My money, my money and the insurance agent Mr. Mani.

“Text message for you” my wife said showing the mobile . I was driving the car and she was sitting to my left.

“Read it out” I said.

“Many happy returns of the day madam”she read and continued “I am surprised.  Someone has sent birthday wishes for me on your mobile”.

“Am not surprised. It should be from Mani” I said keeping my eyes on the road.

“Very true and you know this guy well”she replied looking at the text message.

“How can I not know him well? He is the only person in the world who sends wishes for my wife to my mobile. You know how it happens? This  insurance guy believes in good customer relationship and he has a record of birthdays of all his clients. He has my mobile number and you have not shared your number. So he keeps sending wished for you on my mobile”I said.

We had a hearty laugh and continued driving to the restaurant.

 It was my wife’s birthday and we were dining out as a family unit.

We entered the restaurant and were led to the reserved table by the steward. We sat down on the chairs and ordered the food.

“Did you pay your term insurance premium?” my wife asked me.

“Made online payment last week. With Mr. Mani around I will not forget. He sent a text message followed by a request call on the mobile”

“Nice guy ”She said. I nodded.

Few weeks passed and I became busy with my sales closing activity as my principle company from US closes its year by December. Started staying late hours in the office , was talking to customers and trying my best to get higher figures in order booking.

It was Saturday evening and I was tired after a long day of speaking to customers , principle company executives and Supply chain management executives of Original Equipment Manufacturers. I got a call on my  mobile. Reluctantly I reached to it and without looking at the mobile said  “Hello”.

“Hello sir, you did not recognise me ?” a familiar voice was heard

Looking at the mobile I replied “Mr. Mani how are you?”

“So nice of you sir that you recognized me. By God’s grace and encouragement from customers like you I am hale and healthy” he replied.

I continued “Tell me why did you call me now?”

“Sir I want to meet you and discuss about a very good insurance money back plan. Shall we meet tomorrow?”

I was not in a mood to discuss but for me investment was of high priority. I told him to come to my office at 10 AM and though it was Sunday I would meet him.

“Thank you sir and so kind of you. How did you celebrate Madam’s birthday?”he continued.

I closed the discussion by saying “ We shall discuss it tomorrow when we meet”.

The next day I went to my office by 10 AM and as expected Mani was waiting for me. I always admired this guy for his punctuality.

“Good morning sir” he said with a huge smile.

“Good morning Mr. Mani. Nice to see you on time” I replied and walked into the office after unlocking the door.

“Sir, if I am not on time someone else will be on time and the customer will have no time for me”

“very well said and this applies to me also” I added.

I went into the pantry and made two cups of green tea  and asked Mani to take one cup.

“Thank you sir. You are becoming very health conscious . Please do not add sugar to my tea”.

“You are diabetic?” I asked.

“By the grace of God and blessings of customers like you I am healthy and do not have diabetes”he replied.

“Come on Mani what control I have on your Diabetes?”I said.

 I was  unable to figure out why this guy was so humble each and every time.

“Please tell me about the scheme you are talking about” I asked him.

Mani opened his laptop and started showing a small presentation about an insurance plan where in investment was to be made for 10 years. I was going through the presentation and he interrupted me.

“Sir the beauty of this plan is that you pay premium for 10 years annually and from 11^th year onwards baby will get a fixed amount annually for life. This would be the best gift from your side to her”

“Who is baby” I questioned him

“Your daughter sir” he replied

“She is in her teens and you still call her baby?” I replied.

I was irritated to some extent and continued “ I am not  the father who would like to keep giving money to his daughter for life. I would like my daughter to have the best education and stand on her feet as early as possible. Why should she receive money from me for life? She should be in a position to lend me money if needed. This logic of yours is outdated and am not interested in this scheme”.

His face turned pale.  To cheer him up I changed the subject and asked “ You were telling me that you had attended the Million Dollar Round Table conference. Where was it held?”

He looked pleased and answered “ Sir I spent lot of money for that conference and only few go from India. It was held in the Canada”.

I corrected him “ It is not the Canada , it is Canada”

He did not agree and said “ Sir if it is the USA why not the Canada?”

I said “ Now do not become Sridevi of ‘English Vinglish’ movie. you cannot say the Canada,period”

He did not give up “ English is a funny language sir”

“Is it ?” I questioned

He continued “ The spelling of Q is queue, spelling of I is eye and of C is see. Some where something is wrong”

 I laughed out loudly and patting him said “ You are an amazing man. Even the Englishmen cannot answer this”.

