The debate wasn’t yet over! It had just begun ,but how would one predict the future at that point of time when from the Kings chamber people came out ,all in smiles and shaking hands…
It was not an angry sermonizing from the majesty’s side with all of us including the mighty samurais who fought, in thoughtful listening… the king took a “Look you are all professors, who am I to advise you” tone, which I thought showed him as shaken…
Professor Ram was asked to speak to which he said he was thankful( as if he was giving a thanks giving speech after having got the Best teacher award) and went on to describe how for Professor Mathew everything what others did, he did in particular,was wrong…
Everything? ......asked Jesus with a kid like face.. His black face was an abode of expressions and he was a first-rate actor..
One day Anand Mohan applied some body spray before he was walking to a class… said Ram…Prof Mathew shouted at him for that….
People looked into the oil tanker as if he was a gang rape accused sitting in the trial room..
Anand was sitting next to me and he nodded his head in acceptance.. yeah My HOD did that .. his nod said…
He makes fun of my articles and research papers and terms it well packed nonsense… said Ram, making the crowd laugh.. I am sure the terminology went well even with the king and his left and rights, as I could see a giggle running amok for a second and then bhoomm… evaporating…
Professor Mathew Cherian remained soundless, quite oddly, given his character he should have by now stood up and put another brawl…
It is a problem even if we have some loud talk.. said Ram, this time looking at me… I mean it is a faculty room; interactions are bound to happen… the management does not expect us the teachers to work in water tight compartments do you?
The management didn’t reply… did they expect us or didn’t they? No one said and Ram didn’t seem to expect a reply either….
The HOD looked like some one, a moron who despised people talking to each other, a tyrant who detested free flow of ideas, voice, noise and people, a despot who even hated the smell of denim..
“What a mischievous sprite!!!!” I was sure people would have branded him…
It was interesting… the whole process.. At GIM such things were new.. the fighting among the faculty was new because there was a common enemy always – the HQ – with whom every one fought at least in the war zones inside their own minds…. The trial was even more amusing where every one sat, people spoke and every one listened….
What you think will happen?...... Anand asked me…
I shrugged.. I missed my note pad where I expressed better than I did in my face…. I was not an evangelist after all!!!
I told you things will change… Apple cart is running…
This is not your change.. I ridiculed him… this is mere accidence...
Think before you talk Suk… Anand smiled… the fight was an accident, not the reaction to it…
He probably had a point…
What an amazing birthday for you dude.. he said and smiled ….
Professor Mathew refused to talk when he was asked to… I felt glad that he didn’t..the dirty me in me, giggled as the old man sat there ,oil dripping from his face , and with an odd feel of remorse and revenge in his face, like a strange cocktail that adventurous drunkards experiment with….
You should raise such issues in a proper forum Professor Ram.. said the VC pitching in… I hadn’t seen him for a long time in action, old age was catching up in his face and in his speech as well,,,, ……don’t you agree that it was a flaw on your side to have flared up on such minor irritants?
I thought Ram would explode yet again… Minor irritant is a term that would have made even me detonate.. Ram but remained smiling… He wasn’t the same Ram who reacted for everything in his own predictable way… no one was the same.. not even me… IS this the change that Anand talks about?
I guess this issue needs a serious attention… said Anand standing up and stirring my silent bucket of thoughts…
This fucker is so unpredictable, I thought….
He didn’t look like Moses the savior, he didn’t stand in a posture that made him look like David.. he was now bald and his frame much bony than that of the past…
This meeting is indication enough that the management is fully considerate of the consequences of what happened today… he said in clear tone that made every one listen….. under the roof of this great institution, under the eyes of our students, when teachers fight like street dogs…
He paused and looked at Dr Joseph the ED (who sat stressed beyond recovery) and said .. Even though I was answering to an accusation I think I went over board when I fought with you sir… I sincerely apologise…
Now this was the Googly…I always think that I knew this guy like the concepts of marketing that I teach and when I underline the thinking he mutates into something new…
He was still standing when I saw his eyes clogged and his words fell on the table like hot drops of blood…
This is a just a symptom, like bleeding nose for a cancer patient.. The sooner you detect the reason the better it is for the system…
Pain and more pain ripped through the faces in the room.. this was one of the instances where silence was a torture , more than words could ever portray ….
He had a smile as he sat, the pain in his eyes refusing to blend with, or even accept the smile in his lips…
I didn’t clearly see what happened next, I knew that Prof Ram had shook hands with Prof Mathew ..
