It has been
indeed, a privilege, working with prestigious Pakistan Water and Power
Development Authority (WAPDA) or to be precise, serving the nation through WAPDA,
for 30 plus years. Beginning the journey in mid 1980s, I, like many other
inductees, never wanted to continue working with WAPDA and kept making efforts
to break away from it; firstly, through moving to some Western countries for
higher studies, and/or secondly, shifting to some other provincial or federal
organization during early years of working with this organization. It never happened, and my roots with WAPDA
became deeper and stronger with every passing year.
I do not know
about working environment of other organizations in the country but while working
here it was observed that WAPDA has developed into a leading engineering organization
of the nation through a well-designed and disciplined set of rules and
regulations that provide equal opportunities of rich desk-job and field experience
coupled with a series of effective local and international training courses
available to every employee of Grade 17 (and above) that helps them translating
their knowledge and experience into developing their careers all along the
years.
Nevertheless,
there is a downside of this career development too. During an ascending career
growth journey, the power and authority vested in a position build a snobbish attribute,
bit by bit, in the officers at each step of the ladder. While officers, at any
step in the career, remain humble and respectable to their seniors, they, knowingly
or otherwise, treat their juniors oddly, harshly, and at times, disrespectfully.
The career building process on this pattern keeps going on, unabatedly.
When reaching at
the pinnacle of the career; holding the positions of Chief Engineers, General
Managers, Project Directors, and Director Generals, etc., they consider themselves
sailing in a boat that runs solely on their own skills and capabilities only.
At this stage of the career when everyone working under them is harmonized on
their instructions and orders, and everything happening around them works in
accordance with their wishes, they touch the highest point of superiority, if
not arrogance. Their ears tend to like hearing yes sir, yes sir, and their eyes
enjoy frowned, scared, and flattery faces of the subordinate employees with
artificial smiles, while their minds process the whole environment of “leading through
dictating” as the “kind and friendly”. This
authoritative role or rule does not last long since they become oblivious of
the retirement date that stalks around slowly but surely.
On the way up,
they meet and attend some farewell (retirement) parties of their seniors, where
they, when asked to speak, shower heaps of praises on the qualities and caliber
of the outgoing fellows. They vow to receive their calls instantly should they
need any help from them. This hardly and seldom works because their working circle
does not include retired colleagues. The calls and texts from them went ignored
and forgotten. The official and private lives are two different worlds and at different
levels. They never converge at any point.
Once retired, the
officers go through initial tremors in their lives. Unlike the growth process
which moves upwards slowly over a span of decades, the retirement makes a landfall quickly and undesirably, on an eventful
day. It rendered the officer devoid of
office protocols, removal of facilities like vehicles, drivers, and other
unspecified favours. It feels hard to find themselves sitting on opposite side
of the main chair (now occupying the visitors’ chair).
The very next day,
the same sun rises again but a new world dawns for a retired officer. The real-life
shocks of running the errands; driving your personal car for opening Pension
account in a nearby Bank, visiting crowded Pension office, Revenue office (for
free electricity supply), and National Savings Center, etc., waiting in long queues
as an ordinary senior citizen and still not assured of getting your problems
solved, are not easy to encounter with. The other possible haunting problems
could be the vacation of official residence, finding a suitable rented portion,
and financing educational expenses of your youngest children.
Besides, in their recent
post-retirement scenario, one will bump into the reality that all those
colleagues, still working in the organization, who promised to extend their
helps, are not helpful at all due to various valid and invalid reasons. This
reminds the hard fact of life; what goes around comes around.
