Tuesday, November 25, 2008

When it Rained....

Some times grave and serious, rarely hilarious, timid for most of the time when I am not certain, a little jealous when I am not philosophical, cheerless when a little worried, and in high spirits when inspired… that was me according to me ……. In the class room I became a different person and did theatrics and histrionics which elevated me to a different level… It was fun… the markets, the market cake, the market share pie of the cake, competition…. But when it came to exams it was always sad to see the guys sitting blank counting stars and drawing pictures on air …
All the teaching wouldn’t be of much help and it was miserable when they wrote the paper you taught and you are in the exam hall as the supervisor…The exam season at GIM was generally not turbulent but this year it was…The rains, the copying, the suspension, the debarring, and above all the enquiry constituted by Dr Jesus for the mess that the kids made of GIM when the power went off…the enquiry is a different story but this is what happened which lead to the enquiry…

Anand Mohan was at Jesus’ cabin when the power went off and the kids rained mayhem and reigned the GIM building like the cave men of some bye gone era….papers ,plastic, coke bottles, glass and whatever they could get hold of came flying from here and there.. I had ran out choosing the more dependable rain than the chaos inside but some who were running in from the heavy rain outside got hurt from the UFO’s that came from the floors above and hit their unintended targets without clemency…

The ruckus that the guys and gals formed and the confusion that some small group in some class began for fun when the power went off, flew to the neighbouring classes with ferocity, and when power refused to come back added with rain and thunder which formed the back ground score, the chorus and fun spelt over to the corridors, the staircases and it ran shock through the system… Fun had vanished.. it was revenge, plain frustration which splurged like hot lava from a fresh volcano… the darkness gave them the excuse….

Power supply was reestablished by the GIM technicians after a war like struggle for about 20 minutes but then that was a hell lot of time needed for 250 odd men and women trapped in 5 floors of the GIM building to redefine havoc… they had no strategy, it was not planned, organized, staffed, controlled and coordinated, no one marketed the darkness and din and yet it was so perfectly choreographed bedlam……

When again the lights were on and the pandemonium died down, I went inside the building to see litter and trash everywhere, faces with blood from the flying objects and with expressions that at best could be termed as disbelief … People slowly started coming out from their rooms and shelters…

Thank God I ran out… I said to myself as I sat near the lift at the reception unable to decide what to do. I knew that the top will emerge, enquire and execute orders…

But this would be appalling even for them and may be they will axe some scapegoats but the real ones…?
Were there any real ones for that matter?

Anand came out with Jesus and a host of others who emerged from the lift which opened. The reception area which was the centre point of the attack as it opened to all the 5 floors above looked like a garbage yard and the soil and stink appeared in the lines that appeared in the top management’s face. Jesus didn’t utter a word and so did Dr Joseph the ED…The VC picked up one or two coke bottles and inspected them as if he was a finger print expert… Anand stood with them silently and with his eyes pasted at mine, clearly questioning my presence there .there was logic, some one like me, at the reception there at that point of time….?

The team walked around, inspected the receptionist whose head was bleeding, ordering for a doctor, and inspecting the damage… Physical damage that is… emotional damage was in tones and gallons and it showed in all the faces… discipline in the most rigid for was practiced in GIM and it was one of the pillars which the HQ touted as the secret of GIM’s popularity among the corporate and the parents and here it lay badly raped and bruised….

When the team went up stairs to inspect floor after floor, Anand came to me and caught my hands….

He looked dazed but still had a very peculiar smile…

Now what was that Suk??? He asked me …

Rain … I said

What are you doing here? He inquired again….

What were you doing in Jesus’ room ?… I posed a counter question…

I had gone to hand over a couple of guys whom I caught copying… he said…

Great work man… I said with sarcasm…. You would be delighted that they are debarred… for a year.. that means they will have a 3 year MBA…

Anand had a so what look in his face but didn’t respond…He was possibly surprised that I knew the news, already …

This guys were writing from a piece of paper when I was there.. I mean I can pretend to be ignorant of small tricks but …. He defended…

He had a point there but still…..

You are new but you know the system rightyou could have settled it inside the class room… you should have… I said with anger…

He didn’t speak…

Can we sit some where? He asked after a long minute…

Canteen…? I gestured…

The rain had subsided but the dusk continued. It was but refreshing to walk out of the building only until we reached the garden… the garden was strewn with dirt and filth… the roses had all fallen, trees uprooted, the lawns had more clay than green and climbers lay astray and helpless like wounded soldiers….

