Locked Potential

Harishchandra was a name which was not contemporary. The man who carried this name was. While he appeared simple, his ideas were contemporary, perhaps ahead of their time.

Harry, as he was known in the business circles of Mumbai, was a millionaire at 25 and a billionaire at 28. He was living a fairy tale. Not many knew of the hard work and business acumen that took Harry to where he was, at 28.

A day before his 30^th birthday, Harry was arrested. He spent his birthday in Jail. It was corporate fraud as per the lawmakers. He lost everything he made. He was barred from the country’s capital markets for 5 years. He spent 5 years behind bars. The people who knew him were sure of his integrity and honesty. They were sure Harry was innocent. Their cumulative assurance weighed less than the “law of the land”.

Today is his 45^th birthday. He is present among distinguished luminaries of the business world and will receive the “business man of the year” award. As the emcee announced his name, he stood up. He put the buttons of his perfect coat and walked towards the stage.

The award was given to him by one of India’s leading bankers and a stalwart from the Indian IT industry. Harry, humble as always, bowed to them and the audience and accepted the trophy. As is a custom in India among Hindus, he bowed down to touch the feet of the veterans who presented the award and sought their blessings.

He was asked to speak a few words and the dais was handed over to him. ‘I will speak many sentences today. Not about me but about us and what we need to change’, said Harry as he began to speak. He addressed the honorable prime minister, the distinguished guests and all his colleagues who had done well in their respective businesses.

Harry was adept at picking things from around him and weaving it into his speech. He had the uncanny knack of having the audience mesmerized and in rapt attention. Today was no different.

I am the “Roller-Coaster Businessman of the year”; Roller-Coaster was the company which has sponsored this category. ‘Life has been a roller-coaster for me’, he said.

‘I will speak about my life from the time when I was 21 to this date when I am 45. I will speak for 20 minutes. You all might be wondering what about the years before I turned 21. I am sure no one wishes to know about a childhood spent with a drunkard, who I also used to call father, and a bed –ridden mother.’ he paused taking a breath in the pretext.

‘I did not have the money to enroll for graduation. More importantly, I did not have the interest. My interest was in wealth creation. I wanted to be the richest man in India and then the world. Most of you may be aware that I was on track as well. I was 30 when the train derailed and with it, I lost wealth and most importantly, my reputation.’ he paused again, wanting to gauge the pulse of the audience.

He was convinced that everyone including the prime minister was latching on to every word he was saying. He continued.

‘I was convicted of corporate fraud at 30, actually a bit before that. I had built my business on ethics, values, honesty and integrity. You will never know of a person who has received a bribe from me. I was still accountable for what had happened. In a business, you have to trust and delegate. It may go wrong sometimes. There are times when it can go horribly wrong. I trusted the wrong person with the finances of the organization and the treasury. My blind faith literally burned my plans to achieve my vision.’

‘I was behind bars. Everyone knows that. Was I unhappy, was there resentment? I have been asked these questions many times from thereon, but I have chosen not to answer. Today I will. I was numb. I was sure I had not done anything wrong. My conscience was clear. I believe in karma and I knew that it has got something to do with the sins of my past birth. I thought that everyone in Jail was a criminal unlike me and everyone had committed a sin in this birth. How wrong was I!’ he paused after the exclamatory remark and drank some water placed in a transparent glass adjacent to the podium.

He took a deep breath. It was audibly amplified due to the combined effect of the microphone and the speakers.

He continued, ‘I was astonished to meet a fellow convict who was an engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology. He was behind bars because he had the courage to kill a social nuisance who was making life difficult for his sister. In due course, we became a gang of five. Let’s call them A, B, C, D, and E for the time-being. “A” is the engineer I just spoke about. I am “E”. “B” is a god-fearing guy and extremely intelligent. His only crime was that he gave his car to a friend who was not just his friend but also a terrorist. “B” was a wizard at Finance. I had never seen a person who became a Chartered Accountant at 21. “C” was the happiest and liveliest person I had seen. He was in for a crime he hadn’t committed but he had no regrets. He met everyone with élan and almost everyone opened up to him. “D” was exactly opposite to “C”; the only similarity being that he also had not committed the crime he was convicted for. He lived in a world of his own, talked very less if at all and was always reading, thinking, penning his thoughts. We complemented each other and shared each other’s plight as none of us thought we should be behind bars for what we had done. Everyday, we talked about current affairs, latest innovations, sports, ideas and so on. The five years spent behind bars was probably the best education I had, and that too free of cost.’ he said and the crowd laughed.

