The Fatal ‘Head’ache – VII

Dear Readers, thanks once again for your overwhelming support. The journey through The Fatal Headache series has been quite fascinating to say the least. Your comments, suggestions and questions remain my inspiration. The series is on a roll, so let’s enjoy until it lasts.

As I had mentioned in my last post, you can now post your comments anonymously on this blog – no need to authenticate name/email id.

Many readers have asked me: is it a story of corporate exploitation? Strictly speaking, it isn’t. Rather, it’s all about fighting…fighting for your rights…fighting for your people’s rights…fighting for the restoration of those ideologies that, you believe, have not lost their relevance yet. And then innovating, backing raw talent and promoting diversity to create a world-class team.

At the same time, executive management must focus on cost centres, not just at the time of cutting costs.  It’s also quite critical to assess loyalty correctly. If an employee has stuck to an organisation for, say, more than 5 years, it doesn’t necessarily prove his/her loyalty; it could be unemployability as well. The Head of Editorial in a business/investment research firm should at least know the difference between “a company’s finance needs” and “a company’s financial needs”. Is it too much to expect?

I am not saying that job hopping is good, but we must acknowledge, an individual is hopping jobs because there’s always someone in the market who’s hiring him/her. And we are living in a market-driven system, aren’t we? Unemployable resources can’t hop jobs. But, unfortunately, those unemployable resources often turn out to be good marketers, who successfully position their unemployability as loyalty. Management buys it, as they have little time to focus on cost centres, and doles out tenure-based promotions. Merit takes a backseat.

Let’s not get into the nitty-gritty right now, and just relax and enjoy the unfolding corporate drama.

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Two missed call alerts trickled down my SMS inbox. One was from Mom, which was quite expected, and the other was from…not quite unexpected. I called up Mom. And then put my cell phone on silent mode. It was around 10:30PM and I wasn’t expecting any more calls. I switched on the TV to catch up with my favourite ‘saas bahu’ serials. After five minutes, my cell phone’s backlight started blinking. Someone was calling. Well, it was Nishigandha. I decided to ignore it. I could sense that the rebel in me was gradually coming to the fore. I was ready to face the consequences tomorrow. I didn’t want to spoil my night’s sleep.

One, two, three…seven missed calls, followed by a message – Raj, worried. Hope everything is fine. Please respond. Replying to the message would not be a bad idea, I thought. Yes, everything is fine. My cell phone was on silent mode, so didn’t notice your calls. Anything urgent? I replied to her message and realized the gigantic mistake I committed within five minutes of sending it. Nishigandha called up. And this time I had no excuse to ignore her call.

“Look at yourself. I called you up so many times. You don’t even bother to call back,” she screamed.

“Well, it’s too late, so thought that we can discuss tomorrow, unless there’s anything urgent,” I replied in a rather stern voice. I was not in a mood to carry on with this conversation, but she wasn’t in a mood to relent.

“What about the editorial newsletter? You haven’t shown me the draft,” she said.

“But, I told you I will show it to you next week. And you very well know how heavy the workload has been this week. And can we please discuss this tomorrow,” I replied.

“See, you still haven’t said whether you liked the gift or not,” Nishigandha quipped.

“Oh yes, it was good,” I said.

“Just good?” she said in a surprised tone.

“Okay, very good. But, what was the need for it? And what was the need to send it through Priya? I felt quite embarrassed.”

“I thought you won’t take it,” she replied.

“Thanks, Nishigandha. May we end this conversation here?” I pleaded, “I thought there’s something urgent related to work. That’s why I replied to your message. I am not quite comfortable with the idea of calling anyone or receiving calls at such late hours.” I told her.

“Oh, I called up to discuss about tomorrow’s training session at Noida office,” she replied.

“I think we have already discussed that today.” I said.

“Do you think I should join you,” she asked. But, this time I was on guard and was determined not walk into a trap.

“What’s the need? I can do it myself,” I replied in a jiffy.

“Yes, but the AVP and GM of that team have requested me to take the initial part of the session. My trainings are quite popular across the company,” she added.

“Well, it’s up to you,” I said, if only I could tell her the truth.

I wanted to tell her that some people in West Bengal vote for the Trinamul Congress not because they admire the party and its supremo Mamata Banerjee, but because there’s no alternative. Some people are not always lucky to have a choice between the better and the best; sometimes it’s a choice between the worse and the worst.

“What kind of arrogance is this? Can’t you tell me, yes Nishigandha, I will be glad if you join me,” she said, this time in a restless tone.

“Yes Nishigandha, I will be glad if you join me,” I told her and instantly decided that I will skip office the next day.

“But, you know Priyanka and Ruchi always stare at me and laugh whenever I stand by your seat and talk to you. I don’t know what they will do, if we go together to Noida. It makes me a little scared,” she quipped.

“What’s your problem? If you think you are not doing something wrong, what are you scared of?” I said, “And more importantly, I have never noticed any such thing.”

“You don’t know this team. Stay away from these negative influences,” she said, “when you return to office, don’t tell them that I was also there in the training session.”

“Sorry Nishigandha, if they ask me, I can’t lie. I have nothing to hide. Let’s talk tomorrow, as I am quite tired right now,” I told her bluntly.

“Theek hai. Ek gaana suna do. Yeh phone na uthane ki penalty hai,” she said. “Jaldi karo. Jyada bhav mat khao.” Nishigandha became silent putting forward this bizarre request once again.

I wasn’t quite surprised, though. The suffocation episode was the first incident of such bizarre requests, but it wasn’t the last.

“Sorry Nishigandha, it’s too late. I am tired and sleepy.” I replied.

“Main tumhe ek gaana suna doon?” Nishigandha asked.

“Theek hai, suna dijiye,” I replied.

Mere ghar aayi ek nanhi pari………

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