Last Friday I arrived at my office around 10:00 a.m. Since things don’t usually get started around here until about 10:30 or 11:00, I thought I’d have some quiet time to get a few things done.
But when I tried to open the padlock on my door, it was jammed tight. What to do? I sat down to wait for someone to arrive.
After about 20 minutes, Somnath, the peon, arrived. “Peon” is a job description here, not a derogatory term, and Somnath’s job is basically to take care of the History Department — from serving tea… to breaking locks!
I explained my predicament, and Somnath sent a student outside to find a good-sized rock. Rock in hand, he started beating the lock and after about ten well-aimed blows, it broke apart.
His act of violence complete, Somnath turned to me with a beatific smile on his face and said, “Ma’am? Only four months? Too short, too short.”
Later that day he delivered a new lock. But I’ve stopped locking.
A Northwesterner in North Bengal 
Well that’s a pretty funny story to start my day!
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Simple solutions are often the best! Very amusing.
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Hi Serena! I’m super glad to hear from you! How in the world did you happen upon this? Would love to hear about what you’ve been doing.
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Melanie clued me in to your blog and I have enjoyed it tremendously. It reminds me of our jaunt in China, especially getting lost! And drinking tea! I am still going to the museum regularly and doing all the family things one would expect.
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Wow, great to hear from you Serena. I miss getting together with you and Melanie — let’s be sure to get together after I’m back.
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I love the job description of “peon”. I gather there is no insult in that?
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No, there is no insult. In job ads, it is a job description: “Peon wanted for bank office,” something like that. In the US closest translation might be “office assistant”. It’s pronounced slightly differently — like “pe-yon” accent on second syllable.
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