Asked to Leave

by Krishna D Bhatt

  “It was nothing like that, but it was missed as there was huge call flow. It was not something done with a will. Trust me” I said.

  “You have to say something on this Diva?” He asked her as well.

  “Yes, I think he is skipping the cases, he works hard, no doubt about that, but sometimes I feel he doesn’t want to work with me as a team.” Diva said something which was an assumption of her mind.

  “Let me change your team then. Ram will be a part of Honey Singh’s team; Purohit will replace Ram in your team.” Mr. Wilson was little bit calm this time.

  When returning from the cabin after the knowledgeable meeting, I was very upset as I have lost a friend in the form of Mr. Wilson, as there was no more mutual understanding left to save that brotherhood, he yelled, used words which I had not expected, didn’t bother about the self-respect. It was hurting me as when I used to say him brother, I had meant it.

  I found a reason for my happiness though. I had been shifted to Honey Singh’s team, so I had one more chance to prove myself as Honey would definitely let Mr. Wilson know that whatever was taught to Mr. Wilson was not the reality; and issue was with Diva’s attitude. I let her go as she was a girl and I had sympathies with her family.

  That incident taught me to not to expect a lot from people, because when people throw us out of their life, it hurts badly. I was experiencing that pain and those unbearable wounds across my heart because of a small misunderstanding of Mr. Wilson, who had injured me by his words.

  I had no reason to be a part of that team, as I had lost self-respect, faith, interest apart from brotherhood. It was not easy for me to ask Mr. Wilson for permission to go on breaks, unless I started dealing people officially, the journey started with colleagues, when they had become friends, it gave me happiness, and later when they became colleagues, it gave me loneliness. But I had reasons at home to survive there until finding an alternate job; My Mother, my life-partner, and my wonderful kids.

  A new beginning was waiting for me, a new challenge was waiting for me, I was heading towards home in the cab after the completion of that horrible night.

  ***

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  The Kindness And The

  Financial Loss

  June 2010, Saptech Computer Education, Gurgaon.

  “Good Morning Ma’am.” I reached to Old DLF Colony, Gurgaon, standing in front of an average height-weight but beautiful lady, greeted her.

  “Yes Sir, how may I help you?” She asked with an adorable smile.

  “Well, I am here for Admission to pursue Bsc A-IT.” I said.

  “Come with me please.” She took me inside the cabin for counselling.

  “So, since how long you have been working here? I mean is this the best option for me? See, you are like my sister, and I don’t know much about these degree-providing institutes, so you have to be lucid to me and tell me whether you recommend this or not.” I had asked the right question to the wrong person.

  “No, no. This is very good institute. ‘Madam is very supportive’ and instructors are also good. You will feel flair of synergy here!” She looked towards her bread-owner and said.

  “Okay, how much I need to pay you? Is that one time or in instalments?” I asked her showing interest. I was dreaming that I will put ‘Software Engineer’ in my resume after 3 years, looking at the backside of the brochure.

  Let me check it with ‘madam’ for you, she went to her cabin, ‘Madam’ kept on talking to her ‘honest’ employee and looked at me 6-7 times in between and sent the receptionist cum counsellor out.

  I got a deal of Rs.120000/- for Bsc A-IT ‘Software Engineering’ course, I agreed to pay them in 10 instalments.

  After 6 Months,

  “Good Morning sir, is this the right time to speak?” I dialled the number of SAPTECH centre, and greeted the owner over the phone.

  “Yes, what can I do for you?” The owner asked the reason of the call.

  “Sir, my name is Ram, I am doing Bsc A-IT from your institute, and I want to join the course as soon as possible. I am sorry for not coming there for a month as I was not well.” I said.

  “Do one thing, come at centre and talk to ‘Madam’ today, I can’t help over the phone. Moreover, she was saying that you didn’t come to study for couple of months, and we may not consider you as you were reported absconding.” He said.

  “I was not well sir, the story is too long, but I was in a life threatening situation, was not medically, mentally and physically well..and….” I wish I could complete my statement and made him understand.

  “Talk to ‘madam’ please. I am out of station…. I mean I am in the meeting.” He said and disconnected the landline phone.

  I had chosen that institute without checking on Google and doing proper research, so now it was natural for me to worry about the course, time and money.

  I went to the institute, a lady who had promised me the quality education, who had recommended this as the best institute was not there, as someone else had taken her place.

  “Yes, how can I help you?” The new crew asked me how she ‘can’ help me, but I doubted if she ‘will’ as her voice was not very promising.

  “I need to speak to centre Head please.” I asked her.

  “She is out somewhere, they have just gone.” She let me know.

  “I am sorry! What?” I asked.

  “She and her husband. They would come back after an hour and a half. You may stay here and wait or come later.” She gave me options.

  “May I speak with any faculty here?” I asked.

  “What is it regarding?” She asked the valid question, which she was supposed to ask me very early.

  “It is regarding the course which I was pursuing from here. I have paid Rs.60000 and not able to continue the course as I had met with an accident.” I stopped there and awaited her reaction.

