That cute smile

Today, after one and half months, he gave an  interview which was  gone very good  and that cute smile appeared on Killol’s face—soft, simple, just like his nature. It had been a long time since he had felt even a flicker of hope like that. For the past three years, Killol had been tirelessly moving from one small company to another, wearing himself out chasing opportunities that never seemed to stay. At 28, even after completing his engineering degree, life hadn’t unfolded the way he had imagined. Instead of stability, he had only faced uncertainty—temporary jobs, short contracts, and endless waiting. He lived alone in Indore, while his parents, elder brother, and sister-in-law stayed back in their small hometown of Deoria. His brother and sister-in-law didn’t contribute much, and his parents never had the heart to question them. So, the responsibility of supporting the family silently fell on Killol’s shoulders. No matter what, he made sure to send money home every month—even if it meant he was left with almost nothing for himself. Indore was a small city, but compared to his village, it still felt big. Yet, despite the change in place, his struggles followed him everywhere. It had been three years since he finished engineering, but he was still stuck doing minor contract work and taking tuitions just to get by.  Ironically, his name “Killol” meant joy and festivity—but there was very little of that in his life. He was an incredibly simple person. There was no deceit in his heart, no bitterness. He never argued, never raised his voice, never got into conflicts. While people his age were falling in love, building relationships, and creating memories, Killol had never experienced any of that. Life, for him, had always been about responsibility first. Because of his simple and kind nature, Killol had to endure a lot in life. Every morning, instead of waking up to the peace of a stable job, he had to begin his day with the struggle of searching for work. There was no real sense of comfort or rest in his life—yet, despite everything, Killol always managed to smile.

Killol had only one close friend—Prashant. They had been extremely close for the past six or seven years. Prashant had also completed engineering, but unlike Killol, he had secured a stable job. Even then, Prashant kept trying to help Killol find one too.After a long time, Killol was finally meeting Prashant. That evening, at around 7 PM, Killol stood outside Prashant’s office building, waiting for nearly ten minutes. Prashant was running a bit late.

“When did you get here?” Prashant asked as he finally arrived, looking at Killol.

“I just got here a little while ago. Why did you take so long?”
“ work, work and work. You tell me, what’s going on?”
“Nothing, just the same daily struggle.”
“Have patience. You’ll get a job too,” Prashant said.
“yes ofcourse,What time do you come in the morning?”
“At 9. Why?” Prashant asked.
“Just asking… what is Shefali doing?” (Shefali was Prashant’s girlfriend.)

Prashant and Shefali had been together for the last one year. Killol had met Shefali two or three times. She was a nice girl, and anyway, it was Killol’s habit to ask about everyone.

“Shefali is doing well, I just met her this morning. Come on, let’s leave from here now,” Prashant said.

“Yeah, but where will we go?” Killol asked.

“Let’s go near my house, to the paan stall downstairs.”

“Instead of that, let’s go to my place. We’ll have tea first, then go upstairs,” Killol said.

“Yeah, I don’t have any problem with that, let’s do that,” Prashant replied. Then he stopped an auto, and within 10 minutes, both of them had reached downstairs at Killol’s house.

Killol knew the tea stall owner very well.

“Raghu, give us two teas,” Killol said. Prashant was standing right beside him, holding his backpack.

“How are your parents doing?” Prashant asked.

“They are fine,” Killol replied.

“You’ll get a job, don’t worry. I’ll talk to Prakash tomorrow.” Prashant said.

“Who is Prakash?” Killol asked.

“He’s my friend, a civil engineer,” Prashant replied.

“Oh, okay… Prakash,” Killol said.

“Yeah, I’m  trying for you,” Prashant added.

They would eat together, would go to each others place , even would stay over at night. Everything had been good. In those 7 years, Prashant had changed three girlfriends. For the last year, Shefali had been his girlfriend. But Killol had been his friend for past seven years.Once, Killol got into a fight with some boys from his society, and Prashant was right there with him. He even threw a couple of punches at the guys on the other side.

While drinking cutting tea at the stall, Prashant asked Killol,
“Do one thing—tomorrow is Saturday and I have a half day. You come to my office. After that, we’ll both go to Jain Co. and talk there.”

“But who knows you there?” Killol asked.

“My distant brother-in-law works there. You don’t know him,” Prashant said.

“Who?” Killol asked again.

“You don’t know him,” Prashant repeated.

“Okay… so if we go in the afternoon, will that work?” Killol asked.

“Yes, that’s fine. We’re going to meet my brother-in-law and talk. The job part can be handled later. Alright, see you tomorrow,” Prashant said.

“Are you leaving? Stay here for a while,” Killol said.

“No, no… Mom is alone at home today. Dad has gone out,” Prashant replied.

“Alright then, see you tomorrow,” Killol said. And the two friends parted ways.

The next morning, Prashant went to his office, and Killol once again went out searching for a job. That day was somewhat good for Killol. At one place, his interview went quite well, but they were asking for money, which he didn’t have. Killol already knew that in the end, it would come to this, so he didn’t have much expectation from those interviews.

In the afternoon at 2 o’clock, he called Prashant.
“What time should I come?” Killol asked.

“Come at 4, then we’ll go,” Prashant said.

“Okay.”

