Power show by ‘first ladies’

WE often hear about ‘councillor husband’, ‘sarpanch husband’ and even ‘MLA husband’ when men represent their wives at work as their proxies. Women, too, carve out their status from the official position of their husbands. A DC’s wife is addressed as ‘DC ma’am’ or ‘DC bibiji’.

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One fine morning, a teacher came to a school with a box of laddoos. Her husband had been selected in the provincial civil services. She was keen to influence the principal, who smilingly congratulated her. She repeatedly told her colleagues, ‘Now I will see him — this Hitler of a man,’ referring to the stern principal. It took about a year for her husband to join the new service, but the principal remained committed to his duty, not allowing anyone to take any undue liberty.

The woman got herself transferred to the station of her choice when her husband was appointed Executive Magistrate. She resumed her old ways of getting salary without doing any work. In those days, it used to take five to eight years for a PCS officer to become an SDM. However, it was sheer coincidence that he was appointed SDM early. During that period, she met my wife and said, ‘Tusi vi apne husband nu kaho ke oh vi kitey SDM lag jaan, tusi apne aap subdivision di “first lady” ban jaoge.’

My wife asked me, ‘Eh first lady ban ke ki hunda aa?’ I told her that I knew nothing about it, except that we referred to the wife of the President of the Republic and that of the Governor as First Lady. Later, we came to know that as president of the ladies’ club of the subdivision, she would be amused when she was addressed as ‘first lady’ of the subdivision. So, she became the first lady of the district when her husband was appointed DC after two decades of service.

Once, at a divisional headquarters was posted a young Commissioner, whose wife was very conscious of her status. She was the president of the Officers’ Wives Club. The club’s secretary was the wife of a senior PCS officer, posted as Settlement Commissioner. In the welcome address to the Divisional Commissioner’s wife, the secretary addressed her by her name, without using the prefixes and suffixes of the proverbial bureaucratic sycophancy. The woman was offended! When snacks were being served, the president confronted the secretary. ‘Don’t you know that I am the wife of the youngest Commissioner of India and the first lady of the division? What do you think of yourself? You have not properly addressed me!’ The secretary retorted, ‘I have done no wrong. I am the Settlement Commissioner’s wife!’