Harshad and me.
Eyes had always been one of those rare things that captured my attention with every person I met in my life.I believe that if you look straight into the eyes of the person and you can see thru him and know what kind of a person he is..But when it comes to the fairer sex I'm not what I call a professional in this,partly because I didn't have much of an opportunity in practicing.And I've been relying on this for so long that it had become one of my primary instincts to judge anybody.Over all these years it had rarely let me down.I've even had my own classifications on this matter that aid my judgement a lot,like intelligent eyes,dreamy eyes,sleepy eyes etc.
But these classifications were of no use when I met Harshad.The first thing that I noticed in his eyes that they were blank..Devoid of any emotions..But they very much looked like what had once been the eyes of a very intelligent man. He was much older than me and was what anybody would call a loner.In fact I had never seen him chitchatting with anybody..I was a bit hesitant to talk to him at first,mostly because I had my own set of friends with whom I used to spent the breaks.Moreover he never came out from the office other than to have an occasional smoke.
But one day while I was smoking in the canteen I saw Harshad standing at a distance. I guess he was a bit hesitant to talk to me.And since I was smoking he asked for a light. I passed my zippo to him n then went over to get 2 cups of coffee. That day we dint talk much other than getting to know each other better.I guess both of us had been testing the common grounds on which the talks could be built.
"Ever had a chance to realize that the HR of this company is a pain in you know where? " he asked me once.
"All the time man...All the time" I said n we had a hearty laugh on that.
Soon we started meeting each other more ferquently during breaks.
Surprisingly we realized we both had a lot of common interests. Right from the same taste in books,music n movies it extended to all realms on which friendship could be built and it was sealed strongly by the evergreen binding factors of smoke and beer.But then on a whole,the times we had shared together were really rare.The irony was that we used to meet each other everyday on the floor and at the max it used to get over with the exchange of a smile or a hi.Then one day while I was on my way back home from work,I met Harshad on the way. He looked rather paler than usual. I smiled at him n he asked me if I had some time to spend with him over a beer.I nodded in agreement n we both walked into our usual hangout place,a pub located just outside our office premises. There over a couple of beers we talked a lot for the first time...It almost touched all topics from life's problems in general, to music of Floyd and enigma,movies including the performance of Marlyn Brando in Godfather,books like harry potter n LOTR,Euro 2004,the mismanagement of the company and a lot of other things. Then out of the blue he started asking about my family n my academic qualifications,where I did my engineering,about my college life n all.When I told him that I did my Engg in RECT he told me that he had a couple of friends in there and had even visited them while they were there.Surprisingly enough I recognized a couple of names who had then been my third and final year seniors in college.He then asked me about my future plans and what I intent to do with my life.I told him I wanted to do an MBA and he told me where exactly and which all topics I should be concentrating while preparing for this.
"Harshad, I know you read a lot and had much more experiences in life when compared to me,and I'd like to hear some part of your life as well." I told him.
he looked at me for some time and said "Deepu,always remember that almost everything that happens in your life has a logic behind it and as far as I know the only thing that defies any logic of life is love." I was taken aback for the first time I met Harshad. I never guessed that his present state was because of love or rather the lack of it.Then he started talking about himself.He had had a very luxurious lifestyle right from the beginning.Born into a very well off family,his dad was a senior IAS officer,who also held the responsibility of selecting and inducting new candidates into the IAS academy every year. Mom held an equally respectable post in the govt..Had a younger brother who was doing his MBBS. Harshad was then working with ENRON power project, which I believe was one of the best power projects the industrial India ever had.He was earning handsomely and was at the verge of getting engaged to his long time girlfriend.They had then been going around for almost 8 years. Everything had been going around smoothly for a long time...And then disaster struck. At first ENRON project shut down which had more to do with politics than anything else.Along with thousands of others he too lost his job. Then his mom met with an accident and she passed away.With that his father had a nervous breakdown and had been bed ridden since then.The family was shattered. But the worst was yet to come.His brother was later diagnosed with a case of brain tumour in its very advanced stage and it needed to be operated upon immediately.He needed to be taken to the US for that but even then his chances of survival was very slim.The only reason why he had been working in a company like this was because he needed money very urgently.Almost all the financial backups his family had ,had been utilized for his brother's medical treatments." This job and this money..How badly I needed it, but it wont be necessary anymore...Because he passed away last night! "he said finally. I was spellbount.
