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Articles: Short Stories | Raju & the CRF stamp
- Ms. Sowmya V.B.
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It was a mid summer afternoon. Lord Helios was at his best. But for occasional hot winds, everything was still. But, time and work stop for none. So, everybody was cursing the sun and continuing with their work. Private employees were cursing their employers for making them work on such a hot day. Government employees, despite enjoying a convenient afternoon siesta in the office itself were cursing the Government for not giving them a vacation in the way all schools, colleges and courts get. The business people were probably the only ones who had no one to curse. Further, they became victims of the curses of their clerks and boys. But, eventually, everybody turned their curses towards the Sun God. Strange is the way life goes....once the rainy season comes, we always wish for the sun to come and show his might. When he begins his rule, we wish for the rain god to arrive. When we are in a long vacation, we always wish to come out of it and come back to the daily routine. But, as the vacation ends, we wish it to begin again!
Raju was walking on the road observing people. He could almost hear their curses on the sun and pitied him. But, at the same time, he himself cursed the sun. He has been on the roads since morning. His favorite red shirt was soaked in sweat. More sweat was dripping from his forehead. He took out his hand-kerchief, fully wet for having been exploited since morning and wiped the sweat off. Doing so, he entered a shop by the side. The shop keeper was a middle aged man. His face brightened on seeing Raju. Probably, the prospect of a good purchase crossed his mind seeing Raju's rich looking appearance, bright colored shirt and trousers and his shiny shoes. Raju entered his shop and asked him 'how should I go to the post office, sir?' The shop keeper felt irked by this question. Already, it has been a bad day for him with poor sales and now this fellow is coming and using him as if he were an IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System). He replied- “I don’t know” intentionally. Raju understood the shop keeper. So, he took out a 100 rupee note from his pocket and said
“Sir, can you please give me 1 rupee worth crane betel nut packet and then tell me the way to PO?”
The shop keeper was even more irked by this. Not only because Raju followed his train of thought, but also because of the prospect of losing 99 rupees in the form of change to Raju. He said angrily to his boy-
“These modern guys! They sport branded clothes and a rich look. But know nothing! Looks here's a fellow who doesn’t know where the post office is and he wants to bribe me with 1 rupee to help him. The arrogant man!”
Raju didn’t understand. What's wrong with this person? It was he who indicated he will not help him unless he had some benefit. It was in the way Kota Srinivasa Rao questions in some movie-
“Naa kenti?”
Staring blankly at the shop, shop keeper and finally at the road and the sun, Raju left the shop.
He has been roaming since morning in search of various post offices. Raju always wanted to get in to a secure Government job and lead rest of his life in peace. Not that he is unemployed now. He is a software engineer in a good company and had good salary. But, life was busy from morning till next morning. His father says about him jocularly-
“This Raju arrives home only after the day changes in the calendar”
To be frank, any one can lead a comfortable life with Raju’s salary. But, a lazy man that he was, he wanted good salary without the strain of private jobs. What else can he hope for than the government job? Both his parents have been government employees. His own elder brother is in Income tax department. He has been seeing all of them since his childhood. He believed that they all lived a very comfortable life. So, he bought an application for the government job. It had 5 job classifications and Raju’s subject was one among them. He felt happy that there are 150 vacancies in it. But, only after he read the notification completely did he realize the fact-the total vacancy for all the 5 types is 150! That made his chances limited to 30. Now, in that, there are reservations for various castes, sub-castes, armed forces personnel etc. So, may be he is left with around 15 posts. If one were to go by Telugu movies, at least 5 of these posts must have been already given for somebody on recommendation and some 2 or 3 kept aside to be given only when some “compensation” was received. So, Raju is left with only 8 or 9 posts with people in 5 digits (may be 6) are competing for them. An average student that he was, Raju had less than 0.001% chances of getting through. But, he was optimistic.
So, he decided to try his luck at it. Now, he required a CRF stamp to be stamped on his application form. That’s why he is roaming around in the city since day break. First, he went to the nearby post office. He asked the clerk there-“sir, could you please tell me where I can purchase CRF stamps?” Even before he completed the sentence, the clerk exclaimed-“oh! CRF stamps? There are no stamps here. Go, Go and search some where else”. “Sir, can I find it at that large post office which is 3 Kms away?” asked Raju.
“Oh, may be or may not. Don’t ask such silly questions. If you want to search, go search. Don’t pester me. Next!” shouted the clerk.
Raju walked out and was back on the roads.
Then, he approached the next post office 3km away. He went to a counter titled-“stamps” and asked the clerk-“madam, can I get a CRF stamp here?” The woman questioned him in reply-“which denomination?” Raju replied-“rs100”.
“Ah! 100 rupees!” she exclaimed. “Sorry, we don’t have it”. Quite disgusted, Raju walked out. He stayed for less than 5 minutes inside; he didn’t get his work done. The only thing that happened was that a few rupees were shifted from his pocket to the parking contractor’s.
Now, Raju wanted to try his luck at another post office. It was a relatively smaller one. So, he had no hopes. But anyway, he decided to try. Of course, the experience was the same. Similar to the way the poor unemployed hero in a movie faces a “no vacancy” board everywhere. Raju was sickened at this. But then, he wanted to know one thing-“what does CRF stand for?” all the time, he was looking for it without even knowing what it stands for. So, he asked the clerk there-“sir, let there be no CRF’s. Could you at least tell me what does it stand for?”
“Don’t you know even that? It stands for Central Recruitment Fee”. Came the reply.
Raju decided to make a last attempt. This post office was the biggest among the four. Lots of people are coming and going in to it. Raju enacted the role he has played in the other post offices. He became an expert at potraying it by now. This time there was a different reply-“oh! Just now, I sold the last one available!”
Raju wondered-“how can it be that there are so few stamps available if there must have been so many takers?” Just then, the clerk gave him an advice-“why don’t you go to the Abids GPO?” By then, Raju was too exhausted as well as irritated at the process. “It could have been a DD or a pay order. Why should it be a CRF if it is not properly available?” he thought to himself. “May be all those stamps were sold out as other applicants were too quick enough for him.” Thinking so, he was back on the tar-road.
As he was walking, a thought, to which he never gave serious value, crossed his mind.
“My chances are limited to 30 vacancies. Now, in that, there are reservations for various castes, sub-castes, armed forces personnel etc. So, may be he is left with around 15 posts. If one were to go by Telugu movies, at least 5 of these posts must have been already given for somebody on recommendation and some 2 or 3 kept aside to be given only when some “compensation” was received. So, I am left with only 8 or 9 posts with people in 5 digits (may be 6) are competing for them. An average student that I am, I have less than 0.001% chances of getting through.”
“So, why should I go in and come out of all these dak-ghars unnecessarily? After all, everyone need not be in a government job. My job does not have this many complicacies. Its better to have it than making “pradakshinams” around these offices”-thinking so, Raju decided to go back home and pursue his daily routine.
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