Magazine of August - 2010

A Struggle For Subsistence
PRAVEENA KUMAR BASRUR, RANGE FOREST OFFICER, KARNATAKA
praveen.basrur@gmail.com
5th June, 3 years ago…
It was my 28th birth day. Myself, Reddy (Vasantha
Reddy), Paddy (Pradeep), and Umar were taking dinner.
I was in a totally depressed mood. Worst thing
about any birthday is that one becomes old by one
more year on the day. The topic of discussion at the
dining table was “what if I lose my case in Karnataka
Administrative Tribunal, registered four years back
against Karnataka Forest Department for not selecting
me to the post of RFO”? That day, I even lost the
eligibility to appear for fresh RFO exams. Obviously it
was bothering me. Another burning issue of the day
was my contract service in the college was ending in
November and I dearly needed an alternate job for
sustenance. My roommates were upset with me that
night for two reasons;
(i) I was not giving them a birth-day- party (against
the rule of HOC!)
(ii) I was spoiling the taste of food by adding my
sorrows to it!
Our rented house on Banavasi road, was our
‘House of Commons’! We were all fresh post graduates-with
lots of ambition and goals, who had joined
College of Forestry, our Alma-mater, as faculty and
research staff. Being the most versatile group in the
campus, we were getting a considerable amount of
respect and love from all the Professors with of course,
a good salary. We were an indispensable component of
the College. We were all on contract service, working
in such an insecure job environment that, any scholar
credited with publishing one more research article
than us could have become a threat to our job! But
we were determined to join government service, that
too in the forest department, at any cost! Preparing
for all kinds of exams we were totally detached from
the happenings of the world due to mental pressure.
Every issue was just a note for ‘Current events’ paper
for us. Though Sirsi is a place known for prettiest girls
in Karnataka this aspect had no effect on us!
One fi ne day, we got the exam results for
the post of Development Offi cer in LIC. We were
through. It was a matter of great surprise that three
of us from the same college, sharing the same room,
got selected at the same time! We were fated to join
LIC thus.
At that juncture, I was only thinking about a job.
Probably joining LIC was the greatest mistake I ever
committed in my life. Marketing is such a typical
job, I suppose, only those who have an aptitude for
it can subsist in that environment but not a person
like me. Unfortunately, I realized only after wasting
one golden year that ‘doing nothing was better than
doing nonsense’
My job at LIC was to appoint agents, train them,
and bring business through them. LIC knows only
the language of money. My academics, experience,
personality had no value there. In LIC, if you do
business people smile at you- otherwise they laugh
at you! Take it from me, a 10th pass village boy is
more clever manipulator than so- called post graduates
like me. He can teach you how to make money
without working! They made me pay the exam fees
(for most of my prospects) but never turned up. I
invested 20-25 thousand rupees on my agents which
I never recovered.
Pressure from the Manager, torture from new
agents and the worries about RFO case was making
me weak, both mentally and physically, day by day.
Only hope I had about life was, “if I am good; I will
get something good”.
It was in January 2008 I got the judgment from
Hon’ble KAT in my favour. It was a moment to rejoice.
But God was not all that graceful to me this time
too. I feel, He had some more lessons to teach me.
When I promptly submitted the certifi ed copy of
KAT order to the recruitment cell at Aranya Bhavan,
without any mercy or consideration, they asked me
KANARA SARASWAT Vol. 91, No.8, August 2010 23