"Good afternoon, Sirs, Madam," said Mr. Sharma, bowing slightly, hands folded in typical Indian greeting style with his small flat wallet clutched between his palms. He stood for a second until Billy greeted him and invited him with a gesture to sit down.
"Namaste, Sharma-ji" said Billy in a thick accent but a definite energy and interest in his voice and smiling broadly, his palms together in front of him.
Sarita too greeted him with a slight bow and Indian style.
Mr. Sharma could not make out if Billy was being sincere or poking pun at him with his obviously his slightly awkward display of Indian manners, but he was impressed by the way he pronounced "Namaste" and "Sharma", it was as perfect as you could expect from a person with a different accent. It was not the "Numaastey" and "Shaarma" as most westerners could deliver. It was just as good as any Indian from a different province could say it. Usually it takes a bit of practice and effort for foreigners to nail the pronunciation right. Mr. Sharma decided to treat everyone with goodwill at face value and give the benefit of the doubt unless their motives become progressively clearer and are shown to be different.
Mr. Sharma, whose first name was 'Madhav' sat down. He sat with a calm, cool dignified air with a handkerchief in the palm of his hand discreetly wiping the sweat forming on his forehead with thin grey foliage on the dome of his head. He had put his wallet on his lap. His eyes scanned the room quietly for a couple seconds taking in everything and everyone.
He waited patiently for the questions to begin.
Mr. Sharma was the oldest candidate they had interviewed thus far at 48 years of age. He was of a rather simple background. He was well educated - Master of Arts in Literature, completed later in life when working on his first jobs -some menial and all low paying. He had then landed a government job and had worked at that one organisation for the past twenty years, working his way up rather slowly from a senior clerk to an administrative officer in a large office, storing public records. It was quite unremarkable compared to the many flashy qualifications of many of the other candidates. It seemed to indicate a definite lack of ambition for someone who was now applying for a challenging new kind of work. There were a couple of other candidates still to be interviewed who were as old as Mr. Sharma, one even older and another who was retired, but they came with very extensive, impressive qualifications and experience in jobs with much greater responsibilities.
"Why do you want this job, Mr. Sharma? After all, you have been working for 20 years steadily and now you suddenly want to leave?"
"Yes. I have been doing the same kind of work for many years. I see no prospect of a change in the future too. I am experienced in dealing with people and thought I could make a bit more money working in a new different organisation. Also, your job offers more money than my current job. I think I can save up and retire early from work if I work for your company."
"Can I ask what you want to do when you retire early, Mr. Sharma?" Ken and Billy were looking at him with bemused interest. It seemed odd that this man who had not shown very much ambition or personal initiative in making a career for himself until now, safe and secure in a government job that did not pay as much, suddenly expected this one job to provide enough for him to 'retire early'. It seemed odd particularly when all around the world, people were starting to realise that they need to keep working well past retirement age to maintain their desired lifestyle.
"I want to stay home, take care of my grandchildren and play with them," said Mr. Sharma.
"Oh! So you have grandchildren?" asked Billy.
"No, not yet, but my son recently got married and soon there will be, I hope," a wide smile flashed across his face.
Many thoughts crossed Billy, Ken and Sarita's mind. They were really curious about this man's personal life and outlook to life, mainly for the purposes of determining his suitability for the job. However, they did not want to overtly pry, violate privacy guidelines for hiring and interviewing that they followed strictly. It was tricky - they could not directly ask anything or even indirectly pressure the candidate to reveal personal information, but every bit of information that he voluntarily gave helped them determine the suitability of a candidate for these rather unusual job requirements. Therefore, they made careful notes of whatever was said.
In fact, what the candidates did not know was the the receptionists in the waiting room were really hawk-eyed, trained psychologists who were observing each candidate very carefully and taking notes. A note was posted on the entrance and on a notice board that the premises were under constant video surveillance and recording. This was done with a few discreet units with their own battery backed power supply, tucked in among the plastic and some real flower vases placed strategically.
"So tell us about your plans. How long would you work for our company, if you want to retire early?" asked Ken.
"For at least 10 years if I like it and do a good job, Sir, but after that, we'll both see." said Mr. Sharma quietly.
"What if you don't do a good enough job Mr. Sharma and we have to let you go?" asked Ken.
"I think that would be fair, Mr. Ken. I think you and I can tell within one or two years. I have leave from my department. I can go back to my old job after two years if things are not good between us," said Mr. Sharma calmly.
It struck Billy that there Mr. Sharma must enjoy excellent relations with his current boss and across his department for them to let him do this. He knew that Indian government organisations offered such terms to highly qualified and technical people who wanted to set out to try their luck in the private sector. It would have been unusual to let a simple file pusher and organiser have such privilege. It also indicated that there must be a compelling reason why Mr. Sharma then had not progressed up the ranks in his own office. He figured it was probably a personal, private reason. He become curious, but did not probe directly. He wanted to see what came out naturally.
Copyright (c) Kannan Narayanamurthy 2016
All rights reserved
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