You have created this havoc… I said while Anand still looked embittered … I was sure he regretted the decision….

He believed that piece even though that was just my postulation…the guys would in any case have done what they did even if Anand hadn’t caught some of them for copying… all the charm of the hunk had disappeared…the change agent that he was, looked a changed man himself.. the chosen one choose to remain silent, and sit there looking to the horizon like a pathetic looking hero of an art film….

I smiled …..Operation apple cart has begun…..I said to myself….

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Experiential learning ...Part II

It was an angry morning.

Dark and dim sky stared down at lesser mortals who panicked at the sudden change on what would have been a sunny and sultry summer morning. It wasn’t pouring when I drove down from home to office but it was about to begin. It was only a matter of time. The heavens kept grumbling and shouting and it was pitch dark at 8 45 in the morning when vehicles queued up and scrambled at the huge gates of GIM.

It was exam day… the seniors writing their first exam of the third semester and the juniors writing their first exam of the first semester. GIM wore a look of gloom, to a degree due to the fuming sky but mainly due to exams which was always a tough affair.

Jansi Williams and her team of faculty assistants were busy in pasting role numbers room after room after which the peons will lock them and keep the students at bay till the first bell goes on air at 9 30 am. The kids sat, stood and walked with books, some teamed up discussing possible questions, some sat alone, some stared at the dark heaven hoping for divine intervention. Some assumed the role of teachers where they taught (more because in the process their concepts got clearer and less because the listener’s welfare was a concern) a few who cared to listen …Still others kept searching their laptops for power points and reading stuff the faculty would have provided long back when he or she taught but which got lost among other important things like hottest songs and spicy videos… No one sat idle or without reading or writing, as in GIM all said and done exams was not an easy phenomenon…

The list of invigilators was published a day in advance and I knew that I had to do the boring job of going around in the exam hall, around and around peeping into papers, gawk and gape at violators, be suspicious and above all pretend to be alert and stern as the cameras watched unkindly. I have always felt that exam time at GIM was testing time for the students of course but more so for the teacher who invigilated.

Faculty members please listen… came out Dr Joseph the ED, from his cabin to the common area of the faculty room…..

All heads turned and all eyes posted at the old man who stood in a stylish posture which he would have thought as similar to the James bond 007 but de facto looking like Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura….

It is assumed that the seniors know all the rules, but it cannot be the same with the juniors… he declared.. the faculty members are asked to announce it before the commencement of the exam….

He listed out the rules,( which if all of them were to be broadcasted, would be taking half the time of the exam) and then said…… All the best to all of you…

Satirical he tried to be occasionally and most of the times it sounded like a gibe……To survive an exam season at GIM was tough for the taught and the teacher …..

Anand called me in intercom…

Hey Suk…. He said …. We are in adjacent halls… hall 5 and 6 in second floor…today we should finalise our plan for operation apple cart….

Well I needed to … after all GIM had chosen me as the anchor for its EMEP programme which will turn around the future of the MBA guys…and may be turn around GIM as well…

Exams when it began were as usual a mixture of hilarity and horror …. hilarity for the observer and horror for the partaker … I was in class 6 which was the last hall in the second floor and from where, the two rows of windows if opened we one could see the endless limits of the sea… The A/C was in full swing and windows couldn’t be left open as per the rules… GIM hated knowledge and noble thoughts that came from outside, understandably so, but fresh air too?

Walking up and down in a large class room for an entire stretch of 3 hours was not an easy task, particularly for the lazy academics that did no work physically as most of our work was intellectual, and using the brain (again that is a supposition, assuming that....
1. every teacher had brains or intellect as they call it,
2. it worked always and ....
3. the outcome was fruitful for the students at large…)

I did a lot of thinking during such sessions, walking up and down noting down stuff, ideas ,philosophy, verdicts, names, instances ,judgments and any such crap in my note pad.

My mobile vibrated …

1 message… it said

Anand Mohan ….

