Let me tell you a cute little story.
Today I was watching a short video of Mats Wilander of Sweden defeating Pat Cash of Australia to win the 1988 Australian Open. 1/n
The name Wilander triggered this memory 2/n
It was way back in 1989. I had joined Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP) as a 'Junior Manager'. DSP was one of the five big steel plants under the conglomerate Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL). 3/n
In addition to Durgapur, the plants were located in Bokaro in Bihar, Bhilai in Chathisgarh, Rourkela in Odisha and Salem Steel Plant in Salem, Tamil Nadu. 4/n
In addition to the five biggies, SAIL also owned some smaller steel plants and iron ore mines. One of those smaller steel plants was Alloy Steel Plant (ASP), which as the no-nonsense name suggest produced Alloy Steel, which is a special steel (Think of Fortified Wheat, if you will. Same concept) 5/n
SAIL provided hostels for Bachelors to stay. For those working in DSP we had the 'Durgapur House' and for those working in ASP, they had the ASP Hostel. We shared a common mess. 6/n
Layout clear? Two hostels, one mess. 6/n
Now we come to that day in 1989. 7/n
I came to the mess at around 7.30 AM. As I entered I could see one ornary looking bloke sitting there quietly chewing his poories. He was so into eating that he did not look up to acknowledge my presence. 8/n
When he looked up I saw that the it was a face that will never write a thousand letters. May be a staff memo. Well no. 9/n
An unremarkable proletariat cog in the wheel of the giant steel machine. 10/n
I switched on the TV. The first news item to hit me was 'India's Ramesh Krishnan beats World Number One and Reigning Australian Open Champion Mats Wilander" 11/n
Stunning, right? I was stunned, and thrilled and excited. 12/n
I had to share my excitement with someone, anyone. There was only one person in the vicinity. 13/n
This cha chomping chupandale. I will have to do with him. I can't carry this orgasmic ecstasy for too long. 14/n
So I take ma plate (see that subtle change in tense from past to present, don't be tense) of Poories and walk up to him. 15/n
I sit opposite to him. His lips twitch to show his unhappiness with me selecting that one seat among 20 available in the room. 'Why', his eyes asked.
(Relax ma bro, I bring thee good tidings). 16/n
"Ramesh Krishnan defeated Mats Wilander in Australian Open. Big win for India", I set the ball rolling. 17/n
I would have expected an ecstatic response. At least as much enthusiasm as possible on a working day. A bit of enthusiasm? No? 18/n
"What?" he asked.
Thank god, he didn't hear what I said in the din of his tea chugging. I repeated my previous observ. 19/n
This time he heard. For sure he heard. I waited with bated breath (what is that anyway) for his ecstatic response. 20/n
He replied finally. With a different question.
"Who?" 21/n
"Ramesh Krishnan from India. He defeated Mats Wilander of Sweden, who is the current world champion", only thing I omitted was the name of the game. Should I have mentioned it? Was it too late. 22/n
After all who didn't know that Open was in progress? 23/n
He got up to leave. "I am sorry that I don't know anyone by that name. I work in ASP, may be this Ramesh works in DSP" 24/n
Do you hear that hissing sound. It is my ego deflating. 25/n
No comments:
Post a Comment