I saw tears, I heard laughter and when I touched reality, Anand Mohan looked like David Copperfield, the Magician …
Friday, September 25, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
UFO>>>>!!!
I returned with a heavy heart, (well! a heavier heart) than I left when the King called me… petrified like a cattle in the meat shop I was in a dawdling crawl to the kings abode but in return I ran, literally… what happened there is but a different story altogether…
I returned to the faculty room to witness a huge noisy hubbub.. I could hear shouting from a corner and could hear Ram’s voice…I could see a crowd and that included some students..
You are an impossible psycho…....came up the voice of Prof Ram.. and you better get treated before you totally rot this place….
Now this was too much, I mean..... it was not at all a clue at the GIM faculty room…it could be any one on the other side.. almost every one there, could fit into that title...... Impossible psycho…
Do you know whom are you talking to…… I saw as I walked (or ran? ), the well oiled face of Prof Mathew Cherain, My HOD..
I hadn’t had any moment’s gap to think whom to support… I needed no gap to judge, in a flip of a second that it would be the oily jerk that would have created the ruckus…
I am the HOD.. screamed the man from his cabin.. he was shaking like a drunk facing a storm ….
The story is public …..retorted Ram in such big decibel that will put even airports to shame….… even the gate watcher knows how creeps like you make it to the top…
Dr Joseph , the ED was seen rushing from nowhere frenetically, seemingly to save his aide-de-camp … his face was more distorted than normal and had turned crimson…
He, looked like was called to fight the fire that was on…
What the hell are you all doing here? …. he shouted at us- the on lookers…Anand and me in the front row…
ED seemed to have forgotten that 'when shows are on, crowd will gather',,,,
People went back a little but stayed put, the show was so entertaining to let it go..
What is this ? ….I asked Anand hoping to hear the story from its beginning…I was like some one who walked into a cinema post interval... the climax wasn’t spicy without knowing how the story developed…
Will tell you… this was brewing for some time now.. said Anand with a wicked smile… volcanoes better erupt than hold back..
The HOD looked like an overflowing oil tank….. slipping and flowing now and then ,here and there.. worlds failing to match his fiery facial expressions…
Now this was new for me.. the most revered senior professor at GIM fighting with a greasy lunatic… when the one professional I adored, was in battle with a qualified schemer , I knew for sure who would be the reason…
What is his problem.. argued Ram with the ED who tried to pacify the war lords.. … why the hell he has to poke his nose into my affairs.. ?
And his dirty ass into almost every ones.. said Anand with a stupid grin…
I laughed and laughed a little loud…
The ED turned to us, leaving the battle front..
Now aren’t you ashamed..? he asked me and Anand.. you are enjoying this nonsense..…
We were startled, I mean I for sure was.. I didn’t had the time to see and analyse Anand and his face,,, I just didn’t get enough time to even form my defense before be jumped on us again…
Sir.. would you stop it… Anand raised his voice to the old man who looked like he was about to eat us alive… Now if YOU cannot control your colleagues fighting that is because YOU fed it.. YOU groomed and nurtured it.. That is your headache.. Don’t try to put a show on our expense.. You are no bloody KING here…
What? …..Taken aback, but not to give up the old man barked bizarrely like an angry dog would when thrown stones at it..… What did you say…?
The war front had changed… the crowd now got a new show to watch.. I don’t remember what Ram and Mathew Cherian did at that moment because in this new flank attack that Dr Joseph had opened, I was also a party…
I said what you heard.. said Anand smiling.. if the faculty are fighting and when you ask them to stop ,if they don’t stop, that is because you have given them the wrong leadership by example.. You have been impotent and incompetent as their boss… now just because you think we will obey and never question don’t try to attack us… the same guys who pay you ,pay us as well…isn’t that clear?
Dr Joseph and his red face look like a broken tomato.. Why not? ....Hit so hard, it had to smash…
Stunned stillness provided a strange background to this uncanny anti climax.. No one talked and every one retired to their cabins and pigeon holes, waiting for the next step…
I saw Dr Jesus coming in, I knew it was going to happen but compared to what I thought would happen, he went directly to Ram’s cabin .. Heads that didn’t dare to show up till then slowly came up..
Buzz… Anand came in my chat box online……
You don’t talk if we are called.. he wrote.. I will do the honours…
I knew he was quite disbelieving about my conversation skills in testing times, that too with the bosses…Anand had this.. he was always certain and cheerful.. may be that is why I wanted to be him ….
