VOLUME X – CHAPTER 2
POSTING PRESTIGE OR PUNISHMENT OF PREFERRED
1) There is a hightide and a lowtide in life
In Government Service transfer is an occupational hazard. In certain services it can’t be avoided, can’t be escaped or can’t be postponed. Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navoday Vidyalayas, Atomic Energy Central Schools or State Govt Schools – all come under this. Over time there has been lot of pull, push and pressure regarding transfers lot of lobbying to get a place, to avoid a place, to remain in the same place. When necessity or greed is behind these manoeuvres, it becomes a fertile field for politicians to enter the arena of ambition and avarice.
Transfers are requested or ordered for various reasons. Some years back two cases came to the notice of the author. In one school it was noticed that the Principal had embezzled Govt. funds. A departmental enquiry was ordered and he has found guilty. When he pleaded guilty because of pressure of dire family circumstances the authority took a stern as well as compassionate view and ordered his demotion as Vice Principal, transferred him to the North East region and also a recovery of the full amount of Rs. 20000/- in instalments spread over a few years. Demotion and transfer are punishments, but the recovery is it a punishment? He has been assured of his job for a few years and public memory being short, the event would be forgotten after sometime. This is a punishment transfer.
In Tamil there is proverb:-
Those who rode on an Elephant, may one day come so low as to walk on the road.
The author had been such incidents. These are all examples of settling old scores. Today we don’t have Rajajis in the Govt? He on assuming power as CM in 1939 called the Inspector General and The Commissioner of Police [people who had lathi charged him] and said “Earlier you did your duty by the Govt. Now you do your duty by the people. You will continue in your posts but displaying a new and different colour”. Those two British Officers were stunned by his magnanimity.
In Govt service if a Principal is found inconvenient and not cooperative the politician goes to the Minister and gets him transferred. If the results are very poor then the Principal is transferred. Does it solve the problem? He may face great hardship because of the transfer. May feel humiliated. If so will the transfer motivate him to improve the new school. One PGT was transferred from a senior secondary school to a secondary school far away because the +2 results in his subject were very low. He felt very humiliated. As it was a sort of down grading for him, he went to the class but did not teach. He was a good teacher. No efforts were made to analyze the reasons and help him overcome his problems. His talent went to waste for 2 years till the author intervened with the higher authorities and got him repositioned to a +2 school after extracting a promise from him that he will prove his worth. That year it was 100% in his subject with many distinctions. Where the B.S [Big stick] approach failed HR [Human Relations] succeeded.
2) Is the cup half full or half empty?
One day a young PGT from a KV down south came to see the author and sought his blessings on his going to the North East as a Principal. He sought his advice as to how he should function. As a Principal how he should try to improve the social climate there. How to deal with the society. How to handle the staff. How to deal with the grown up students. There was a perceptible eagerness to learn, to improve to go up. And after 3 years when he was transferred back to his native state he was quite mature in his attitude and action. So north east which is considered as a punishment area for some became a grooming platform for another. A shoe company sent two salesmen to explore an area. One returned and said “There nobody is wearing a shoe or chappal so there is no possibility for opening a show room there”. Another returned and said, “nobody is wearing a shoe there, so there is a tremendous opportunities for a large sale”. It is a big question of perception and initiative.
One Principal was looked into because he came under the scanner as reports came that he favoured only some with regards to purchases of various items for the school. So he was transferred to another school many miles away. There also he continued to get supplies for the new school from that old place only. As he could not be pinned down, he was shifted to the far icy north near the border. He found that area also fertile for his greed and collected items special for that area. But he was ingenious enough to get cash receipts for all purchases as if he had paid. Posting on punishment became a posting for prosperity. Quite clever in the negative way.
3) Surrender to the Krishna inside you
Once when Dr. B.P. Sharma PGT Maths KV Sambalpur got promoted as Principal, he came to the author for help regarding a change in posting. He had worked earlier with the author at Sambalpur and the author was very proud of him. Dr. Sharma requested him to get him posted to a KV at a pilgrim centre so that he could start his Principal ship at the feet of the Lord. The author appreciated his idea and spoke to the Commissioner who also was pleased with his request and posted him as Principal of KV II Thirupathi. He was there for 3 years and every Sunday he would go to the hill on his Motor bike, have Darshan of the Lord and return. When he left the school he came to the author, thanked him for having given him the great opportunity and privilege of having seen Lord Balaji 171 times during his stay at Thirupathi. A case of prepared posting!