Breaking news …..Prof Latha is sent out from the exam hall by Jesus, for sitting and reading India Today … …. the SMS said…

I don’t remember who this Prof was… well I mean knew her who joined recently but wasn’t close to her, for want of time and interest … It was pointless in GIM… people came and went as in a railway platform… relations became a burden when they left…

Jesus walking in seeing the lady in her chair, relaxed with India Today, the kids in sharing info verbally via gestures and physically… some in a shock with his answer papers in the neighbors table, some with two question papers in his possession while the hapless neighbor has none…….

Annoyance, angst, alarm …. I tried to visualize the exam hall from where the faculty invigilator would have had to go out with head down, reluctant and disgraced ….

I walked even more briskly after the SMS… kept my note pad in table and feigned to be more vigilant, as the cameras beamed their eyes on the hall and also as I knew that Jesus will come out from nowhere with salvation and surprise to the suffering…

Anand never came from hall number 5 to 6 to discuss operation apple cart as he called it. I was relieved that he didn’t, as apple cart was not a darling project of mine (I know I was the chosen one though) and as I didn’t want to walk like an accused…

Hi sir… said Suhail khan who emerged from a hall after the exam, as I walked down with the answer sheets to be deposited at the exam coordinators office.

Hey how did you do your paper …. I asked him just for courtesy

Fine sir… he said but a smile was missing…

Any problems in your class sir..?

No why? …I felt it anomalous… oh yes…. may be he was referring to the prof who was caught updating her information on India today……Jesus was an idiot to reprimand a faculty in public…

Prof Anand caught three guys copying….. and they are debarred from writing further exams….. said Suhail Khan….

Anand will not do that …..was my first response but I kept it to myself…I wanted to see him….

He didn’t come to the faculty room for some time. Most of the prof’s had returned with their answer sheets… students were seen here and there; especially the studious ones who dared to do some post mortem of the QP with their teachers but Anand didn’t and his mobile phone was not reachable….

I went and stood at the main door of the faculty room to get hold of Anand the moment he comes in……

The dark skies still loomed … and all of a sudden power went off…GIM was engulfed in darkness… for a long minute it lingered and no one made any sound……then came down a thunder with ground breaking ferocity… the doors clang and I ran outside fearing an earthquake……then came a huge uproar from all the floors, in unbelievable unison, the students shouted /cried/sang and it reverberated across the corridors and walls…

Rains lashed down after hours of waiting and so did the guys in all the 6 floors of GIM… scattered they were and yet it all came together…..

The darkness was welcome, and even a deluge would be greeted with cheers…

GIM stood trembling in the thunder… it stood shivering in the rain, and as if ashamed, it kept its head low, slowly bowing unable to swallow the infamy….

Even in the thick of dimness I could feel the smell of denim and yet, I missed him….

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

The Outsider !

The hot tea and banana fries went in to make some change in me.. The hunk who never indulged in oily stuff ordered a vegetable sandwich (cheese free) and waited….I kept gulping the hot banana fry as he sat there watching me.. Advice was to follow… hit the gym… eat healthy.... bla bla bla…

But nothing happened…

He was unusually silent….

I guess Sukesh.. he said ,possibly unable to endure the dirty sounds that I was blatantly producing… the time has come

I looked at him questioningly… time to hit the gym and compete with him in looks? Aura? Majesty?... huh!! no way…

Time to change things here…. Time to upset the apple cart…. Said Anand looking somewhere far through the window, and talking to the world…

I laughed… Banana fry could wait but these communist style utterances from a US educated, branded, neo colonialist, capitalist symbol of a man was quite bizarre and once in a life time chance to encounter with….

You mean in the GIM? change things here?… I laughed again as if he was kidding….

Yes in GIM… we can do it… this EMEP programme is a God send opportunity to do it….he uttered with an unyielding expression…

I didn’t smile… I didn’t even react… I couldn’t unravel this puzzle named Anand mohan…

I know .. he said quickly…. You are a statusquoist ….. and you remain so… but imagine what is the fun in passing off like a ship in the night…? Sukesh Menon….. just another academic? You want to be the role model of the hundreds of kids here… the aspiring young managers…

My banana fry got over and his sandwiches had arrived…. He kept talking while I tried to make both ends meet… connect the apparently unmatchable threads… this story had a hero for sure, but who is it..? Anand or me? This story had villains for sure? And is this guy one?

