dasturi thronged by complainants making a beeline in the hope someone might pay heed to their vexations. Fortuitously, the mother and son duo were also there. The son seemed miffed with the lackadaisical apathy in handling his mother's fixed deposit matter. 

With so many indignant individuals breathing down his neck, Dastari would've renounced everything just to be anywhere else. Sadly, this factual narrative is just the tip of a pernicious iceberg. Typing the keywords' State Bank of India, Sagar Tower, Janakpuri,' opens to a 
Google search, wherein, several candid reviews of account holders, corroborates the veracity of this forthright write-up.  

Unless the putrefying framework of nationalized banks in India gets an exigent overhaul, be it through a complete revamping the entire selection criteria for appointing probationary officers or reassessing the examination system from scratch, including the remodification of the Common Written Exam (CWE) conducted by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS), whereby,  incorporating the necessary reforms or even during the interview process to evaluate the prospective candidate's levels of empathic humaneness, utilizing an in-depth psycho-analysis assessment, this rotting system shall soon attain to ruination. 

And for ushering reformation, time is of the essence. Lest the looming ignominy for both the financial institutions and its patron - the incumbent Union government aggravates into civil unrest, consequently, forcing strategic disinvestment and denationalisation of loss-making public sector banks, reeling under the mammoth mountain of Nonperforming Assets and the endless lists of honchos-turning-fugitives.

Without an iota of doubt, the best place to start is to initiate stringent punitive measures against these two grossly impertinent bank officials, of a supposedly fabled, State Bank of India. None better way, than to either rusticate them without a penny in retirements benefits or execute their transfer to a Naxalite infested red terror zones akin to Dantewada and Bastar, to cite a few examples, where the most brazen-faced egotist reforms overnight. 

After all, the day depositors dread visiting bank branches for transacting in what's their own, will then, render the existence of a national financial framework nugatory and futile.