May 2008 - June 2008
I moved to Stratford, the India of London. The decision of leaving my aunt's home was accelerated due to a series of events that I am not prepared to mention here but because leaving was unplanned, I had to settle down for what I thought was the best living option I could find. The house I moved into was among the several hundred on that street. Except for the numbers and a few shops nearby, no one could tell which house was which. All looked the same! You could tell the neighborhood belonged to Asians and Blacks. There were loud noises outside, pan ka galla at walking distance, Indian convenient store round the corner and a black/brown face where ever you looked. A white person here would feel out of place for sure!
Anyway that was the new locality. Quite a contrast to the quiet, sophisticated one I had just left. The house was small and I had to share it with 9 other people.. all of them boys. I was a bit apprehensive first but like I already mentioned this was the best option then. The reason I moved in there was because I knew this guy S who happened to be my college mates' boyfriend. They were living-in when I first met them a few months before I moved in here. He came across as helpful, faithful to his gf and more importantly genuine. When the time arrived to move out from my aunt's place I had called this friend of mine who had suggested I cud move into her house as she was moving out for good. It made sense, more so because I knew S. I took the plunge and shifted.
S is a graphic designer by profession who worked as one in some part of eastern london. In his duration of stay here he had made good number of contacts. Through his professional network he tried fit me into some place. I remember he sent me to this dance academy where they were looking for professionally trained dancers. He knew about my bharat natyam training and he suggested I should try that. I did as he told but on enquiring I found out that they weren't looking for a teacher but an extra dancer to join there bhangra dance troupe. The money would come in once we started performing on stage but that was not anywhere in the near future. We ruled out this option.
S- What happened to the CV u sent to Asian Voice?'
Me - Umm.. Haven't heard from them.
S - Did you follow on with A?
Me - No..
S - Send the CV again with a nice cover letter, addressing to the boss. Remember when you are drafting the letter, this guy has an inflated ego. Pamper it more. E-mail the CV to him. Call him after two days and insist he should give you one chance to prove yourself.
Me - Ok.
Asian voice is the largest selling Asian Newspaper in UK. S's gf, my classmate worked there as an advertising executive. Before leaving for India she had recommended me to her company. I had sent them my CV and was expecting a call from them but I was so preoccupied with the shifting and other things that I had forgotten about it completely.
Anyhow, I did as S advised me to. I forwarded my CV to the boss and called him up after two days.
Me - Hello, am I speaking with Mr. P
P - Yes, speaking.
Me - Sir, My name is Nidhi Kalra and I sent you my resume couple of days back. I was wondering if you had a chance to go through it.
P - Aah.. yes yes.. talk to Alka.. she needs an asistant ok..
He hung up.. just like that! I stared at the phone and sat down on the floor. I cried that day. S came back from work and I told him what all had happened. I hadn't eaten. He forced me and we ate together. On the table he tried convincing me to call again tomorrow.
Me - But why would he listen to me? He was just not interested!
S - Do as I say. Call him back tomorrow and this time tell him you would like to be given a chance. Tell him you want to meet him personally. After that he could guage what you are worth.
I was gittery, unsure, diffident and pessimistic. I still made the call because I had no option.
Mr. P - Hmmm.. your quite stubborn lady. See me tomorrow at 10 am sharp.
Me - Thank you Sir. I will be there at 10 am.. sharp :)
The next morning I went to see him. I was asked to wait outside his office, a pretty big one.. but then he was big himself.. a mini celebrity in the Indian diaspora. While I waited I went through the Gujarati and English edition of Asian Voice. They were displayed on a rack outside his cabin. I began admiring the supplements which they did, I mentally began re-writing them. My reverie was interrupted by Mr. P.
Him - Come inside Nidhi
Me - Good morning Sir. (I smiled)
Him - Morning. Please have a seat.
(I sat down. His office was a simple one. Neither chic nor ordinary. A simple one with a certificate of excellence awarded to Asian Voice hanging on the wall above him and the latest copy of Asian Voice in front of him. Next to the papers was the hard copy of my resume. He looked at it, pretending to study, ploughing for the part where I had written good stuff about his company. He looked happy and I secretly thanked S for showing me the way into this man's mind.)
Him - What are your views about this place girl? You really think it is a great place or...
(miraculously I did not fumble. For the very first time I spoke what I had practiced to speak)
Me - Sir, I know this is the largest selling asian newspaper in the entire UK. According to me it is not an ordinary feat. Infact I feel you are doing great community work by bringing to the asians the news back from their country. The old especially who are at home, for them your publications are a blessing. What better than giving them a feeling of home away from home. And you have been so instrumental in doing this. It is certainly commendable.
(I smiled and he smiled back.)
Him - Your CV here says you have taken up advertising, marketing and journalism as majors. We will be needing your marketing and advertising skills but I am not sure whether we will need your journalism skills for now.. we just hired an Indian girl recently. Does our fashion column, very talented. Worked with economic times before coming here. Yeah, but we do have a vacancy for advertising assistant and we are looking for smart young people like you.
I was fuckin' beaming!!! Did he just say that! I was all smiles.
Me - It would be an honor to be part of this organisation. I can give you my word, you will not be disappointed.
Him - Yes I already have that feeling. (after a pause) Nidhi, you have the fire in you. If things go as planned we might hire you for good and who knows in an years time by the time you are done with your studies we'll keep you here on an hsmp.. we might just do the paperwork for you.. who knows!
