I reported at the Bangalore Cantt. Branch in September 1956 and started my romance with the branch quietly. The city had undergone a lot of changes from the time I knew it about a year and half ago. Bangalore Branch was located on a vast area in the heart of the town. Well over 100 years old, the building in which the Bank was located had served as the official residence of the British Resident for a number of years during the British Raj. When the Resident moved on to the sprawling bungalow aptly named “Residency” (the present Raj Bhavan, presently the official residence of the Governor) the earlier residence/building was converted to what later on became known as the Bangalore Branch. While the main Banking hall was located on the ground floor, part of the first floor served as the residence of the Agent later called the Branch Manager after nationalization. In the early days the Bank was known as the Bank of Madras which transformed itself into the Imperial Bank of India in the year 1930/31. The top level officers such as the Agent and the Accountant were Englishmen and only the lower cadres were Indians. Then there was only one Branch of the Bank in Bangalore. Father served in this branch for a number of years in the forties and fifties after he was transferred from Calicut. He was later transferred to the newly opened Bangalore City branch as head clerk. I remember the long treks my brother and me used to make to the Bangalore City office walking all the way about eight kilometers to join him for an evening outing in the City. There were not as many buses as we have today and no auto rickshaws at all in those days and we mostly returned home walking. Some times father used to engage horse driven jutkas if we were too tired. It was a great consolation when father used to take us to hotel and buy us a lot of eats. Father was posted back to the Bangalore Branch after his return from Pakistan and on promotion as an officer until 1956 when I was transferred to the Branch from Tirunelveli. Father was transferred to the Bangalore City branch to make room for me as there was a rule in the Bank that father and son should not be working in the same branch. There were no other Branches of the Bank in Bangalore. The Cantonment Branch later came to be known as the Main Branch. It had a staff strength of around 100 consisting of Officers and other staff. The building was in the middle of the vast compound and besides the Main building there were the quarters of the Accountant, a garage and another small structure which was used partially as the Staff lunch room (which was in later years converted as the Recreation Club). The compound had a number of tall fully grown trees spread over the area which in late evenings gave an eerie look and for those of us who worked late and had to walk a long distance to reach the gate it was scary to walk alone. The city was young and the roads were not as clustered as they are now. Most of us preferred walking home while a few who had the luxury of owning a bicycle rode home. To acquire a bicycle in those days is like acquiring a Mercedes Benz these days. One gets nostalgic thinking about the calm and laid back style of life of those days.