Translated by Rajakumar Duraiswamy
d.rajakumar@yahoo.com
மேய்ப்பரின் கருணை
By Karthik Balasubramanian (in Tamil published in காலச்சுவடு - ஜனவரி 2018)
karthikgurumuruganb@gmail.com
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oosely hanging pure white robe completely covered his body,
rolling down the feet and spreading around the ground. A strip of red clothing
was wound up on his left. The lamp closely held to his bosom, fondly licked the
index finger of his left hand. Blissfully contented and absorbed completely by
the immense grace of that wall painting, I was brought back to conscious world
by someone honking at me. As the signal
had changed from red to green, I found the cars in front of me had moved over
ten feet, I shifted the gear from neutral to first and moved forward.
It is still showering outside. Fairly good rain at the dawn
has just reduced to showers. Puddles of water on the potholes slowed down the
vehicles. My boss connected through the Bluetooth, interrupting the song from
some FM channel.
"Pradeep, where are you?", he asked me in Marathi,
as he used during personal conversation, as he knew that I know Marathi. He was
a native of Pune, Maharashtra. As my father was a manager at State Bank of
India, we have been roaming around North India, every three years till my
college days. We were stationed at Nashik for more than four years. This gave
me the opportunity to learn Marathi and Hindi along with my father's language
Tamil and mother's language Sindhi. But the reality is that I am amateurish
with all those languages except English.
"Boss, now I'm at Thiruvanmiyur signal, and will reach
office in another half an hour. It still showers here."
"Not a problem, take your time. I'm on my way to a
review meeting. Suddenly a pink handshake crept in. This time a big shot. I
can't handle it as I am in another meeting. You have to handle it, my
boy."
Amidst my several, "Ok, Boss", he continued,
"He's Vijayaragvan, senior Project Manager. I've mailed you all the
details. Go prepared, go confidently. As being a senior employee, there are
chances of aggressive behavior, handle it boldly. All the best! Mail me if you
come across any problems, don't ping me, I'll call you back."
Got recruited even before I got my degree in HR management
from the prestigious national institute. Getting a six digit salary for the
past five months. I was a little hesitant to join a IT company as HR, but on a
second thought, I like the challenges here, as it makes everyday interesting.
Today is not like yesterday, and I don't know what is on card for tomorrow. And
this uncertainty fastened me to this job.
Hemanth, never asserted or delegated any job like this
before. While daily routines are piled up before me, how can I say,
"No", when my boss opted me for a job that too is supposedly to be
disposed by him?
Reaching my office, I switched on the laptop. As informed,
Hemanth had sent me a detailed email with the details and statistics of
Vijayaragavan.
Vijay had been in this organization for the past seventeen
years and incidentally this happened to be his first job. While COBOL and C
ruled the IT industry, Vijay got his job through campus recruitment from a
famous engineering college at Coimbatore. He survived and surpassed the
economic depression of 2008.
While he was writing program codes, I would have struggled
to solve my seventh grade mathematics equations. He started his career by being
a member in the team which solved the Y2K problem successfully. Since then his
career was in the growth graph. Meanwhile, he served on site at our
organization branches at the USA for three years and one year at Tokyo.
I sent an email to Vijayaragavan with the subject line
"Career Discussion" and in the mail mentioning my cabin number and
mobile number. My fingers trembled unconsciously while composing the email. I
gulped water from the bottle I've brought and deep breathed thrice.
"May I come in?" asked Vijayaragavan, in a heavy
Tamil accent, while he entered through the half opened glass door of my cabin.
Though the organization relaxed its dress code on Fridays allowing its
employees to wear informal dress, he was perfectly dressed in a light blue
formal shirt and a neatly ironed formal pant. He must have shaved in the
morning.
"Please come in, Vijay. I'm Pradeep, Pradeep Balakumar.
Hemant team!"
"Oh.. Nice meeting you. Just saw your email on 'Career
Discussion'. If it is on team appraisal or promotion, can we discuss it on
Monday evening? We have a crucial customer demo on Monday morning. The entire
team is busy with it. It wouldn't be appropriate, if I'm not there", he
said without sitting and with the expression of being engaged. A smile is
permanently fixed in his face.
"Mister Vijay, you will not have to worry about it.
Please, sit down first."
"I.. I don't understand what you mean". He pulled
out a chair opposite to me to sit.
"Excuse me", I replied in an indurate tone.
"The management has decided to release you from its service. Don't worry…
the company is not dismissing you. You can submit your resignation, instead.
I've mailed you the settlement details. Please, check it. Two months’ salary
will be credited into your account by tomorrow. Accounts department had already
been informed."