I have a deal for you. I will keep you here under training for 3 weeks. I will pay you stipend. A hundred and fifty pounds per week and I will observe you. If you are good you'd stay.
Me - Sure Sir, I give you my word. I am pretty sure I am here to stay for good. :)
He looked at me and after a while asked..
Him - Are you agressive about what you want in life?
I looked straight in his eyes and said to him 'Yes Sir, I am... very aggressive'
Him - Great girl. I am looking forward to working with you. Your training starts from tomorrow. Be here at 9 am sharp.
Me - Thank you Sir! I will be here at 9 am. Have a good day. I shall see you tomorrow.
Him - You too. Bye.
8 comments:
I don't know if you intended to write it that way, but by the time I was done reading this blog, I actually felt i 'd read a mini-script/screenplay. And as is the case with most good scripts, I could actually visualize Stratford, Mr. P's office, and even the characters involved in the dialogues as i read on. (Or may be its just my imagination going crazy, leading to such vivid hallucinations. :P My mind is known to switch my imagination to overdrive when i read a script.) Speaking of characters, I was mighty impressed with S's character. Good to know (and at the same time a bit hard to believe) that such characters do exist and manage to make an out-of-the-blue entry into our lives when the going gets tough. You know you are in the right company when, in the face of your own self belief fading away and your gut feeling giving you nothing but pessimistic and negative thoughts, you have someone around who still manages to push you forward and egg you on, coz they haven't lost their belief in your ability, and know that it is just a matter of time and a bit of perseverance. And doesn't it feel great when, after a bit of initial disappointment, events do finally turn out the way you wanted?
Also, this sort of an ending means that a part 3 is in the offing too, right?
it would have been great if there had been a "like" option here just lik fb...i would have selected all the blogs...and many times sameer's comments too...whatever comments he gives it always includes the points which i thought i would say:)
and waiting for part--3...btw even i could imagine that scenario in my mind...it was like happening in front of me...just as sameer said.like a script..
btw i always wanted to know all this...right from the time you went till december--2008...so waiting for part 3 which i think would be the ending and the icing on the cake....:)
Whew!! It is such a big relief to know that I m not the only one hallucinating!:D
Well Nidhi,
A guy like me would always look around for a content like this. Just like "GETTING CANDID", "BEING INDEPENDENT" has a style, out of which, I can make a film right away. Although travelling all the way to UK would not be possible as of now. Ha Ha Ha. SAMIR too believes and NIKHIL feels that the description is almost like a script, a screenplay.
So the hallucination is definitely created by the style of writing. Personally I would look forward for the 3rd or 4th or 5th.. edition to the HEAD.
To add, being independent and the people who actually support us when we are "independent", always changes a course of life or the way we think. A slightest support from S made N gather courage to talk to Mr. P, even after weeping whole day. The same courage and confidence adds up to the challenges we face and surprisingly we do excel without realizing how hard it was or could have been.
However, being independent also lets one interact with self as all our life there are people who carry out the activity of judging us on right or wrong. Although, we may or may not consider their judgement, but being independent lets us to face our own horrors all by ourself, with a bit of helping hand around. Slowly, we tend to decide whether to ask for help or do it ourselves, for now, we start feeling capable enough to take our own decisions.
Cheers to Independence.
.. there's one sentence in this whole write up that has shaken me from within!!! moreover you have never penned anything like this before.. i can visualize the events as you have unfolded them..hard-hitting indeed..the events were unfortunate.. I am not pitying on you sweetheart (u don't like it I know)... you have nerves of steel lady.. as i read and read on i remember a quote ~ Yesterday I dared to struggle. Today I dare to win ~ big hug..
hey Mr.N sir i think i just know which line you talking abt...n if m right then i would say that line took me by surprise too...n at present no one can imagine that to happen in near future for sure...
Sameer---i think most of the people will start hallucinating while reading this...so we are not at all the only ones...
Thanks alot Joseph. Thanks for stopping by.
Samir – What do I say. I must be really blessed and god does exist. About S, yes he is very much for real. He is in abad now, running his own graphic designing studio.
When I began writing I had nothing in mind. Where I failed to explain, I resorted to a dialogue sort of a scenario and in doing so I realised I could express better. The idea was to bring fwd everything the way it happened.. I am happy I was able to do so to some extent... thanks!
Nick – Bachhe thanks bade wala..
Jay – You hit the nail man! When I was in RIshikesh Ganasan Sir had once asked me ‘How many friends one needs?’ I said ‘One’. He said ‘Yes and that one is yourself. Befriend yourself and loneliness, sadness, expectations will never worry you. Keep your self esteem so high that it is never a problem to find a way around if you get lost. Learn to ASK questions and then work towards the solutions. It has been an year that I came back from there..and now after an year I can really say that I have attained it... the art of connecting with the SELF wo a very large extent.. and from here I will only move further.
N – I know which sentence was that.. but like you say..and I am experiencing..that phase has passed away. Crying, cribbing, worrying, getting hurt..all of it was necessary in order to arrive to a point where my mind doesn’t rule out anything thinking ‘aisa to kabhi ho hi nahi sakta’. Sab kuch ho sakta hai aur kisi ke bhi saath ho sakta hai. I am only glad ke mere saath jo hua jaldi ho gaya.. Its prepared me, its made me aware and now i can concentrate on the bigger things in life.
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