I had a smile while I waited…
We will have a meeting… announced Jesus after his talk with Prof Ram standing at the centre of the large room where the faculty sat, lived, played, shared jokes, gossiped, read, prepared, made cut copy and paste research and now fought as well … in another 10 minutes in the conference hall… I request all you ladies and gentlemen to be there…
He walked out with the intended pun looming at the troposphere and Jesus looked like an alien who just came out of a UFO that was parked in the garden outside…
The traces of my birthday cake were still lying scattered here and there, laughing at me and the whole system…
I returned to the faculty room to witness a huge noisy hubbub.. I could hear shouting from a corner and could hear Ram’s voice…I could see a crowd and that included some students..
You are an impossible psycho…....came up the voice of Prof Ram.. and you better get treated before you totally rot this place….
Now this was too much, I mean..... it was not at all a clue at the GIM faculty room…it could be any one on the other side.. almost every one there, could fit into that title...... Impossible psycho…
Do you know whom are you talking to…… I saw as I walked (or ran? ), the well oiled face of Prof Mathew Cherain, My HOD..
I hadn’t had any moment’s gap to think whom to support… I needed no gap to judge, in a flip of a second that it would be the oily jerk that would have created the ruckus…
I am the HOD.. screamed the man from his cabin.. he was shaking like a drunk facing a storm ….
The story is public …..retorted Ram in such big decibel that will put even airports to shame….… even the gate watcher knows how creeps like you make it to the top…
Dr Joseph , the ED was seen rushing from nowhere frenetically, seemingly to save his aide-de-camp … his face was more distorted than normal and had turned crimson…
He, looked like was called to fight the fire that was on…
What the hell are you all doing here? …. he shouted at us- the on lookers…Anand and me in the front row…
ED seemed to have forgotten that 'when shows are on, crowd will gather',,,,
People went back a little but stayed put, the show was so entertaining to let it go..
What is this ? ….I asked Anand hoping to hear the story from its beginning…I was like some one who walked into a cinema post interval... the climax wasn’t spicy without knowing how the story developed…
Will tell you… this was brewing for some time now.. said Anand with a wicked smile… volcanoes better erupt than hold back..
The HOD looked like an overflowing oil tank….. slipping and flowing now and then ,here and there.. worlds failing to match his fiery facial expressions…
Now this was new for me.. the most revered senior professor at GIM fighting with a greasy lunatic… when the one professional I adored, was in battle with a qualified schemer , I knew for sure who would be the reason…
What is his problem.. argued Ram with the ED who tried to pacify the war lords.. … why the hell he has to poke his nose into my affairs.. ?
And his dirty ass into almost every ones.. said Anand with a stupid grin…
I laughed and laughed a little loud…
The ED turned to us, leaving the battle front..
Now aren’t you ashamed..? he asked me and Anand.. you are enjoying this nonsense..…
We were startled, I mean I for sure was.. I didn’t had the time to see and analyse Anand and his face,,, I just didn’t get enough time to even form my defense before be jumped on us again…
Sir.. would you stop it… Anand raised his voice to the old man who looked like he was about to eat us alive… Now if YOU cannot control your colleagues fighting that is because YOU fed it.. YOU groomed and nurtured it.. That is your headache.. Don’t try to put a show on our expense.. You are no bloody KING here…
What? …..Taken aback, but not to give up the old man barked bizarrely like an angry dog would when thrown stones at it..… What did you say…?
The war front had changed… the crowd now got a new show to watch.. I don’t remember what Ram and Mathew Cherian did at that moment because in this new flank attack that Dr Joseph had opened, I was also a party…
I said what you heard.. said Anand smiling.. if the faculty are fighting and when you ask them to stop ,if they don’t stop, that is because you have given them the wrong leadership by example.. You have been impotent and incompetent as their boss… now just because you think we will obey and never question don’t try to attack us… the same guys who pay you ,pay us as well…isn’t that clear?
Dr Joseph and his red face look like a broken tomato.. Why not? ....Hit so hard, it had to smash…
Stunned stillness provided a strange background to this uncanny anti climax.. No one talked and every one retired to their cabins and pigeon holes, waiting for the next step…
I saw Dr Jesus coming in, I knew it was going to happen but compared to what I thought would happen, he went directly to Ram’s cabin .. Heads that didn’t dare to show up till then slowly came up..
Buzz… Anand came in my chat box online……
You don’t talk if we are called.. he wrote.. I will do the honours…
I knew he was quite disbelieving about my conversation skills in testing times, that too with the bosses…Anand had this.. he was always certain and cheerful.. may be that is why I wanted to be him ….
