Casino Royale

It was another Saturday morning till the newspaper popped out of the grill on the door. As I pulled it out to read, saw a large envelope neatly in between the folds. Initially thought it to be a promotional material but on closer look found my name written on it. Opened it up and was completely overjoyed to find a beautiful card inside with almost all the office colleagues signing on it and congratulating me on completing ten years at work. This happened exactly 5 years ago on 8^th October 2011.

After finishing reading the card from cover to cover, went out to pick up the weekly fruits and vegetables from a market nearby. As I was leaving my building saw a delivery boy coming in with a cake box from Monginis and a bouquet. On returning home, saw the same two things kept nicely on the dining table. It felt good to be remembered by people with whom you had worked 10-12 hours daily. This was followed by a flurry of congratulatory sms messages. Now it felt even better so replied to each one of them individually. After this was an uneventful Sunday watching English Premier League matches

On Monday morning  I drove down to the office early. No sooner had I parked the car in the basement, than the phone started ringing, “Boss, where are you?” Usually I’ve been amongst the first to reach office and was surprised at getting the call from Shishir who normally came in much later. “Just reached and coming up now.. Why?” “No, nothing Boss.” Guessing what was in store, entered the lift and as it reached the 5^th floor, the door opened smoothly and I was taken aback to find the office folks standing in two rows leading to the office main entrance with flowers in their hands. Shocked and embarrassed, I refused to come out of the lift but a few stronger ones pulled me out. A sea of smiling faces greeted me as I walked in….people of other offices in the building were having fun at the tamasha happening at the insurance office. This was more like the Bengali groom with topor on his head entering the marriage pandal when everyone greets him with flowers and ooloos which is the strange sound only Bong women folk are capable of making with their tongues wagging from right to left in quick succession and with pouted lips. One of the boys remarked, “Boss, for ten years you have always come to work before anyone of us, so we had decided that today we shall be there before you. But Boss, please do not expect this of us everyday!”All I could do was to smile and put my head down in shame at the love that they had just showered.

The office was completely decorated with balloons, festoons and sparkles everywhere. The elders in the group escorted me to my room which looked no less than the Sheesh Mahal at Red Fort. As I sat down, a coconut with straw was placed before me. Even before I could finish the drink, was taken to the pantry room where an egg burger, hash brown and coffee from MacDonald’s was kept. They remembered me commenting on the MacDonald Breakfast poster on the road, “Accha lagta hai…khana padega.” One freak comment casually made and these people made the wish come true!

Somehow ate a little, then went back to my workstation when Anurag walked in to say that there is something important he wished to discuss but for it he needed some privacy. Normally this happens when someone is about to quit work. Being a sensitive matter, I agreed to walk down to a Café Coffee Day shop below. When he began talking to me, I realised it was just a ploy to get me out of the office. Anyway, by now I was beginning to enjoy the day. Soon Anurag received a telephone call and he was now in a hurry to take me back to office. As I now entered the office, I found every member of the senior management team, except my Managing Director who was travelling, had come down from the Head Office to join in the celebrations.  This was going to be a Special Day not for all the biggies in suits and ties but for the other commoners who had planned and executed so many surprises and were today enjoying the fun happening before them.

Post the handshakes and exchanges of pleasantries, the action began with a Q&A with some whacky questions for me to answer. After a few came, “Who are you most afraid of?” The answer ought to have been easy for any married man but I answered, “My shadow.” “No Boss you are not being honest. Please give it another try.” ”Ok. So you all want to hear me say, my wife…yes I am afraid of her.Happy?”No sooner had I given the answer, from one of the meeting rooms walked out Debi. Now this was a pleasant surprise. The next question was easy for me to answer, “Who do you love the most?” “My daughter, of course!”And right then out of another room saw Mrittika walking towards me, smiling and looking pretty as ever. 

