He is jovial. He is full of energy. He is dynamic. He is in his early thirties. He is brilliant. He is a TOFF or TOPE OR TOUFF, whatever our regional dialect has in it to describe his above mentioned qualities. More importantly for me, he is my senior. He is also my cubicle-mate at my office. Things we share or rather are coerced to share range from a PC (that has a local operating system, no WINDOWS. It is called OBANTU. Even names like Chibaba, Chigumbura, Nagamootoo & Mazakatsa are more conventional when compared to OBANTU.)to a vada pav.
Ear buds (Not the Johnson & Johnson ones; these ear buds also come from a local brand. They say, the ear buds manufacturing companies, except of course Johnson & Johnson make use of used surgical cotton. I hope this is untruth.), a nail cutter, a stapler, a punching machine, a drawer, a locker and a dustbin are other supplements we share.
He is someone with whom I debate with, about a lot of non sense and a few trivial issues.
Some of these issues are as follows: (Statement like the previous, I guess, resembles to a lot of boring textual stuff. I hope the readers don’t, by default, slumber.)
1) How does the sun burn and keeps burning all these years even within a frigid endless vacuum surrounding it? And why then were we taught at the school that, burning can only occur in the presence of oxygen?
2) Is a pair of scissors a shearing machine or not? Both of us reached a consensus, while a senior, seemingly sagacious Quality Assurance guy, acted as a mediator between the two of us. I don’t know why a Quality guy always seems sagacious or knowledgeable. They are people with zero common sense, but a vainglorious ego.
3) Is there any connection between Lord Krsna & Jesus Christ?
4) Déjà vu incidents.
5) The pros of introducing “Mechanics of a Bicycle” as a subject at the school level.
And many more and many more…
He seems boastful at times, animadverts a many times; but later I realized that it isn’t so. He is actually like the BBC network or the British media. He demos great self confidence, leadership qualities and can be a great mentor. These all qualities, I guess, will take him to the top of the laid hierarchy of an organization.
He is the most popular guy in the office, in the department & the sub-division of the company. He is popular for some other more colorful reasons.
He arrives on time, well almost, & almost daily. At times when he is late, he’ll visit some other neighboring department first and then come to our office. Thus, he covers up brilliantly, the fact that he is late. “WAS TAKING FOLLOW UP” he’ll say if asked by anyone.
At times, when punctual, he’ll see to it that everybody in the office notices his apparent punctuality. His day at the office starts with a lot of time spent joking around with the younger colleagues. Then, eventually he settles down on his chair. Finally, he starts with his work.
The personal extension phone in the cubicle rings up. He picks up and answers with a HELLO that is uttered impulsively, excitedly and differently each time and every time.
Because he is a mimic, he can be the DGM or GM or any body he can imitate, almost any where & anytime. He is a great mimic.
Caller on the other end: Can I speak to Ameya?
He answers (in my voice, while I am a meter away from him. I am watching all this): Yeah, speaking!
Caller: Hi, Ameya. How are you? Where is your boss? Has he resigned? (The caller laughs loudly & horrifyingly.)
He (still imitating me): He will come late, as always. Ohhh, wait a second, he has come. Sir, your phone.
(He takes a pause before speaking, now in his own voice says..) Hi, I have not resigned!
He is a mimic. Damn good one. Good enough to be a professional mimic. He can put all the bad mimics off their jobs on the so-called laughter shows. Why is he here then? Why is he an engineer then? Why is he doing this job?
Once he got a call from a QUALITY ASSURANCE guy. The conversation is as follows.
QA guy: The sample is rejected. The supplier should be questioned.
He: ISKI SAJAA MILEGI….. BARABBAR MILEGI…. (In the Gabbar singh avatar)
One day, he got a call from his long time colleague. He answered, but in my voice.
The LONG TIME COLLEAGUE: Your boss is late today as usual, I bet.
The mimic senior quickly responded:
SHART GHODO PAR LAGAYI JATI HAI KATHOR, SHERO PAR NAHI.
(In a typical starts-rough-and-tough-gradually-minifying-almost-muted-voice of Ajay Devgn from OMKARA.)
The other day he got a call from a back office guy. He spoke, not in his own voice.
At the end of their conversation, the back office guy asked for the identity of the man on the other end of the call.
The mimic replied: VIJAY DINANATH CHAUHAN, PURA NAAM. AAJ 6 BAJE APNA BUSINESS REVIEW KA BOSS KE SAATH APENMENT HAI, APENMENT. HAAN! ENGLISH BOLTAI, HAINNNN!
(Of course, he did it brilliantly.)
The back office guy surely understood with whom he was speaking to.
The question to be asked is why I am mentioning about this mimic on this blog.
My answer to this is in the form of two statements.
“It is an advantage if your boss likes you.
It is an added advantage if you like your boss and his work ethics.”
