A Blue collared worker’s concern for the firm selling ‘Fright’

He continued doing, what he liked doing
Without any let or hindrance,
Fully energized by praise and flattery.
There was nothing strange or mystery in it.
Being a combustible stuff of criminality
Stupidity and venality, he generated a
Commodity called ‘fright’
Professionally weak and inherently weakly
Constituted minds fell prey to fright
Unable and unwilling to fight or take flight.
A ready ‘sellers market’ was ensured
To accelerate the production of ‘fright’.

The reasonably honest, brave practicing
Work ethics and filled with pride
Shunned this commodity as ‘giffen good’
And just concentrated on their work.
To ease the work pressure
An insider told an interesting story
To generate Lincoln’s spirit of humour:

The hero in question was not
Taller in stature, not much shorter in temper.
But a very brave man fighting against
All injustice against all Vice-Chairman’s
With proof, logic and more important
Speaking softly, but arguing aggressively.

As usual, on one fine evening he
Confronted his Head with a representation.
Getting annoyed, the Vice-Chairman warned him
Menacingly: Mr. Sundaralingam
You are going too far; when white collared
Workers are keeping quiet like obedient dogs
You are the one always causing problem.
Don’t you know that I am not answerable?
To anyone here, not even the Head of the State here,
Why can’t you understand me?
I know, all your representations and
Good intentioned petitions, but I have been
Trapped by fate, by my own advisors.
If I act on your demands
I cannot survive here as head
I am an aged man, with blood pressure
Heart problem and stones in kidney
I don’t know which organ will organize non-cooperation movement
Tomorrow, Tobin’s tomorrow’s tomorrow
Kindly help me to help you
You deserve to be our law officer
Our man here, lacked your courage and conviction
And just fed my ego to
Retain his chair, lest I would
Shift him to a lesser portfolio.
Kindly give me time to process your
Representations and really take decisions.

The court had passed judgment;
“The Vice Chairman has no discretion
To molest the composition of governing bodies
According to his whims and fancies
Adopting ‘races for houses’ strategy
He must reconstitute going by statues and rules”
The Vice Chairman was at an important international seminar
Talking about quality assurance
Character building, transparency in administration
And accountability
His cell phone rang and conveyed the
Bombshell he took the first flight
And reached office, convened meeting of
Advisors and legal officers
Like Corus dancers in a story less film
They all sang “we shall go for appeal”
Nothing will prevent us to loot tax payer’s money
There is no “tamizhan” to question us
And take us to consumer’s courts
We will always do what all you want us to do.
Our lawyers are incredibly happy to help us and
Show some escape route
You just need to instruct our Accounts Officer
The rest will be taken care of by us
We will prolong the case until your tenure ends”

(From my Dateless Diary: A Silent Soliloquy)

A Blue Collar Worker, Confronts Vice Chairman and brings peace

Next day, the PA to the Vice Chairman pressed the intercom
“Sir, trade union secretary is here to meet you,
As per the appointment given last week
Shall I show him in, Sir?”
“Yes Stella. But be sure, no one else follows him
Don’t send anybody else here
Until he is packed off”.
Mr. Sunder lingam entered the chamber
With a garland and a lemon
And saying hello, sat on the chair
Comfortably, with all smile written on his face

The Vice Chairman remained quiet, looking pale
“Sir, I have come not to press our
Series of representations delivered during the
Last four years.
Thanks to amendments in the federal law
They are automatically, taken care of by
Human rights bodies and consumer organization.
My visit is just to congratulate you
For making our union and also the
White collars union very strong,
By all your acts, words, deeds and kindly gestures.
Under your regime, all cases have gone against administration.
We have become the laughing stood/stock of the nation
Everyone is enjoying belly laughter
At our expense.

The Vice Chairman lost his cool and thundered
“Mr Sunder lingam, we know you are
The main fulcrum around which
Everything devastating comes out
And hit me like a missile
Because of you
We have lost all our legal battle
Don’t test my patience
I have all the powers under my belt
I can suspend you just like that
The Association Secretary who was only a clerk
Sat like a saint
Before the mighty king, with all
Stoic smile, now more radiant
Making his black face more beautiful.
“Mr Vice Chairman you are thoroughly mistaken”.

There is an ancient Tamil poetry
Good and bad things do not stem from others
One can only reap what one sows
How can a clerk or President of officers
Trouble you? Can any worker dare to attack a
Good Vice Chairman? A good leader?
You are my superior officer, not my employer
My employer is God/the Head Office Chief in New Delhi
Why do you blame me for your problem?

