“Life has many twists and turns and sometimes what looks like a very bad day can just be clearing the way for good things to come.” ― J. Kim Wright
“You’re wanted upstairs.”
“Just now?”
“Yes”
“But it’s the middle of the night!”
“What rubbish. It’s still getting on to 10. It’s not that late. Besides, you can’t NOT go”.
“OK”
This conversation played itself again and again in Shekhar’s head like a earworm that refused to go away. It played in the shower, it played when he ran down Marine Drive, it played when he swirled his soda in his glass, it played before he fell asleep. It played in the summer and it played in the winter. It played for the last ten years as it was playing now while he was waiting for his flight to be announced. He looked around at all the other early morning passengers waiting for their own flights. Some were tired, some were restless, they all wanted to get on with the day. Shekhar was tempted to join the smokers in their glass cage. Perhaps it would give him something to do. It was a long time since he’d had a smoke. It was a long time since he’d had a drink. In fact, coming to think of it, it was a long time since he’d even enjoyed a nice, juicy steak . It was a long time since he’d actually enjoyed life.
Looking out at the planes waiting on the tarmac, he remembered all those flights from the years in his previous job. Travelling first class, staying in the best hotels. Those business deals that he’d help close. Those flights before the Conversation that ceased to stop playing in his head. The life he’d led before the Conversation. The years before the talk he’d had with his Uncle who was also his Boss.
Indian families are joint at the hip, often at the pocket where a man keeps his wallet, thought Shekhar as he thought of his own joint Indian family doing a joint business activity. It all started out very well with the founder of the business working hard to support his own family. Then when his sons come of age, he inducted them into the business. Everyone iwas happy- the founder and his sons for whom business was booming. But then, the families began multiplying with each son bringing his own family – more people to help and more mouths to feed.
Shekhar was the fifth generation of Agarwals to join the family business. He was not in the direct line of succession but the great-great-great-grandson of the brother of the founding father – Deenbandhu Agarwal’s brother PremNarain. PremNarain was the younger brother of Deenbandhu and was glad to help his brother when Deenbandhu’s own children were too small to help. Similarly, PremNarain’s son was also happy to be helping his cousins and the family business continued to prosper. Everything was fine till the fifth generation when the family entered the 21st Century. The second and third generation of Agarwals were still trying to establish themselves in the trading world having faced several hiccups in the beginning. The fourth generation took it one step further when they got into manufacturing. Backward Integration was the buzz word especially when Deepak Chacha heard it at one of the FICCI meetings he’d attended in Delhi. He was into networking and liaising and was always busy travelling up and down the length and breadth of the country getting more contacts and more business. The fifth generation went abroad to study getting degrees in engineering and management from the best universities in the world – Harvard, MIT, Wharton and INSEAD. They brought in new ideas which made even Deepak Chacha’s gyan seem outmoded and with their new business models, the business could only move upwards.
But unfortunately for Shekhar he fell in love. And that was where it all began.
“I heard that you’ve got a girlfriend back there in the US? Some Heather Feather? ” his Uncle thundered at him in what Shekhar felt was the middle of the night.
“Yes Chacha,”
” And I’ve also heard that you foolishly agreed to marry her!”
“Yes chacha,”
“Now you know ours is an orthodox Hindu family. And ours is a joint Hindu family. I cannot allow you to marry this woman.”
“But chacha, I love her and I’ve promised her that we’ll get married. And you always said that a man is as good as his word.”
” That’s a clever answer! You should have been a lawyer instead of an engineer….. But my decision is final. You can’t marry her. That’s that.”
“But I can’t live without her!”
“That’s all nonsense. What is all this love rubbish?”
“No chacha, I have to marry her and I will marry her.”
“If that is your decision then you will have to accept mine.”
” And that is?”
“You will have to leave the family business .”
In his wildest dreams Shekhar never thought it would come to this. After all not only did the family spend a good crore and a half educating him in America, flying him down to India every holiday, funding his overseas “study trips” but also formally including him as a partner in the newly formed engineering company that he was heading.
” Did I hear right? Chachca? Leave? How can you ask me to leave the company? And now when we are just setting up?”
