Priya was sitting in her cubicle when all of a sudden she saw a mail popping up. 'Appraisal 2011', she was as excited to see the contents as much as she was reluctant. It was an eventful year with problems surfacing every now and then in her professional life. It was like in one minute all the fruits of her labour were to be recognised, acknowledged or simply ignored. The polarity of the outcome was so huge, she could feel her heart almost popping out, breaking the rhythm of her beats. But like always, there was no choice, she opened the mail and began reading the contents.
Her achievements were highlighed in bold and so were the developmental areas. In the end it was written - New profile : Business Manager (North & East). OMG! It was certainly something out of the blue. A much bigger role, a new business opportunity, she had to setup everything, right from the scratch. Define processes, building up a business plan, defining segmentation, building a team, everything, It had so much learning and exposure. Still, after reading the mail, there was a sudden gloominess which engulfed her completely.
'I don't want this job. This is not what I want to do.' The voice in her echoed this everytime she would get applauded for work. 'I don't want to do this', she told her friend at the cafeteria, who congratulated her. 'What are you saying?, How many people get this kind of profile at your age? This is such a good opportunity', her friend told her. She didnot place any counter argument but somewhere deep inside her, she knew, she never wanted to do this. But with the burgeoning of a historical high class lifestyle and with her own preferences, it was a paying job and she needed it to thrive on. There was no way she could leave it and pursue her passion.
'Passion, whats that?', she heard her cousin question her, who was elder to her and stayed in the same city. 'Are you trying to say you are the only one who is unhappy, well, everyone is. You've got to look at the brighter side of life. You have all the freedom in the world and this is such a nice job to have. Think of all those people who have to raise families in your salary, You lead such a luxorious lifestyle and still you are complaining'. 'Oh God! If only there was someone, who would just listen to me and not give me advice', Priya thought to herself, and all of a suden like a silver lining amongst the dark, black clouds, she thought of Rahul.
Rahul, a guy she interacted with for hours at a stretch, a guy she hasn't known for more than a month but who has become such an indelible part of her life. Good, bad or nothing, she would share anything/everything with him, such is the comfort she shared with him. Though to most people it would be a little difficult to understand how two complete strangers a little while ago would share such a rapport but few things are beyong comprehension. It feels like a few days ago, she met him, out of certain social obligations, which she vehemently resisted at that point of time, still today things were so different.
Time: the master player among everything else. It's amazing to witness how time ploys and conspires in reforming the landscape of human behaviour and relationships, refining and redefining the silhouette of emotional boundaries. It's has an amazing and mysterious way to make people meet, when they least expect it. With Rahul too, this unpredictable game of time was uncoiling like the undercurrrent, somehow he became the circumference of the tangent of her thoughts and conversations. How she wished, she could pick up the phone and talk to him straight way but alas! they were at two different parts of the world. It was 5.45pm for her, as she was thinking about him and stepped out of her office, wishing to speak to him and resisted as it would be 8am for him, and she had no idea what would he be doing at this time.
'Maybe I should go home and then ping him on the messenger.' she thought to herself as she somehow knew he would not only give her the space to express herself freely, also in stark contrast to other people would not burden her with advices or console her with any motivational thing. He would give her just what she wants - a patient ear so that she could bare her heart out. Many a times it happens, that when we are down or blue, we just need someone to hear our side of the story, no matter how irrelevant and irrational it may be, instead of the lemme-fix-it kind of attitude. Rahul was just that person still no matter how badly she needed to talk to him, she couldn't. Material distances do matter at times.
Beep beep ... beep beep. In the trance that she was in, thinking about how good it would have been with Rahul on that call, she saw her cell ringing. She picked it up to see the caller and to her utter disbelief and amazement it was Rahul. Now this is certainly beyond any imagination. Never in their conversations spanning over two weeks or so has he ever called her at that time. It was as if the longings of her heart reverberrated through the globe to be read by the one for whom it was meant. It was strange. Good but strange. Indeed.
"Hey, how are you', his voice echoed over the phone. "Hi, am good what about you?'. 'Am fine too, just felt like talking to you, while on my way to office'. 'Ok. I wasn't expecting your call at this time'. 'Yeah! I just feelt like calling you, all well?'
There was a concern in his voice, a concern very subdued but there it was. She was about to get into the underground metro so told him to call back a little later but this call made her feel so good, not because Rahul called her, but because he called her when she most needed to hear his assuring voice and the fact that despite thousands of miles that stood between them, there was a sense of belongingness that prevailed. All the while she travelled from the station to her place, her mind kept on thinking about the connect which she shared with him. A connect that has never been a part of her life before. A connect, the reason for which couldn't get deciphered.
When she got back home, as anticipated Rahul was online on the messenger and the first thing he asked was is she fine. Priya finally had the heart to share her thoughts unabatedly. She told him about the mail and all the paraphernelia attached to it. Rahul heard her with patience, trying to understand the phase she is in at the moment and then as if by sheer effortlessness deviated her mind to the banal yet softer things in life. He made her smile, feel good about things in life and told her there's always a brighter side to life.
At times, when we are low and upset, all it takes to cheer up and smile again is the belief and assurance that the other person has in you and your abilities. At times all it takes to re assure that life is beautiful is a sudden display of cosmic telepathy. At times all it takes to lead a good life is a good companion. Finally it comes down to this very thing in life, as shared below an excerpt:
"With everything falling apart, it's so beautiful to know you are secure in caring heart." - Rose dawson in Titanic.