Suhail khan for instance… he was helpless and you stood there even more helpless… you should have helped him… you should have gone to Jesus and told him …
Said Anand,,,,

I woke up… he was referring to the episode outside the HQ some days back… Suhail khan had shared with me his plight and predicament in this same canteen and later outside the HQ…

You pretended to be apathetic… and then he came to me… said Anand… and you know what he said… ?

I didn’t know… I just knew that Anand went to Jesus and saved Suhail from his troubles… and also knew that Suhail would be eternally obliged and would be worshiping Prof Anand Mohan as his hero…

Even Sukesh sir is not able to help me… Said Anand… I repeat.. Even Sukesh sir

You know why that EVEN came there… asked Anand?

I didn’t know… and I kept quiet… today it was my day to listen and I decided to do it….

He admires you a lot… simple… The sandwiches were getting over and a fresh glass of carrot juice came….

Huh… I said in desperation… I don’t believe it… why should he? And ok… I accept it for argument sake… he does… even if he does, what do you expect me to do?

Help them… said Anand… in management teaching dude, the teacher is a model not only inside the class, even otherwise, particularly young ones like us.. most of them see them in us.. see a possible them in us…

Was it new to me?

I myself had been a student in a B school some years back and have admired some teachers, revered some like a fanatic fan, and have detested some with vengeance… But in a place like GIM was it all possible?

It is dude… EMEP will start after the exams scheduled for day after tomorrow… we will make a plan and that plan will change the GIM system… trust me man it will… he said with a smile, even as I paid the bill and walked out…

He quickly followed me… you didn’t say anything

You know everything… I said with a smile… you even know what is in my mind… and what more you expect me to say… ?

Anand plucked a flower from the garden… Dr Joy was an avid admirer of flowers and plants and that made the GIM gardens a wonderful place…… remember Gray??… he asked me…..Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,….And waste its sweetness on the desert air….. remember?

I nodded…

I knew what he was hinting at but couldn’t commit…May be I would have if it was not for Prof Ram who came across the garden and stopped to talk to me…

Anand kept walking as I expected… walked some distance and turned back throwing the flower to me and to say…. I will wait… operation apple cart cannot launch without you….

I couldn’t reply, since Prof Ram was already there just opposite to me….

I am sorry…. Prof Ram said… for the EMEP thing… I didn’t know that it was thrust on you….

I smiled… here was the most senior of GIM professors, in the midst of this garden apologizing to a much junior professor, young enough to be his son….

No issues sir… I said touching his hands which he locked with mine ….

This is a good opportunity Sukesh… Said Prof Ram to me as my face opened wide and my eyes fluttered… it’s the first time that such a big responsibility has passed on to an outsider

That was again a GIM parlance… Outsiders are those in GIM who didn’t subscribe entirely to the management philosophy there as compared to insiders who were hardcore loyals to the HQ. Prof Ram was an outcaste... far away even from outsiders...

I just smiled… Prof Ram walked to the canteen as I did into the GIM building…

The huge mansion stood there, staring at me, the outsider, the first one who made it……

Anand had almost convinced me… now Ram too…

Sukesh Menon was still frightened to seize the chance!

Friday, November 7, 2008

Experiential learning... part I

I went back, to the happy news that Anand Mohan was supposed to break to me the other day. I was appointed as the coordinator of the Experiential Management Education Process (EMEP) which was conceived and envisaged by the top with inputs from wizards like the ED and thrust upon me and the students of MBA. It was just the latest one in a series of programmes that was launched and withdrawn but the ones like me who was caught unawares were usually the victims. It was acceptable that when it was conceived the executor was never told but it was not tolerable that even when it was to be executed, the executor was kept in darkness, totally.

EMEP programme is designed for the wholesome management learning experience to be transferred to the pupil through various means that are non classroom type and to supplement the class room learning that will make perfect managers…

said the document which announced my coronation and when I stood there at the notice board reading it, I saw eyes, many pairs of them staring at me and my name in midst of the semantic jugglery which seemed to have been made to make the whole announcement look mystifying.

Happy eh…? Asked Prof Ram while I sat in the common area of the faculty room…

EMEP Menon… some one said… has arrived….

I didn’t respond.. I didn’t know what the whole thing was about… In fact I didn’t even remember what EMEP was… Jesus would have known it and so was ED but no one else… I for sure no…

The management recognizes talent… said some one smiling in sarcasm …. The right person for the right job…

Many others laughed in mirth… John Holland would be proud… the personality job fit theory is being proven right….

