A case study.
The white envelope in Tina’s hands contained nothing but unending darkness in its womb. She stood in front of the door of her B-112 apartment in sector 27, Noida. As her long skinny fingers fought a duel with the tenacious adhesive holding the paper joint together, her heart frantically prayed for a reason to re-establish her faith in God. Alas! It wasn’t destined to happen. With anger seething in her veins she unlocked her door. Then, with steps as ferocious as an invading Red Army she marched into her bedroom. Inside, a visibly beaten man lay comatose on the keyboard of his laptop, his heavy skull sending letters berserk on the open word file. The scene would have probably aroused sympathy in the eyes of most people, but for Tina it was merely a catalyst, acting towards increasing her blood pressure. The most disgusting site in the world for a wife is an empty husband and Tina Naresh was living this nightmare. She went over the desk and smacked the letter onto her sleeping better half’s smart but useless face.
“Take it!” she shouted in rage, “Your 7th rejection letter! Congratulations! Now, may I just ask you when you will stop experimenting with words and do something about earning bread?”
The wild rebuke worked like epinephrine, pulling the man out of his slumber. For once, the keys on the keyboard thanked the woman of relieving them of their pain. Ram Naresh scratched his head as he tried to distinguish between the surreal reality of the dreams he had woken up from and the realistic nightmare that existed. He picked up the letter and read only the first five words.
“We regret to inform you…..”
7 months ago, he was the HR manager at Lehh Tech India Software solutions. During the global recession, the company was forced to trim its workforce in order to boost its productivity. The trimming meant getting rid of 250 fresh graduates at its Noida development centre. All was hunky dory, until Ram Naresh challenged the management’s decision. “Instead of bloodletting such a huge chunk of trained individuals,” he tried to explain the higher management, “there is a possibility that they can be used for some new product development.” Invariably, he was at loggerheads with most of the managerial team. The meeting organized to discuss the issue had almost broken into a verbal duel between Ram and his boss. Outnumbered and outmanned over his decision, Ram Naresh had only one choice left with him. On January 7th, 2009, 251 instead of the predetermined 250 people, walked out of the lush green environmental friendly campus of Lehh Tech. Leading the pack was the man whom the company had made an example off – Ram Naresh. As he walked towards the road of despair in front of him, he turned around to have one last look at the sanctuary of his perpetrators.
“Bastards!” he grunted as he walked off.
It was only that day that Tina came to know of the stress her husband had been enduring for the past 15 days. Tina herself was an HR executive with an IT firm. When she heard what had transpired she was left aghast. She tried her best to console and sympathize with Ram. She knew how difficult it was to cut heads among your own, but she also knew that the corporate downtime the world was facing wasn’t going to end anytime soon. She wanted to convince Ram to go and apologize to the senior management team, but the mere mention of Lehh would send his temper soaring like a missile. Ram on the other hand was left devastated. The reckless act had shaken his belief in the industry he worked for. Suddenly, everything corporate started to appear as a farce. The HR magazines he devoured now appeared more like propaganda manuals. Wherever he looked, business and HR were the new names of terror. Even TV channels were taking a sadistic pleasure in showing employees’ cry for their jobs. ‘HR’ for him now, was nothing but a mercenary getting paid for manslaughter. Unable to bear the babel of dirty business around him, Ram slipped into a quagmire of dejection and isolation. Most of the time he would lock himself up in his room and scribble his hate onto sheets of paper. This, he thought, was the only way to cope with the vacuum in his life.
Meanwhile, Tina was trying to hold things together. She worked double the hard to maintain her performance levels. Even her company had resorted to downsizing. Tina did not commit the same mistake her husband did. Her social and financial dilemma was too grave for her to care about ethics, consequences, repercussions and employee unhappiness. As months passed by, Tina’s frustration grew by leaps and bounds. Overwork and the sight of the vegetable like human being lying at home were taking a toll on her senses. Each and every time she saw her colleagues going out and dining with their beau’s, a volcano would erupt inside her. The sparks of the couple’s professional friction had by now started to set afire their domestic life.
“Ram,” Tina said one evening, “it’s getting really difficult for me to hold things in place like this. I understand you are hurt, but this is no way to deal with it. You need to take back the reins of your life.”
“What are you suggesting?” he asked.
“Suggesting? Don’t you understand! I am telling you to go and find a job!” Tina screamed at his indiscretion.
“I can’t.”
“Why? Why can’t you? What do you want me to do? I am working my flesh off and you are here eating and relishing your sabbatical. This is it, Ram! If you don’t do something about yourself, I’ll kill myself!”
Ram was stunned at this wild rebuttal.
“Tina, I need more time. Just a little more! You know I have also written a book on my experiences. It’s almost complete! Maybe I can help the world around in some other way……” he tried to placate Tina.