“You heard what I just said. Not what you want to hear. And don’t worry, just as you can do without me, so can we do without you. Besides, if you think you can’t live without the person you’ve known for shorter than you’ve known your family, then there’s nothing that will convince you otherwise. So instead of having bad blood between us, I suggest you just leave.”
And with that, his Uncle whom he’d known since the moment he was born literally asked his servant Pandu to show him the door.
Shekhar was in shock as he came down the stairs. What was he to do? Granted he had a degree but he had never “worked ” in his life. “We are not servants,” the Agarwals used to say, ” We don’t go into service. We generate wealth. We work for ourselves and our families.”
But now Shekhar was forced to work outside the family business. And he had to find a suitable job. He did have a degree from MIT but he hadn’t even bothered to stay on for the OPT after his degree, preferring to rush back home as soon as he could and get started with the new project the family had in mind. He had absolutely no experience of the big, bad world.
The rest of the night went by in a daze. Even now after all these years, he couldn’t remember a thing except for the fact that his parents too supported his Uncle.
“Yes beta, we support you, but you have to listen to your uncle. If you want to marry this girl then you have to leave the business. Of course you will still be our son but you will not be a part of our family business.”
That was ten years ago when the world came crashing down. His comfortable Mercedes was whisked away overnight as was his personal attendant . He was now no longer part of the formidable Agarwal Group and was just an ordinary man looking out for a job. Deepak Chacha didn’t even allow him to come to his office, his resignation was sent down before breakfast and by lunch time all his personal effects were brought home from his office. By his former personal attendant. “I can work for you if you want, Saheb,” said the attendant apologetically, ” But I will lose all company benefits.”
“Don’t worry, Ram Singh,” said Shekhar patting the young man’s back. ” I can’t match my uncle’s salary. I don’t even have a salary of my own! You have your own stomach to feed. I will manage just fine.”
Those were brave words, Shekhar not only lost his job but also his status within the family and without. Suddenly he became a pariah and from being one of the most sought after party goers in the city, people began to avoid him. Of course everyone knew about his American girlfriend but they all thought it was a passing phase – besides several women thought their own charming daughter would be able to convince him to leave the Gori in the past – so he was still very much an eligible bachelor.
But the dismissal made Shekhar a Nobody. As his world slowly crashed around him, he began to see things more clearly. He wrote down all his pluses and minuses and was determined to make a go of things.
“Do you still want to marry me? Now that I am a penniless Indian from nowhere?” he asked Heather first thing after he got over the shock.
“I love you for yourself Shekhar, not what you have” said Heather resolutely, sure of her love and commitment to him.
Shekhar sighed as he saw a young couple was sharing a last passionate embrace before parting. He remembered his own wife Heather and how she had stood by him like a rock. Leaving behind her own family in the US, she came to India and settled into the household of an orthodox Hindu family. His own parents were ok with things but didn’t allow Heather to go to the family temple. Sometimes things were awkward when they bumped into Deepak chacha in the lobby or at family dos but Shekhar was also an Agarwal and took this in his stride.
And Shekhar also had a long breath. Within the year he found a job and married Heather. When their first child was born, Shekhar was made country head and had an office staff of 60 working under him. By the time his second child was born, the company had expanded to all the four major metro. Shekhar moved out of the family home and into his own apartment (not company owned as his uncle imagined).
Within ten years, the storm had passed and Shekhar settled down.
In the same time, the Agarwal family began their downhill journey. It all began with Deepak Chacha’s stroke. While he was recovering, his son began interfering with the business, completely disregarding his own uncles and managers. By the time Deepak Chacha returned to the helm of affairs, the rot had already set in. Business slowly began to shrink. The Agarwal family began to lose its lustre. The parties were the first to stop. Then the servants began to leave one by one as did the others in the family.
“MXP 1853 Milan to Munich now ready for Boarding. Passengers please proceed to Gate D 5”
For a moment the earworm stopped playing as Shekhar picked up his overcoat. It wouldnt be long now, before he’d be back home. In the comfort of his own family.
This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.
