The Interview

Saravan was on his usual rounds, the milking grounds that he was accustomed to seemed to beckon to him with a filial love. The relentless, sticky heat of the summer had forced even the dogs off the streets, but Saravan was on a mission. With his brow shining brighter than the waxed, metallic bodies of the cars lining the street, he opened the gate of the first house on the street.

Mrs. Shanmugam opened the door and recognized Saravan immediately. She was a lady in her late fifties and was the type that had never been employed in her entire lifetime. Her purpose in life had been to marry and to care for the children and the household. A victim of her times, when it had been considered improper for a woman to aspire for a corporate life. The little of the home that one could catch a glimpse of behind Mrs. Shanmugam's girth evoked a strange emotion in Saravan, he couldn't define the emotion, though many of the readers would easily be able to identify with the emotion: the emotion that one feels when visiting one's home, where one feels secure and cared for, a safe womb where none of the evils of the world can touch us.

Saravan though had never had a home, the initial stages of his boyhood had been spent on the streets. He had no memory of his mother, only that of his older brother who had cared for him while on the streets. The latter part of his childhood had been spent in the 'Sri Sai' orphanage. The streets of Bangalore had not been kind to young Saravan, he had been brought into the orphanage by some kind, caring gent who had found Saravan lying in a garbage heap in a stupor induced by inhaling the fumes of “ErazeX”. Despite the best efforts of the staff, they couldn't coax a single word out of young Saravan for months together. However when Saravan finally started speaking, he turned out to be a fast learner...

Mrs. Shanmugam had become accustomed to Saravan's monthly visits, she threw her door as wide open as her comely smile, which again evoked an emotion in Saravan which most of us would associate with the motherly figures in our lives. Mrs. Shangmugam's children had all grown up and flown out from under her wings, so it had been just her and her husband for the past five years. Saravan had always reminded her of her own son, Raghu. After all, Saravan tended to visit her more often than Raghu and had more patience when it came to making conversation with an old lady.

On that particular day however, Mrs. Shanmugam seemed rather excited, after having offered Saravan a glass of sweet buttermilk, she told him that Raghu had arrived that morning and that she would love for them to meet.

Raghu, a strapping young man in his thirties had come to Bangalore because he had grown rather bored of his job at a KPO. He had had enough of the relentless work cycles and the madness of New York city. In search of greener pastures, he had posted his resume on a website and had been called for an interview, which was the reason for Raghu's presence in Bangalore.

Raghu and Saravan however didn't get off on the right footing...

“What is it that you exaclty do Mr. Saravan?” asked Raghu.
“I am here to collect donations for the Sri Sai orphanage, I come once every month, Mrs. S has been kind enough to donate over the past two years.”

“Don't take this the wrong way Mr. Saravan, but I have seen a lot of people like you in my life. You could have been able to run this charade to fool my mother, but I don't want you bothering us any more. If you would excuse me now, I have an interview to attend.”

Saravan chose not to react, he had come across such people before and had resigned himself to the fact that humanity is capable of widely varying behaviour, ranging from the comely charm of Mrs. Shanmugam to the ruthlessness that Raghu shares with many others.

Mrs. Shanmugam squirming with immense discomfiture could not make eye contact with Saravan, when she finally managed to look at Saravan as he was closing the gate, she was instantly put at ease by Saravan who flashed her one of his huge smiles that he was famous for; twenty eight of his thirty two fine pearly whites were flashed at Mrs. Shanmugam.