  “I can’t help you; ‘Madam’ only can help you.” Without any sympathies of that ‘accident’ thing, she informed me to talk to her ‘Madam’ and went someone else. I had to wait for 5 minutes to ask her if she knows about the refund policy.

  I decided to wait there and waited for 2 more hours reading the posters posted on the walls, ‘BECOME THE SOFTWARE ENGINEER WITH BEST PLACEMENT ASSISTANCE’, ‘SAPTECH- THE OTHER MEANING OF SUCCESS’, ‘BEST EDUCATION BY BEST FACULTIES’, ‘COME, JOIN US, STUDY IN FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT AND GET PLACED IN TOP 500 COMPANIES AROUND THE GLOBE’, ‘MORE THAN 100000 STUDENTS PLACED LAST YEAR, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR’ and many more posters were blameless while telling lie to me and many others.

  I kept on gazing at those whimsical posters, and thinking about the ways to attract people unless I heard sound of the accelerating Hyundai Accent outside the centre.

  After a minute, ‘Sir’ entered followed by ‘madam’ hanging a lady-handbag and couple of carry bags written ‘Pantaloons’ and ‘TMS-The Mob Store’ in their stomachs, which was self explained that they were out for shopping. But with whose money they were shopping, it was yet to be confirmed, it was an unanswered question yet.

  Both of them were still busy talking about the stuff they had seen there in the Brand-Super-Mall, which they did not purchase, I greeted them which they didn’t acknowledge, or didn’t address, or could not do it, it was another confusion. I did my job by greeting them.

  “Send him in.” I got up from the black-coloured Sofa as early as I heard her roaring, sofa also got up slowly.

  “Good afternoon Ma’am.” I opened the door with transparent-glass and greeted her.

  “Yes Ram. What had happened that you neither called us, nor emailed us? And you are walking in today.”

  “I was unconscious for 2 days in the hospital, I had lost all the contacts, mobile phones, money and identity proofs like PAN card, driving license along with bank cards. And I was advised rest as well. Now, the situation is that I can’t
remember things for so long. It would take years for me to get the memory back as normal. I am therefore not able to continue and will be honoured if you give me refund of my fee which I had paid you to do the Software Engineering.” The table covered with another transparent glass kissed couple of tears of mine. I showed them doctors’ diagnostic report and let them go through it.

  “Don’t cry, the best part is you are alive. Go to the washroom and wash your face.” ‘Madam’ asked me to go out.

  “What to do with such cases?” Her husband said.

  “”We can’t do anything. It’s not our fault if someone is unable to come and continue the batch.” The centre head said.

  “But see the medical report says that he was absolutely in an extreme situation. I think we should give him his money back.” Her husband suggested.

  “We will be on the road, if we put ourselves into others’ situation and help people this way. Moreover what about the 10% money which had gone to Mumbai office as franchise?” Madam was the centre head and she made her husband to shake his head.

  “Think about our children ‘madam’, .……..” He stopped himself saying something as he faced Madam’s furious face.

  “I am thinking about our children, that’s why talking from business point of view. You are unnecessarily being emotional.” She said.

  He tried his best to convince his own wife, but at home, he used to be the boss, and in the office, she was the boss.

  “Sir, I need to go. So please help me out.” I knocked and said after getting inside the cabin. Their moving lips remained silent as they had seen me coming into the cabin.

  “See Ram, we can’t give you refund, however we will talk to Mumbai head office and take an approval so that we can place you in the upcoming batch. That is the best we can do for you.” They gave me an alternative to retain me. But my situation was beyond their level of understanding; they were made to thug people and make money like that only.

  “I would have joined from today itself, but my mental condition is not up to that level.” I asked them not to deceive me and return my money.

  “Are you working somewhere or taking rest?” She asked.

  “I work for a call centre. I talk to people over the phone with script in front of me.” I explained. It was very tough for me to accept the fact that they were not going to give me my money back; but telling them that I was mentally ill was even tougher than that. I had sacrificed my lifestyle to deposit the fee, I hadn’t bought jacket that winter season as my budget was allowing me to either buy jacket or deposit the fee.

  “I had come here to study, but you see now I have circumstances not allowing me to study. I can’t accept anything else apart from refund. You give me at least partial refund. Deduct whatever it is for 6 months, and return the rest.” I said.

  “Entire fee amount goes to Mumbai, we have nothing with us.” Her husband must be either telling a lie, or doing charity there.

  “Don’t waste our time Ram. We can’t do anything more than that.” She became harsh to me suddenly.

  “Then the God will decide.” I said and went out. I never called them back. But while going back home, I was cursing myself to curse them as ‘God will decide.’

  After 2 Months, Stairs Of MG Road Metro Station

  “Hi Sir, I am from Bluepeace India, and we are working on a campaign to keep our sky blue, neat and clean. Would you like to be blessed with an opportunity to become a part of this initiative?” A wonderful woman asked.

  “Of Course, I would like to know more about that.” I said. There were a lot of reasons to continue the conversation further. She was talking about keeping the sky clean, means I was becoming a part of cleaning nature, and making earth and its children healthy. Apart from that she had skills to approach someone with her product in the public place. Another reason was herself, a beautiful lady asking to spend some time with herself, so I didn’t want to be rude to her and make her hear sentences ‘I am not interested’, ‘sorry’ or ‘no thank you’ like that.

