My dad used to look into accounts in the secretarial department of Morarjee mills, this was the job he was doing for the past 18 years, not that he loved the work or the salary attached to it, but because it gave him a sense of job security.
My dad did earn a meager 8000 INR when I was in the undecided stage mentioned in the last chapter, and the finances were real tight, with me becoming an engineer, unemployment did mean a lot of expense. Traveling for interviews, getting rejected, traveling again… had become a vicious circle that I tread day in and out. My parents did not complain once, they cut short on supplies and stretched themselves for me. Loving them is the least I could do in return then.
My cousin sister took up her MBA and was about to graduate around the same time, she had a boyfriend now (was a private affair...) and she went on to get married to him, we now share a good relationship.
My cousin brother too was looking out for a job; it was surprising to most of us in the family that he chose to opt out of studies, but I guess he could not take more from his dad about being beaten by a greenhorn brother in studies.
As for the luxuries that we had during our earlier days, my cousin sister was the one who was envied for she got almost whatever she wanted (including an inter caste husband) next was my cousin brother who was never denied anything of fancy that had an educational value, and the last was me who was handed down the non functional stuff (read: second hand and incase they could not be traded for a discount) from my cousins.
I was not always contended with what I used to get, but after embracing spiritualism, I began to see a little “Moh Maya” in all wordly things, but that did not deter me from indulging in a bit-o-fancy when it was affordable.
Shifting focus on my Dad, Morarjee mills was now a defunct unit, it still is. The employees were given VRS and as luck would have it my dad was not eligible for it, that sparked off the dissatisfaction towards the company, in the coming months, my dad plainly used to spite his boss by taking leaves as and when he felt so and screwing up things at work on the pretext that he did not understanding working on the PC.
His boss’s yelling fuelled the dissatisfaction higher.
Morarjee mills had a sister concern called Nicholas Piramal, primarily a piramal group of companies that deals with drugs. My dad was transferred there on his request, he was now contented with his work environment, but not for long. Nicholas Piramal went on an acquisition spree and acquired Roche, Boots and a hoard of other pharma companies as a result of which my dads work increased manifold. Now had my dad been formally introduced to drinking, he could have drowned a few pegs and continued with the work as if nothing was amiss, but he was a tea totaler , and there’s just so much pressure a cup of tea (or coffee) can relieve and this was much more than that.
Added to the fact that his salary had no relationship whatsoever with the amount of work meted out to him, with the dissatisfaction quotient riding an all time high, he opted to go back to Morarjee Mills and work with his old boss.
He had to retain his job, to feed his family viz: me and my mom, and being the only earning member at home, he was bending his back to fulfill his responsibilities.
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