I discussed with him about the other insurance plans as I needed some more premium  for 80C tax deductions. Finally we arrived at a plan where in I was supposed to pay an annual premium of Rs. 30000. I filled the form, signed it and gave him the first premium payment.

After few days I was driving with my wife and kids. We were going to another restaurant that evening as it was our marriage day. Kids had insisted on having Italian food and we were heading to a newly opened  Italian restaurant. On reaching the place I parked the car . two text alerts came to my mobile. I looked at it and asked my wife “ I have a quiz for you. I have received two wedding anniversary wishes . I will give you a clue. Same person has sent it . Who is it ? “

My wife replied “Mr.Mani , of course”

“You are right but why two?” I asked

She said “ He has sent two wedding anniversary wishes to his two customers. The first one is for you and the second one is for me”.

Dye another Day

                  

 “Wait for a minute man. I will join you” Saying so I went into the house.My friend Jayaram had come in his car.

I had come to Bangalore with my family to join our friends in celebrating a get together of Engineering classmates . This was happening after more than two decades.

We had arrived the previous day and were staying in my sister’s house.

Within minutes my entire family came out of the house and we sat in Jayaram’s  INNOVA car . The car was spacious enough for 8 of us , 4 from my family and 4 from his family.

He started driving and very soon we were on Mangalore highway leading to Hassan . Jayaram owned a coffee estate about 9 kilometers from Sakleshpur in Hassan dist . We had planned our first get together of engineering classmates with families.

I was  excited that we would be meeting many of our classmates after  two decades.

I looked at Jayaram.

He looked a bit worried . I asked him “ what’s the matter dude. You look worried”.

“Am a bit concerned. I have organized the get together in my estate bungalow . Many guys are coming with their families. Few of them are coming from abroad . Two decades have passed and we do not know what phases they have gone through in their lives. The arrangements which I have made for them would be sufficient or not I don’t know. This is a matter of concern” he said.

I looked at him and said “ Come on Jayaram. You have misplaced concerns. After all  our batch mates are from the same middle class background as ours. What if they have traveled far in their lives and have earned more money and fame? We all are made up of similar DNA. Keep your concerns aside. Everything will be alright and all the guys will enjoy full throttle with their families”.

“I know I can count on you. That’s why I am taking you along with me half a day in advance” he replied.

After having driven for about four hours on the highway, Jayaram took a turn and started driving towards his estate. The landscape changed as we kept moving.

It was green carpet on either side of the road and we could see  green trees with birds sitting on them. The chirping melody of the birds , the wet forest fragrance, the huge trees laced mountains or either side took us into a different world altogether.

On entering the estate, Jayaram slowed his car and parked it in the portico. We got down. The ladies went into the kitchen to oversee the arrangements and kids ran into the ground which was huge and bordered by trees.

We sat on the chairs in the front hall . his wife came and gave us coffee. Sipping the coffee he added “ Guys will start arriving from 4 pm onwards . we shall give them welcome drink and some snacks by about 5 PM. By 6 PM we all shall assemble in the ground to the right side  of this bungalow. I have arranged for some 50 chairs. From then on the ball is in your court. You manage the show”.

It was 6 pm. About 8 of our class mates had come from various cities in India and abroad. They had come with their families too. The total strength of the meet was about 30 . It was a small but lovely gathering.

After exchanging the pleasantries and hugging we settled down.

 I stood in front of the gathering and started talking “ What should I describe this? A meet after two decades. We were a bunch of lean and lanky guys with spark in our eyes. Now we are men , have families and kids and  have grown twenty years older.

We have achieved success many times in our lives. We have upgraded from being directionless bachelors to men with a proper orientation. We are now less ambitious but focused more on a  mission. The mission to give the best to our families”. I continued for another five minutes and ended my  introductory speech.

.

Guys started narrating their journey  of life . Each story was unique , different  and successful. I was very  pleased to note that each one of us had a fruitful journey in life and had built a small but wonderful world of our own around us.

The discussion inevitable shifted to two important and distinct developments. The ever  increasing waistlines and greying & vanishing hairlines.While we were discussing, Rajesh got a call on his mobile. He walked into the open ground .

Jayaram told “ Most of us were looking lean, mean & hungry during our college days , courtesy the hostel mess food. But look at guys now. It appears that they  are taking revenge on those days and have added almost double the weight.” All of us broke into laughter acknowledging the truth.

Sanjay looking at me said “ you too have fed yourself well over the years”.

“No second thought on that” I replied.

He continued ” What is the secret of your well preserved hair ? You hair has neither receded not has turned grey.I hardly find any white  strand in your hair”

“I do not know the reason for that.” I replied.

