Madcaljan21’s Blog

It was in the morning when vijay started to his office. He some how felt nothing was going correct from morning. He went to his desk and saw what he was not supposed to see. There was the world famous pink slip. All his things were packed and his compensation cheque was right there in front of him. He did not know how to react, he was not allowed to say the last ” Good byes” to his friends. The last glimpse of Anitha, the last coffee in the cafeteria. There was no last chance, there was just ” The End” right in front of him. He gathered all his confidence and walked through the lobby of his office. Suddenly everything seemed different. He felt as if his value has drastically reduced from few lakhs to few thousands or even less. He walked through the empty lobby, took the elevator to the ground floor and stepped out of the office once for all.

As he  stepped out, the bright light suddenly hit his face. He has never seen such brightness before. The reason was pretty obvious. He was very workaholic, when he steps into the office at 9.00 he would go back only around 11.00pm or 12.00 depending on the project he was working. He stopped to see such bright light. He was looking at everything as if he was looking at them for the first time. He stepped out of the gate.  There he saw a 15 year old boy rushing towards him with a bright  smile. Vijay had no idea who he was. But the boy can never forget the shoes for which he would earn 10 rupees. He was one of his richest customers. As soon as the boy came, he bent down to polish his shoes. Then Vijay realized  that he would be on phone or doing something with his palm top or think about the project or some issues in the office, but did  not even look at the boys face once. May be once or twice but very hard to recognize. He searched his pockets and found a ten rupees note. He knew the worth for 10 rupees now, but he was used to giving the boy. So he just gave him and saw the proud smile on the boys face.

He started walking down the road. He did not know where exactly he needs to go now. He wanted to tell his family, but did not want to give them the shock right  away before he is calm. So he decided to travel around Chennai, just to gain confidence and to take a break from his busy 5 years of life. He walked towards the bus stop. He remembered the last time he stepped into public transportation. The memories were far beyond, more  than 10 years, which he could not remember. So many buses passed by to different destinations, with people literally jammed. He could not imagine traveling in such buses on a really hot day. Who knows some one may really start to burn due to the heat generated. He waited for almost 30 min finally relatively  airy bus stopped right in front of him. The bus was heading towards marina beach. He liked the place. He got into the bus and was fortunate enough to get a seat too. He sat at the window and was looking at everything as the bus passed by. His was the last stop , so he relaxed and saw everything that was there on the road like a small kid.

He still remembered how he got into this MNC company right after his college. He was one of the top 10 to be selected for interview after the mind blowing written test. There were so many rounds of selecting the candidates starting from the written test, technical test, group discussion, technical interview and then HR interview. He managed to get through all the rounds with top score and was finally given the appointment. From the day he joined, he worked for the company as if the whole business was running on his head. All days through out the year his only concentration was with the work and nothing else. He had missed so many birthdays, marriages , funerals and so many other occasions where he could have had real fun. On the other hand he got so many awards, big promotions, very big salaries and bonus, trips to so many places around the world. He was happy with all that was happening in his office other than today. He still could not think of any other reason for them to send him out other than a simple word called ” COST CUTTING”. He did not know whom to blame Economy/ Finance/ Downward trend/ BUSH.

As he was drifted, the bus stopped at a temple. He saw the beautiful carvings on the temple. It might have been ages before he stepped in to the temples. May be if he had prayed, God would have saved him now. He suddenly remembered him holding his grand parents hands and walking through the Kapaleeshwarar temple, Mylapore. His grand father was very good at saying Mahabharatha and ramayana stories. He still remembers all the characters. He suddenly felt a pain in his heart. He remember when his grand mother died ,he had to give an important presentation to his client. He was so ungrateful to miss the funeral and just gained the angry faces of all his relatives. Now he understood the value of relationship and being with them till the last moment, is worth more than a  million dollars. But it was already 3 years since his grand mother passed away and far too beyond mourning.