“I am tired Ram,” she interrupted, her eyes moist with tears of desperation. “I can’t see you like this. When I see people around me happily chit chatting, I feel jealous. I feel jealous at their destiny. I feel jealous the way they talk. I feel jealous….” she burst into tears.
“Everything will be fine,” Ram consoled her. Nothing will be fine ever again.
Another 3 months passed by. Tina received a promotion and was now a senior HR in her company. While Tina was busy collecting accolades and recognitions, all Ram got were rejection letters from publishing houses. He was swarmed by a deluge of sorry’s and regret’s. Each regret letter was a crushing blow to whatever resilience was left in him. Ram’s daily diet now consisted of more sleeping tablets than meals. Each time he slept, he hoped, he wouldn’t have to get up again. Tina’s exasperation, on the other hand, was growing ferociously. Though her promotion gave her the financial stability she needed, Ram unknowingly was murdering her social needs. Her husband had become a major cause of embarrassment for her. She stopped attending parties and social gatherings. She dreaded what she would say if asked about her husband. A night later, another showdown took place at the Naresh residence. She had arranged for a job interview which Ram gave a miss.
“You are an idiot! A good for nothing! Marrying you was the biggest mistake of my life!” Tina’s anger was making her more verbose day by day. “It’s better not to have a husband than having a husband like you. Fool!” she bellowed.
Ram stood in silence. “I…”
“No more explanations Ram. Just go. Go and write the bullshit you have been writing for months and then get rejected. Just get out! Get out of this room! Get out of this house! Get out of my life!”
Tina’s rage was tearing her body apart. Meanwhile, all Ram did was turn around and leave.
Next day Tina got ready for the office. She repented for her reactions the day before, but thought that admitting them would only make Ram more complacent. She left in silence.
Tina was unable to concentrate on her work the entire day. She repented for the words that flew like poisoned arrows from her lips. Inside, her blood pressure seethed making her feel nauseated. Unable to bear the turbulence inside her body, she left the office early. On her way back she went to the chemist shop near her home.
“Namaste Madam,” the shopkeeper greeted her. Tina gave a plastic smile before asking for her pills.
“It’s Rs. 350,” the shopkeeper said flipping the calculator “Ramji came today morning. Appears he has not been going to the office lately. Is everything all right?”
“Everything’s fine.” Tina answered angrily in contempt. It was the worst time this question could have come up. Tina collected her packet and stomped out of the shop.
Outside her door, a white letter lay trapped under the door. She pulled out the poor piece of paper and ripped the sealing off.
“Dear Ram,” it said, “We recently went through your manuscript “Humanity Fired!” We believe that your book holds a lot of potential and would like to discuss the opportunity of entering into a collaboration. Please call us on the number given below so that we can send our agent to discuss the terms and conditions of the proposal.”
Tina couldn’t believe what she was reading. All the nausea and pain from her body suddenly disappeared. Her eager fingers ransacked the purse to find the keys to the door, but her excitement wouldn’t let her. Somehow, she got hold of the keys and turned the lock.
“Ram! Ram!” she bolted towards the bedroom where he lay sleeping on his computer chair.
“Baby, you did it! You did it!” she shouted hugging him from the back of his chair. But there was no response. Before Tina could understand what happened, a lifeless body slumped to the floor. On the laptop in front, lay an empty bottle of sleeping pills.
“Raaaaaam!” Tina screamed in horror.
Clenched between the fingers of the dead man was his last memoir.
“Dear Tina,
I know you have been disgruntled by my behavior lately. I know I have failed to be the husband you wanted. Neither was I a good husband nor a good companion. It’s too difficult me to escape from my thoughts. I tried my level best to bring myself to terms with life. But I don’t think I would be able to go back to my previous job or the life I had been living. I worked for those people for 3 years. That company was a mere startup when I joined. Now, three successful years later, this is what they give me in return. The company in which you arranged my interview was no different. I did a search and found out that they downsized their firm by 475 people last month. Don’t tell me that 475 people just went redundant in one day. My rejections tell me that even the people don’t want to listen to the truth. Probably, they are better off fighting and killing. It’s a world where humans are abundant but humanity endangered. There’s just too much corruption, monetarily and morally, and too many lies involved. Maybe I am impractical. Maybe it’s a delusion I am living in, but let me tell you, I am happy. I am happy that I don’t have to work as a butcher. My only cause of sadness is that I have failed you. To tell you the truth, I don’t deserve living with you. All I can give you is pain and unhappiness. Therefore, I have decided to leave. I would go away from your life. But don’t get me wrong, I still love you, I always have. It’s just that you’ll be better off without me. I have sold off the small piece of land my family owned near Sohna. It will fetch enough money for you to live comfortably even if you don’t work. Finally, all I want to say is - I am Sorry! Take care of yourself. Goodbye!”
Discussion Question:
1. Who killed Ram Naresh?
A. He himself
B. Tina Naresh
C. Lehh Ltd.
D. Destiny
E. We