I had a smile while I waited…
We will have a meeting… announced Jesus after his talk with Prof Ram standing at the centre of the large room where the faculty sat, lived, played, shared jokes, gossiped, read, prepared, made cut copy and paste research and now fought as well … in another 10 minutes in the conference hall… I request all you ladies and gentlemen to be there…
He walked out with the intended pun looming at the troposphere and Jesus looked like an alien who just came out of a UFO that was parked in the garden outside…
The traces of my birthday cake were still lying scattered here and there, laughing at me and the whole system…
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
The birthday boy - Part I
Why do we celebrate birthdays? ..... asked Anand while I was engrossed in that day's Business line….
It was my birthday and no one at GIM knew it…. now this question woke me up from the illusion that no one knew it…
I do not … I said unflappably …. So may be I wouldn’t know…
Anand laughed as he came and sat near to me in the common room.. it was the first tea break of the day and the faculty room was full of talk and laughter…
You didn’t answer me but ..insisted my friend…
I do not know… I think it is just to declare ones self importance.. existence… may be like brands advertise…
There you go… he said….. so GIM is implementing this new style of advertising from today…. The management would be hereafter celebrating its staff’s birthday officially…
I didn’t say a WOW but an awe escaped through my larger than proportionate mouth, to nowhere….
HR policies being reframed… said Anand with conviction looking at my 'not so appreciative' face… the change agent in him wouldn’t die…
By the way suk…. Happy birthday… he said and caught my hands... his eyes sparkled even though the doses of medicines and the therapy had made him a poor looking cousin of his past… you could have told me at least…
But I don’t… I protested feebly….
Happy birthday professor Sukesh… said someone from their cabin to my astonishment….. I saw Ram coming in and many others even as I tried to retire to my pigeon hole cabin…. I saw a group of office boys from the HQ coming in and taking the centre table at the sitting place and putting a larger canteen type table there with a white cloth over it… it looked like a drama set scene to scene transformation, from garden to the palace interiors and from the palace to the market place.. within seconds flowers came in… the king size chairs arrived and so did the king and his court… a large cake appeared on which my name was written ….I was caught in the fanfare, where people smiled ,made noise and rejoiced.. I still didn’t come to terms with the happening inside the faculty room that afternoon…
Anand was seen here and there among the crowd and as Jesus and Manohar came in there was a sudden silence…
Every one stood around the cake… And the King spoke,,,,,
Our employees are our friends… he said looking into the cake and then to each of our faces for a second each… here there are no superiors and sub ordinates…
The VC , ED and the others in the top management team nodded.. When the king spoke, they were all by habit attuned to this nodding no matter what he said….
I switched off and instead kept scanning the crowd.. most of them were surprised and shocked like me, some looked and stared at me as if I was hosting the show, still others seemed jealous at my propulsion to the centre of fame …. I knew that this would be the new game floor and I wasn’t prepared for that….
When the speech was over, Jesus said a prayer and after which I was asked to cut the cake… the first piece was stuffed into my mouth and then the creamy sticky mass was cut into smaller pieces and send around …
We all had had birthdays ..said some one sarcastically ,making sure that the top had left the room… but some are more equal than others…
I was in a smolder …. Pain and agony ran untamed as I sat in my cabin …
The tit bits and residuals of the cake was spread all over but my worry was the grimy looks and the puny faces that the whole show had left as residue…
Happy birthday sir… people kept on saying the whole day... students , staff, colleagues and others… in the lift , at the canteen , in the library and even at the toilet… I just wanted the day to be over soon.. the day when I had told Anand that I do not celebrate birthdays…
Professor Ram was waiting for me, walking nervously up and down outside my pigeon hole when I returned from the loo …
Why do you think, the lot again fell on you? .....he asked the moment he saw me….
I didn’t know… I was worried as well why I am the chosen one always… why I am again the first outsider who had the honor to have the king arrive and sing songs on his birthday,,,,,
Be careful… said Ram… I smell a rat in this sudden celebrity status …
Cats always smell rats.. I said to myself but tried to look cool.... I didn’t want Ram to know of my anguish….
There is a talk among the folks… said Ram…. I don’t know how far that is true…
Now that was too much for my garb to fall… my habiliment worn off and I stood like a naked beggar… he could see me raw but I didn’t know how I looked like..
