Rural Verdict

I had a hard time explaining where I was working. The old man sat on an old chair in the porch and with a frown harder to remove than grease stains, the task was onerous to say the least. "GE, General Electric," I cried. "Chee Chee, your father educated you so much and with such expense for you to turn out to be a lowly electrician??? ", was the informed reply. Not that there is anything lowly about being an electrician, it is just that if you are educated in the cities, then the only job you should be having is a government job. I did not pass that judgement, our dear old chap did.

"No, No, I am not an electrician, I ...... well..... I fix computers, "I said. Well, I thought it was close enough to say that I was a help desk support technician. It did nothing to improve matters. He was convinced that I was bluffing. In my part of the town, the "electrician-next-door" often doubled up as a computer repair man. At the time of this incident, there were about 10 computers in my home town. So you should be beginning to see how difficult the task was getting. I then tried explaining the whole contact center thingy. He now howled that I was after all a phone operator. Gosh! this was demeaning! Though thoroughly frustrated, I vowed to have it explained what my job was.

Well, how do you even start telling a seventy year old man who has not seen much beyond a 50 KM radius of his hometown, what being technical support analyst was. I then resorted to talking about how big the city is and the different kind of jobs that are available for young people like me. He listened without the slightest trace of interest. I told him the diversified business interests of the company that I worked for. He blinked twice and spat out the remaining tobacco leaves. He nodded his head as if to say, "Go on, I am listening". I had to bring out a super weapon. I told him I had been to America to get trained on the job. He looked slightly interested. "Very cold there?", he asked. "Yes, we went in December", I explained. "Did you see Ice (snow fall for the uninitiated)?" "Yes"

I was beginning to hope that he would now start showing some interest in the job I was doing.

He yawned and asked me how much I was earning a month. I blushed a bit, but said it was nice and things were looking up. He then asked sternly what the number was. I don't know why I did it, but I told him. He looked up startled. I was grinning inside.

"Who the hell will give you a wife!!?", he suddenly announced.

"Madan earns three times, why? He is with the municipality! Narayanan's dad is going to retire from the postal department. Guess who gets his job?? Narayan ofcourse!"

A few other examples perplexed me. I suddenly felt myself in the middle of a court sentencing me to life time service of this old man. The only solace I thought would be the small number of years he had left. The death knell came soon afterwards. A small talk resulted in me saying that I work odd hours. Well, I think you know what happened afterwards.

I failed miserably to impress the old man. I was not there asking for his daughter. The one's he had were already expecting grand children. He died sometime later and when I was told about it, I remembered this conversation.

This rural verdict on urban efforts of a "modern" lifestyle.

I have long since moved on from that job. I must confess that I am slightly lucky. I do have a decent job, and the hours are not all together odd. There are varying degrees of learning to be had from this event.

The old man thought little beyond his convention and I thought little beyond my own. He was used to a languid stroll to a rundown building at 9.30 AM in the morning after a heavy breakfast. I was used to my cabbie wailing the horn for me at 9 in the night. He would come home to coffee in the evening and doordarshan's serials in the night. I would come home to coffee and breakfast in the morning and sleep till the evening. Contrasting, yet conventional for both parties.

The point is that it would have made little difference if I were the old man and he the young I. So much for different personalities :)