The Griffonage

Abrar Ul Mustafa
A few days back, a nonagenarian visited my office in case of a KCC Loan. He produced his Land Records that he had obtained from the Revenue Office. This document is very important in such cases. It shows who the owner of the land is and in whose possession the land is. However, this document was written in an illegible Urdu text. These documents and many other important documents prepared by Revenue Office, Patwari and Tehsildar are written in Urdu because Urdu is our Official Language. It is good to see that Urdu is still used but the way it’s used is weird and unacceptable. It’s written in such a bad handwriting that nobody, except the writer and the employees of those offices, can read it. The text is so illegible that it has to be entirely translated into English to make it readable.
Important decisions rely on the appropriateness of this document. The illegibility of these documents makes it unreadable and, consequently, common man is asked to get the documents translated into its English version. This practice is more common in those parts of our state where Urdu is not studied. For example, a Bank Officer who could not read this document, has to get it translated to arrive at a decision of sanctioning a Loan to the party. I can read, write and speak Urdu quite well but I can’t read this griffonage coming from the Revenue Office.
It is not only the Revenue Department or the Tehsil Office that gives these documents, our doctors, who are considered next to God, are in no way lagging behind in this. They write their Findings, Diagnosis and Prescription in such a bad handwriting that a patient can hardly know what disease he is suffering from and what diagnosis has been made and what treatment he has been recommended. Adding salt to the injury, our doctors are so rude that they would hardly explain the content of that Prescription Sheet to the patient. They lack that basic courtesy that doctors ought to possess. If the patient dares to ask, the doctor gets irritated. This shows how disinterested the doctor is. He doesn’t care whether the patient gets satisfied or not. There is more to it. This rude behavior of a doctor is more common while he is on duty; the moment he enters a private hospital, the same person gets converted into a humble and courteous doctor; a magical transformation happens!
Now the question arises, why is this done? My observations tell me that there are three main reasons behind this. One, Revenue Officials, clerks and doctors are not interested in their jobs. The lack of interest leads to this handwriting that can’t be deciphered easily. Second reason is that there is a network of people with relevant jobs who want to make it appear so sophisticated and concentrated that their principle becomes: “Nobody except us should be able to understand and deal with the know-how of their particular jobs.” That is the reason why a doctor doesn’t write in a comprehensible handwriting. He doesn’t want the person to get even the slightest idea of what is going on. Similarly, a Patwari doesn’t write well because if he does, he would no longer be so important. Thirdly, what would happen to the job of those translators! They will no longer be required. This is a huge loss to the combined income of the network of the relevant jobbers. This may also make things convenient and transparent to the general public and the windows, that give rise to all sorts of corruption, will be shut.
There are a number of negative and unacceptable consequences of this official griffonage. One, the person who produces these documents in the office of a Bank Officer or elsewhere, has to spend a good amount of money to get the text translated. This is done by a person who can read it and translate it. There are persons who have set up their translating centers just outside the Revenue Office and they earn well out of the irresponsible and unpleasant handwriting of Revenue officials and clerks. At times, when there are numerous pages and documents to be translated, common man has to pay through nose. Second, this scribbling of a very important and vital information shows the disinterest with which the staff works. It’s quite natural that when we seriously want to write something and when we want to write something with interest, we write it in the best possible handwriting, atleast in a readable one. When a clerk writes in that alien language, it means that he doesn’t take his work seriously. He is trying to shed the responsibility off his shoulders. He doesn’t care whether the text is readable or not. He doesn’t give a damn to that. Lastly, as already put forth, common man doesn’t understand any bit of the dealing. He remains ignorant of what’s going on around him.
Postscript: It’s true that every profession has its own specifics. But, at the same time, it is the responsibility of a public servant that he explains the things in a simplified manner. He should be interested in his job and show his interest in writing the documents as well. We should join our hands to get this practice of writing in illegible text done away with, forever. Government should discourage this practice. Doctors must be instructed to write bold and clear words. Money minting centers aided by this practice should also be brought to an end.
(The author is Scale I Officer in a leading PSU Bank. The views are personal & not of the organisation he works for.)
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