Just imagine.
He never played gully cricket, where the gully was actually a common narrow balcony for 10 flatlets, studded with extra furniture.
He never shuddered nervously at having broken some one's window pane with a misdirected shot, because someone else paid for the damage.
He never traipsed back from school, dragging sticks and stuff, walking together with his friends, and never had to suddenly break into a run on sighting a strange guy making dirty noises and actions.
He probably never got rapped on the knuckles with a metal ruler in school. Or stood outside IIIA holding his toes.
He never travelled in lumbering tilted red Double Decker buses or suburban trains with a population blooming out of its doors, and never ever struggled to extricate his school bag when he disembarked at his destination.
He never suffered the ignominy of having his PE white uniform splattered with mud as a fancy car sped by through a puddle while he waited to cross a road.
He never queued up. Period.
For admission to college, in pouring rain, in knee deep water, clutching close his certificates , only to have some doors close for lunch.
For tickets to outstation places in the holidays.
For paying exam fees, and getting hall tickets. Movie tickets (in the days before the Net).
For using machines and computers in labs at college , in the early days before laptops and desktops, when talk was rich and resources were not. For copies of library books, where the text book was outrageously expensive.
For lunch in a college canteen/cafeteria and heard "khatam ho gaya" when he asked for saambar..
He never worried about a job interview. Or where he might have to stay. Or whether he could afford house payments. And even a first class quarterly train pass with a starters salary.
Potholes filled themselves when he travelled across them. He never had to worry, or even think about the price of petrol, gas cylinders, electricty, telephones et al.
He never had to travel where he entered a bus through a window, because the door was jammed with people. He never sat in a three seater train bench, and had someone come and ask him to shift a bit, "jara sarkoon ghyaa"..... . He probably was never shocked at french beans going for Rs 40 for 250 gms, simply because he never had to actually buy them or even cook them.
He never worried about his job profile, because a non existent job means a non existent profile. He was his own profile.
He never had a deadline because no one set him one. He never tangled with managing cleaning, cooking, supervising kids, entertaining guests, finishing submissions for work. All in the course of one evening.
No one ever pointed fingers at him, because a sentence was misplaced somewhere in the report. No one threatened him with a memo, because they did not like his answer to something. And no one brought the house down because numbers didn't tally at reconciliation . The reason was always someone else.
He was never a convenient scapegoat because the management thought the customer was always right. And he never, ever , spent an entire night righting something which someone else had messed up.
He never ever had to think of increments. Or bonuses. Strangely, loans, per se, might have been of interest.
He could say anything to anyone, regardless of age, experience of the latter, and his mother never said a word, in situations, where one would have received a public parental rebuke.
He never worried about breaking rules, because the rules themselves bent themselves all over the place around him.
He never had an appraisal, because, they couldn't find anything to appraise. And those who tried, gave up less than half way there. As "better" sense prevailed.
And one day, when people actually wanted to point fingers for something they thought he was responsible for, a bunch of folks rushed to crush those fingers into closed fists, saying he did nothing wrong, the responsibility was of those around him and him together, and begged him to continue to do, actually, nothing.
.
.
.
I wonder how the HR types would advertise for a job that fits the above.
.
.
Stupid me. I am now suddenly interested in concepts like karma, last birth, prarabdh et al.
He never played gully cricket, where the gully was actually a common narrow balcony for 10 flatlets, studded with extra furniture.
He never shuddered nervously at having broken some one's window pane with a misdirected shot, because someone else paid for the damage.
He never traipsed back from school, dragging sticks and stuff, walking together with his friends, and never had to suddenly break into a run on sighting a strange guy making dirty noises and actions.
He probably never got rapped on the knuckles with a metal ruler in school. Or stood outside IIIA holding his toes.
He never travelled in lumbering tilted red Double Decker buses or suburban trains with a population blooming out of its doors, and never ever struggled to extricate his school bag when he disembarked at his destination.
He never suffered the ignominy of having his PE white uniform splattered with mud as a fancy car sped by through a puddle while he waited to cross a road.
He never queued up. Period.
For admission to college, in pouring rain, in knee deep water, clutching close his certificates , only to have some doors close for lunch.
For tickets to outstation places in the holidays.
For paying exam fees, and getting hall tickets. Movie tickets (in the days before the Net).
For using machines and computers in labs at college , in the early days before laptops and desktops, when talk was rich and resources were not. For copies of library books, where the text book was outrageously expensive.
For lunch in a college canteen/cafeteria and heard "khatam ho gaya" when he asked for saambar..
He never worried about a job interview. Or where he might have to stay. Or whether he could afford house payments. And even a first class quarterly train pass with a starters salary.
Potholes filled themselves when he travelled across them. He never had to worry, or even think about the price of petrol, gas cylinders, electricty, telephones et al.
He never had to travel where he entered a bus through a window, because the door was jammed with people. He never sat in a three seater train bench, and had someone come and ask him to shift a bit, "jara sarkoon ghyaa"..... . He probably was never shocked at french beans going for Rs 40 for 250 gms, simply because he never had to actually buy them or even cook them.
He never worried about his job profile, because a non existent job means a non existent profile. He was his own profile.
He never had a deadline because no one set him one. He never tangled with managing cleaning, cooking, supervising kids, entertaining guests, finishing submissions for work. All in the course of one evening.
No one ever pointed fingers at him, because a sentence was misplaced somewhere in the report. No one threatened him with a memo, because they did not like his answer to something. And no one brought the house down because numbers didn't tally at reconciliation . The reason was always someone else.
He was never a convenient scapegoat because the management thought the customer was always right. And he never, ever , spent an entire night righting something which someone else had messed up.
He never ever had to think of increments. Or bonuses. Strangely, loans, per se, might have been of interest.
He could say anything to anyone, regardless of age, experience of the latter, and his mother never said a word, in situations, where one would have received a public parental rebuke.
He never worried about breaking rules, because the rules themselves bent themselves all over the place around him.
He never had an appraisal, because, they couldn't find anything to appraise. And those who tried, gave up less than half way there. As "better" sense prevailed.
And one day, when people actually wanted to point fingers for something they thought he was responsible for, a bunch of folks rushed to crush those fingers into closed fists, saying he did nothing wrong, the responsibility was of those around him and him together, and begged him to continue to do, actually, nothing.
.
.
.
I wonder how the HR types would advertise for a job that fits the above.
.
.
Stupid me. I am now suddenly interested in concepts like karma, last birth, prarabdh et al.
I don't know what 'is' or 'is not', but the only way life could be fair is if there was karma and there was a logical purpose behind life.
ReplyDeleteRain, so true. But having lived an ordinary hard working life , one sees things in public life and wonders, whether there is any logic left. And how so many get fooled all the time....
DeletePotholes filled themselves when he travelled across them.
ReplyDeleteThat sentence struck me.
Who is this person, rich in amenities and irresponsibility and lacking in experience and humanity?
Pearl
Pearl, you just hit the nail on the head. To know who the person is, a nodding acquaintance with recent Indian Politics would help..... :-)
DeleteVery well written Suranga Tai. Makes one wonder :)
ReplyDeleteI could feel the anger in every whiplash word, Suranga. But he belongs to the 'ruling class'and we of the cattle class have to bear him and his ineptitude.
ReplyDelete