The Chair

Prasanta Mitra was the Accounts officer of a big, private company. He joined as a clerk and continued to serve the company for more than 30 years. He rose to a middle position by virtue of his merit and perseverance. He was efficient and hard working, outstanding in company affairs. Apart from accounts and finance – which he handled directly – he was thorough in a variety of related subjects like company laws, taxation and other laws and rules governing the activities of a business organization. He purchased law books – both Indian and foreign – and also government publications that were extensively perused by the company officials. In fact, he made a library; it was stuffed with such books and Prasanta urged both the senior and junior staff to use it. But unfortunately, there were very few takers. His knowledge was legendary. His colleagues as well as superiors sought his advice and help whenever they faced any difficulty. One of the fun-loving, top executives, said, “Prasanta, join politics. You deserve to be the country’s Finance Minister”.

But unfortunately, for someone who tackled the finances of a big company, he was incapable of managing his own life meticulously. Prasanta’s personal life was not at all happy. His wife looked after all domestic issues knowing how much burdened her husband was with an oppressive load of official responsibilities. Their son was a mediocre student who after graduation got a moderate-income job. He married a girl of his choice without caring to seek anybody’s advice. Prasanta and his wife, however, blessed and cordially welcomed their son’s bride into the family. But domestic peace and harmony received a rude jolt in less than a year. The son moved out of Prasanta’s house with his wife. That really affected Prasanta and he immersed himself in work to shroud the hurt. His office became his solace and work, his escape.

But this soon affected Prasanta’s body and mind. He was about 58 years old when he started suffering from dementia and memory lapses. Initially unnoticed, the problem was becoming more and more obvious to his wife and others. It was his practice to bring home important files from office and take them back on the following day. One day, while he was leaving for office, his wife asked, “Why are you leaving the files behind?” To this, Prasanta smiled and replied, “The files are in my office”. His wife was stunned. Once he forgot to pay the electricity bill and received a notice threatening disconnection. Another day, while returning from office, he spent about three hours in a nearby park. His wife was extremely anxious and worried about him. When he returned, she asked him, “Where have you been so long? I was so worried”. This irritated Prasanta and he replied, “Why are you asking that? I go to office on time and work all day. What is wrong with you?” Once his wife was suffering from gastroenteritis and was almost bedridden and Prasanta gave her a sleeping pill absentmindedly. Fortunately, nothing untoward occurred. However, the family doctor was not informed about these episodes and Prasanta was left without proper treatment. His son too simply did not bother about his father.

The mental degeneration had a deep impact on his performance at office. His bosses and colleagues noticed as much and attributed it to normal ageing. It became very difficult for him to distinguish between urgent and ordinary matters. His bosses were surprised. Their surprise, in course of time, turned to annoyance and then to anger. But given his image in the company, he was condoned for many lapses. One of his colleagues told him,  albeit in a light vein, “Prasanta, in the past, you used to remind us about pending issues. Now it is our turn to remind you”. He looked vacuously at the boss. His behaviour was becoming so abnormal and even funny that he became the butt of all jokes for his colleagues. He failed to remember which chamber was his and walked up and down the stairs several times until an office peon came to help him. On several occasions, he was found to use the ladies’ toilets. Some of his colleagues felt that “the old man must be brought to his senses. We should report to the authorities”. But some protested. They claimed, “We know Prasantada for ages. He is like a father figure to us. We should not complain against decent man like him”.

He soon became a controversial figure in office. Even though there was no  suitable substitute for him, he was no longer consulted on important issues. Frequently, files and documents were found missing. Once an important file related to a meeting of the company’s board could not be traced and in the absence of which, the board meeting had to be postponed much chagrin of its members. A senior executive summoned and reprimanded Prasanta, “Do you know what you have done? You were once the asset of the company and but now you are nothing but a liability!” Prasanta looked at him vacantly unable to comprehend what had happened. His mental state went on deteriorating. It became impossible for him to perform any complicated work.

Soon the matter reached its climax. Prasanta passed a contractor’s highly inflated bill without proper verification, which in turn dealt the company a huge monetary loss. The matter was widely circulated and the bosses detected a colossal mistake. A special board meeting was summoned. Prasanta was placed under suspension. Board members, who did not know him, reacted strongly and proposed bringing corruption charges and legal action against Prasanta. But the old timers considered the matter sympathetically. At their instances, Prasanta was subjected to a thorough medical examination. The medical expert diagnosed that he had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease – a form of progressive mental degeneration of the brain leading to memory loss – for at least two years. This had a crippling effect on him, incapacitating the functions of his brain. The doctor diagnosed that the patient probably would become senile in the near future. Very little improvement could be achieved through medical treatment.

In view of the medical report, the company decided not to take any penal action. But it also deemed Prasanta unfit to work. So all his dues were deposited to his bank account and he was served with a premature retirement order with immediate effect. Prasanta, probably, understood nothing. At home, he forgot to tell his wife whatever happened in office. Next morning as usual, he came to the office but the security guard obstructed his passage and politely asked him to leave. Prasanta was surprised. The man, who greeted him with a salute every morning for so many years, was behaving so rudely. He became furious and roared like wounded lion.  “How dare you?”  In a paroxysm of rage, he turned violent and pushing the guard, tried to make his way in. The guard caught his arm and gently dragged him out of the premises. Hapless Prasanta wandered around office building, pacing back and forth throughout the day under the scorching sun, looking at his peace of haven with perplexed, tearful eyes amidst the din and bustle from the pavement of the street. There was an emptiness in his look. Did he devote all his life to that building?