Going to any branch of any public sector bank should be hazarded only if one's life depends on it. Of course, in this case I was with someone who had some business to attend to there. So I occupied the only bench that seem to have been left as an afterthought in the tiny space close to the door. After a while a young man came and sat next to me. I prayed that it would be time for me to leave before a third person arrives to make the place too crowded for comfort.
While I was busy doing this a hassled-looking old woman emerged from the inside of the bank - holding a passbook in her hand. She proceeded as if to give it to me but at the last minute addressed the young guy sitting next to me asking him to check if it is updated. She also said, somewhat apologetically, that she is not educated so doesn't know how to read. I wanted to tell her not to hand over her passbook to a total stranger but held back. The guy flipped it to its very last page but couldn't figure out, obviously, if it has been updated or not. I mean if the last transaction had been done, say, 2 months back it is difficult to figure out if the passbook is updated or not unless you ask the person that it belongs to.
The young guy chose the easier way out and told her to insert it into the machine that reads the bar code on the passbooks and updates them. It was evident that the lady wasn't up to the task. I would have got up to help her but since there were many people at the machine I was sure someone would help her out - I didn't want to add to the crowd at the machines. She joined the queue. Just then a man, a bank employee from the looks of it, came out and went to the machine. He saw her there and told her that he has updated her passbook so she need not wait there. The flustered lady pointed to the young man sitting next to me and said that she had asked him. The bank guy, in a slightly raised voice, told her that transactions done today won't be reflected in the passbook today. So she asked him if she can come tomorrow. The guy, exasperated at this, asked her why she needs to update it on a daily basis. Then, he mellowed down a bit and speaking in a soft voice told her that these machines are always there so she can come any time till the branch closes in the evening and get her passbook updated. When she said she doesn't know how to do it he told her how to insert it in the machine.
The lady, on her way out, approached us again. This time she looked at me and the guy sitting next to me and said 'I am not educated so it is difficult to handle these things. Better to ask than be sorry, right?'. I nodded and smiled but realized 2 things.
One, we have a long way to go before financial inclusion becomes a reality. The banks and the government need to go out of their way to reach uneducated people. We also have to make sure that these things are taught in schools.
And two, those of us who received proper education, without having to do struggle or work hard for it, need to thank our lucky stars for that.
Sadly, it is still a privilege in this country.
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