The Pied Piper

Once in a while there comes along some one, who sort of adds color and enriches your life with their infectious gregarious personality.

When I joined the new company, things looked very different from the previous one. Teammates seemed more professional and more punctual. The managers were more hands on and more approachable. But what was missing was some fun. The bonding, the camaraderie and all that makes yout time in office a li’l enjoyable. The place was like a graveyard. They would come in and start working right away. They would think long before talking to each other. There was a deafening silence. Looked like some one was running a tight ship around. All in all it was like a dead-pan.

Then, along came Rusty. First some etymology about the name. Rusty is christened for someone who has had a bad hair day at VLCC. It’s so bad that it always looks like there is some dust settled on the head. It looks so natural (i.e. the “dust”) that you’ll think that some dusting would help. Later as the "dust" wears out a li'l, the hair looks to have caught some rust. Well, eventually the rust goes away but not the name.

It didn’t take him too long to shake up the uptight people. I guess even they were looking for an outage. He had a kind of black humor in his frolics. The best part was he didn’t think twice about making fun of himself. He always would have an anecdote or two about his goof ups which would have us in splits.

From the “free” beer that he went to have in the bud plant, to the time a cop held a gun at point blank. From the “extra small” photocopy of his PAN card to the time he sent his friend’s resignation without his knowledge. From the way he rescued my bed from simba’s omlette to the way he rescued himself from the ferocious bong girl. From the way he would say “Gucci” to all the girls’ names he just could not get right. From the blunder of the blue car to the faux pas of “stealing” the waiter’s tip. There is just no end to this!

But jokes aside. He was a guy with a big heart. He had all his morals/values in place. There was no pretence or malice in his actions. He was in a way, very self-righteous. He would go to any extent to help people. He was a very hard working and quite brilliant at it. He is every manager’s dream come true.

He quit last week. In his farewell speech, he spoke very passionately about work and life in general, in his characteristic humor for a few minutes. He spoke straight from the heart. Then I think he got a li’l overwhelmed with the situation and stopped. When he was leaving, people just flocked from all the teams around to wish him well. And my entire team just walked with him voluntarily till his car. I’ve never seen this happen with anyone before. That’s the kind of influence he had on all of us. The void wouldn’t go unnoticed.

Crossing The Line

It was one of the most awkward situations I've ever been in. He could not believe what had happened. Neither could anyone in that room. There was a deafening silence. Nobody moved an inch for a few seconds, which seemed to last forever. He was shocked. He didn't know how to react to it. In fact, for starters, he didn't even sense the gravity of it. It took him a moment to get a stock of what had hit him. But we should have seen it coming. I did sense the tone. But should have done better to restrain. The other also was equally perplexed. He just couldn't believe the way he had reacted. Probably he was more hurt of the two, cause he has never done it before. And when he did it, it was on one of his best friends and a person who deserved it the least.

The most difficult part as an observer in such situations is when you have to pick a side. Not that you have to. But the mind sorta goes into a moral quandary. Who crossed the line?

If you ask me, neither did. Or maybe both. You may sit for long and dissect the situation and look for answers, but you'll never find an easy one. That's friendship.
When you are in a long friendship, things are taken for granted. You don't draw lines. Even if you draw one, over the years, it blurs. But when some unexpected incidents happen, the line thickens.
And after that things will never be the same again. You might try like mad to heal it, but just doesn't work. You might still meet and talk, but you'll feel that there is a level of discomfort. Its difficult to see eye to eye. There is something, but that just can't be discussed. You want to, but you just can't. You so wish that it had never happened.

This is one of the tragedies of a great friendship. One minute you have everything and in the next, its all gone. There is no animosity. They still wish each other good things. But that thing that makes a friendship 'great' is lost in a whisker.

As far I see it, earnestly trying not to be schmaltzy, for what its worth, its really not fair to lose it all for something that happened in a moment of madness.

The Curious Case Of The Guy In The Other Room

A month ago. He would wake up at 1010. Not for the call of duty. It was for the call of an empty stomach. Get ready by 11. Get to office in 10 mins. Go and sit in the comfort zone. Mobilize people to watch a movie. Kill time till its time to take out the expensive racquet. Sweat it out on the wooden court and zoom home back in time to eat the 3 chapatis and watch that hideous guy on the 'color'ful channel. And follow it up with watching that fat english guy who is going around the country witnessing guys being hit repeatedly in the crotch or something weird like that. Amidst all this he is texting at a breakneck speed. He can put a 300wpm steno to shame. His day would fold at 2AM.

Now. He wakes up early enough to give me a run to the bathroom. This time it’s the call of duty. His ride to office isn't the do paiyyan anymore. Nor is it 10 mins. There is no comfort zone, except for the "beach" or something, besides which, he'll never have the pleasure of sitting. The racquet adorns his room's wall. Permanently. So I guess the only sweat he breaks now is in the sprint for the bus. He comes home at almost the turn of the new day. The eyes are bloodshot. All that he is interested now, is his sleep.

His life seems to have gone topsy-turvy. He didn't see this coming. Nor did he see some thing in his personal life, (has always been so very discreet about this) which seems to have reached the crux. He had got a beard going for a while. Maybe he doesn't want to be all that discreet. Yesterday he comes home around midnight, goes straight to the sink, foams his beard and gets rid of it. But there are more important things that he doesn't seem to be able to get rid off. There are a lot of things buried under the jovial carefree attitude. He seems to be disappointed with a lot of people in his life. But he doesn't seem to be blaming them. He looks helpless. His heart is in the right place. But there seem to be many external forces that are trying to displace it. He seems to be heeding to them.
I just hope he makes it out of all this unscathed.