He paused, smiled back at the audience. He knew how to keep the connect going. He continued.

‘When I came out, I was 35. I wouldn’t get work because of the past. The more important thing was I wanted to create something, be a master of my destiny. I was willing to give another shot at entrepreneurship. However, there is no entrepreneur who can work without his key strength – his team and his employees. And that is where the threat lay. No one wanted to work with me. I was a convict. I couldn’t be trusted. I was a gamble no one wanted to risk.’

‘My only option was to get in touch with “A, B, C, and D”. They were going through the same plight. No one wanted to give them a job. There families had also asked them to distance themselves – a verdict similar to what the law would dish out to a stalker who stalked celebrities.’

‘We got together and that is how “Locked Potential” was born. The name is self-explanatory.’, the audience laughed again. The Prime Minister also applauded and smiled, for once, letting go of his serious demeanor.

Harry acknowledged and continued, ‘While you all are aware of what “Locked Potential” does and how we make our bucks, I would like to highlight a very important decision that we (A, B, C, D and myself) have taken together as we grow this company.’

‘Most companies would pride themselves in being the ‘first company to do this’, ‘only company to do that’ etc. At “Locked Potential”, we take pride in being the only company to have a recruitment drive in Jail every year. We are the only company in India to offer jobs to ex-offenders and convicts. By doing so, we are probably, and in our own small way, ensuring that people don’t go back to the ugly bylanes of crime and lead a more fruitful life with us.’

He paused again. He adjusted his spectacles. He looked at the Prime Minister and said, ‘Honourable Prime Minister Sir, I have great regard for your progressive thoughts and ideas. I am sure you are a person who welcomes revolutionary ideas and you are also known for immaculate execution of such ideas. At 28, my yardstick of measuring success in business was the amount of wealth created. A bit later in life, I had a happy realization that your wealth can vanish in no time but a revolutionary idea finds its deserving place in the annals of history.’

‘I have great regard and respect for the law of our land and I understand that there may be cases where the innocent will be found guilty and convicted.’ He took a deep breath (probably trying hard to not let emotions take over) looked at the Prime Minister and said, ‘Sir, I urge you and all my distinguished colleagues to do their bit to pick all the “A,B,C,D and E’s” like me from prison and have them contribute in the business world. We cannot even fathom the heights we can achieve if we open up to this idea. The success of “Locked potential” is when it loses the monopoly (and it’s quite ironic in a business sense) in terms of recruiting from prisons. Every corporate should do it. I take this opportunity to request you all to think in this direction.’

Thunderous applause followed. The Prime Minister and many business leaders gave a standing ovation. Harry did not move.

In his customary flamboyance (atleast on stage he had it), he said, ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, Thank you but I haven’t finished. This award is only 20% mine. I invite “A,B,C, and D” on stage to share this glory with me’. The momentary interruption in applause ended as it made a comeback with renewed fervor and accompanied the “Locked Potential” team as they climbed down the stage and took their seats among the audience.

Note: This thought which forms the crux of the story isn’t mine. I have read an article about an entrepreneur I genuinely admire - “Sir Richard Branson” - championing the cause of employment for ex-offenders. The said article and the thought therein led to the genesis of this story. 

A Tale of Contradictions

The girl’s name was Dhara. A girl trapped in a women’s body. After all, she was only twenty-five years old. Her parents got her married at twenty. Her husband, six years elder to her was rarely at home.  She had her son to take care of. She did not have time. She had a family but she was alone. She hated her life. She had a job.

The boy’s name was Akash. He had become a man before he became a teenager. At twenty-six, he was wiser beyond his years. No one wanted to get him married. He had all the time in the world. He was alone but had a family of friends. He hated his mother. The only similarity – He also had a job.

