Bank Locker

I want a new bank locker. I want a new locker in another bank. I want a big locker. My bank decided to shift a couple of kilometres away from its original place without any information or rather an email to me. They took the lockers along. The notice they had put up outside the premises they vacated, was not legible. Do not understand how they managed to shift the lockers too. Guess what, they even managed to move the entire bank and lockers to the first floor. In the original premises, the lockers were in the basement. Wonder why they shifted to such an inconvenient location, narrow steep staircase in a new building. First floor and no elevators to the bank. Thank God, the elderly clients are strong enough to climb one floor. Finally, I found the new location which even Google Maps could not find. Husband and me kept asking around in the area. All kept guiding us to go ahead till we were a couple of kilometres from the place. I should be grateful, my locker was found in the new premises. Safe is my wealth:)

This Diwali, I decided to take a new locker in a bank which is somewhere closer home. Went to a bank where my friend has a locker. I asked for a new locker and Hola, it was available. Again it was in a corner and on top. No rickety step ladder or stool to climb to see the locker. When I asked them if they have folding ladder which I can climb to put my stuff in, they said  that Anyways, you cannot put your head inside. You have to remove the stuff out. The stuff is my precious gold and silver aka my Stree Dhan. I wanted a bigger locker to keep the silver. All big lockers are taken forever. I went back to my bank and asked for a big locker. I was hoping that because a big locker will attract a higher rental, they will give me one easily. The bank lady explained to me. She said the elderly die and the children do not know where the locker is or are not given the locker key.The old people forget where the locker key is or have misplaced the key. If the death is due to old age or sickness and hopefully the property papers are found. Some children are abroad and could not be bothered about coming to India to find where is the locker and to complete the formalities of closing it down. Closing a locker means one has to pay all the balance dues with the interest and the late fine. For the bank employees, they cannot break open a locker even if the dues are not paid and the locker is not been used for ten years. If they break open the locker, there is usually some gold in it.Now this gold is sealed and kept in a packet in the common bank 'Tijori' which is a big locker. This 'Tijori' access is there with more than one staff member. The bank staff gets transferred every two to three years. The staff who decided to break the locker, his or her name is written. God forbid, the original locker holder comes back for his gold, the staff is responsible to give it. So no staff member takes this responsibility about the  breaking open the unused lockers. They are shut and not in use for years. People have moved towns and have forgotten to close the locker. Earlier times, the rich took big lockers to keep the jewellery, important papers and silver Puja vessels. No one is there now to empty the big lockers as they lie shut for years. The foreign banks have lockers with very high rentals. 

That day I kept thinking about who are these people. Are they still alive? They must have taken the locker with so much enthusiasm to keep their ancestral jewellery or their new found wealth. Who would have worn the gold and diamonds? Were the occasions grand or simple? Were they happy with the jewellery they purchased or received as gifts?  Where are their children now? Do the daughters and daughters in law wear the jewellery? Has some relative taken away the jewellery  by deceit? Who is still attached to the wealth in the locker? It would be one man's earnings. May be he bought gold coins or gold biscuits.  May be the locker belongs to a money lender who kept jewellery of people in exchange of money. May be the people could not pay up and the jewellery remained in a 'Benaami' locker. So many feelings go into the locker. It is not just money. Even an old lady remembers exactly which relative gave her what gold for her wedding. My Grandmother Gauri Bai had locker which I often visited with her. She would show me what 'Bapuji', her Father, gave her. Gauri Bai did not wear any of her wedding jewellery as she was widowed within three years of her marriage. We grandchildren got to wear all of it. But the love with which she would show me what Bapuji gave her for the wedding, was something else. An indescribable feeling which has nothing to do with greed for money or lust for jewels. 

Our relatives had lockers in the same bank as Gauri Bai. Pre Diwali, we would all go to remove our gold sets to wear for all four days of Diwali. We met also pre family weddings in the bank locker room. We would greet and discuss in the locker. Now jewellery buying is different. Children want their own jewellery and Mothers do not part with their jewellery. The gold or diamond or Jadaau set is booked but picked up only a week before the wedding. No one pays in advance or starts collecting jewellery for years. People do their math differently now whether it is jewellery or relationships.