The employee...!!

The employee...!!

It was the final round of my interview. Company had called me to their HQ. Wearing a suit always gives you confidence. Avarice had forced me to pray today. I was a good candidate for this job; I even had relevant work experience, though I felt scared. Perhaps this company was too good and I was scared of loosing this opportunity. Apart from practicing for my interview, I had also been doing all good deeds in these last few days. I really wanted this job.

I parked my car and started moving towards their main office. I had to cross this small park to reach there. It was a weekend and to my astonishment, there were quite a few people in the park. The idea of making these parks was always useless for me.

“Sir free this poor pigeon only for 50 Rupees, it will give you blessings Sir.” I saw a boy in his early 20s following me. His dirty jean was rolled on bottom and he was holding a cage. At first, I ignored him and moved fast. He kept on following me. “Sir aapka interview acha hoga Sir. (Sir your interview will go well.)” He was good at marketing. I smiled and looked back but kept on walking. Then suddenly, I stopped, 50 rupees were nothing to me but this job, it definitely meant a lot to me. I looked back. He was still standing over there, waiting for my cue.

He came running towards me and extended his hand. I looked into his eyes; he gave me a smile and moved that cage towards me. I took my wallet out and gave him a 50 Rupees Note. I took the cage, opened it and let the poor pigeon fly. I gave that cage back to him with a smile.

Indeed I felt good. I felt more confident for the interview. I knew that God was taking my test, test for my humanity and I think, I had just cleared it.

I turned back and looked at that boy. He was looking up, and to my amazement, in next few seconds that pigeon came back to the same cage. “Oh My God!” I whispered. I called that boy and said, “This is cheating. You have cheated me.” I was angry, on both of them. “No Sir.” He replied, again with a smile. “Sir ye business hai, aur Raja mere liye kaam krta hai. Bilkul vaise hi, jaise aap bhi kal se kisi ke liye kar rahe hoge. (It’s a pure business and Raja works for me. Just like, you will be working for someone by tomorrow. )”

He saw his potential client, walking in suit, holding a certificate file and immediately ran towards him.

A Universal Human Problem......Presumptions.

A Universal Human Problem......Presumptions.

A lady in a faded grey dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun suit walked in timidly without an appointment into the Harvard University President's outer office. The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn't even deserve to be in Harvard. "We want to see the President "the man said softly. "He'll be busy all day "the secretary snapped. "We'll wait" the lady replied. For hours the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn't and the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president. "Maybe if you see them for a few minutes, they'll leave" she said to him. 

The President, stern faced and with dignity, strutted toward the couple. The lady told him "We had a son who attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. My husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus." The president wasn't touched.... He was shocked. "Madam "he said, gruffly, "we can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery." "Oh, no," the lady explained quickly "We don't want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard." The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, and then exclaimed, "A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical buildings here at Harvard." For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. Maybe he could get rid of them now. The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that all it costs to start a university? Why don't we just start our own?"

Her husband nodded. The president's face wilted in confusion and bewilderment. Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford got up and walked away, traveling to Palo Alto , California where they established the University that bears their name. Stanford University , a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.

P.S: This is not a true story, I have checked on the Stanford University page. It was sent to me one of my very close friend "Aditya Prakash", a long back in 2009. I loved this piece of fiction and I hope you all have enjoyed it too. Try not to presume things. Good Luck.