His name is Bhaskar. A bright, young engineering graduate working with a MultiNational Corporation as a Consultant. Over 6 feet tall, with a slight darker complexion and curly hair, his looks were classified by most of his female colleagues as being in the range of somewhat good looking to very handsome. As if Bhaskar was bothered about it!
He had completed his graduation long back and after an unsuccessful stint at starting his own business, he finally got this job and was determined to perform his level best. And why wouldn't he? Gifted with a sharp intellect, along with an exceptional ability to comprehend multiple concepts, he delivered his services with devotional attitude and a customer centric approach. He was the best employee his boss could get for this role. And occasionally, he used this ability to train newly recruited employees, fresh out of the college. His ability to make these new comers understand the toughest of the concepts of IT software services made him an immediate hot favorite, with his demand growing every time when there was a batch of fresh recruits coming into the company. Somehow he managed his job and the additional responsibility of training the new joiners.
In the batch of fresh recruits was Meena, a 21 year old, "just out of the college" engineering graduate from Solapur. As has been the trend, people who come to Mumbai from sleeper towns have a different glow on their faces, as if they have achieved something great in life by coming to this bustling metropolis, and Meena was one of them. Her face glowed like a hot furnace and her eyes shone like gold. At 5 and a quarter feet, she was the shortest among the entire batch, and of course very much shorter than her trainer, Bhaskar.
Bhaskar was a straight forward person and that meant he had more enemies than friends in this organization. But on the contrary, he was more popular among the female populace because of the natural charm he oozed out of his dynamic personality. And why would that charm fail to work on Meena?
From Day one, Meena's affinity to Bhaskar increased to a point where Bhaskar asked her to behave properly, as the trainer-trainee relationship was strictly professional. In the choicest of words that he dished out against Meena, he said "I am here to favor only the one who works hard and not the one who works other way round". And Meena, with a certified IQ level of just 59, was one of the dumbest of the lot and was doing exactly what Bhaskar hated the most, "Buttering"!
These words echoed in the ears of Meena as a warning bell that such tricks won't work on her trainer and hard work would be the only imperative for her,. Repeated attempts by Meena to win Bhaskar's confidence failed miserably, and after a saturation point, Bhaskar started ignoring her. The inevitable day arrived when the training schedule was complete and it was time for Bhaskar to test their skills. It was exam time for the new batch who would have thought that exams happen only in schools and colleges. Meena was equally scared as she knew in her heart that she hasn't understood a single word taught by Bhaskar.
The Day and Time were set and everyone had to report precisely 15 minutes before the test. Invariably, everyone were on time and Bhaskar was more than happy. He called everyone to the "Asia" conference room on the first floor. It was the biggest among the conference rooms on the floor and Bhaskar had put a reminder 3 days in advance to book this conference room for 3 hours for the test. 14 new joiners gathered in the room, with nervousness on their faces clearly visible. Bhaskar entered the conference room with a bunch of papers and everyone greeted him "Good Morning". Bhaskar greeted them back and said, "So guys! it's time for the D-Day. I hope you all have prepared properly from the notes that you must have taken during the training sessions. I hope you must have also read the printed material that I had provided. Anyways, we will start with the test. 100 marks with 60 as passing marks."
"Sir!", exclaimed everyone. "Sir 60 is too much, please be reasonable", said Meena. Annoyed with her comment, Bhasker said jokingly, "For you Meena, the passing is 90!"
Laughter erupted in the room and Meena felt embarrassed. In a way, that's what Bhaskar wanted. A way in which he could make her mouth shut. "Sir, what if we fail?", asked Anita. To which Bhaskar replied, "You will be given another chance, meaning there would be a re-test. And if you fail in the re-test as well, then you are out of this company!"
"Sir!", everyone exclaimed again. "Are you serious Sir?", asked Bhargav. "Yes I am!", Bhaskar chuckled. The nervousness on their faces increased exponentially. Bhaskar sensed trouble and said, "I am kidding guys, Chill! this is no school or college that would throw you out on failure in an examination. This is just to test your knowledge and skills. You wouldn't be thrown out but you are expected to achieve a good score and understand the concepts and products of the company thoroughly so as to sell them effectively in the market"
Everyone heaved a sigh of relief and the decrease in nervousness was again exponential. Bhaskar distributed the papers exactly at 10 AM and said, "3 hours for the test. All the best!".
"Thank you Sir", the room echoed.
"No Copying. I am sitting right here with you guys to monitor", and Bhaskar brought his laptop, grabbed an empty chair and started working while monitoring the kids. With a little bit of mumbling here and there, the entire 3 hours went peaceful with paper submissions by some of them as early as 11.30 AM. Meena submitted her paper by 11.00 AM. "I wonder what would she score?", Bhaskar said to himself.
Bhaskar didn't had to wait to say "Time up" as all submissions arrived much before the deadline.
"You all can go for lunch. I want all of you to be back into the room by 2.00 PM", Bhaskar said with authority.
Contd......Episode 2
