When I look back and think of all the colleagues I worked with during my fairly long career, only two people stand out for their extra-curricular activities.

One of them, Mr. Rao, an engineer, may still be in service. He was efficient, hard-working and much younger to me. Known for his long name - Kendragula Venkata Surya Seetharama Chandra Rao, colleagues used to refer to him as KVSSC Rao, A to Z Rao or simply Rao garu.

He used to keep two pocket books, one for noting information about cricket - which he would update diligently - and the other for writing down proverbs from all over the world. The two proverbs I remember most from his collection were both Chinese. The first one was "That man is richest whose needs are least" and the second one, "Two women can't stay under the same roof."

One day when Mr. Rao was speaking in Telugu with a friend over the phone, another colleague, Mr. Mukherji tried to create some disturbance in the mouth piece just for fun. When the friend inquired who it was, Mr. Rao replied in Telugu, "Chaapalu Boru" meaning chaapalu - fish or fish eating Bengali, Boru - bore. Mr. Mukherji who had previously stayed in Andhra Pradesh immediately understood the joke and retorted "Chintha Pandu" meaning tamarind in Telugu i.e., Tamarind eating South Indian!

In sharp contrast to Mr. Rao was Mr. Kalipada Banerji or ‘Kalida' as he was called. He was working as a lower division clerk in an organisation where I had taken up my first job in 1956. He was nearing retirement but looked much older, like a prehistoric specimen, an old fossil, a mummy resurrected.

Mr. Banerji was very proud of the fact that he had not taken a single day's leave during his long career. It was rumoured that during the pre-Independence days, he went to the British officer and asked for a raise quoting his achievement. The white man told him, "You say you didn't take leave when your parents died, when you got married or when your son was born. You are not a human being but a mere mechanical tool. You don't deserve promotion."

Kalipada Banerji, though he could not complete even his school education used to keep a book of his own quotations titled "Thus Spake Kalipada Banerji." His favourite quotation, which he would only to very close and trusted colleagues, was "Machine, wife and gun, lend to none!"