  “Sir, This was started in the USA 2 years before, and we have head office in New York, USA. In India, we operate more than 150 branches, 15000 employees…………………..” We want you to become a member of this fortune initiative.

  “What change can I bring with Bluepeace India?” I asked her indirectly what was in it for me.

  “Once you become a member, you will have a lot of opportunities in future. We are coming up with more branches; if you want to work with us as volunteer you can do it. By the way, you need to fill up this form. We will send you newsletters monthly.” She asked me to fill in the form with name, mobile number, email and postal addresses.

  “Do I need to pay anything as well?” I saw ECS/SI written there so I asked her.

  “Yes sir, it is only Rs.250 per month, will be auto-debited from your account. And we are giving you this facility for life time free unless you disconnect it proactively.” She explained me in detail, I understood the game, but it looked alright for me as I was born to do something extraordinary to the society and the nature.

  I agreed to pay her or the Bluepeace; not knowing the fact that I got trapped by them; and moved down towards the MG Road bus stand to take a bus.

  “Brother!” Someone called me from behind before I stepped onto the last staircase.

  A mid-aged person surrounded by a lady and 2 kids stopped me and looked at me with hope which I was not aware of.

  “Yes, what happened?” I asked him.

  “We were called by our brother, who was working with a Highway project in NH-8. We arrived here yesterday, his phone is switched off. We have these kids whom we need to feed. She is also not well, so we want some help from you.” He told me his story which I thought was true, and I saw them with love.

  “How much money would you need?” I asked them.

  “Brother; we will go back to Shirdi by train, which is in Maharastra, and Rs.2000 would be fine for us.” The elder one said. Mercy had started raining suddenly and the rain wiped out Rs.2700 with the promise that it will be returned. It was kept aside in the secret pocket of my wallet; to take an admission for BCA, I had a month time to submit fee. We shared each other’s phone numbers; I walked with them till IFFCO Chowk, let them sit in the bus to New Delhi Railway Station, took ticket for them on their behalf and let them go.

  I was happy as I had helped the nature and human beings, especially kids and that lady.

  2 Months Later, D*ksh, Gurgaon

  “Hello Ram; I need urgent help.” Riya asked me finding me alone while logging out. She used to look exactly a childhood girlfriend of mine, similar eyes, similar cheeks, similar smile, and similar outlook. I used to look at her finding my childhood girlfriend in her.

  “What kind of help you mean?” I asked to confirm as there was no other help people ask for those days so nicely.

  “I need some financial help. Is that possible for you to arrange some?” She came to the point and asked me with stress on her voice.

  “I will try. How much you need it by the way?” I gave her an assurance and asked her.

  “Actually, my mother is not well, and I need it for her treatment.”

  “Oh! What happened to her? And how much do you need?” I asked.

  “Viral fever or Malaria, test will tell it clearly; not more than 15 k.” The way she was telling me, lie detector must have been failed.

  “Ok, I can give you 12 k and could you be able to manage the rest of the amount?” Since I was very good with maths from my childhood, I calculated my expenses and decided to fulfil her needs.

  “Ya ya, it is more than enough to solve the purpose.” I still feel that moment as it was happened yesterday; when I had seen her happy and myself happier.

  Both of us went out of the floor; at around 7:35 PM and went till the ground floor.

  “Do you know how great you are? I d
idn’t find anyone to help me this way.” She said when we were out of the building.

  “You haven’t given a Saree to the mother, and here you are giving this much of money to someone who didn’t speak to you nicely except at couple of occasions?” It was nobody else but the necessary-to-be-heard voice.

  “So when can you give it to me?” That voice was disappeared with her question.

  “Whenever you want.” I said.

  “I would take her to the hospital tomorrow as it is my weekly off tomorrow.” She said, not convincingly this time. But I thought it is because of the self-respect; which stops you at times when you ask for favour, especially if it is financial help.

  “Ok, come with me.” I asked her and we arrived at Citi ATM near food court, CyberGreens building.

  “I am waiting outside.” She said and started calling someone roaming around.

  I was in queue as it was just couple of days the corporate companies had made their employees’ richer than before, since I was a part of that queue, I was feeling awesome outside the ATM, someone else was also feeling awesome as his purpose was getting solved talking to her.

  “Here you go.” By the time I had withdrawn money in 2 instalments, she had also conveyed the good news.

  “How honest she is.” I told myself as she was counting cash before accepting it.

  “Thank you Ram, you don’t know how much happy I am now.”

  “No no. It’s okay, I can see you happier. And please take care of your mother and let me know if you need any further help in terms of anything else.” I had been visiting to the hospitals and knew the procedures, that’s why I offered anything else assistance.

  “And I want to request you to not to tell anything about this as you know people in our office are not very good and tomorrow they may take it otherwise.”

  After couple of hours;

  “Mwaah; I love you, I love you, I love you.” She was getting kisses everywhere as she had done the great job.