Bangalore: Cost of honesty - 2 decade wait for his marks cards

Bangalore Mirror

 

Bangalore, 30 June 2011: 68-year-old Bangalorean refused to pay `200 bribe for duplicate marks cards in 1993. His career in US suffered as a result. Back home now, his quest for the documents continues to be stonewalled by Bangalore University.

 

In all the euphoria of the Anna Hazare-inspired nationwide campaign against corruption, the price one has to pay for not greasing palms can only be gauged by the long-suffering individual himself.

 

Take the case of 68-year-old Bangalorean H N Srikantaiah. All he wanted was duplicate copies of his BSc marks cards, which Bangalore University could have issued in a matter of days. But his wait for the certificate has stretched to nearly two decades — all because he refused to pay a bribe.

 

Srikantaiah completed his BSc (textiles) in 1968 from Silver Jubilee Technological Institute, affiliated to BU. He moved to Mumbai to work in Khatau Mills. After 24 years there, he received an attractive offer from the US. By 1993-end, he was ready to move to the US when he realised that he had lost his BSc marks cards.

 

He applied to BU for the duplicate marks cards and was asked to come back in a fortnight. The fortnight over, he was told to come the next day. The charade dragged on, and he kept knocking at the university’s doors everyday for the next three months.

 

“Every second day, I was asked to visit a new official. They too got fed up of me, and the official wrote a note saying I should not visit him. But how could I stop enquiring as long as I had not got my certificates? By this time, it was March 1994 and it was imperative for me to go to the US. Someone in the university hinted he would get my work done for Rs 200. I had never paid or taken a single paise as bribe all my life; so I said ‘no’.”

 

In the US, he stood to be appointed as test engineer (quality assurance). But the absence of his degree certificate meant he had to settle for a lab technician’s post. “As test engineer, I would have been entitled to $19-20 per hour but I had to be content with $13 per hour — just because I did not pay the bribe back home for my certificate. I had to also forego several promotions.

 

A Bangladeshi who was six years junior to me ended up being my superior. When I quit the job, I stood to get $28 per hour (had I been test engineer) but had to be content with $19 per hour,” he said.

 

In September 2008, Srikantaiah returned to India. In Bangalore, he started making the rounds of BU again for the elusive marks cards. Some touts approached him, but even with the bitter experience of the past Srikantaiah refused to compromise with his principles.

 

STEELY RESOLVE

In August last year, he used RTI to know the status of his application. Strangely, he was told by BU officials last week that they had no clue about his certificate, but when he mentioned his RTI application they said he would get an RTI reply within a fortnight.

 

Speaking to Bangalore Mirror, Srikantaiah said, “Just because I did not pay a Rs 200 bribe, I had to work for lower wages in the US for 14 years. Never mind, I am happy I did not pay the bribe and will never do so as long as I live.”

 

By a coincidence, on his return to India in 2008 he had to approach BU for a duplicate certificate for his 65-year-old sister, who had lost her marks cards. With a steely resolve, ignoring the touts, he went everyday from his house in Banashankari 3rd Stage to the university’s administrative office near KR Circle, and obtained the documents after a month.

 

There has been no such closure in his own case, but at his time of life Srikantaiah considers it an ethical challenge — no more a career need — to soldier on in his quest for his marks cards without succumbing to the homegrown siren of corruption.