I hated the academic community for its propensity with which it prejudged people and the penchant with which it found delight in it … but I was one among them and may be in more than one occasion I have done the same as well.

I sat there with a smile just because I knew that boys don’t cry …

How I hoped that the cameras had recorded it all and Jesus had just walked in with a stick punishing the bad.

How I hoped that the notice just disappeared or gave some other name instead of mine as the coordinator of the EMEP show…

How I hoped that no one could read it till I make it clear from Dr Joseph the ED or even Jesus as to what this new thing was…

How I hoped that I could ask some one…..WHY ME?

The ED didn’t help much and talked without clear answers.. he specialized in vague and formless talk when he desired so and it was clear that my answer will not come from the old war horse…

EMEP will help them achieve what class rooms cannot… he told me… its is a pioneering method which so far no B school has adopted and we are going to create history of sorts…

It was not my answer… I mean… not for the worry I had and which I had put across to him as a question…. and in any case I didn’t want to create history…

The question mark in my face became more prominent and yet he said again…

It is about innovating new pedagogical tools which will complement the management learning and enhance the wide thinking and the open behaviour that management students should be having…

From his verbal diarrhea I could guess who would have written that notice which I read in the notice board and who would have suggested my name to Jesus… He hated me for no reason or for some reason which I couldn’t make out….the toilet episode with Sri Laxmi was a long forgotten one for me, even for Sri laxmi but I guess he still lived there.. inside his stinking toilet….

I had understood what he meant even though the long sentences didn’t make any sense.. I was there and was to take care of a show which will keep the students engaged in an extra curricular stuff during after noons.. I hadn’t had time for the curriculum and now this one…

I didn’t venture to see Jesus as I knew it wouldn’t make any difference… he will not present long winding sentences for sure, nor will he jargonize but he will keep you affianced in his mesmerizing speak which will make you stop thinking about what you are there for and leave the room with him hand in hand feeling so proud that the director of GIM saw you as so dear a friend…

This time I am not going to take it lying downI swear… I told myself as I wrote it down in my note pad….

Then you will have to try doggy position… said a husky voice from behind…

What …? I turned around to see Anand in a blue shirt and cream trousers, with that classic smile flowing, and the smell of denim announcing his arrival. Any day he was the best dressed person inside the campus and if a voting was done he would for sure win, hands on…

I didn’t get you.. I said apathetically ….

Every time if you are taking it lying down, you cannot enjoy it… said Anand …try alternative positions…

I didn’t reply… I think I didn’t smile even… he didn’t expect any reply either… he went on…

What is your problem? He asked me… quickly adding… other than me???

I smiled this time.. all said and done, his being there gave a respite…

I told you ‘happy news’ is coming… fuck the world… now you are the chosen one… said Anand… Imagine what all we can do … every afternoon, the whole crowd is at our disposal

I looked into his eyes… he had large striking eyes resolutely set in his handsome face- every inch of which was made to perfection, he stood in a pose which resembled Michelangelo’s David with with one leg holding his full weight and the other leg relaxed. A slight s-curve to the entire torso was his way of standing which made him different…

Stop admiring me… he said accompanied by a loud laugh… and reply

Admiring my foot… I said in embarrassment … I did admire the guy and his vitality… but was troubled of the possible repercussions of his behaviour…

Can we take a stroll? ....He asked…

I wanted it, wanted badly to escape the gloomy comforts of the faculty room..
Escape its stillness that could kill…Its sound that was torturous …the cameras that make one smirk even in suffering…the populace who could peep over cabins fulsome in jealousy... abundant distrust that flew freely along with the conditioned air from the centralized AC plants…

I just wanted to go where there were no notice boards with words and words in print that meant nothing and no bosses who hurled shocks like stones that rained down along with dying comets!!!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Taste of indifference!

Sri Laxmi came and sat opposite to me the next afternoon disturbing my nap…
I was in deep slumber, first with head oscillating left and right and then later half of my huge body on the table and my head on the extended left arm..

I woke up hearing the big laugh… the gal sat there with more chuckles than I could afford at that point of time…

But I am what I am and she was what she was…. elegant as ever or even more, more pompous, more beautiful and more smiling…. like a dream which came descending down with all the heavenly charm..

Yes Madam … I said half awake… how can I help you?

