Bank of Polampur

Book excerpt: Kashmiri Lal Chawla joins the Bank of Polampur as a clerk and is posted to different cities and offices, where he confronts bizarre situations and odd characters. Nothing escapes him, neither the idiosyncrasies of the people he meets inside or outside the bank, nor their doings or intents; he presents these to the reader in simple, everyday language, spicing it up with his dry wit. Through these amusing anecdotes that can be enjoyed by readers of all age groups and from all walks of life, Kashmiri Lal exposes the sorry state of affairs in the bank; he diagnoses the shortcomings, contradictions and loopholes in the system and also offers solutions, without becoming preachy. As a satire on the Indian banking industry, this is possibly a first, using tongue-in-cheek humour to expose the corrupt and ineffectual system prevailing in public-sector banks in specific, and government departments at large. The author has an intimate knowledge of Indian banking, so this novel also becomes a record of the changing scenario of the banking sector in the country, over the last forty years.