“I think you dye your hair regularly”.

“I have not applied any hair dye until now . In days to come what will happen I do not know.” I said.

The discussion about my dark hair went on for few more minutes.

Our focus shifted to Jayaram. He was fit and did not have any extra fat around his tummy. We asked him the secret of his fitness.

He replied “ I do not do any sort of exercise. We have grown up in plantations and coffee estates. We do the work ourselves. The physical work we do when we are in the coffee estate is enough for us to be fit”.

I  asked him “It is fine that you are fit physically but you have white hair all over your head . Why don’t you dye?”.

To this he said “ I will never dye”

Rajesh after finishing his call over mobile was walking towards the gathering . He looked amused and said “ Who is that guy who said that he will never die?

Is he the Phantom? The man who never dies and the ghost who walks”

I corrected him “ Rajesh we are talking about hair dye. Jayaram does not want to dye his hair”

“Why dude?” Rajesh asked and continued “ I dye very regularly. In fact if  I had not dyed I would not have got married to my wife”. The gathering erupted into laughter.

Jayaram broke his silence and said “ Some how I feel dyeing the hair is like faking. I want to be natural”

I could understand what was going in his mind and said “ Look Jayaram  dyeing is not like faking. It is only making yourself more presentable. You may be fit and having a positive approach to life but with the white hair on your head you appear much older.

In fact all of us fake in our lives. We do it day in and day out. I would say we should be smiling most of the times and fake it if needed be. A fake smile can do wonders to human relations that a honest grim face.

Faking is not wrong as long as it does not have a negative impact on the relationship”

Jayaram looked at me and said “ Spare me. I do not deserve such a long sermon . I have not done anything wrong. However I do agree with you to a very large extent. My wife looks much younger to me . It may be because of this  hairline. I should not think much about it and start dyeing the hair. Yes, I have decided now that I will dye my hair”

“When will you do it?” Rajesh asked.

“I will not do it today but definitely will dye another day”

Give me some sunshine and give me some rays. Give me one more chance I want to grow up once again.

I got up early that day. It was about 5 Am. Went to the bathroom and got freshened up. Walked out of the hotel and started going towards the beach.

I had come to the beach town on a business visit for three days. I always preferred the hotel which was closer to the beach so that I could go for an early morning walk.

I reached the beach and the sun had not yet come out full in the sky. Walking on the sands of the beach was a totally different experience for me as most of the time I lived amongst the cacophony of the concrete jungle of the city.

I headed to the nearest tea shop and bought a cup of lemon tea from the vendor. Walking further on the beach sat on a small rock and started sipping the tea.

By this time the sun had started moving up in the sky with the crimson rays filling up the entire landscape. The waves appeared like milk being crunched out turbulently by the sea. It was a one of a life time experience .I closed my eyes and letting go every thought of mine, started drowning myself in nature’s gift to mankind.

I could not hold on longer. I remembered that my sister had taken the overnight train and was supposed to reach her city by 5.30 AM. I started calling her on cell phone but could not reach her. Her phone was out of coverage area. I tried again and the message was the same. I became restless. The train was supposed to reach the city railway station by 5.30 Am. Ideally by 4.45 Am itself the phone should have been in the coverage area. I tried again. The response was the same.  I started getting concerned. I got up from the rock and walked towards the tea shop and bought one more cup of tea. Went back and was silently watching the sun getting brighter on the horizon.

After about half an hour I got a call from my sister on my mobile.

“Where are you?” I asked her.

“Reached outskirts of the city. In about half an hour the train will reach the station. How many times you have called me? Is everything alright?”She replied.

“Everything is fine. I am sitting in the beach. I was getting concerned as you were not reachable.”

“Hey come on. You cannot become so protective. It happens sometimes. The train gets delayed.”

“It’s OK. Call me on reaching the house” saying so I ended the conversation.

I started wondering about the way we have started taking things now a days.

In this age of instant communication we would like to have information immediately. A little delay in flow of information makes us uncomfortable. 

A big contrast was the way in which we grew up during our childhood days. Many of us did not have telephones in our houses and the only means of communication was the inland letters, post cards and stamped envelopes. We used to write letters to one another. The key was to write in a beautiful and flowing language. 

During my engineering study days I used take a bus from my home town, travel for 5 hours and reach the college town. I would write a letter to my parents after about a week only to request for more money.

Today it is not so. If a person takes a flight of one hour journey time and he does not call back home after one and hour an hour, he will get about 10 calls from home. All of us are looking for instant flow of information and for some reason if the flow does not happen, we become restless.

We have become tin cans and have become brittle. The previous generation people were rock solid.

