Behind the facade

Behind the Facade

 

“Hello, girls. How have you been?" Nitin just arrived at the airport.

 “Been very well, Nitin.” Kavya and Rakul answered almost together.

 

Nitin was the team lead and the two girls had just joined the organization about 10 months ago.

The three arrived well before the scheduled time for their first ever overseas trip to Europe. Their excitement could not be contained.

 “Pallavi might arrive in sometime.”

 

The two girls ignored Nitin’s words. They did not care much about Pallavi, their manager; they never had, ever since they joined work. Kavya and Rakul often complained about Pallavi’s ways of management as “too much.” Too much in every sense – her people skills, technical learning, time management, organization skills, body language, dedication et all. Nitin subdued them by explaining how Pallavi was indeed a wonderful manager and a mentor but the girls vehemently opposed the compliment.

 

For most part of the onsite journey, Kavya and Rakul continued their work, did the commute to work together, had lunch by themselves. Sometimes, Nitin was entertained around. Even on the occasions Pallavi volunteered to join them and get friendly,Kavya and Rakul would avoid her. Pallavi knew it but she had the maturity to maintain a calm demeanor in a professional environment.

 

“Why are you girls so bad to her?” Nitin questioned them, rather seriously.

 

“We are not; we do all the work given to us on time!” Kavya was quick to justify both their attitudes.

 

“Look, Nitin. Pallavi is too serious and obsessed with her work; she is so sophisticated to a point of intimidating us – her English, her presentation skills, everything about her; when she is not looking at the computer, she is on her phone. We are people who want to lead “normal” lives.” Rakul made some strong remarks.

 

“She is a divorcee, of course, she has no life. Simply because she is jobless, she wants to spend all her time learning what is necessary and what is unnecessary too. We can’t be like her. It is annoying.” Kavya’s voice grew louder, as if giving an ultimatum to Nitin to never ask them to bond with Pallavi.

 

“Wait. This is getting somewhere dangerous. It is very wrong to discuss anyone’s relationship status so openly. All I asked is, if you wanted to be nice to her. You cannot. I get it. Leave it. Let us finish lunch and get back to work.”

 

One day in a meeting

 There was a serious allegation against Kavya for a grave mistake she had made on one of the live systems. The client and the senior board members were furious, the only reason they did not vent it out was because Pallavi was their longtime acquaintance who was exceptional in her work. It was only because Pallavi wanted that the 2 freshers got a chance to be onsite, they were both taken on board. The client elaborated on the whole issue and the careless manner in which Kavya had committed the mistakes. The reprimanding reflected Kavya’s incompetency as well as her attitude too, opined the senior most director.

Nitin was a witness to the whole incident.

 

At the end of the 3 hour long meeting, Pallavi requested Nitin to not talk about what happened in the meeting to Kavya or Rakul directly. She preferred making a communication herself.

 

Nitin was touched and deeply impressed with the fantastic way in which Pallavi had dealt with the whole conversation with senior most people. She had accepted the complaints for they were very serious and critical and entirely Kavya’s fault. She apologized on Kavya’s behalf. She humbly made a note of everything that went wrong; Pallavi checked it all live in front of everybody to ensure all issues raised as well as what else could have gone wrong which did not meet the client’s eye. She promised to work on the same and come back with results within a fixed deadline and right quality. During this time, she never forgot to consult and collaborate with her team before deciding the deadlines and issues. She also did not forget to order in snacks and beverages for the team. Rare level of awareness.

 

“Wow, she is one amazing leader. All the awards made absolute sense.” Nitin was proud of her.

 

Post the 1-1 Communication

 The communication with Kavya as well as Rakul, a little later, was a comprehensive one dealing with the topmost priority and also, many other parameters of work. Pallavi looked anxious, yet retained her composure to intimate regulations, advice, and suggestions etc. to both of them. She gave them interesting examples, shared her experiences and emphasized the key points. She encouraged them to take all the critique positively and make the best use of the onsite opportunity.

 

 Nitin too, afterwards, revealed to Kavya and Rakul how Pallavi had gone out of her way to save their face and position in the wake of severe complaints. He felt it right to let the two girls know, even though Pallavi would have preferred otherwise. He recalled how the client almost ordered to stop bringing freshers on board yet Pallavi intervened and solved it so well.

  

A happy dinner

 Kavya and Rakul could not bear the guilt after hearing everything that happened. They were very grateful for Pallavi. That night, they nudged Nitin to take them to Pallavi’s house for a dinner and small talk.

