It was on a hot sultry afternoon in 1993 that Ashutosh Khajuria, the young officer of the State Bank of India (SBI), packed his bag for his posting as branch head at Chhindwara, a small town in Madhya Pradesh. He was excited to be a part of the country's first agricultural development branch.
During those days the local lads of Chhindwara were trying to get into petty businesses to supplement their family income. If they failed, they aspired to be clerks in state government offices, like their fathers or grandfathers before them. Life was set. Their aspirations didn't cross the borders of the town.
In urban India, however, liberalisation was stoking the winds of change, and young minds were fired up to make a difference. Ashutosh was one such young blood who had intellectual capital and an innate ability to plan meticulously.A Dogra Brahmin, he had completed his graduation from Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and was doing his master's in physics when he cleared the bank probationary officer test. He was brimming with new ideas to transform society.
Soon after taking charge, Ashutosh found that Chhindwara was agriculturally prosperous. The branch, which was set up in 1971 when he was 11 years old, was rated internally as 'fairly well run' and its non-performing assets (NPAs) weren't high. Agriculture had to be supported by providing timely credit to the farmers. That done, there was not much to worry about. Credit lines, which are often lifelines for the poor farmers, worked well. Repayment was made as per schedule, and loans going sour were not a common occurrence.
There was, however, one problem that was nagging Ashutosh. In the evenings after office hours, some staff memrs were using the branch premises as a watering hole. Drinking was a daily ritual. "Being a branch manager, I had to put an end to this," said Ashutosh, fondly recollecting.
The challenge was to come up with a compelling idea to help the men break the habit of drinking. "Some thoughts passed through my mind. I couldn't decide on anything."
Ashutosh's Eureka moment came a couple of days later. He decided to run a study centre for 'the children of SBI staff' inside the branch campus in the evenings. "Why not impart some knowledge so that the children of our SBI staff could prepare for competitive tests like the bank probationary officers' exam? Nobody would refuse as the future of their children was involved. They, in fact, became active volunteers and without their support the movement couldn't have become popular," said Ashutosh.
Little did Ashutosh realise that the study circle at the SBI Chhindwara branch would create nothing less than a social revolution for more than two decades! From the coaching centre would emerge 400 officers in different fields, including 150 who joined banks. Many of them are in senior posts today and some are even enjoying foreign postings.
Rajendra Kumar Wadha, vice president of SBI's Hong Kong operations, is one such officer who studied in the Chhindwara study circle. He was already working as a clerk in the neighbouring Chourai branch of the SBI. After learning about the coaching centre, he used to travel 35 km daily by bus to attend classes.
"After my work at the bank, I used to travel to Chhindwara every day for nine months. I used to reach for the class by 7.15 pm and take the 11 pm bus back to Chourai,"recalls Wadhwa.
Naval Tekhre and other boys in the class helped Wadhwa catch up with the studies as he would often reach two hours late. Sometimes, he would miss the last bus back home. Students at the centre would then volunteer to host him for the night. He would take the first bus in the morning so that he wouldn't be late for work.
"It was not just the studies; it was the whole atmosphere of being in a small town and aspiring to have an officer's job," recalls Wadhwa.
Chhindwara wasn't a bustling town back in the early '90s. There were no coaching centres to train students for competitive exams. There were also not many places to unwind. While job opportunities were scarce, there was a desire to move up the income ladder.
Like all great ideas, the idea of a study centre came at the right time. Though it was unusual to think of holding classes inside the bank's branch premises, it had a noble purpose and was widely appreciated. "The staff and their children just loved it," said Tekhre, who ran the centre for the next two decades after Ashutosh got transferred.
The class began with 15 children of SBI staff, in the clearing house of the branch. Ashutosh occupied the centre stage, a chalk in hand, the ceiling fan whirring above his head, a bulb illuminating the room, and words of knowledge flowing endlessly. History, geography, and science were covered, as were maths, English, and reasoning. Special focus was given on the bank probationary officers' exam. "Oh, boy! What a class it was!" said Tekhre, remembering those early days.
The question papers were initially designed with help of the Banking Service Recruitment Board (BSRB). There were no fees; the only money collected was for photocopying the study materials. "They [BSRB] gave us the old question papers. Some students bought study materials and shared them with the others. We set up a library for reference. Hence, a lot of education activities fired young ambitions," said Ashutosh, recollecting those dreamy days.
Soon the news that a young SBI officer was training a future generation of probationary officers spread like wildfire. Children of non-SBI staff also came to attend the classes from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Boys from neighbouring towns also came. The SBI branch could no longer accommodate all the students. The study circle, now with around 250 students, first moved to Vidya Niketan School and "then to Government Girls' College. "The idea was a runaway success," says Ashutosh, his eyes brimming with excitement.
Like the hero in Bette Midler's song 'The Wind Beneath my Wings', Ashutosh gave these students strength to 'fly higher than an eagle', while himself remaining in the shadows. .
Sadness came over the students when one evening they came to know about Ashutosh's new posting to Indore. He had by then bought a house in Chhindwara and his parents were staying with him. They liked the place so much that they stayed back and Ashutosh would teach in the study circle whenever he came to visit them in Chhindwara. In 1997 his association with the study eventually ended as his parents came to stay with him in Indore.
Though Tekhre picked up the baton, he knew things would never be the same again. "Ashutosh was a man with extensive knowledge and conducted the classes like a professional. He got in touch with the BSRB to set up a syllabus and designed the study materials. Students from here have gone on to become lawyers, lecturers, and officers in many public-sector organisations," he said.
The Tekhre family is well known in Chhindwara. Naval succeeded Ashutosh as the head of the Chhindwara branch, and his two daughters, Navika and Ekta, are officers in the SBI and Bank of Baroda, respectively. One of them is heading the SBI Chhindwara branch currently, and the other is also posted in the same town.
Along with other volunteers, Naval ran the study centre for more than two decades until 2017. Without his leadership the movement would not have sustained for so long. Even students who got recruited as officers came back to teach at the study centre when they were at Chhindwara.
Ranjeet Soni, son of a government clerk at Chhindwara, had a tough time before becoming the first in the study circle to clear the PO test in 1999. After completing matriculation, he put up a kite stall to supplement the family income. For a time he also sold school stationery items. During his postgraduation days, he started taking tuition.
Soni first joined Dena Bank as an officer before getting a lateral entry into IDBI Bank, where he is general manager now. He attended the Chhindwara classes and subsequently taught there. "Had it not been for the initiative of Ashutosh, I wouldn't ever be thinking of coming to Mumbai and holding an executive post. Equally important was Tekhre's role because it was he who kept the flame burning after the exit of Ashutosh," said Sone, sitting in the posh IDBI Tower office at Cuffe Parade overlooking the Arabian Sea.
Hemant Kulkarni, a former student at the study circle, is in touch with Ashutosh, who is now an executive director at Federal Bank. "Those days we couldn't have imagined getting these jobs. With the end of alcoholism in the branch premises, the children of Chhindwara could dream of big jobs in other towns and cities," said Kulkarni, who works as an officer at Indian Bank.
Kulkarni's sister, Suvarna Dixit, is a clerk at the Bank of Baroda (BoB). She has taught at the study circle for 20 years after her duty hours at BoB. "As I live in a joint family, timings could be adjusted, and household chores distributed. This study circle made me what I'm, and I want others to also fulfil their aspirations," she says.
"It was one man's vision that changed the lives of all of us who were looking for a livelihood in Chhindwara in the post-liberalisation days," she sums up.