My flow of thoughts was interrupted by a call on my mobile. It was Sanjay.

“Hey Sanjay whats up man” I said.

“Cool dude life is rocking” he replied and continued “how are the kids”

“Kids are doing fantastic. Tell me about your son” I asked.

“Rahul is doing great in academics. In addition to that he is enjoying some paid hobbies also” he laughed.

“Sanjay tell me one thing. We are classmates since primary schooling. We were not having paid hobbies then”

“Paid hobbies? We did not have hobbies. As far as my memory goes we used to go to school and after the school run into large grounds and play until we fell down exhausted “he added.

“Very true man. We miss those days now. More than us our kids miss such days” I said.

“Now days the focus is high on academics and kids have to look out for paid hobbies. I feel hobby is something that is to be enjoyed with passion. How can you attach a price tag to it and make it paid?” I told.

“Things have changed dude. To be in the race we need to run.  I need to take Rahul every Sunday morning to the club so that he can pursue his horse riding hobby. I drive for one hour to reach there. We do not have huge grounds in the neighborhood and have to do this to keep the kids engaged.” He said.

We went on for another 10 minutes and finished our talk.

I looked around and saw 3 kids playing on the beach. They were running and throwing wet sand on each other. They were jumping, shouting, falling in the water and were fully excited.

I wanted to go back into time and revisit my childhood days. We used to run the same way and enjoy unconditionally in huge grounds. We were not bothered about anything and were optimally using the limited resources available.

I started running towards the kids. I jumped into the water and gestured the kids to come closer. Splashed water on them and they did the same to me. After many years I had taken the plunge into water and enjoyed the way I was doing. I looked up to the sun and shouted

“Give me some sunshine and give me some rays. Give me one more chance I want to grow up once again”

HUMOUR @ 30000 FEET

I got down from the taxi and after paying the charges walked towards the entrance of the airport. I showed the e-ticket printout and the relevant documents as ID proof to the security people and went into the main hall of the airport.

I was going to Stockholm and had a transit stop at Vienna and was traveling with my good friend Samba Shivappa. I looked around and started dialing his number. Before I could get connected Samba (we call him Samba as Samba Shivappa is a longer name) was standing in front of me. I scanned him from top to bottom. Samba had come dressed in a formal 3 piece suit with sun glasses.

 I told “Hey Samba looking good man”. I was in a jean and a casual t-shirt.

He replied “Thank you. This is my first journey in a plane”.

“What a way to begin Samba. Your first journey is an international journey” I added.

“If there is a problem in a bus or a train, we can stop it midway and get down. In case of a plane we cannot jump out. I am a bit nervous” he told me.

“Hey come on Samba be practical. A plane is many folds safer than bus or train. The safety measures are very good and you should not have any such apprehensions” I added.

It took about half an hour for us to complete the emigration formalities and we walked to the gate number 15A and sat down on the chairs. Samba told me that he wanted to change to casuals and went to the wash room and changed his dress from 3-piece suit to jeans and t-shirt. He sat down comfortably in the chair next to me.

“I heard that sometimes in mid air the plane starts shaking and it will be very uncomfortable” he asked.

“It is called turbulence and it may happen in mid air and I agree that it will be uncomfortable “I told him.

The conversation went on for about an hour. In between we walked to the nearby coffee shop and had a cup of coffee.

The boarding call was made and we entered the plane and took our seats. Samba sat in the window seat and I sat next to him. The plane took off and few minutes later the dimmed lights became brighter and it was announced that seat belts could be loosened and people could use laptops and other electronic equipments. I loosened the seat belt and looked out of the window. It was pitch dark as the plane had started at 00.35 hrs and nothing was visible outside.

Soon the air hostesses started serving drinks. I looked at Samba and said “Have a peg man. You can have a pleasant sleep”. He took one glass of whiskey from the air hostess and started drinking. I had asked for white wine. Samba looked at me and said “what about groundnuts?”. I laughed and told him that  groundnuts will not be served in mid air. The air-hostess was preparing the drink for the person sitting in the next seat. Samba finished his drink fast and anxiously asked her “Madam one more drink please”.

The air-hostess looked at him and said “One at a time. I am serving the person sitting in front of you”. I could not hold my laughter back.

I told him “Samba do not worry. She will give you the drink. You cannot hurry them. They do not do multi tasking as we do back home. They do one task at a time and do it perfectly”. The lady gave him his drink. This was followed by dinner and we went to sleep.

“Coffee sir” the air hostess said. I woke up and saw out of the window. It was early dawn and it was very picturesque. I took one cup of coffee from her. I shook Samba and woke him up. I told him to take coffee.