“Did I advice you to enter into an MOU with
Animal rights organization?
Did I ask you appoint yourself as
The chief of office Politics and
Vitiate the entire corporate atmosphere?
Did I give scholarly advice to humiliate and insult
The leader of dalit community at recruitment board of our company?

“I thought after court verdict, you would
Regain a sense of lost balance and judgment
Now I know the interior of an apple can never be
Guaranteed good. You were never good
And honest in your life . At any stage in life.
By accident you have risen to a
Top position in the company
But therafter failed to evolve as a
Leader, commander, guardian and
Custodian of our great organization.
I would go and tell your PA
To type my suspension order
That penal action will give me
Breathing time to polish my core competence.

The chief was stunned by clerk’s courage
Clarity of thought, the utter brutality of Truth
And authencity of facts, and above all
His excellent presentation.
Hiding his sense of embarrassment
Unease and guilt conscience
He virtually begged him and pleaded;
The threatening tone had lost its
Tenor and violence
Wearing a smile of a whore
(Courteousy: Prabanjans short story)

On his charming face, the
Vice-Chairman addressed:
“Don’t I know Mr. Sunderalingam?
Your goodness and good intentioned petitions
Had I paid heed, I would not have
Faced this humiliating defeat.
I was just kidding you and joking
By talking about suspension.
I shall now obey the court order
But I am scared of facing the board meeting
Your friends will unmask all my wrong doing.
How can I forget and forgive
All hate campaign against me?”

Sir, nobody is hating you as a person
They have only questioned your illegal
Biased and wrong acts in our company.

Let’s unwind all illegitimate acts
In the final leg of your journey
You must go with peace, poise and grace.
Enforce work discipline. Make people attend
Office and also ensure they sit at the
Desk/computer and work.
Confess your crime and seek pardon.
Let’s forget the past as closed chapter
A paradigm shift is absolutely imperative
For inculcation of rationality, neutrality
Objectivity and even handed appraisal of
Personalities on the basis of actual seniority
And more important “real work”
Done by real workers in our firm

“Thank you Sunderlingam
You talk sense. You are my real
Well-wisher and friend
Thus far, I was under some addiction,
Delusion, a kind of illusion
You have given me a new revelation
We shall convene a special core group meeting
Kindly ensure that you and your friends
Agree whole heartedly
To help me come out of the mess
Once and for all
We will all concentrate on “real work”
Hence forward.

(From my Dateless Diary: A Silent Soliloquy)

Master Abraham Lincoln’s way of storytelling to laugh at clouds and jokers

All of us are disturbed by negative criticism
At workplace, home and outside.
Feeling convulsed with grief, anguish and anger,
You’re very much disturbed, agitated and worried.
Yes Shakthi, when we are standing up in the coconut shy
We must expect to get hit.

It’s the tragedy of this soil and also elsewhere:
A few superiors are intellectually inexperienced and inadequate
To understand your vibrant academic side
And ensure an evenhanded appraisal
When life takes a series of unexpected turns
It pains our hearts and weakens our limbs;

The best way to prevent them from
Corroding our heart is to
Profusely develop a well reasoned sense of humor
And laugh at the situation heartily,
Internalizing the spirit of Abraham Lincoln’s sense of humour

To lessen the tension, Lincoln had
His own way of storytelling;
When asked how he could handle
Misplaced harsh criticism,
Instantly came reply in the form of a story

There was big fellow whose
Little wife beat him over the head
While he made no attempt to stop her
When his friend remarked that
He was a fool, to let her do it,
He turned out him and said
“Let her alone. It does not hurt me
But it does her a lot of good”.

So my dear Shakthi
Your villain there cannot be your first love
Or last love, nor can you expect love
of childhood/ sweet heart from a heart
Full of ‘blocks’ and ‘holes’
Exploiting all loopholes of law, and
Placing all stumbling blocks on organization growth.
But kindly remember, your old flame/inherent passion,
Your own core, must not be allowed to die,
By this systemic chaos.

We shall go back to Lincoln’s way of
Describing the argument of his rival.
My rival’s criticism is
“As thin as homeopathic soup
That was made by boiling
The shadow of a pigeon
That had been starved to death”,

Shakthi! Shall we get a better
Poetic sentence than Lincoln’s?
To explain our existential dilemma.
It’s an irony of fate, a sheer bad luck
A migrant bird is marginalizing
And betraying the majority interest
By spinning wheels within wheels.