Live Your Life... Not LLP

04.09.2020

'I will always remember this day', thought Raghavendra. He was drenched in sweat in his same white full shirt. With both shoes away from their usual union, he threw away the socks in the air too, frustrated at last. The blue cosy sofa felt comforting that night. It was a really long night. His N-95 lay on the front table with the black full rimmed glasses being the only companion sitting in a relaxed way, as usual.

Raghavendra was in his late thirties with messy hair and a little paunch. With tired eyes and chapped lips, he moves a little from the clutches of his comfort zone, still in this formals, and heads towards the refrigerator at the corner of his living room. It was 10:20 pm. Sunita must have fallen asleep. She must have packed his dinner then. He opens the door of the refrigerator and puts out two bowls onto the dining table. He was hungry and tired. He thought for a minute to wake up Sunita to have a talk. But he resisted. A sudden fear ran down his spine, a fear of losing her, her companionship.'Shall I inform her tomorrow morning? Or not, shall I wait for someday? Let me try again tomorrow.'

He has been waiting for a week now to tell his wife the truth, the inevitable truth. But every time when he watches his only daughter Niya getting ready for the online classes and having her breakfast with ease, he stops himself in the middle and gets his lunchbox ready for faking his dual life again.

"Raghav, you forgot the spoon!" Sunita called him when he hesitatingly put on his N-95 and reached for his shoes.

"Oh, yes, hmmm...Sunita? I need to talk." Raghavendra said with pleading eyes.

"I too need to talk Raghav..." completed Sunita, firm and determined.

Sunita with her big doe eyes looked straight into his sunken tired eyes.

Niya left the room for her online classes after finishing her breakfast.

"You go first", insisted Raghavendra.

"I have good news. I got this job at the nearest medical store. A permanent job actually just after Niya finishes her class, for like four hours, assisting the lady doctor at her clinic. Monthly will be getting fifteen thousand flat. They call it Covid-19 incentive these days. I guess that will take care of the house rent and electricity both. The rest I am trying to get from the evening, online cooking classes. These days lots of people have started baking cakes, learning new cuisines, and desserts at home. So I thought why not I should also start my Youtube channel? Isn't that a great idea? Agree Raghav?" excited Sunita while scratching her right eyebrow asked Raghavendra.

Raghavendra lacked excitement," Yes, great-great, keep it up. I will go now."

"But you wanted to talk?", enquired Sunita handing over the spoon to Raghavendra.

Raghavendra took the spoon from her hand and looked at her with uneasiness and replied, " I got my answers. Thank you," saying so he hugs her and lefts the house.

Sunita left puzzled by his behaviour and rushed inside to look for Niya.

Raghavendra started his CT 100 that he got on his marriage ten years ago along with other household items that do not make any sense now to him. This time his gait was different. The roads looked familiar to him now. Last week he spent faking his life, surprisingly different from now. He stopped his bike near to a big gated apartment. He went inside. Took the lift and entered inside an office. "LIVE YOUR LIFE LLP."

The printer at the table no. 23 was running after a week now. The chair was cleaned and the coffee was hot. Watching Raghavendra returning back to his seat was a surprise to his fellow colleagues. One of them, just shouted from the corner, " Hey, look who returned back from his den, calls for a party. Think didn't get a better job in these times." A few laughed with their face covered. A few may have laughed really but not visible, thanks to the face covers these days that are actually visible on everyone.

"Resignation Letter," read the heading.

Raghavendra looked at that letter and thought to himself, "Time for some Seedhi Baat (straight talks)". 

He turns around and puts the 23 copies of his resignation letter on everybody's desk who have started questioning his abilities to not performing well in the pandemic when the sales have hit the lowest and he is not getting clients and making losses day after day.

Lastly, he switches off his computer screen and makes a final exit from his office looking at the company nameplate- "LIVE YOUR LIFE LLP."

'I have been working in this organization for the past twelve years and it's for the very first time I have been constantly pressurized to give up my job due to incompetencies which are beyond my control. There is a pandemic out there and in these difficult times, I feel organizations should come with a plan to safeguard its employees from any immediate threat of losing a job. There should be more interactions rather than zero. We all are suffering from this mental trauma and sometimes depression that is impacting our personal lives as well. Now, its time to live life the correct way. I have a wonderful wife who takes much more responsibility for my ten-year-old daughter than me in real. From taking care of my daughter's online classes to becoming an expert with her evening cooking classes; she got a job knowing this that her husband is struggling to get his life in total, knowing this that Mr Raghavendra Kumar is not doing great in his job and is under constant pressure to leave the only source of his income due to one unwanted pandemic which nobody could have thought of. I understand the time is tough, I also understand that as an employee I have duties and responsibilities towards my job. But that should not interfere with my personal life as well. People leave organizations not because the management doesn't listen to them, only because they do not talk to their employees during any crisis. I leave up to the management to accept my resignation letter, as I have definitely got a real job to take care of my family in this difficult time. If the organization feels the same way that I am feeling, I am just a call away. Yours truly, Raghavendra Kumar, Sales Executive, LYL LLP, Mumbai. Dated 05.09.2020. Signed and resigned with immediate effect.'

07.09.2020

"Raghav, pick up the call."

"Who's there?"

"I guess from your office landline number, it's like three days you are not picking up. They may not call you again Raghav!"

"Let me pack these 3 chocolate truffle cakes first as I need to deliver them to the next apartments in an hour. And Sunita...are those muffins ready? The Guptas want a total of 30 of them...I guess we have 19 ready to deliver right now. Let's start preparing the remaining then? We need to increase the subscriber count of our channel as well. Let me do some sales tricks. I know how to get the audience counts... hmmm... I have learned this in my digital marketing training, maybe we should try this thing first and then...."

And the phone kept ringing again and again.

 #SeedhiBaat #StraightTalks

#LiveYourLife #NotLLP