Now the attention shifted to a giant screen that had been put up in one corner of the hall. The compere announced that they wished to show some videos of people who wanted to wish me. This would be nice and simple I thought as the screen came alive. A film started by playing, Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai which started by showing a young lad wearing ManU Tshirt playing football and the mother shouting in the background, “Shibu, shop playing and concentrate on your studies.” The father’s voice immediately tried calming her down, “Don’t worry. One day he will do well. I have faith in him.” Absolutely the words my parents had said about me innumerable times. I would have again shared their dialogues with some office friends who had captured it in the movie! Simply amazing.

No, can’t say if the beginning of the movie was amazing but what followed was completely out of this world. These friends from office captured my life in a 20 minute film with audio and video inputs from my school favourite teacher Brother D’souza who was then at Shillong, school and college friends and of course colleagues from my previous organizations, existing company mates and seniors, staff including security guards, distribution partners and clients. While they all spoke so well of me that I couldn’t believe it myself but two comments I must repeat for you. One said,” He is our Shah Rukh Khan.” Another said, “He is loved by his office people because he is like a grandfather to them. He defends them like all grandparents who will never believe his grandchildren can ever do any wrong!” As if all this was not good enough, I was shocked to see my wife, daughter and mother-in-law on the screen talking about me. Their shooting had happened in my house and I never came to know about it? My mother-in-law, who could never keep a secret, had not spoken a word about someone coming home with a camera and microphone and that she had been filmed! How I wish I could share with all the video for you to see, done completely by amateurs at office, fit to be screened at Cannes.

This movie was followed with all seniors and colleagues taking the mike and speaking showering praises and gifts more than I would have ever imaged in my life. Once again  I must talk about a special gift and a talk that touched my heart. A youngster, Mohsin, with whom I had played cricket and football matches for the office, had a photograph of me playing football. He took the picture to an artist friend of his who did a sketch which Mohsin framed and presented it to me. I still have it on my desk at office.  Then there was Janifa who narrated a poem which she had penned for me. Later shared the same with me and I wrote back to her saying that what she had written was fit to be put on my tombstone. Go on and read it and tell me if I was wrong?

The scene now shifted to the pantry where all trooped in.  A cake was brought in and as the box opened I was swept off my feet when I saw the cake was made to order with the logo of the football team I follow, Manchester United.  There was much more than the cake, sweets, namkeens, soft drinks and more. I too got a chance to talk. Although choked with emotions, I spoke for some time. Today, I don’t remember much but to my COO who was present I said, “Sir, actually today I have completed 11 years and not 10.” When he asked me how, I explained that in these ten years I had not taken a single break of more than 3 days, never a long leave or holiday which means I did not use the 25 -30 odd allowable leaves for ten long years. He understood but he too had an ace up his sleeve, “Since you have worked so much in ten years, today I want you to take half a day off with your wife and daughter.” And handed an envelope to me, inside were three pre-paid lunch coupons for J.W. Marriot, Juhu.

And so we left for the lunch but my wife said I need not take out my car. As I stepped out of the portico, a driver in immaculate uniform opened the door of a Mercedes Benz. My wife a daughter smiled and nodded as we sat down in the dream car. Office had arranged to pick up my family early morning in this car and had booked it for the day for us to use. The lunch was outstanding with Sikander Kher and Lucky Ali in the room on adjoining tables, we couldn’t have asked for more. Finally reached home and was about to take some rest when office people called up to say that they had arranged for a dinner at Juhu Club . With hardly any appetite left but no heart to say no to the people who had done so much, we joined them and ended the day with some wonderful NW Frontier food. What a Day!

Next morning in my thank you mail to all I wrote, "I have always believed that P=P that is investing and trusting in People leads you to better business and Premium. Of course, I got my equations wrong many a times with the first P almost at all times getting more weightage. Often blamed by many for not pushing and punishing my people enough for 'better results'. Anyway, I have no regrets in having failed in the mathematics of business as long as I passed the examination of life."

And today I complete 15 years at my company.

SS