100
29. How I was on the wrong side of the bosses ?
I was born under a blighted star . Students of English Literature come across this term in one of Shakespeare’s dramas . perhaps ‘King Lear’ . I bade good bye to my text books the moment the CSS results came . However , I continued reading so much so that when the Cabinet Secretary gave me two books on ‘Honours and Awards ‘to read and to prepare myself for discussions with him on a date yet to be announced , I amused myself reading the 117 species of dogs from one of the books. However , I was well prepared for the discussions .
In the 18th century or the early part of 19th , there was a saying ‘ Children should be seen not heard ‘. I turned the saying into a parody ‘Bosses should never be seen nor heard ‘. Naturally my bosses were not amused . The nearest I came to becoming a ‘ blue eyed boy ‘ was in the Cabinet Division when Mr . Zahur Azar was the Secretary.
However , unknown to me , things were sour between him and the Minister for Education , an educationist: perhaps after the country’s independence , the first educationist who became the Education Minister . I gave them a chance to have it out through my over confidence that I knew the subject in and out . In one of the meetings , I named a particularly gentleman and said that the recommendation for him had come from the Ministry for Education.
However , later it turned out that the Quaid e Azam University had recommended him . My explain was called . I wrote a single sentence that the error is profoundly regretted . When the file reached the Additional Secretary , he hit the roof . I was called in. He used to sit in the adjoining room . I shared the bathroom with him . The previous officer had the same grouse . To his query as to the brevity of my reply , I answered that I accepted my omission . What more was expected from me . The Additional Secretary wrote a half page . The result was nil .
Once my boss called me and showed me his tax returns . Since he was enjoying car pool provided by the office , I mentioned that he had made an omission . The result was almost the same as above. He began to foam at the mouth and told me to leave the room.
101
One of my bosses towards the end of my official career was quite chummy with the Minister . The latter used the former to do what he could not manage with secretary . The Minister instructed my boss to write to a particularly ambassador in the Middle East . Unfortunately for the latter , the ambassador was a pal of the former President . My boss apologized to the Secretary for ignoring him .
Many years ago , when I had just returned from my first overseas trip and seen democracy at work , I attended a meeting chaired by the then Minister of Commerce . He started playing to the gallery . I interrupted him and told that he was talking garbage . I never got a chance to serve overseas as a Commercial Attache .
You may draw your conclusions and moral from the above . However , my conscience was and now satisfied that I did the right thing .
Mahfooz ur Rahman
Islamabad
September 01 , 2012
29. How I was on the wrong side of the bosses ?
I was born under a blighted star . Students of English Literature come across this term in one of Shakespeare’s dramas . perhaps ‘King Lear’ . I bade good bye to my text books the moment the CSS results came . However , I continued reading so much so that when the Cabinet Secretary gave me two books on ‘Honours and Awards ‘to read and to prepare myself for discussions with him on a date yet to be announced , I amused myself reading the 117 species of dogs from one of the books. However , I was well prepared for the discussions .
In the 18th century or the early part of 19th , there was a saying ‘ Children should be seen not heard ‘. I turned the saying into a parody ‘Bosses should never be seen nor heard ‘. Naturally my bosses were not amused . The nearest I came to becoming a ‘ blue eyed boy ‘ was in the Cabinet Division when Mr . Zahur Azar was the Secretary.
However , unknown to me , things were sour between him and the Minister for Education , an educationist: perhaps after the country’s independence , the first educationist who became the Education Minister . I gave them a chance to have it out through my over confidence that I knew the subject in and out . In one of the meetings , I named a particularly gentleman and said that the recommendation for him had come from the Ministry for Education.
However , later it turned out that the Quaid e Azam University had recommended him . My explain was called . I wrote a single sentence that the error is profoundly regretted . When the file reached the Additional Secretary , he hit the roof . I was called in. He used to sit in the adjoining room . I shared the bathroom with him . The previous officer had the same grouse . To his query as to the brevity of my reply , I answered that I accepted my omission . What more was expected from me . The Additional Secretary wrote a half page . The result was nil .
Once my boss called me and showed me his tax returns . Since he was enjoying car pool provided by the office , I mentioned that he had made an omission . The result was almost the same as above. He began to foam at the mouth and told me to leave the room.
101
One of my bosses towards the end of my official career was quite chummy with the Minister . The latter used the former to do what he could not manage with secretary . The Minister instructed my boss to write to a particularly ambassador in the Middle East . Unfortunately for the latter , the ambassador was a pal of the former President . My boss apologized to the Secretary for ignoring him .
Many years ago , when I had just returned from my first overseas trip and seen democracy at work , I attended a meeting chaired by the then Minister of Commerce . He started playing to the gallery . I interrupted him and told that he was talking garbage . I never got a chance to serve overseas as a Commercial Attache .
You may draw your conclusions and moral from the above . However , my conscience was and now satisfied that I did the right thing .
Mahfooz ur Rahman
Islamabad
September 01 , 2012
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