(Inset) V.I. ThomasKottayam: As the State Bank of Travancore (SBT) is all set to sign off into history on Friday with its merger with the State Bank of India (SBI), the oldest surviving SBT employee draws up a litany of memories of a bygone era when banking was in its nascent stage in Kerala.
V. I. Thomas, 97, of Karaykkattu Veettil, Erayilkadavu, near Kottayam, has vivid memories of a period when the pace of life was steady and relaxed. Like flipping through a fond memoir, he shared interesting anecdotes of his life as a young banker in a sleepy town.
“I joined the Travancore Forward Bank in Kottayam as a typist way back in 1940. At that time, banks had only just a few employees,” the nonagenarian recalled, sitting entirely engulfed in nostalgia.
“I was doing a typewriting course when my father approached the Forward Bank’s manager requesting him to provide me a job. They asked me to join duty the next day, thanks to my typing skills,” he said.
In 1946, when all the major banks in Kottayam were amalgamated with the SBT, Thomas also became an employee of the latter. He worked at the SBT’s main branch in Thirunakkara before being transferred to Kollam on promotion in 1970. He remained there till his retirement on September 16, 1980, as a bank special assistant.
“When I was with the SBT Kottayam, my monthly salary was just Rs 25. At that time, the daily working day average deposited/exchanged at banks was about Rs 5 lakh.
Once Rs 50,000 in cash went missing from the branch. The police conducted an inquiry and pointed the finger of suspicion at the cashier. Eventually, he was taken into custody, but interrogations did not yield any conclusive results.
Since the police failed to nab the culprit, the management decided to recover the amount directly from the employees. As a result, they were denied salary for the next 12 months.
“It was a painful experience,” Thomas said.
Every month, Thomas, accompanied by two well-built subordinates, used to go to the office of the Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Company carrying trunkful of currency notes, meant to distribute as salary among the estate’s employees.
“That monthly journey always drew curious onlookers,” he said.
Being the oldest surviving SBT employee, he is a regular invitee to all major events organized by different bank workers’ unions.
Thomas’s wife Mariamma passed away four years ago. His son, the late Babu Thomas, was an employee with the SBT Kottayam branch. The couple’s other children are Mol Mathew and Susan Jacob.
Despite his age, he is free from any health issues, and is blessed to see his grandchildren and great grandchildren.
