Lockdown was implemented in the whole country to contain the spread of Covid 19. Our state or union territory is no different. But being the financial warrior, we had to be at the front fighting the deadly pandemic while serving our customer. We have also faced the brutality of this deadly pandemic with so many bankers losing life. Though every banker is cautiously treading through these difficult times, there were near miss incidents which every banker could have faced. Let me narrate an incident that happening during the lockdown which involved our own staff.
It was Monday evening when I had just stepped into my room after day’s labour. I had just taken my evening bath when my phone started ringing. I was surprised to see a call from one of my lady colleagues because usually after the office time no calls take place. Within few minutes, another call came in and this time it was from my service manager. “Sir, Where are you?” He was quite subtle in his demeanour. With utter calmness, he said that a customer had visited our branch few days back and he has been found Covid Positive. As things went fast paced, I quickly quarantined myself. The night was full of nightmares.
Next morning, the branch was already under seize. Nobody was allowed inside. The female staff had already gone underground. As I was discussing the matter with my branch manager, the service manager informed us the whole chronology of events. There was a silver lining in his whole theory which indicated that the patient had not entered the branch premises at all. I felt a bit relaxed as the same was corroborating with the guard’s version and the video camera analysis. We still advised caution.
Next day the Regional Manager and his team visited us and considering the seriousness of the matter, they also advised us to be careful. The district authorities sent the team for sanitising the whole premises. Simultaneously, they asked for the names of employees who wanted to get tested. Few Einsteins volunteered and thought that they may be having a gala time out from the branch. But as they shared their experiences it was a very bad deal. The quarantine period which started from their tests went on for almost twenty days and such a long period of isolation was a troubled affair. The biggest Einstein, the leader among them, played the big daddy’s role. I tried to convince them that the paper mode transmission of the infection has not been established but it was of no use for this Einstein. Anyways we thought that it would be safe for all of us to get them tested.
Coming few days were real perturbing as we were put under home quarantine and it was real trouble time for all of us. Since we were put under the isolation, the whole family got impacted. The phone went on ringing for the next few days as everyone was awaiting the results. Even our head office got scared, primarily because our service manager had visited them a few days and he had also volunteered for testing and was under institutional quarantine. The circle was vicious as the chain was huge and the pandemic was deadly. We were supporting each other and that was indeed encouraging. I tried meditation and yoga during these days. It helped immensely.
The third day after the testing was done, i got a call from my brother. Luckily since he was looking into the covid cases, he got access to the reports. He called me in the evening “ Bhai, a good news for you. The test results were negative”. I at once called the staff under quarantine about the good news. Everyone was relieved and I could feel the satisfaction. We had survived the scare. I thanked almighty for the support.
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