“Wait I have to go to the wash room” saying so he went to the wash room. He came back and sat on his seat. The clouds lined by the orange rays of the sun appeared very beautiful. Samba looking out of the window with folded hands started chanting some mantras. After his prayers he looked at me.

“Gods live in the clouds. Have you not read about it and seen in movies?” he added.

The breakfast was served and after finishing it we started drinking coffee. Suddenly the plane encountered turbulence. It was a bit severe and Samba could not hold his coffee cup tight and coffee fell on his jeans. I looked at Samba. He looked shit scared. He closed his eyes and I kept my arm on his shoulder to give him strength. The turbulence stopped and Samba asked me “you told me in the airport that they will announce in the plane before turbulence but this time they did not”.

I replied “It is called CAT or Clear Air Turbulence which generally happens when the plane in cruising between 23000 – 39000 feet. The frequency of CAT has increased due to Global Warming.

Anyway you are 30000 feet closer to God. Do not worry if anything happens mid way you can go to God faster” I told him. Samba was not amused by my answer.

The air hostess announced that we would be landing in Vienna in about 15 minutes. We fastened the seat belts.

The plane landed and on entering the airport I looked at the clock in the airport and adjusted my watch. I told Samba to hurry up as we were late and may miss the connecting flight to Stockholm. When we went to the Gate for departure we found that the plane had left and the next connecting flight was at 2.30 in the noon. The lady at the counter gave us two coupons for breakfast.

We walked through the beautiful airport with Samba posing at every shop and asking me to take a snap with his digital camera. We walked to the nearest restaurant and took the plate and started filling it with items. I took one slice of brown bread and one Croissant with cheese and jam. I looked back and found that Samba had filled his plate with many items. At the counter we handed over the coupons to the lady. She politely told us that for the coupon we would get only two items and we had to pay for the rest of the items. I told her to tell the amount for the extra items Samba had taken. She told me after calculating that the total would be 20 Euro. Immediately Samba went back kept all the items and took only one brown bread piece and one Croissant. I asked him why he did so.

He replied “20 Euro means Rs. 1300. I do not want to pay so much for a breakfast”.

I told him “Samba we should not calculate the amount by converting to Rupees. If we keep doing so we will starve ourselves”.

After breakfast we went back to the Gate from where we were supposed to catch the connecting flight. Samba told me that he wanted to go to wash room. He got up and went. Within a minute he came back.

“Finished so soon” I asked him.

He looked confused. He said “There is something wrong with the toilet. No bucket, no mug, no tap and no water”. I understood and walked up to him and explained how the toilets in Europe would be.

He was not convinced.

He answered “They are so rich and build such good airports. Can they not keep one bucket, mug and a tap with water? It is so costly?”. I had no answer for this.

We took the connection flight to Stockholm and landed there after about two and half hours.

I finished my trip and came back to India. After one year I got a call from Samba on my mobile. He had come to my town. I took my car out and went to the hotel he was staying in. I was happy to meet him and he was talking about our trip to Stockholm via Vienna.

“One year has passed and you have not yet come out of the jet-lag of Stockholm trip” I added.

“ I am getting relocated to Vienna for about 3-4 years. We are doing a project for a bank there” he told. I wished him the best and went back to my office.

3 years passed and I had to go to Vienna to attend a meeting. I was happy that I could meet Samba there. I called him and asked him to come to the airport at Vienna to meet me.  I landed in Vienna airport and after collecting the check-in luggage from the baggage belt I walked out of the main hall towards the entrance. I looked for Samba. I had the image of Samba with well oiled hair and a bulged tummy. To my surprise I saw a totally changed Samba waiting for me. He had a spiky hairstyle, well sculptured body (should have been regular to Gym) and was wearing a t-shirt and a short.

“Hi Samba how you are man” I asked him.

“Call me Sam. I am known as Sam here” He replied.

I was happy to note that my friend Samba had transformed himself to Sam within couple of years.

I wanted to know about the availability of the local Sim card for my mobile. 

Sam took me to a help desk and started speaking to the lady in German and asked

 “wo wir lokale SIM-Karte kaufen?”.

I was amazed as Sam was talking in German comfortably.

  We went to the counter and bought the local Sim card. We started walking towards the parking area. 

 “You have picked up good German Sam” I asked him.

 “I have been living here for about three years” he replied. “In this airport?” I questioned. 

Sam stopped and  said “ I meant I have been living for three years in Vienna and not in the airport”. 

Laughing heartily we both proceeded towards the parking area.