If you remember … she said with her eyes firmly pasted on mine…we are co coordinators of the upcoming seminar… and you seem to be keeping away..

She had become bold… she was no longer the shy damsel who once was lost in the huge interiors of GIM.. she was no longer the same old scared little lass who cried and ran away from the class room unable to bear the kids of GIM…

Her curls of long hairs on both sides of her smooth face moved in tune with the soft breeze and with eyes of such an unsure bluish brown that seemed to have mixed with their whites by mistake, she sat there expecting an answer…

I had nothing much to say… It was a problem of getting the right words and the right content.. being politically right was important… I wanted to keep away from the seminar..My ego didn’t want to play second fiddle to an inexperienced junior girl but my chivalry wouldn’t allow me to be blunt to her with that fact….

May be I should have been an evangelist..…!!!

The phone rang…

Sukesh Menon here
… I said

Hey dude… what’s that babe saying… asked Anand on the other side with a dirty laugh…

Huh… I just gasped…

Lucky guy dude…. Got the best babe in town…. he said suggestively...

I didn’t dare to tell him to behave like a professor… Mind your own business.. I whispered instead and kept the phone…

I am into so many other things Sri Laxmi
… I murmered without allowing her eyes to lock in mine …. They seemed to be hiding more than what they revealed… or was it just because I saw it that way?

I took it up because they said you will be with me… she said … now I am lost… I don’t know what to do and what next......

Her paradigm shift seminar was none of my worry for sure but she was, her presence was… I wanted to send her off diplomatically…

THEY? Who is that THEY? ......I shot a query to take the discussion to my channel

The management… who else? And you thought I played a game with you to be a coordinator of a stupid seminar…her face blushed with rage….

It is not yet a stupid seminar my dear… I said to myself… if you are going to do it you will for sure make it one…

A smile did bloom in my face which (may be) for her stare appeared like a scorn…

I never knew that you can be so indifferent… she said as she stood up to go but added… Big people have big ego’s I know but I always felt that you are different…

Oh yeah… different and indifferent….
I mumbled as she walked away…

Indifferent? ….

Did she say that?

INDIFFERENT?


That is what Jesus too had told me in the lift the other day…

That was the management’s view point but how did she knew that??

I saw Suhail Khan outside the HQ that evening.. he had a sad look, and agony was looming over it…he looked stressed out and almost about to crumble… If I ask something I was sure he will succumb… wanting to avoid that I tried to walk away without recognising his presence…

He wasn’t ready for that but….

Sir…… Prof Anand is talking to Dr Jesus ….
He announced… I guess I will be relieved ....

I tried to smile…

Anand?

The omnipresent James Bond was there every where... he was like snowy dog in tintin series... in every frame... HUH !!!!!…

Why is it that he had no sense of what to do where and what not to do where…? Next time when I get him free I should teach him the serenity prayer.. I kept planning ans that was when Anand Mohan came out of the HQ, cheery and beaming, tapped the guys shoulder and said…. Now you can go and meet him…and let it be the last time ok…

Suhail Khan admiringly looked into the Hunk’s big eyes… He caught the prof’s hands and started crying…

Come on man… Anand said holding him in a tight embrace… be bold… just go in….

I stood there as a silent spectator… This was one rare scene in GIM…. As Suhail went inside, Anand walked away not even acknowledging my being there…

Wasn’t that indifference?

He left a trace of the denim smell and it disturbed me a lot, but the unanswered questions that he left behind was more worrying......

No words in literature can express it fully… you should meet this guy once to know what I mean..

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Oxymoronica !

Jesus had a double life.. one as the Director of GIM where he ruled over as the crown prince with occasional intercession from Manohar- his brother in law who was also a pretender to the throne, and the other one as an evangelist which was a passion and part time business …

The first role kept him dipped in opulence as he drove around flashy and costly cars, got connected through the latest devices and gizmos, flew in and out of town for no particular reason, spend evenings at hi society clubs to network, was seen in all the big parties with a flashy smile in his face and sizzling wine in his hand…

The second one was just opposite..... where he saw and dealt with poverty- face to face and preached God and his ways to the deprived…drew pictures of God’s mercy and miracle to the destitute and how easy was it to cross the suffering by adopting God by way of the cross…

From day one I was amazed by this balancing act… was he a lavish contradiction in himself or one great marvel that God had created?