The bus passed by so many streets. At the next stopping he was interested in watching small kids play cricket. With all boys of bats height, catching them and playing with  what ever rules they know. Few of them fighting to bowl , few demanding that the ball just hit was 4 or 6. Few of them rolling over and fighting. The next moment all of them joined hands and walked off the ground happily as ever. That is friendship. The moment we fight , the next moment we understand and fall back into the friendship net. He suddenly remembered , how many loyal friends he had. Other than his team mates, he did not maintain contact with any of the other college or school friends. Even though lot of his friends tried to contact him he could not contact them back due to odd working  hours. He had missed lot of his friends marriages just because of the same reason. He thinks back that his life is suddenly full of vacuum with no one to rely upon. No one to pour out his feelings. No one to pour out his happiness.

He felt as the bus passes his heart felt heavy with all the mixed feelings. He decided to get down at Tnagar ( A famous shopping center at Chennai, India). He walked through the street and was looking at everything. He stepped into pothys. He have never been there. But he always used to hear praises from his mom about this shop. He had never taken his mom out for shopping, have never had a chance to get her a dress for any occasion. But he will give her all the money she wants for shopping, like 1 lakh or 1.5 lakhs. He thought that was enough, just give the money and the job is done. He felt bad for a second. He was acting like a moron throwing away money and getting things done from people. He went to the silk saree section. He wanted to get one good saree for his mom. He browsed through all of them, he likes one which was around 2000 rupees. He thought for a moment, if he can afford to buy things now, without knowing whether he will get his job sooner or later. But then he did not want to think about anything else other than re-living the entire five year period which he had lost to enjoy. He got a couple of shirts for his father.  He stepped out of the shop. He felt he was feeling happy, getting dresses for his near and dear. Meanwhile he got a call from his colleague , ex-colleague. He did not pick up the phone , he just walked down the street.

He stopped to see the ” Saravana bhavan, uayar thara saiva unavagam” ( Saravana bhavan- Rich quality Vegetarian hotel). The fragrance from the hotel kindled his appetite and he went inside. He was nowadays  used to going to five star or seven star  hotel with clients and for every other meetings. He was used to eating by spoon, following table manners, eating slowly and gently, lesser than what you need to eat and so many other formalities even for eating. Here he sat down at the table, browsed through the menu, he saw channa batura. He ordered couple of items and had a heart full and tummy full feast. He stepped out even more happier. he also packed couple of sweets for his parents and his brother and headed down the street.

Finally he did some shopping for all his friends whom ever he knew, his relatives , he got a big cake with letters ” The best day”, made couple of calls to all his friends and relatives,  ordered food from catering for all of them, made all the preparations and headed towards beach.  All his freinds , family members, near and dears were waiting for him to arrive. They were all puzzled about this sudden call. No one expected his call. Almost he was at the back of the heart to be erased some day. They were all eagerly waiting for him to come home and tell them what was that about. Meanwhile so many gossiped that  he had suddenly married someone and this was the party for that, like they say the “MNC culture”.

Vijay headed towards the water, threw away the identity card. That was not just a photo card, it made him look like a dog in front of those big heads or who feel so. He threw everything that changed his life for past five years, detaching him from the family, making him forget the meaning of love, making him more stronger in office and miserable at home. He felt very happy, very light, which he did not get at any other place  around the world . He played in the water for sometime, shouted at the top of his voice. Felt like a little boy again after long time. He felt the youthfulness  in him is still alive. He could not jump for long as his 200 pounds of flesh will not allow him to do so. The only biggest asset from MNC.

He headed back home. Everyone  eagerly waited for him to open his mouth. He placed the cake on the table, went straight ahead to restroom. He looked at his face, he had lots of grey hair, dark circles under his eyes, wrinkles all over his face. He was just 29 years old and already looked like 40 years. But today there was difference, he felt  very happy and he looked cute amidst all those blemishes. He walked back to hall, opened the cake and said “Today is the BEST DAY in my life as I lost my job. Just thought I would celebrate that with my friends and family whom I missed to stay in touch.”. Everyone felt happy and they all had a good party that day. Vijay went to bed peacefully for the first time in 5 years without any preoccupied thoughts.