Some Principals had told the author how happy and proud they felt on having been chosen to head a KV in an institution of Higher Learning like IIT/IISC. These have helped in the growth of those institutions and their good work there had earned the appreciation of the Institute Directors. But unfortunately in some cases it had been a mismatch since the Principal could not meet the intellectuals of those institutes at their level in knowledge and communication.
In pilgrim centre KVs the Principals found it difficult uneasy to manage because they belonged to a different religion-Muslim/Christian could not accompany the students/ staff/higher officers inside the place of worship. One Principal told the author, “I don’t know if KVs is punishing me and what for?” Anguish and dismay writ large on his face.
In the case of the author, for all the 5 schools he was sent to re-rail the school, a fire fighting exercise!
The reason for the postings and the effect of that postings may not always match each other as expected. They may throw some surprises too!
In all the above 5 schools the author faced big problem domineering attitude of a committee member, or apathy of the chairman because his son was not given a favoured treatment, or antipathy of the society towards the school and the legacy of hate left behind the previous Principal or the atmosphere vitiated by corruption or the isolation of the school from the main stream. In facing all these issues besides other small things the author relied on only on his intelligence but more on his faith in the supreme power that guided and guarded him from above.
In one school a senior staff member a rationalist derided him for his faith. He had at home a sister-in-law bed ridden for a long time and speechless. He had some land also where paddy was grown. Daily morning he used to visit his land before going to school. One day the maistry I/C pointed out a Lotus flower in the paddy field. Both were surprised as to how it could bloom in a paddy field. The maistry said “Sir, it is a Mystery. But I think it is an act of God”. The teacher said “Nothing of that kind. Some boys must have dropped it”. The maistry said, “May be even that could be an at of God. I feel something extraordinarily surprising, a good thing is going to happen in your family. I think this is an indication. Take this home and give it to your wife”.
As he took it and reached home, his wife came running and said, “Come immediately and see your sister-in-law sitting up in the bed and eating food”. He couldn’t believe his ears and eyes. He gave her the lotus flower and narrated all his maistry said. She only said “Yes it is God’s grace. From the morning I feel some happy movements inside my body and slowly I felt like getting up and then I felt hungry. As the lotus slowly blossomed. I became alright”.
Then the teacher told her, “Now I believe in God”. My Principal used to say “Above my knowledge, my faith will guard me. Now I realize he is correct”. He came to the Principal touched his feet and said “Now I have joined your side”.
What is this faith above you and beyond you? Why should a doctor pray silently before starting the surgery? He says, “Omniscient Lord, I am only a tool in your hands. By your blessings now you have given me an opportunity to serve you through one of your children. Please give strength to my heart and hands to use the skills which only you have given me and you please perform the whole operation through me.” Muslims say – Insha Allah! Christians Say “Thy will be done”. Once the doctor has uttered the prayer, his mind is at peace. His inner equipments [Mind and Intellect] and outer equipment [hands and eyes] are in perfect sync and he is totally focused on the action”. As Shyam Subbramaniam says.
In sports they call it “Being in the zone”. Psychologists call it as “Flow”. The Principal told the teacher “A young man with hot blood full of inadequacy cannot surrender. Only the one brimming with self assurance can make a total surrender Sarva Dharman Parithyajya” – As Lord Krishna said. Faith gives you an assurance of things which you wished for and also a conviction regarding things you have not seen or experienced.
So wherever you may be posted surrender yourself totally to God the divine power and then start you work. Then the school becomes HIS and HE will run the school for you through you. Don’t think you are the actor. Just be an observer. A witness to what he does. Enjoy his show. Your life will be cheerful and peaceful. This was the basic philosophy of the author throughout.
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THE Universe is the Body of God; in that Body, the Unity Consciousness is Bharath, the Ekabhava. “Ekam Sath” the Vedas declared eons ago! That is the heartbeat of Bharath today. This is the reason why Sages, Saints, Divine Personages and Incarnations of God appear here and proclaim their message to mankind from this land. The precious message is being exported but very little is used inside the country. That is the tragedy. For the influence available from positions of authority and for acquiring and accumulating power, individuals talk ill of others and breed hate. – Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
Jai Sairam
