When stalwarts felt the sting of anonymity in govt office in B'lore

Former HR head of Infosys, TV Mohandas Pai, was forced to dole out some etiquette lessons to government employees at the assistant revenue officer’s workplace on Saturday after they failed to recognise him as well as his high-profile companion, Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.

Having travelled to Shantinagar to submit documents required to join ‘Follow the Justice’ campaign, he gave the officials quite a talking to when they ordered him to maintain discipline and form a queue.

The officials in charge at the time, it was later claimed, failed to recognise either Pai or Shaw, which led to this case of ‘mistaken identities’. This proved, perhaps, that a couple of million rupees in the bank don’t ensure any more pleasant an experience at government offices than the rest of us have.

Visibly upset, Pai informed the women officials that the way they addressed him was ill-mannered, and, being government employees, they needed to be fully aware that taxpayers such as he paid their dues. He also told them that they needed to learn how to behave politely.

“You have to be more courteous and guide us. You should offer a chair to whoever comes to get register and not behave like this,” he said.

Shaw also expressed annoyance at the officials’ behaviour. Following the incident, senior officials hurried over to apologise. They promised them that such an incident would not occur again.