"No... I don't understand. Why should I resign? What do
you mean?" he switched to Tamil. I saw his face had changed. Droplets of
sweat formed over his forehead and neck, wetting the edges of his shirt. The
permanent smile on his face was lost.
To ease him and extend a bit of comfort I also continued my
reply in Tamil. "Yes… Vijay! It's an order from the top. You have two
months, to find a better opportunity elsewhere."
"Pradeep, I'm working in this company for seventeen
years. And, now you give me only two months to leave..."
"Vijay, you don't even have to come to the office these
two months. You can start looking for a new job right from this moment. For your
talent and skill, you will get a great job very easily."
"Why do you send me out, then? Who will look after the
four projects handled by me now? How will you answer my clients?"
"They are something that you don't have to worry,
Vijay, we will take care." I resorted back to my indurate tone quickly.
"I am here to help you, if you have any questions with your relieving
formalities."
He might not have expected that reply from me. In this IT
company, there is no place that is inaccessible, be modified or no person who
is unavoidable. Some companies sack a CEO and bring a new one within months.
Customers are likely to enquiry the absence of Vijayaragavan and we will inform
them that he is on medical leave for personal reasons. We will replace his
position and the new person will get adapted to the environment in possibly two
weeks time. From the third week the customers would have forgotten that some
Vijay ever existed in the organization. Every employee knows this fact, and
everyone believes that this is not applicable to them.
"No... May I know what went wrong with me? I had good
rating in my previous appraisal. What happened so suddenly... I... I really
don't understand." His voice is tending towards normalcy. His face still
remained pale due to the sudden shock and confusion.
"Vijay, you mustn't be centric to your rating alone.
You must observe your project rating too. The CSAT score we received yesterday
for your projects has dropped drastically. The profit margin on your project
also has decreased to 17%, which you should have maintained at 20%. Do you know
the target for next year is 22%? I don't have to explain these to you."
"Profit has reduced, but this isn't loss making. It's a
new project, and for new projects we may have to wait for at least two quarters
before the profits increase. These are just fundamentals and if you are not
aware of them get yourself advised by your seniors, sir", he raised his
voice. His hands trembled in his accumulated tension and anger. The stress he
gave while he pronounced 'sir' kindled my ego in me.
"Sorry… Vijay. There is no use in talking about it and
I don't have time too. Please, if you have any questions on your relieving
formalities, ask me." I replied in a flat, indurate voice as if it was
replayed from recorded mechanical device.
"Pradeep ... how... how can you tell me this so suddenly?
I have two children at school. My son is in class eight and my daughter is only
in class five. My wife is unemployed. I've to pay the school fees, medical
expenses for my ailing mother, payments for my personal loans, EMIs for housing
loan, credit card payments and so and so. Do you know all the payments depend on
my only income?" He was talking looking at the table pretending to talk to
someone without looking at me.
"Mr. Vijay, you must understand that this is not my
personal decision. We have tremendous pressure on cost cutting. I am left with
no options. Not only you! You should have enhanced your skills according to the
present trend. Blockchain, AI, DevOps... something on these lines. Nothing! Its
two years since you have undergone any training. Do you want the date?"
"You are right. Do you know how much I have suffered in
the past one and a half years to get this new project? I went back home by two
o'clock and three o'clock early mornings! I never counted on Saturdays and
Sundays. Even during the marriage of my wife's brother, I was roaming around
with my laptop." He gasped for a while and continued, "Pradeep ...
until I meet your expected profit margin, you can stop my increment and bonus,
too. I am ready to give you in writing." He looked at my face eagerly with
a gratification on his new found solution for his present predicament. He edged
towards me from his seat with a sort relief.
"No, Vijay ... we did not offer you any options,"
I said looking at his eyes with extra emphasis.
For a while we never had a spell of words. He disturbed the
eternal silence, "I'm ready to serve for half the salary on what I take
home today, Pradeep, I'm willing to continue. Seventeen years in this
company... I've been loyal even while I got many offers, sometimes ago. Can you
please enquire with your superiors?" His voice crackled, while he spoke.
He held the arms of the chair for extra support.
"No, Vijay ... no chance. Your position is vacant, and
we can't fit you anywhere. We reviewed several options, and we are forced to
take this decision finally with no other alternative. Please understand!"
He did not respond for a while. "Thanks," he said
with a forced smile and stood up. When he was about to exit opening the door, I
called him, "Please return back your ID card."
He removed his ID card and placed it on my table and walked
out. Depressed, I rested my head back on my chair and closed my eyes. The wall
painting I saw in the morning flashed in my mind, along with the lamp licking
the finger of Jesus.
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