CKC
Pillai
CKC Pillai or CK Chandran Pillai,
popularly known as Pillai was an employee of Bharat Electronics working in
Finance Division. Though he was a class IV employee working as Messenger, he was
very popular among his colleagues and other departments having interaction with
Finance. He was an embodiment of
efficiency, reliability, loyalty, sincerity, dedication etc. He does so much of work of himself and others that
his absence for a single day virtually makes the work to a standstill. His work
output wias equalm to the average workmoutput ofn 2-3 Though he was a
messenger, his primary job was to prepare cheques, get it signed by authorized
signatories and distribute them to the concerned persons/departments. He has to
prepare hundreds of cheques in a day and it goes to his credit that there was
not a single mistake in the cheques prepared by Pillai. His reputation was so
high that any authorized signatory was prepared to sign the cheque prepared by
Pillai without thoroughly verifying. He
was meticulous in maintaining records also and was quick in retrieving old
records also. He could be assigned the
job of any higher staff that is 5 to 6 grades above his job.
When I was working in
Provident Fund Department, there was acute shortage of staff and consequently
there was some delay in completion of work.
Closing of accounts and issue of Annual PF statements was to be done without
much delay. I requested my superiors to
allow Pillai to work in PF after office hours. Two three days I worked with him
and subsequently, I explained the job to him, gave him the target and asked him
to contact me whenever he is having any doubt.
Subsequent days when I checked the data prepared by him, it was
absolutely correct. Subsequently, I
heard some people murmuring “Ye tho hamara noukari kharab karega “. (He will
spoil our job)
Despite all the extra
ordinary work done by him, he continued to remain as Messenger as his
qualification was only 8th Standard.
It is not out of point to mention that Late Shri V P Menon, one of the
finest civil servants India has produced was only 8th standard. He
was the right hand of Sardar Vallabhai Patel and was instrumental in
amalgamating hundreds of princely states to the Indian Nation. Similarly one of
the greatest and most successful public sector CEOs Shri V Krishna Murthy who
was the man behind the success/revival story of Maruti, BHEL and SAIL was only
a diploma engineer. We Indians give undue importance to qualifications and
utter disregard to qualities. Qualifications without qualities are meaningless and
such a person will be a liability rather than an asset. What is the point in appointing a highly
qualified person is dishonest and corrupt? Considering his amazing qualities, Pillai
could have been given a higher post, by taking approval of the highest
authorities, but nobody bothered to help a poor and talented boy. Despite the
fact that he was having several family and financial problems, he was always
cheerful. He was not even considered for
Excellency award. As per the legacy of
the British system, we do not consider lower category employees for any award
or recognition. Recently Defence Awards were announced and all the recipients
were officers of the rank of Major General/equivalent and above. Does it mean that
other category of employees are not doing any exemplary work?. It is an
irrefutable fact that Dhyan Chand was the greatest hockey player produced by
the world and he was the … of the
highest civilian award Bharat Ratna. He was ibnstrumental in Ibndia’s top
position in hockey for several years. After the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games,
Germany gave a reception to the Indian team. During the reception a person none
other than Adolf GHoyler declared that If Dhtan Chand had been in Germany, he
would have ben Major General but in India he was onlt MaJOR WITHOUT General.
Shri Pillai left to his
heavenly abode on ----- at the age of ---.
Hundreds of people attended his funeral. Being the treasurer of BEL
Death Relief Fund Association I had the chance to attended several funerals of
BEL employees but nowhere I saw such a big gathering as at Pillai’s
funeral. At least he was given a fitting
send off after his death.
A big salute to an ordinary
person with extra ordinary qualities.
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