As per Rules!

It was a large office complex in Connaught Place, New Delhi. On 4^th floor of the building, we had two doors facing the lifts. The left door led to Delhi Zonal Office & the right one opened to New Delhi Zonal office. 

It need not be construed here that those working on the left side office are leftists & those working in office on right side are rightists!

The left side office or the Delhi Zonal Office is headed by a Zonal Manager Mr Goel. He is short, beer-bellied and rather old fashioned boss. His hairs have dissolved in thin air and as of now a few strands of hair are visible. Hence the staff of left office have an affectionate name for him ‘The Baldy’.

On the right side is the New Delhi Zonal office which is headed by Mr Narula. Compared to Mr Goel 'The Baldy', Mr Narula is younger & more informal. He has recently taken charge of the office and so far relations with office people have been cordial. It seemed that he was more of a motivational man & less stickler of rules in contrast to Mr Goel The Baldy. Mr Narula was affectionately called Sweety by the staff.

We three members of staff used to commute together daily in Haryana Roadways bus from Gurgaon to Connaught Place. Two of us are working in right side office headed by Sweety. Our friend Garg was working in left side office headed by The Baldy. 

On 24^th January we were in Haryana Roadways bus going to office in Connaught Place. Now you see Delhi is capital of India & Connaught Place is capital of Delhi so to say. Capital holds a Republic Day Parade on 26^th January but full dress rehearsal is held on 24^th January. The full dress rehearsal passes thruough Connaught Place also. Delhi Traffic Police publishes routes & diversions for the dress rehearsal for commuters. You take this route, don’t go this way etc.

So our Roadways bus took this route and that route, turned this way and that way. Anyways the bus finally dumped us on Sansad Marg one km away from the office at 9.55 instead of normal time of 9.15. Clutching our brief cases we made a dash to our offices. We three ignored the Q for lift and instead rushed towards staircase. We reached inside our offices at 10.10 huffing & puffing totally out of breath. 

Manager-HRD directed two of us to meet Mr Narula before marking attendance. Mr Narula aka Sweety, patiently listened to our story and said that such incident must not get repeated. This dress rehearsal was known to all and we two should have planned the journey accordingly. We apologised, assured him of non-recurrence of such incidence in future. He told Manager-HRD on intercom to allow us to mark attendance and resume duties.

Don't be late 

Meantime our dear friend Garg was also asked to meet Mr Goel The Baldy and seek his permission to mark attendance. However our friend Garg was told ‘No. As per rules you are to report for duty before 10. You are late by 10 minutes whatever be the reason.’ So  Manager-HRD of Delhi Zonal Office did not allow him to mark attendance  and he was treated on leave for that day. 

Dejected Garg went off cursing The Baldy, Manager-HRD, the organisation and even himself. He roamed about in Connaught Place for a while & had his lunch sitting on green grass of Central Park. He then boarded 1’o clock bus to go back to his home in Gurgaon.

This incident happened long time back. I have narrated the story to lot many colleagues and asked as to which executive was right – Mr Narula The Sweety, who allowed us to join office or Mr Goel The Baldy, who did not allow the staff to join the office 10 min late despite genuine reason. But the debate remains inconclusive.

What do you say?