An oxymoron that was incomparable, at least to my eyes…

At GIM no one well-liked Jesus as an administrator because he wasn’t one… in fact in his absence things went hassle free but no one did dare tell him the actuality and he got to hear only praise and his court was full of eulogists who composed songs on a daily basis and got rewarded for the same.

I was going through your personal files and CR… Jesus told me that evening when we met accidentally in the elevator …. It is cool … in fact amazing… but I guess you need to start taking writing seriously…

I kept mum… I knew that he likes listeners than talkers ….

Write articles like Professor Ram… or many others… He went on… as an academic if you want long standing it is a must….

I knew that it was true, in spite of the fact that the fact came from the wrong mouth… He knew everything or at least that is what one get to feel when he talks, but if he knew so much then how come he was such a poor administrator ?.. I doubted…

Sukesh …are you listening…?

Yes ….yes sir… In fact even I was thinking the same… this year with classes taking most of my time.. I couldn’t write much…

Oh classes… will be there always… that cannot be a reason for not writing… he cut me mercilessly as he walked out of the lift which had reached the ground floor and quickly turned back to add… I also hear that you have become a bit indifferent these days… I for sure will not believe that…. but be careful… I am not the only one on management

Jesus had the knack choosing the right words …. He had done his bit…now the worrying job was mine…and damn me the worry box opened even as the lift doors closed with a tense me still trapped inside….

Prof Ram was no longer my consultant during worrying times.. not that I stopped trusting him but that I started receding into my cocoon… it seemed safe but you never know.. Any time a container of boiling water can welcome you… still it was safe as long as no one spotted the cocoon …

I took refuge in the canteen which wore an empty look with the kids away with study holidays and the staff all busy doing nothing in their respective offices….the intelligentsia or the Intellectual Capital which made one of the pillars of a B school would be all busy gossiping , sleeping or doing cut copy and paste research…. After all targets had to be met….

Remember me sir,,,? Came asking a familiar face…..

Oh yeah…. I said… half in delight to have seen a student’s face in a dry lonely canteen and half in embarrassment over my inability to remember student names…

Suhail Khan … he said with a smile… I am specializing in Operations and HR… I had told you once…

Well he had… I remembered.. in the lift again.. some time back….

Yeah yeah… I said with a stupid grin… I promise I will remember you next time

You bet sir… he retorted …

Can I sit here sir? He asked….

Oh yes please… I invited him…. Have some tea …

I will have your favorite banana fry… he said still happy…

Hey … I asked with open eyes… how do you know that???

Who doesn’t know that sir…? What you are, is not what you think you are… sir… he said as if he was enacting the main role in some philosophical play on stage…. It is what others think you are…

Well I know you are doing HR but that doesn’t mean that you can make a simple banana fry look that complicated… I laughed at my humour …

Suhail khan but refused to laugh…. He sat there with a gaze fixed in my face….

Tell me Suhail… how I can help you?….I asked, in an attempt to take the conversation further…

You cannot help me sir… I don’t know who can but I need some one to help me… I badly need
…..he said….

Now I have to admit that I really got tense… students and their affairs at GIM was entirely the HQ’s prerogative and no one meddled in it… no one even listened to it….and even if they did it didn’t make any difference… here I was in the middle of the canteen that hot evening, with a cup of tea and banana fry sitting with this young man who was nothing more than a stranger not knowing what to do next…

I am caught by Dr Jesus every time …. He said with his eyes getting wet….

Caught for what? I asked perplexed…

For all the wrong things… he bewailed

Like for eg…?

Some one was drinking in the hostel.. in some room upstairs…. Last night…. And by about 1. 30 in the night Dr Jesus came for a raid…. Caught many … I didn’t even know the happenings but this morning the story is like I am the leader…. He said in one breath…

1.30 in the night? I wondered….and why such an anti climax… if you were not there

He started crying like a small kid, at GIM even though that was common....

How I hoped that I didn’t come to the canteen that evening….I knew what he wanted .. I also knew that I couldn’t help it….

My mobile rang… Anand Mohan calling ..it said…..

Hey dude…where are you? came the husky voice as loud as he could yell ,as if I am deaf…

Why? ......I asked in a fit of fury…

Come over ..there is a happy news for you…. He said in mirth and went off air…