This is not necessarily a continuation of my earlier parts, but, just a few tit bits of the experiences of interacting with my sponsor, drawn from my & my fellow colleagues' experiences. The building which houses my sponsor's office has a security guard at the entrance. Going by his looks & language, he appears to belong to the North Eastern India. He is a decent man. Most often, whenever I go to see my sponsor, he used to greet me with the words - "salaam saahab", meaning, "greetings to you, sir". It appears, for quite some time he has been keeping a very close vigil over the hapless peasants visiting the sponsor & the way they are handled, as can be seen from the way the security guard interacts with people these days. Here's an incident that happened between me & the guard some time ago.
Guard (seeing me approaching the building, with a notoriously teasing smile on his lips, without any greeting & without waiting for my asking): Woh nahi hain ("he isn't there", casually indicating my sponsor).
I (noticing the absence of greeting for me & any respect for my sponsor): Kahan gaye? ("where did he go?").
Guard: Kisko pata? Subah aaya office, fir kahin chala gaya. Pata nahi kahan. ("who knows? He came to office in the morning, & then went somewhere. Don't know where).
I: Koi idea aap ko, kab tak aa sakte hain woh? (Have you any idea, when he is likely to come?)
Guard: Na. Woh kab tak aayega nahi bol sakte. Kisi ko bhi pata nahi hoga. Woh to kabhi bhi kahin se bhi nikal jaayega, kabhi bhi kahin se andar ghus jaayega. Koi bharosa nahi uska. (No. I can't say by when he'd come. Nobody is likely to know that. He goes out & comes back to / from wherever at whatever time to / from whichever place. There is no certainty about him).
As I walked back to my seat, the only thing constantly nagging my mind was the marked change in the security guard's attitude. When I narrated this to my colleagues, they were all laughing aloud & told me - "Vinay, it looks like the guard realised after all, the hapless way with which we are being treated. For all you know, the guard may have felt that he's being treated with better respect & dignity by your sponsor & hence felt that you are undeserving of his courtesy. Don't take it personally". With these words they all started laughing aloud again at the situation. And, I too joined them in their laugh...
I have a very close colleague of mine, who also is doing a project with the same very sponsor. Our sponsor has scheduled weekly meetings with us on different days. On one such day when my colleague walked into office at 8.15 AM & opened the mailbox, he noticed a meeting (scheduled for 11:30 AM the same day) delined by the sponsor. As he was in the middle of something, at about 11:15 AM he gets another meeting acceptance note for 11:30 AM. Seeing that, he rushed to the sponsor only to be greeted by his empty office. And then...
My colleague (calling the sponsor on his mobile): Hello sir. Where are you? I'm waiting for you at your office.
Sponsor: I am in the middle of a meeting with suppliers. We'll meet later.
Well, that's it guys...Will update of any more funny experiences I am most likely to encounter with my sponsor...Until then, Amen...
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