“These monthly review meetings are such a waste of time,” Swami complained while having his coffee the other day. Even the muffin didn’t seem to enliven his mood. Jigneshbhai and I realised that he must have had a meeting with Raichand, of late.
“A group of people get into a room and get slammed by Raichand. Slides over slides are discussed, hoping nothing catches his attention. But something always does,” Swami uncorked his frustration. “It’s like destiny, karma preordained.”
Corporate meetings and preordained karma and destiny didn’t quite gel well for me and Jigneshbhai. In that world, it’s all about control and action, we thought.
“Preordained? I thought Raichand was a man in control. A man of action,” Jigneshbhai remarked slyly.
“Hahaha,” Swami laughed. I could sense some bitterness in that sarcastic laughter. “Well, he is in control. Not of himself sadly. He is in control of others and takes action on them. The others take whatever is in their destiny,” he added.
“Oh, so everything is controlled? Are there no questions, discussions or arguments?” Jigneshbhai wondered. I thought there were lots of these in corporate meetings.
“Oh, there are lots of them. Endless talk, open mouths. Do this, do that, this we have done, that they should do. Blah, blah, blah,” Swami continued. “But nothing real happens. Only talk with open mouths. But nothing moves forward because everyone’s minds are closed. Like Raichand’s himself.”
This time, Jigneshbhai and I looked at each other.
I guess when Swami reaches the depths of frustration with Raichand and his job, we should just let him talk more. That lets him blow off steam. Sometimes, in this process, he does have the ability to spill some wise words, for all his impulsiveness. And this time Jigneshbhai caught one of them.
“Open mouths and closed minds?” Jigneshbhai asked, noting Swami’s gem. “Interesting. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Open minds and closed mouths?” he asked.
Swami munched into his muffin this time. How naïve was Jigneshbhai, he must have thought. Or how lucky for not having gone through all this nonsense of a job.
“I wish it were the other way around. But twenty years have taught me it rarely is. Those who have open minds and closed mouths end up getting more work. Like me,” Swami moaned.
“I wonder why it is me every time. I haven’t seen it happen with anyone else,” Swami said.”
And as he finished couple of bites of muffins, he added, “The others open their mouths and argue with their minds closed. I shut up and end up getting more, of everything.” Swami sipped his coffee to gulp down his muffin.
Then with folded hands, he gestured as if Raichand was in front of him and said, “Yes Sir, Thank you Sir.”
Jigneshbhai and I didn’t have much of a solution to Swami’s predicament. We just sat in silence closing our mouths.
It was then that we saw that the wealthy old man had joined us from the adjoining table. He came over towards Swami and put a hand on his shoulder.
“It is good to keep your mouth closed, but don’t open your mind so much that your brains fall out.”
The wealthy old man had provided Swami with what he needed to hear. Jigneshbhai and I could see that Swami’s smile had slowly returned.
***