I have heard quite a bit of tragedies and had been through a few of them myself but they were nothing like this. I was at a total loss of words. I dint know what to say. I also realized that what ever things I tried would not console him.All this while he was trying so desperately to hold on to his shattered family and suddenly he realizes that there was not much of a family left.I don't know how a man could respond to such a situation.Maybe he saw the look in my eyes and said "Deepu don't try to console me because what ever you try won't have any effect on me now.I'm OK because I knew this might happen.As I said there is a logic behind everything that happened.I was mentally prepared to face it.But what I dint understand is that why Nayana ditched me.At a time like this I expected her to be by my side and help me get over these things. Anyway lets not talk about these things much now. Tomorrow I'm taking my father back to our ancestral place in Jamshedpur. We have our haveli there.It's a big joint family.I'll search for a small job in jamshedpur n hopefully I'll start all over again."
We didn't talk much after that.We paid the bill finished off the beer,and left the place. "Thanks for spending a little time with me.Thanks for being there when it really mattered.I just had to talk to somebody and you know there aren't many with whom I can gel comfortably.I'll give you a call when I come back from home." he said before I got into an auto.I thought about this situation while on my way back home.I had no problems in making friends with people.In fact I was really good at this.But there aren't many whom I held close to my heart.But these chosen few were very special people n then there was this set of friends who became real close at an amazing pace.This are those people with whom I had a mental synchronization right from the moment I had talked to them.And I realized Harshad was in this category of special people.
I almost lost contacts with him after that. I heard from the office that he had resigned from office and had gone back home.I was busy with work and carried on with my life.Then one fine day almost after a month I got a phone call from him.He sounded fine and as usual asked me if I cud have a beer with him.I was glad that he called me. We met up in the pub and I found he was in a good mood. He ought to be because his life had taken yet another turn.On his way back to Jamshedpur he met a guy on the train with whom he became friends.They talked a lot during the 2 day trip anthe by The time that guy got down he gave him his visiting card and asked him to come and meet his boss in Bombay with in a week.He went to bombay with in a week and fixed a appointment with the Boss. They had a casual lunch together and he turned out to be a good listener.He made Harshad talk all the while and asked bout his plans and the current job profile and almost everything about him.He told him everything he wanted to do with his life.
"Would you mind joining this company as a Management Trainee from tomorrow Harshad?" The boss asked after lunch.
"I'm ready to join right now sir."he replied.
"What is the salary package that you are expecting for this kind of a job? "
"For a Management Trainee I would be expecting 3-4 Lpa"
With this the boss smiled at him for some time and then said "Harshad..You are going to work for Johnson & Johnson India Ltd. Please don't disgrace the company by making such understatements.Your salary would be 7.5 Lpa with accommodation.Lets see if you are really as good as we all hope you are.All the best"
so today he is comfortably living in Bombay.His dad is still in Jamshedpur in their ancestral home. We still keep in touch with occasional emails.
But these classifications were of no use when I met Harshad.The first thing that I noticed in his eyes that they were blank..Devoid of any emotions..But they very much looked like what had once been the eyes of a very intelligent man. He was much older than me and was what anybody would call a loner.In fact I had never seen him chitchatting with anybody..I was a bit hesitant to talk to him at first,mostly because I had my own set of friends with whom I used to spent the breaks.Moreover he never came out from the office other than to have an occasional smoke.
But one day while I was smoking in the canteen I saw Harshad standing at a distance. I guess he was a bit hesitant to talk to me.And since I was smoking he asked for a light. I passed my zippo to him n then went over to get 2 cups of coffee. That day we dint talk much other than getting to know each other better.I guess both of us had been testing the common grounds on which the talks could be built.
"Ever had a chance to realize that the HR of this company is a pain in you know where? " he asked me once.
"All the time man...All the time" I said n we had a hearty laugh on that.
Soon we started meeting each other more ferquently during breaks.
Surprisingly we realized we both had a lot of common interests. Right from the same taste in books,music n movies it extended to all realms on which friendship could be built and it was sealed strongly by the evergreen binding factors of smoke and beer.But then on a whole,the times we had shared together were really rare.The irony was that we used to meet each other everyday on the floor and at the max it used to get over with the exchange of a smile or a hi.Then one day while I was on my way back home from work,I met Harshad on the way. He looked rather paler than usual. I smiled at him n he asked me if I had some time to spend with him over a beer.I nodded in agreement n we both walked into our usual hangout place,a pub located just outside our office premises. There over a couple of beers we talked a lot for the first time...It almost touched all topics from life's problems in general, to music of Floyd and enigma,movies including the performance of Marlyn Brando in Godfather,books like harry potter n LOTR,Euro 2004,the mismanagement of the company and a lot of other things. Then out of the blue he started asking about my family n my academic qualifications,where I did my engineering,about my college life n all.When I told him that I did my Engg in RECT he told me that he had a couple of friends in there and had even visited them while they were there.Surprisingly enough I recognized a couple of names who had then been my third and final year seniors in college.He then asked me about my future plans and what I intent to do with my life.I told him I wanted to do an MBA and he told me where exactly and which all topics I should be concentrating while preparing for this.