I am sure I would have looked shocked…my face would have gone pale and blank.. my lips would have dried up… I could see that in Ram’s face…. A sort of a dirty glee appeared there…
Ram had this… he knew how to spin a yarn of suspense and clasp one in it…I was for sure caught in curiosity …
Jhansi Williams appeared on the back ground….
Sir you are wanted by the chairman .. she said and disappeared…
I didn’t look into Ram’s face , I just walked off tongue-tied….
It was my birthday and no one at GIM knew it…. now this question woke me up from the illusion that no one knew it…
I do not … I said unflappably …. So may be I wouldn’t know…
Anand laughed as he came and sat near to me in the common room.. it was the first tea break of the day and the faculty room was full of talk and laughter…
You didn’t answer me but ..insisted my friend…
I do not know… I think it is just to declare ones self importance.. existence… may be like brands advertise…
There you go… he said….. so GIM is implementing this new style of advertising from today…. The management would be hereafter celebrating its staff’s birthday officially…
I didn’t say a WOW but an awe escaped through my larger than proportionate mouth, to nowhere….
HR policies being reframed… said Anand with conviction looking at my 'not so appreciative' face… the change agent in him wouldn’t die…
By the way suk…. Happy birthday… he said and caught my hands... his eyes sparkled even though the doses of medicines and the therapy had made him a poor looking cousin of his past… you could have told me at least…
But I don’t… I protested feebly….
Happy birthday professor Sukesh… said someone from their cabin to my astonishment….. I saw Ram coming in and many others even as I tried to retire to my pigeon hole cabin…. I saw a group of office boys from the HQ coming in and taking the centre table at the sitting place and putting a larger canteen type table there with a white cloth over it… it looked like a drama set scene to scene transformation, from garden to the palace interiors and from the palace to the market place.. within seconds flowers came in… the king size chairs arrived and so did the king and his court… a large cake appeared on which my name was written ….I was caught in the fanfare, where people smiled ,made noise and rejoiced.. I still didn’t come to terms with the happening inside the faculty room that afternoon…
Anand was seen here and there among the crowd and as Jesus and Manohar came in there was a sudden silence…
Every one stood around the cake… And the King spoke,,,,,
Our employees are our friends… he said looking into the cake and then to each of our faces for a second each… here there are no superiors and sub ordinates…
The VC , ED and the others in the top management team nodded.. When the king spoke, they were all by habit attuned to this nodding no matter what he said….
I switched off and instead kept scanning the crowd.. most of them were surprised and shocked like me, some looked and stared at me as if I was hosting the show, still others seemed jealous at my propulsion to the centre of fame …. I knew that this would be the new game floor and I wasn’t prepared for that….
When the speech was over, Jesus said a prayer and after which I was asked to cut the cake… the first piece was stuffed into my mouth and then the creamy sticky mass was cut into smaller pieces and send around …
We all had had birthdays ..said some one sarcastically ,making sure that the top had left the room… but some are more equal than others…
I was in a smolder …. Pain and agony ran untamed as I sat in my cabin …
The tit bits and residuals of the cake was spread all over but my worry was the grimy looks and the puny faces that the whole show had left as residue…
Happy birthday sir… people kept on saying the whole day... students , staff, colleagues and others… in the lift , at the canteen , in the library and even at the toilet… I just wanted the day to be over soon.. the day when I had told Anand that I do not celebrate birthdays…
Professor Ram was waiting for me, walking nervously up and down outside my pigeon hole when I returned from the loo …
Why do you think, the lot again fell on you? .....he asked the moment he saw me….
I didn’t know… I was worried as well why I am the chosen one always… why I am again the first outsider who had the honor to have the king arrive and sing songs on his birthday,,,,,
Be careful… said Ram… I smell a rat in this sudden celebrity status …
Cats always smell rats.. I said to myself but tried to look cool.... I didn’t want Ram to know of my anguish….
There is a talk among the folks… said Ram…. I don’t know how far that is true…
Now that was too much for my garb to fall… my habiliment worn off and I stood like a naked beggar… he could see me raw but I didn’t know how I looked like..
I am sure I would have looked shocked…my face would have gone pale and blank.. my lips would have dried up… I could see that in Ram’s face…. A sort of a dirty glee appeared there…
Ram had this… he knew how to spin a yarn of suspense and clasp one in it…I was for sure caught in curiosity …
Jhansi Williams appeared on the back ground….
Sir you are wanted by the chairman .. she said and disappeared…
I didn’t look into Ram’s face , I just walked off tongue-tied….
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