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It happened suddenly – I got over Him – absolutely, completely!
Suddenly !….he had mentioned that if we do not tie the knot by April 2000, we will never get married– NEVER—coz’ Mother will not allow our marriage anymore if it delays any further than Poila Baishak (14th April) of 2000 !
Well – I do not want to get married – I thought! Not required.
12th June,1999 it was – I got down from the Charted Bus – gave him one last look – never told him anything – a deep sigh – said to myself – he is not for me – and as if a big load got off my system – I actually felt light – I will live in my big house – okay – I will not get any suitable groom at this ripe old age – but then : what’s in a marriage? – I had seen my friends – what a sick life they had – running after kids – homework, feeding timely – disciplining…a stupid thankless job – our mothers had done the same for us ! so? How are we repaying them? Just thanklessly !!
I let go of him …..for good.
Kicking (from HCL) time came:
Strangely enough – my days in HCL suddenly came to an end ! – I got a call from my RH – he gave me this hint that I might me asked to leave. He was also leaving to join some MBA course in Mumbai. He had done B.E from Shibpur. He wanted to do MBA – he sat for exam- got through – and left HCL to join SP Jain. Chaitali also gave me hints that soon I’ll be called to the main office and would be asked to ‘get lost’.
Some Mr. Sudipto Mukherjee (don’t remember his name) who looked after Toshiba Laptops (in fact he was the only one , I found, who had a lot of class and élan in him and quite matched the MBA standards I had always thought an MBA should possess)– called me and said that HCL is not performing well – so we have to kick out (he did’nt use this harsh term though) some employees and you are one of them!
I was prepared for this. But the taste of actually getting ‘kicked out’ happened to me for the first time in my life !- it was embarrassing. I knew why I was being called but still I cried – for some 30-45 seconds – after that I climbed the metro and forgot all about it ! I knew it from day one of joining that I would be kicked anyways !There was one Rajan Rahi – a good hearted chap, a very jovial personality – he literally hid himself in the office so that he does not face me in my ‘heart – broken’ moment. He told me that later. We had shared many jokes and had even gone to movies in a group.
This Rajan Rahi was the one who told me how difficult it is for a new comer—an MBA—to join and how humiliating it is to hand over Termination Letters to aged employees !! He mentioned that in some cases—those elderly men literally fell at his feet—asking him for extension—and he used to feel so very miserable while doing so ! His voice was choked when he was relating this incident to us—me and another girl Madhusha.
So HCL (acid) swept off my 7 years of silly –illusion :
When I now look back – I think that it was a divine plan after all. I left HCL as well as the illusion and decided to do a course on Public Relations from Bhavan’s college of Management & Communication.
I also joined CMC Ltd. – the Salt Lake branch along with Public Relations. I did Java from CMC – thought that maybe if I brush up my oops skill – I can get a job in the IT industry yet again. My friends who were my batch mates in NIIT – well- some of them did reach reasonably good heights in the field of software development – I used to meet them occasionally at bus stands – mainly ulta danga bus stop – and exchanged news.
HCL Frontline had a very poor reputation for after—sales Services :
The Lady who was in Customer Care cell often used to tell us about the immense abuses that she hears since morning till late evening before she left for the day! I used to understand her plight as I had the similar experience in Salora—Positive Electronics . In fact Ladies are more preferred for such positions so that the person making the complaint would mellow down upon hearing a female’s voice. Well its not so anymore—with “Equal Rights and Feminine Rights” so much on the news—people have lost all respect for womanhood !!They scream at anyone and everyone.
One day 3 tall men just came in the FrontLine showroom and I went to welcome them—smilingly …little did I know that they were frustrated HCL Customers !- Since I am very short—the 3 of them just stood around me and started pouring out their frustration—as if I resembled some confession box !(actually I had put on a lot of weight at The Park—maybe I was resembling a box—who knows).