"Harshad, I know you read a lot and had much more experiences in life when compared to me,and I'd like to hear some part of your life as well." I told him.
he looked at me for some time and said "Deepu,always remember that almost everything that happens in your life has a logic behind it and as far as I know the only thing that defies any logic of life is love." I was taken aback for the first time I met Harshad. I never guessed that his present state was because of love or rather the lack of it.Then he started talking about himself.He had had a very luxurious lifestyle right from the beginning.Born into a very well off family,his dad was a senior IAS officer,who also held the responsibility of selecting and inducting new candidates into the IAS academy every year. Mom held an equally respectable post in the govt..Had a younger brother who was doing his MBBS. Harshad was then working with ENRON power project, which I believe was one of the best power projects the industrial India ever had.He was earning handsomely and was at the verge of getting engaged to his long time girlfriend.They had then been going around for almost 8 years. Everything had been going around smoothly for a long time...And then disaster struck. At first ENRON project shut down which had more to do with politics than anything else.Along with thousands of others he too lost his job. Then his mom met with an accident and she passed away.With that his father had a nervous breakdown and had been bed ridden since then.The family was shattered. But the worst was yet to come.His brother was later diagnosed with a case of brain tumour in its very advanced stage and it needed to be operated upon immediately.He needed to be taken to the US for that but even then his chances of survival was very slim.The only reason why he had been working in a company like this was because he needed money very urgently.Almost all the financial backups his family had ,had been utilized for his brother's medical treatments." This job and this money..How badly I needed it, but it wont be necessary anymore...Because he passed away last night! "he said finally. I was spellbount.
I have heard quite a bit of tragedies and had been through a few of them myself but they were nothing like this. I was at a total loss of words. I dint know what to say. I also realized that what ever things I tried would not console him.All this while he was trying so desperately to hold on to his shattered family and suddenly he realizes that there was not much of a family left.I don't know how a man could respond to such a situation.Maybe he saw the look in my eyes and said "Deepu don't try to console me because what ever you try won't have any effect on me now.I'm OK because I knew this might happen.As I said there is a logic behind everything that happened.I was mentally prepared to face it.But what I dint understand is that why Nayana ditched me.At a time like this I expected her to be by my side and help me get over these things. Anyway lets not talk about these things much now. Tomorrow I'm taking my father back to our ancestral place in Jamshedpur. We have our haveli there.It's a big joint family.I'll search for a small job in jamshedpur n hopefully I'll start all over again."
We didn't talk much after that.We paid the bill finished off the beer,and left the place. "Thanks for spending a little time with me.Thanks for being there when it really mattered.I just had to talk to somebody and you know there aren't many with whom I can gel comfortably.I'll give you a call when I come back from home." he said before I got into an auto.I thought about this situation while on my way back home.I had no problems in making friends with people.In fact I was really good at this.But there aren't many whom I held close to my heart.But these chosen few were very special people n then there was this set of friends who became real close at an amazing pace.This are those people with whom I had a mental synchronization right from the moment I had talked to them.And I realized Harshad was in this category of special people.
I almost lost contacts with him after that. I heard from the office that he had resigned from office and had gone back home.I was busy with work and carried on with my life.Then one fine day almost after a month I got a phone call from him.He sounded fine and as usual asked me if I cud have a beer with him.I was glad that he called me. We met up in the pub and I found he was in a good mood. He ought to be because his life had taken yet another turn.On his way back to Jamshedpur he met a guy on the train with whom he became friends.They talked a lot during the 2 day trip anthe by The time that guy got down he gave him his visiting card and asked him to come and meet his boss in Bombay with in a week.He went to bombay with in a week and fixed a appointment with the Boss. They had a casual lunch together and he turned out to be a good listener.He made Harshad talk all the while and asked bout his plans and the current job profile and almost everything about him.He told him everything he wanted to do with his life.
"Would you mind joining this company as a Management Trainee from tomorrow Harshad?" The boss asked after lunch.
"I'm ready to join right now sir."he replied.
"What is the salary package that you are expecting for this kind of a job? "
"For a Management Trainee I would be expecting 3-4 Lpa"
With this the boss smiled at him for some time and then said "Harshad..You are going to work for Johnson & Johnson India Ltd. Please don't disgrace the company by making such understatements.Your salary would be 7.5 Lpa with accommodation.Lets see if you are really as good as we all hope you are.All the best"
so today he is comfortably living in Bombay.His dad is still in Jamshedpur in their ancestral home. We still keep in touch with occasional emails.
posted by Deepu at 8:18 AM
1 Comments:
lovely.
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