Monday 7 August 2017

CHAMBER vs CHAMBER

"See me in my office chamber!" Haven't we heard this statement often in government offices? Elsewhere a simple "see me in my office" would suffice, But a babu is more specific. It is his office chamber, no less.

Such qualification of the location is necessary. His office is either the entire building or a floor or a wing on a floor with all its broken furniture, unkempt surroundings, beetle-juice stains, gossiping employees and strewn paper and files. But the officer's office chamber is an oasis in a desert, with split air-conditioners, polished desk, swanky chairs, a PC, a multifunction printer that often performs no function, a laptop kept casually open to impress, a few English newspapers to keep the sahib busy and what have you. All behind a hermetically sealed door to keep the filth out.

What is a chamber anyway? Ask a municipal worker what he understands by a chamber and he will tell you that it is a manhole that is used for inspecting and cleaning the underground sewage gutter. Yes, it has all the features of a sahib' chamber - it has a door or a cover, it is insulated from its surroundings and has local climate control as well. As for the contents and the occupant, well .. ..


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