The day his brother had died of dehydration on the street corner adjacent to Manipal hospital on 'Airport Road', had been the day when a certain Ms. Indra Gandhi had ceased control of the entire nation. Saravan would have surely followed suit had it not been for the saviour. Saravan had been dipping in and out of consciousness and could hardly remember the events of that particular day, but he had created a mental image of the kind gentleman who had taken concern for the dying child on the streets. Saravan had imagined his saviour as a man with balding hair and a pot belly and a huge smile on his face, just like his own. He had imagined him as having red stained teeth as a result of having chewed on betel leaves and paan, he had imagined him as having a deep laugh which emanated from somewhere deep in his rotund belly. Saravan was almost spot on as far as the physical appearances go. What Saravan will never know is that his 'saviour' was none other than Chota Fatir, a leading don of the kidney trade in the state of Karnataka. Chota Fatir was dissapointed when he found out that Saravan's kidneys could not be harvested as they had been through too many rough days.

Saravan had then been abandoned on the roadside by his saviour and had been picked up by a constable. Though Saravan has no memory of the constable, he ought to be more thankful towards him rather than Chota Fatir, because, the constable only wished to pin a petty crime on Saravan to close a case of his, he had no evil intentions such as harvesting kidneys.

When Saravan awoke from his stupor, he found himself in a state sponsored remand home for deviant children. The care that his posterior was provided by two or three caring gentlemen at that home impacted him so deeply that he would find it hard to be able to speak for another six months during which he would be transferred to the 'Sri Sai' orphanage.

Raghu had been experiencing intense bouts of anxiety since the morning. He kept thinking about what would happen if he were to not get the job. There weren't many companies hiring outsiders into top level positions, if he were to miss this opportunity, he would be forced to join elsewhere at a much lower position. Mrs. Shanmugam had forced Raghu to go to the temple with her where she bragged to the priest about her son and managed to somehow increase the anxiety of her son by displaying utter confidence in Raghu's abilities.

After having gone through his resume the eleventh time while looking into the mirror, he decided to take a break and that was when he walked into the living room to find Saravan. After having vented his frustration, he returned to his room to check his attire one last time.

Raghu was one of the last to be called in to the interview. His nervousness had been steadily building as he sat in the foyer studying each of his competitors as they walked in to the interview room. He tried studying their emotions and expressions as they walked out of the room, but that only increased his feeling of foreboding and doom.

When the receptionist finally called out his name, he was so strung up that he literally jumped out of his seat.

As he entered the room, he remembered the self help books that had stressed on the importance of establishing a rapport with the interviewers. Raghu looked at each one in the eye while maintaining a confident gait towards them. As he looked at the third man seated on the right next to the lady in the blue dress, he received a warm smile from Saravan who welcomed him and pointed invitingly at the chair meant for him. “Hello Mr. Raghu, please meet our CEO, Mr. Saravan who wanted to be personally present during this interview, I hope you understand the important nature of the job position that we have to offer.” said the lady in the blue dress.

Raghu simply sputtered out a muted response. Saravan looked at Raghu in the eye and said, “Mr. Raghu, I am willing to forget the incident that occured this morning, I request you to be calm and composed during this interview as I believe that you are one of the frontrunners for this job based on my preliminary assessment of your CV.”

Saravan had had difficulty when he first moved into Sri Sai orphanage, but when he finally opened up, his teachers were amazed by his sharp mind. Saravan had had no difficulty obtaining a scholarship for his college education. Though he had been offered a seat in IIM Bangalore, he turned it down, prefering to start a consultancy service with a friend of his. His teachers back at the orphanage were not surprised when Saravan's start up became one of the biggest consultancy companies of India in a few short years. But they were indeed surprised when Saravan turned up one day at the orphanage and volunteered to collect donations. His friend playfully said that Saravan was such a big miser that to avoid donating cash from his own pocket, he had volunteered to do the door to door collection. However, his friend too knew about the monthly sums of money that enriched the coffers of the orphanage were from Saravan's personal bank account.

Raghu was indeed the most experienced and qualified guy for the job and Saravan made sure that Raghu was selected for the position. Saravan knew better than to perpetuate hate and irrationality. Besides, he had never mixed business with emotions. Raghu went home that night, removed the poster of Jimmi Hendrix from his wall and replaced it with a blown up photo of his new favorite rockstar, Saravan.