There
were three missed calls from the same number on my mobile; it was from a land-line number from Mumbai but since I was busy in my official work I could not
attend to it. After reaching home, when I wanted to call back, it was
already half past nine p.m. so I dropped the idea.
The
next day morning, on my way to office, I got the call from the same number again.
I took the call; a soft female voice answered from the other side. She
first confirmed my name and later asked my permission to discuss about an
excellent career opportunity in one of her reputed client’s organization. I
interrupted her and said: “I am not interested in any such offer” but before I
could disconnect, she pleaded not to and requested me to give her few more
minutes to complete her message.
She
first thanked me and started narrating me about her client, job profile,
emoluments, position, posting and at the end she started requesting me to speak
with the HEAD-HR of her client’s organization once before taking a final
decision. I told her upfront that I am not interested to talk to anyone at the
moment. Neither was I having the inclination nor interest to change my job. I
was quite happy with my present profile and had no valid reason to even think
of changing the job. I was having a busy day ahead and I couldn’t afford to
waste a single minute on irrelevant matter. Therefore, I disconnected the phone
after assuring her that I would speak with her client later.
After
reaching my office I forgot everything and got involved in the office work
without any problem. Finally, I closed my laptop and called it a day. I left
the office by late evening. While going back home in my car I got another call
from the same consultant again and this time she informed me that her client
would call me now and that I should accept the call; before I could confront
her, she disconnected the phone by saying good night.
Exactly
after five minutes, I got a call from an unknown number on my mobile and this
time it was from one gentleman who introduced himself as the HEAD-HR of a very
respected and reputed engineering company of Kolkata. He very politely told me
the objective of his call and took my permission to continue the conversation.
First, he spoke in detail about the HR policy of his Company and later inquired
about CTC, notice period and my family members.
Thereafter,
he spoke to me about the initial offer, which he had already sent by email to
me, for my approval and on receipt of my confirmation he will send me the final
offer by courier. He discussed in detail
about the proposal: they had offered me the post of the CEO at their Kolkata
Head Quarter with fully furnished company accommodation, chauffeur-driven car,
fantastic salary with equity participation. I listen to him uninterruptedly and
at the end I very politely turned down his good offer. He was not perturbed
with my response instead he requested me to think on his proposal saying that
he would call me back after 48
hours.
To
be honest, on the face of it, I was trying to calm down myself but the offer
had disturbed me internally and I almost lost peace of my mind. After
dinner, I straightaway went to my bedroom. But in-spite of my best efforts I
could not sleep and the whole night I was thinking about the offer and with
great difficulty I could manage some sleep only in the early morning hours.
The
next day, first time in years I reached office late. But there also I could not
work sincerely. Therefore, I decided to take casual-leave for the day and I
left office in a hurry. Such things had never happened in my life before,
although I got several offers in the past but I had never got indulged so much
into it. Such offers came and gone and slowly I forgot about them.
But
this time, the Kolkata offer was haunting me and I was not getting enough inner
strength to straight-away turn it down. The offer was not only lucrative but
also very rich in nature from all aspects/angels. To be honest, I had never
come across such a fantastic offer in my life ever; and with every passing
minute, it was pushing me little closer to the said offer. I was divided into
two parts, my mind and heart both were speaking in different languages and I
was standing at the center totally confused and uncertain not knowing
which side I should put my foot forward. I was also finding it very
difficult to concentrate on my existing job. Although we just had a talk on the
phone; so far no personal interview, no written confirmation given but still
the verbal communication had influenced my mind, body and soul so much
that it had very severely affected my own performance at my present job.
At
present I was working in an MNC with much respected job profile and decent pay
packet. Fully satisfied with my Company, clients and colleagues and I have
never thought of leaving this job but suddenly everything was trying to go
haywire and whatever had happened in the past 24 hours had practically ruined
my peace of mind, present position and literally forced me to think otherwise.
I always used to advice my colleagues and friends not to change the job often
and stick to one company and build the career there but then why I was not
following the same rule for my-self now?
I
came home early that day and the first reaction of my wife was: “What happened,
how come you are back home so early from office, are you alright?” And before
listening to my answers she touched my forehead and later rushed to the kitchen
and brought me a glass of water. I could see her worried and disturbed face.
Suddenly she asked me bluntly a straight forward question: “Have you
resigned?” After drinking a glass of water with very heavy heart I said:
“No”
I
could see her tense face relaxed and she sat down on the sofa with a sad face.
I also sat next to her and after a long pause I told her about the last day’s
phone calls and the job offer of a Kolkata based company. My wife also became
tense after listening to my conversation. I could see her anxiety and her eyes
filled with tears. She simply told me to quickly take a final decision and
close the subject tonight itself. I tried to calm her down and explained to her
in few selective words that I would not accept Kolkata offer.
The
next morning I got up early from the bed and left home for office before the
schedule time so that I could reach office on time. I tried to concentrate on
my work and pretended to myself and my staff that nothing had happened and my
life was running as usual-normal, no problem at all. But deep down in my heart
the job offer made a very strong dent which was not so easy to erase. By the
time I left office for home, I got a call again from Kolkata.
I
kept my mobile on silence mode and did not answer any of the calls. He called
me only once and later sent me an SMS to attend an interview on video
conferencing with the MD of his company tonight at 9-PM, I wanted to say no but
could not do so. I kept thinking about the job offer seriously on my way back
home.
