the boy who broke the bank
Short story by Ruskin Bond
"The Boy Who Broke the Bank" is a short story by Ruskin Bond. It is about a boy who was working at a bank by sweeping up. The bank manager was way overdue in paying him for the job. Soon that bank collapsed and rumor had it that it was because of the unpaid boy. Because word got around that the boy didn't get paid, people assumed that the bank had no money. The people who dealt with the bank were worried about their money. This story is basically about how rumors and lack of communication can cause many problems and be destructive.
Mrs. Bhushan told the news to her husband, Mr. Bhushan who was talking to Kamal Kishore. Kamal Kishore, who owned a photographic shop, passed on the news to his neighbor, a barber. At the time the barber was giving a haircut to an elderly gentleman. The fact was that the bank did not pay the sweeper till the 20th of the current month. But as it travelled, the news coloured the facts in such a way that people thought that the bank was about to collapse.
Hearing the news, the elderly gentleman ran across the road to a general merchant’s store and made a phone call to Seth Govindaram, the owner of the bank. He learned that Seth was away to Kashmir on a pleasure trip. He concluded that the owner of the bank ran away from the town to escape as the bank was about to collapse. He informed the same to Dev Chand, the barber. Then he hurried to his home to get his checkbook to withdraw money from the bank.
The news of the bank’s imminent collapse spread in the town like a wildfire. At the general merchant’s shop, it circulated in customers. Soon everybody started talking about the news. A new rumor started to spread that Seth had left the state. Some others said that he left the country. Some people said that he was hiding somewhere in the town. Some even said that he had hanged himself to a tamarind tree.
As every customer of the bank started withdrawing money, the small bank had gone through all its ready cash reserves by noon. The bank manager was in a dilemma. He could not get any emergency funds immediately from another bank, which was some thirty miles away. Nor could he contact the owner of the bank, who was beyond his reach, on a house-boat in Kashmir. He tried in vain to convince the people that the bank had plenty of money. He urged them to come on the next day.
As people the rumor that the bank was about to collapse, they gathered in front of the bank in large numbers demanding the repayment of their deposits. By noon, the small bank had gone through all its ready cash reserves. The manager could neither get emergency funds nor contact the owner. He tried in vain to convince the people that the bank had plenty of money. He urged them to come on the next day. But customers demanded their cash on the spot. Several mischief makers joined the crowd. Somebody hurled a brick on the glass window and broke it. That was the end of the Pipalnagar Bank.
The next day after all the chaos, the sweeper boy who unintentionally caused all the pandemonium, came to the bank to find it in shambles not realizing he was the one who triggered the onslaught.
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