They said : Madam—we bought not one, not two but ten sets of PCs from your HCL and 3 days have passed—not a single soul came for doing the networking ?! You all are selling lot many pieces I suppose ?! Really !! HCL is very infamous as far as after sales service is concerned—many people told us about it—but we still bought the sets from you people—only to be stranded like this !? Tell us—is it right on your part ?
Well folks ! I just stood with my plastic smile and appeared genuinely perturbed for their state.
I was never given any incentive for selling the software !
Whereas the other girls were given thick incentives for selling PCs where the profit margin is marginal—as they say—I never got any incentive for selling the software!
Dargon Naturally Speaking had 3 versions—
Point & Speak—Rs.5000/-
Referred—Rs. 17,000/- Approx.
Professional—Rs.35,000/-
Although some customers—who were net savvy—came and told me that on the net the same are available very cheaply—and that we are making a huge profit !
When I asked RH about my incentive—he gave me some jargon like PC selling is very difficult with so many local assemblers in the market and the profit margin is meager….so? If Dragon’s Profit margin was huge—instead of Rs10,000/- we were taking 17,000/- – I was training as well as trouble shooting etc.– why should I not be given any incentive ? – he then said Company rules…..
A Vaishnav came from Iscon :
One day a pink lipped, fair skinned, saffron clad man entered in our Showroom and started asking for softwares etc. I started talking to him (you know folks—of my affinity towards Spirituality) and asked him whether he misses his home land etc. and what exactly he does here.
He said : We preach the Bhaaagvaad Geeta (a typical accent).
Then while discussing I mentioned casually : Oh! Yes! Krishna is afterall Arjuna—as Lord Krishna mentioned in the 11th chapter—among the Pandavas—I am Krishna !
To this he said : No ! He never said anything like that—Arjuna was his friend.
I said : But in chapter….(I gave the explanation—after all before joining HCL—I used to read the Geeta—and had already read it many times over ).
He refused to agree !
Later when he left , I told Madhusha—East India Company—and now its Iscon !! I was amazed at his meager knowledge on Bhagvad Geeta—and he is preaching our Epic to us Indians!! Strange—I wonder which section of Indians are attending these people—maybe its just to have the sumptuous ‘Prasad’ that they give and are so famous for !..we Indians are after all, just a bunch of poverty stricken but great Reproducing machines…have been like this since eons.
I met Dr. K Muralidharan—Reiki Teacher, and sold him one piece :
I even went to his house (in Gariahart) to train him on the software. His wife offered me soft drink and snacks as well—just like our family treats an outsider .He used to call me ‘The Dragon Girl’.
Later , Dragon Point & Speak was given free with the PC—so one day I had to go to install the software and train an old man in Salt Lake. They (he and his wife) did not even offer me to sit—they treated me—as if I was some drain cleaner—well even drain cleaners are given light snacks in our house !!That old man expected me to come some 4-5 times more for training him !! What an utterly dumb couple they were—goodness !!
Silva Method of Mind Management and Art of Living happened almost simultaneously !
Now I had to start hunting God with a renewed spirit. A new action plan was required. Initially it was : Somnath is close to God – I am close to Somnath – therefore I am close to God – Hence Proved. But Somu was no longer there in the scene. But God …. I wanted HIM – by hook or by crook.
So started my renewed journey towards God-hood….self realization as they say.
As soon as I finished Art Of Living – I got a job in CMC – I had put a forced application for the post of counselor in CMC.
Actually I had come to know while as a student in CMC that the counselor’s job in CMC is pretty cool – the counselor used to come to the lab sometimes and put her head down & sleep!!
I forced an application (resume) and it was kept with them. I got no calls from them. Probably they were used to hiring young looking, active girls – who still are in college and so never gave me a call – that’s what I thought.
In the mean time – I did this Art of Living course – the CMC bosses are 3 brothers and strangely enough they live very close to my sister’s residence. One day I got this call from them. I got the job.