Exactly at 4 o’clock, Killol reached Prashant’s office. Prashant also came down by then. From there, the two of them immediately left for Jain Co. They reached the office by 4.30pm. Outside a cabin of prashant’s brother in low, a peon was sitting. Prashant spoke with him, and the peon asked them to wait for 15 minutes.

After about 15–20 minutes, Prashant and Killol went inside.

“May I come in, Jijaji?” Prashant asked.

Yes, yes, come in—I was waiting for you,” Prashant’s brother-in-law said.

Prashant and Killol went inside and took their seats.

“Jijaji, this is my friend Killol. Please have a look at his certifications—he’s very brilliant, but he’s still struggling to find a job. Please help him,” Prashant said.

“Oh, so you were talking about Killol,” his brother-in-law replied.

“Yes,” Prashant said, handing over Killol’s file.

Killol’s file was actually quite impressive. Prashant’s brother-in-law looked at him and said,
“Your profile is good. Then what’s the problem?”

“That’s what I don’t understand,” Killol replied.

“Do one thing, Killol,” his brother-in-law said.

“Yes, sir,” Killol responded.

“Learn as many AI tools related to your field as you can.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’ll talk to my senior, and call me next Saturday. Here, take my number,” he said, and gave him his contact details.

As soon as they heard this, both Killol and Prashant had smiles on their faces. After talking with his brother-in-law for a while, they left from there.

“Just wait and watch—you’ll definitely get a job before next Saturday,” Prashant said on the way.

“Yes, I feel the same,” Killol replied. Both of them were very happy. In the flow of the good mood, they didn’t even realize how Saturday arrived.

Killol was very excited. Around 10 in the morning, he called Prashant’s brother-in-law. He was fully prepared and had even started learning AI tools. But his luck didn’t seem to support him. The brother-in-law’s phone was unavailable. Around 2 PM, Killol tried again, but the phone was still unavailable. Getting a bit frustrated, he called Prashant.

“I’ve been calling since morning, but your brother-in-law’s phone is unavailable,” Killol said.

“Yes… I forgot to tell you. I spoke to my sister last night—they’re out of town. They’ll be back on Monday,” Prashant replied.

“Okay, no problem. I’ll call on Monday,” Killol said.

Monday came. At 10 in the morning, Killol called again, but the brother-in-law didn’t answer. He kept trying, and finally at around 12, the call was answered. Killol said “Hello” in a hopeful tone.

“Good morning, brother-in-law,” Killol said.

“It’s afternoon,” the brother-in-law replied.

“Yes, yes… good afternoon, brother-in-law.”

“Tell me, Killol, how are you?”

“I’m good. You had asked me to call on Saturday,” Killol said.

“Yes, I know.  we were out of town.”

“You had mentioned a job…”

“Yes, Killol, but nothing can be done in that. I tried a lot from my side, but it didn’t work out. Sorry, it’s not possible right now. Okay, we’ll talk later,” he said, and hung up the call.

On the other side, Killol had become so depressed that it’s hard to describe. For some reason, he started feeling that he would never get a job in Indore. Many thoughts began to flood his mind. He felt like he would have to leave Indore now—there was no point in staying anymore. At one moment, he even thought about suicide, but he pushed that thought out of his mind. He immediately called Prashant.

“Can we meet in the evening?” Killol asked.

“Okay,” Prashant replied.

“I called your brother-in-law,” Killol said.

“Yes, what happened?”

“He refused… Prashant, now I feel like I’ll have to leave Indore. I don’t see any hope anymore. I’ll just go back home.”

“Don’t say things like that. Something will work out. Have patience.”

“How much?” Killol asked.

“Hey, I’m here with you,”. “Don’t worry, just relax. Let’s meet in the evening.” Prashant said And he hung up.

That evening, they met. Prashant kept encouraging Killol and told him not to leave Indore yet—there was still hope. For almost two hours, he kept motivating him.

A month passed like this. Killol kept trying, and Prashant continued to support him. Killol was managing his expenses through tuition classes.

After about one and a half months, around 2 PM, Killol went for an interview at a corporate firm. He gave the interview, and it went well. With a bit of hope, he stepped outside. Just then, a young woman waved her hand in the air and called out to him. It was Shefali, Prashant’s girlfriend. She ran up to him.

“Hey, how are you, Killol? What are you doing here?”

“I’m fine. How are you?”

“I’m good. You tell me,” she said.

“Same struggle… interviews. Who knows when the two of us will get jobs? I came for an interview. Let’s see what happens. They’ve called me for the second round tomorrow. I’m keeping high hopes from this interview. When  I get a job, I’ll definitely help you find one too,” Killol said in his simple and kind nature. what are you doing here?

“ I came to visit a friend , actually getting a job is really tough. God knows if it’s because of the recession or something else—I just don’t understand. Even I was trying for the last six months, but I wasn’t getting a job. I got so bored sitting at home. Where can you go every day? In the end, my parents were even telling me to give up the dream of getting a job. Then Prashant took me to his brother-in-law’s house. He works at Jain Co., and he’s doing really well there. We all were together till around midnight—it was a lot of fun. And the very next day, I got a call from his brother-in-law’s office,” Shefali said.

“Ok ” Killol said with smile.

“The very next day I got my appointment letter . Didn’t Prashant tell you?” Shefali asked.

And that smile withered, Killol stood there, frozen .