After
reaching home, I sat-down on the study table while sipping tea, I started
noting down few questions which I should ask the MD on Video conferencing. Five
minutes to nine I again got a call from Kolkata to be ready with my laptop-on
so that the MD sir could have one to one conversation with me.
Sharp
at nine, the MD sir was on my laptop screen. To my utmost surprise the
conversation of our proposed meeting started in Bengali language and it continued
for thirty minutes to be precise. He was very straight forward in his approach
and wanted to convince me by all means so that I can accept their job-offer
without any hitch or hesitation. Meanwhile, he answered all my questions and
told me to send an email on his personal email ID if I still had any more
doubts or queries about his company, people, product, pay-packet or future
plans.
This
was the third night and I could not sleep properly. I tried to analyze the
whole situation from beginning to the end and with lots of courage and
conviction I wrote an e-mail addressed to the MD sir wherein first I thanked
him for his offer and at the end submitted my sincere apology for not being
able to accept his job-offer. At 4-AM in the morning I sent this email and went
to sleep.
A
week had passed since I sent the regret e-mail to MD sir; I simply got a
confirmation note, Thereafter, no calls from their end. I took a deep breath
and offered prayers to God Almighty for saving me from lots of embarrassment
from my family and friends. Suddenly in third week, again I got a call from
Kolkata office that their Chairperson would like to meet me in Delhi tomorrow
any time between 10 AM and 5-PM. I was asked to confirm the timing of our
proposed meeting by night over SMS on particular mobile number which was sent
through SMS on my mobile.
I
again became disturbed with that one call. I was literally getting scared of
meeting anymore person from Kolkata. Therefore, I again sent my apology for not
being able to meet with the chairperson the next day. Within two minutes I got
the reply asking about my convenient date/time. My reply was same, not
interested in the job hence I see no point meeting in-person. I got the reply
instantly saying: “No harm in meeting” I kept quiet for few minutes, again
another SMS came which read: “Date/time/venue you decide, but please come for
the meeting”
I
was left with no option but to forget about the whole episode as a bad dream
and without confirmation I went to sleep. Next morning I got another SMS
saying: “Please don’t be so angry, give confirmation” Finally I decided to meet
with the Chairperson on the coming weekend and confirmed the date/time/location
of our proposed meeting accordingly.
As
agreed, I proceeded to meet with the chairperson at the most reputed five star
hotel of Gurgaon. As soon as I reached the reception of the hotel, a staff
accompanied me to the 9th floor of the hotel and took me to Room
901.
There
was nobody in the room but the laptop was open, one Executive Diary, Executive
Planner and a Cross gold ball pen were lying on the study table. Few famous
business magazines and news papers were also lying on the side table. One
Bengali fiction was kept near the bedside table. Small soft luggage was kept at
the corner and the lady’s purse and I-phone were also lying on the bed.
By
the time I settle-down on my chair and I saw, the washroom door opened and a
very young and beautiful lady coming out of the washroom. She straightaway came
near my chair introduced herself as Ms. Debyani Chakraborty and offered her
right hand for a handshake but somehow I could not muster courage to extend my
hand instead offered greetings by folding both my hands and she followed suit.
She inquired about tea/coffee and I said: “Tea” She moved towards side table
where electric cattle, cups, tea bags, coffee, milk powder and sugar pouches
were kept. She inquired about sugar, and I said no sugar. She came towards my
chair carrying two cups in her hands and offered me my cup of hot tea without
sugar.
Over
a cup of tea we talked about Kolkata weather, political environment and
business scenario. And with little hesitation, I asked the objective and agenda
of this meeting. She first laughed and later became serious and said, she
wanted to know the reason of my denial for accepting the job-offer of her
company.
After
listening her for half an hour I proposed several names of some young
professionals who could be ideal for her company. But she did not show any
interest in my suggestions instead she requested me to reconsider her offer and
suddenly I saw her moisture filled eyes but very smartly she wiped her eyes
with handkerchief and gave a broad smile. Later she told me to look at her
laptop screen displaying the photograph of an old couple.
It
was the photograph of her parents Mrs. and Mr. Sukumar Chakraborty who died
last year in a road accident while coming from Malda, their home town. Since
then she took over the reigns of her company as a chairperson and her maternal
uncle (Brother of her late mother) is working as MD. She was looking for a
highly experienced professional between the age group of 45 to 50; who could
take over as a Business Head/CEO of her company and run the show independently.
She had interviewed many candidates in the past but could not find any suitable
candidate. Later her consultant from Mumbai had recommended my candidature and
after thorough check/verification they shortlisted my name and the rest is history.
I was still not very happy with the last meeting and the whole episode was not
at all convincing to me and somehow I was not getting the right answers of my
questions: WHY ME? After an hour or so I took her leave and promised her that I
would reconsider my decision of joining her company.
While
driving back home, suddenly I remembered about my friend Ms. Sumita Mukherjee
who was my childhood friend in Kolkata. She belonged to a very rich business
family of south Kolkata. Today I met the daughter of my very dear friend
who died in a road accident. Probably, her daughter knew about our relationship
or it could be a sheer coincidence also. I last met her mother when she got
married and thereafter I shifted to Jamshedpur. And today after 27 long years
my past was in front of me as if it were only yesterday. We may forget
our past but it never leaves us-come what may. I folded both my hands in the
air and offered prayers to the God Almighty for Mrs. and Mr. S. K. Chakraborty.
May their souls rest in peace, Amen!
With Prayers
Gurcharan
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