The Boon

The VIPs in ethnic dress

Shiva was sipping his tea by himself in the office canteen. Sunil came and waved a hi to Shiva. Shiva nodded his head in acknowledgement and continued sipping his tea. Sunil got tea and samosa and sat at the table with Sunil. With a confused look, Shiva searched the canteen to see if there were any free tables or not.

"Why are you sitting here when there are so many tables free?" asked Shiva.

"Don't you want me to sit with you?" asked Sunil, in response.

"You will sit a minute with me. The VIPs will join the table. After that, you will ignore me like a heavy lorry driver, ignoring a punctured 18th wheel", said Shiva.

"No one is coming. They all went for a rangoli competition arranged by HR", replied Sunil.

That was when Mohit came running to them. As soon as he saw Sunil, he asked, "What are you doing here when all the girls are in the Rangoli competition?".

"I am having a tea with Shiva", replied Sunil.

"Don't fake, man. I know that the HR asked all men to leave", said Mohit.

"But, why?" asked Shiva.

"The girls are struggling with Rangoli in one hand, and the saree pallus in the other hand", said Sunil before Mohit could open his mouth.

Both Mohit and Shiva had a long stare at Sunil.

"Come on man, the girls dress to show off", said Sunil.

Both Shiva and Mohit made a gesture as if they were spitting on Sunil.

The missing employee

Mohit turned to Shiva and started chatting. Mohit came to tell Sunil something important. He saw Sunil in the group and got distracted. 

"Did you notice Balaji was missing for the last twenty days?" asked Mohit.

"I, myself, was not in office the last twenty days", replied Shiva.

"Wait, I forgot about that. Where were you?" asked Mohit.

"My boss wanted me to complete something in a short time. I told him it was only possible if I worked from home. I can save a lot of hours in commute, etc."

"Then?" asked Mohit.

"I went to Kerala and had a holiday with my family", replied Shiva.

"What about the work?" 

"The work is completed during the last appraisal cycle. My boss wanted me to complete this to give me a good bonus. So, I completed it then. Even after all that he gave me a four per cent bonus in an eight per cent inflation country", said Shiva.

"If you have completed it, why did he ask you to do it again", asked Mohit.

"No one knows who uses the app we are developing. We bundled it with other things. Licensed it to clients and gave a big discount for something they don't want", said Shiva

"Similar to my wife buying a tenth pan on a great Indian festival sale but never using it", added Mohit.

"Did she not ask you before buying?", asked Sunil.

"No, a modern wife doesn't ask you anything" replied Mohit.

"I mean, she should have at least asked you if that works for your stove or not. After all, you do all the cooking at home.", added Sunil.

Mohit, as an instinctive reaction, went on to hit Sunil on the head. 

Sunil said, "I did not believe when they said the truth hurts", and all three laughed in unison.

A few moments later, Mohit dragged their attention to his story. 

"Hold the laughs for a while. Do you know where did Balaji go all these days?"

Both Sunil and Shiva did not answer but waited for Mohit to answer.

Mohit waited a few moments for dramatic effort and said, "He went to meet god."

"What?" asked Sunil.

"Did you mean a temple?" asked Shiva.

"No, he did tapasya to meet god", said Sunil in a dramatic tone slowly.

"Don't try to make us stupid", said Sunil.

"No, he met god. He showed proof.", said Mohit.

Balaji's Tapasya

Balaji read Kalam and decided to dream and dream big. All his dreams got him was a job in a big MNC. A few months of salary in hand, and unfettered interactions with the opposite sex made him forget all the dreams and run behind yearly appraisal cycles and minimal raise year on year. Let us not forget the star awards, which resulted in a house full of Tupperware containers. Frustrated, he decided to change things.

Balaji first asked his boss to put him on a challenging project. His boss gave him an important assignment. Rearraging the employees in the office, after the WFH. Balaji had no chance to say no to his boss.

The women wanted a cubicle where the air conditioner air was low. The men requested a cubicle far from their managers. The managers asked for a cubicle close to the new joiner girls. After spending weeks, he found solutions for all the problems and got another Tupperware water bottle from his boss to complete a successful mission. 

The last few weeks' messes left no time for frustration. After filling the Tupperware bottle and keeping it in the refrigerator, he was back to his frustrated self. That was when he saw a picture of his great-grandfather. Balaji's great-grandfather was a yogi who attained Jnana and achieved ultimate peace. Balaji then read a few lines from his great-grandfather's diary. There it was written, "When the Rakshas can get boons from Gods, why not humans?". Whatever meaning his great-grandfather meant, Balaji decided to do Tapasya and ask god for what he wanted.