Pallavi received the team with so much love – she asked them to shed all their office roles and positions since the dinner was going to be informal and friendly.

 

Kavya and Rakul absolutely loved the dal rice, sweet, roti sabzi, salads that were deliciously prepared. Pallavi had managed to even keep fruit drinks ready in the 1 hour preparation time she had on hand before her three lovely guests arrived.

 

“Say Hi to your new friends, chinnu.” Pallavi introduced her 4 year old daughter to the team. Pallavi was on a video call with her little daughter.

 

None of the three persons knew Pallavi had a child.

 

“I miss her madly. You know, I wanted to ensure you both( pointing at Kavya and Rakul) are fine being onsite and then I could pass on some higher responsibilities to Nitin. That way, you will all learn a lot and take up additional work and I can return home to my chinnu.”

  

“Pallavi, I feel so bad for you. You had to leave your child to be here.”

 

“Yes, Nitin. It hurts. Mira is only four. My parents take care of my Mira while I am away. I avoid any business travel as much as possible; when it is inevitable, I make it happen but avoiding her exam times. I am practically always on phone when I am done with bits and pieces of work during the day. Mira and my parents update me everything – what she ate, how was school, what games she played, except of course, homework.”

Kavya, Rakul and Nitin smiled, clearly appreciating Pallavi’s balancing her personal and professional life.

 

“C’mon guys, eat your food. Let us forget our cheat days and enjoy ice cream and cake in a bit. Baby, Mira, See you chinnu. I shall call you after they go back home. Kisses.”

 

 Kavya was truly moved by Pallavi’s loving way of speaking.

 

As the four of them continued enjoying their desserts, they all opened up about their hobbies, family and onsite experience. When Rakul mentioned she struggled with certain concepts, Pallavi recommended Rakul to join a couple of online courses and recommended a few names too.

 

“The older we get, and higher up the ladder we go,we realize we must learn more.” My mentor always told me this, shared Pallavi.

Whenever she had time, Pallavi left no stone unturned to find something new and challenging to learn, this she confessed gave her an edge over the rest.

 

By now, Kavya had taken the liberty to scan through the pictures on Pallavi’s table. She asked Pallavi about them. Pallavi showed her friends some of hers and her baby pictures, her family snaps, her travel experiences. She showed them all on her laptop as it was a bulk. Bag of fries and carefree pictures in Amsterdam with her best friend, her New York city adventures with her sister; Beautiful family vacations in scores of cities; solo trips and a meditation retreat in Laos - there was so many layers to Pallavi.

There was a point, Nitin and the girls were taken by surprise at what a strong and a rare woman Pallavi must be. During the flow, she passed through some of her pictures of very long ago. She quickly added with a sense of humor that those were the days she did not care about the little moustache on her upper lip or her messy hair; she did not take special care to wear the best dresses, she had hardly stepped out of home. Pallavi mentioned that her divorce phase was the hardest; slowly and steadily she lifted herself from the shackles and ruins. It took her a long time before she felt sane.

Pallavi reminisced being overweight, so much contradiction to her usual physique; she fondly recalled running strenuous marathons to shed all the pounds; the confidence she wore, the way she carried herself- none of it happened overnight. It was an integral part of her years of journey.

 

Rakul and Kavya felt intense guilt. There were so much about Pallavi that they admired now– She was and is an independent girl with massive amount of travel experience; she was a darling daughter, sister, and a fantastic mother; she had such amazing stories to share from her professional and personal life. Most importantly, she was accepting and honest about her past, content with her present and so hopeful of her future. Deep within, she was a positive, humble and an innocent person who loved silly laughs,incessant trivial talks more than anything else in the world. They looked up to her.

 

Nitin had increased amount of respect for this woman. In spite of all the struggles, she had never resorted to self-pity. She tread with dignity. She was a sentimental and an emotional person with abundance of love to offer. He was immensely proud of the woman she had become; Nitin felt exceedingly fortunate to be working with rather under a woman like Pallavi.

 

In life, sometimes, intentionally or unintentionally, we humans hurriedly pass judgments and withdraw from people for no real wrong of theirs. We hastily conclude about people due to our own lack of exposure, limitations in understanding. Such a behavioral pattern can only result in hate, contempt, damaged relationships and loss of peace and joy. If only we learn to unlearn, be supportive and patient, life can reveal magic to us in each person we run into. After all, behind the facade, there is so much we don't know.