The boon

Balaji was on Tapasya for eighteen days. On the nineteenth day, there was lightning and thunder where Balaji was doing Tapasya. The God appeared before Balaji. Balaji did not open his eyes but continued his Tapasya. God was elated seeing Balaji deeply in his japa. He called for Balaji to continue ignoring everything and was lost in chanting God's name. 

"Balaji, I am happy with your Tapasya. I came for you. Please open your eyes", said the God.

Balaji opened his eyes and saw the God for the first time. Balaji's eyes were full of anticipation and sweet tears. 

"Oh my dear son, please tell me what you want?", asked God.

"God, I thought a lot before starting the Tapasya. I have only one boon I want you to give me", said Balaji.

"Ask me, my son. I will grant you", said God.

"Please give me boon of death", asked Balaji.

God was shocked. He said, "I had people asking for a boon of no death. I had people asking for moksha. No one asked me for a boon of death."

"But, I want a boon of death", reiterated Balaji.

"Why do you need me for death? You will die eventually, one day", said God.

"No, I don't want to wait."

God started to think of a solution. 

Balaji could not wait, "Please, god. I went to this extent of tapasya only for this".

There was no answer from God.

"I know what you must be thinking. You gave me everything. A comfortable life. A loving mother, and an inspirational father. But what mistake you made was you gave me the capability to think. I see my salary slip, I start wondering. Is this all my value? Don't even ask about the tax bracket. I bought a T-shirt on an offer and felt happy for a day. Then, I have to wait for days to feel excited by anything. The boss is useless in any way. If you tell him any issues in the work, he wants you to fix them. You cannot also keep quiet as you don't want the project to fail. The girlfriends are with you for a few dinner dates and a few surprise gifts. Before you are ready for the second birthday party for the girl, she hands you the wedding card. I reassessed things and thought, when Kalam sir can be a bachelor and can do so many things, why don't I? That was when I started trying to do something about my life and realised there is nothing of purpose in this world. Then I started this Tapasya."

 

"But I cannot grant you a boon of death", said God.

"Why not, oh god?" asked Balaji.

"Everyone is sent to this world for a purpose. I cannot take your life and your purpose with it."

"Then tell me, what is the purpose of my life?" asked Balaji.

God, in an inaudible voice, said to himself, "As if I know?".

To Balaji, he said, "The purpose of life should not be revealed. Each man has to find it for themselves."

"That is not going to help me, oh god", voiced Balaji.

"I have a solution. It will help you till you find a purpose", said God, and blessed Balaji.

What's the purpose?

Shiva asked Mohit, "How can God come for Balaji?"

"These days, no one prays to God unless they want some material gifts in return. God felt Balaji's prayer was genuine", replied Mohit.

"But, in such a short time?" Sunil and Shiva asked in unison.

"All these days. he strictly had god in his mind. Complete no-no to checking the World Cup score on OTT or TV and not even sending good morning messages. He switched off his phone, and he did not give silly reasons like keeping an alarm before going to sleep", replied Mohit.

"Is that all it takes?" asked Sunil. 

Mohit took Sunil's phone and forced a restart. 

"Why did you do that? I am expecting a call from my Tinder date", shouted Sunil. 

Mohit and Shiva looked at each other and laughed out loud. Shiva gave a pat on the back of Sunil and said, "Easy?".

Shiva then asked, "What boon did the God grant Balaji?"

Mohit said, "See for yourselves", pointing to Balaji walking into the canteen with the HR team.

Balaji was having a chat with the HR team. They were all joking and laughing. As Balaji got his cup of tea and was walking past Shiva's table, Shiva stopped him.

"What are you doing with the HR team?" asked Shiva.

"Now, I am part of the HR team", replied Balaji.

"But you are a technical person. Not an MBA, then how?"

"They saw my interviewing skills and moved me to HR recruiting".

Shiva gave a confused look.

"Let us not forget God's blessings", added Balaji and winked at Shiva.

Balaji walked past and sat with his group.

Shiva was still confused.

"See, HR recruitment is happy even when they have no purpose in life. The company orders recruit, they recruit, stop transfers, they stop transfers, give them pink slips, they will give pink slips. They don't think what is good for "Human Resources" or what is good for the company. So, God gave him that job."

Shiva asked, "Did Balaji not resist the job?"

Mohit replied, "Yes, he did".

"Then, why did he take the job?" questioned Shiva.

"God said there is no Wifi in heaven", replied Mohit.

P.S.: Done for fun. No disrespect to any HR.