It was in Dhara’s nature to panic. Akash was cool as a cucumber. She took this bus countless times in her life to get to work. For Akash, it was the first. This was his first day at the new job. Dhara was walking fast. Akash walked at a leisurely pace. He still managed to keep pace with her.

Dhara could feel him chasing her. With his earphone and music on, he was in a different planet. Unknowingly, he was chasing her. And unnecessarily, she was getting scared.

Dhara felt happy when she reached the bus stop. She was however, sad to see Akash just behind her. He was oblivious to her agony. They got into the bus and Akash sat beside her. And then, he saw her for the first time. She was beautiful. Her face, her smile, her hair – his mind dug deep into his incredible vocabulary but could pull out only one word – perfect.

Akash was an ordinary looking man with extra-ordinary intelligence. He seemed to have the knack of finding solutions to almost any problem. He was thus, the wise counsel his friends sought when trouble accompanied them. He could sense an emotion, scope a situation and address an issue with ease. He could use the gift of gab effectively to emerge triumphant in his battle with problems – which were never his. And one person who had plenty of problems was Dhara.

Akash sensed her discomfort and wanted to do something about it. He began to chat with her. He was fluent and flawless. Dhara never realised when she became so comfortable. She had opened up to a complete stranger in less than half an hour.

Something clicked. It was a two-hour journey to the office, thanks to the traffic. Every day, Dhara would pray for the ordeal to get over. Today, it seemed like a joyride.

Akash’s new job was adjacent to Dhara’s office. And after nine long hours at work, they took the same bus back.

On the way back, they were together again. By the end of the day – Akash knew most things about her and vice-versa.

Day 2:

They both woke up at almost the same time. The beds and bedrooms were different though. In about 2 hours from then, they were again on adjacent seats of the same bus.

“You have a beautiful family, a lovely kid, and so much to look forward to when you go home. Why do you hate your life?” asked Akash.

Dhara said she would answer this sometime later. Instead, she asked, “I don’t know of anyone who would hate his mother. Why do you?” It was Akash’s turn to postpone the reply to a later date.

The topic of discussion veered towards the modern Indian women and her constant dissonance with the many unnecessary restrictions that come in neatly packed boxes called “tradition”, “culture”, et, al. Dhara told him how she loved to dance to tunes of the latest Bollywood entertainers but couldn’t because she was expected to be prim and proper all the time.

This was Akash’s home turf. He relished the idea of helping people find a solution to their dilemma. He suggested her to call home late evening on the coming Friday and tell that she would be late due to project deadlines and then let her hair down in some happening place. She conveyed that this would amount to lying and that would hurt her conscience. She also told that there is always the risk of being seen by her relatives or acquaintances.

Akash was not someone who would give up. He asked her to show the playlist on her mobile. She did. He asked her if it was updated with her favourite songs. She answered in the affirmative. He asked her if she had a bedroom to herself. She again answered in the affirmative while giving Akash a quizzical look for asking such a stupid question.

“Great, so tonight is going to be your night”, said Akash. “But how”, asked Dhara. “You can convert your room into a dance floor”, he said. “Are you mad, the loud music will wake people, not only in my house but also in the neighbourhood?”

“Aren’t you listening to music in the bus, aren’t there people around, are they getting disturbed”, Akash was now behaving like a mentor, trying to get a solution by inspiring his mentee to think.

As he did not get a response, he decided to answer this himself. He told her that he would give her a rubber floor-mat which she could place on the floor, play the music in her mobile and dance to her heart’s content. He even volunteered to give her the floor-mat while walking back home in the evening. He explained to her that the bartenders in pubs play a lot of juggling tricks with bottles and even if the bottles slip out of his hand, they fall on this mat and hence doesn’t break. More importantly, it cuts out the noise.

To Dhara, this seemed like madness but she did collect the floor-mat from Akash on the way back home. She reached home, had her dinner and put her baby to sleep. She then, tried to replay the entire conversation in her head. It started to make sense. Almost everyone at home had slept and she put on her dancing shoes. She danced from 11 p.m to 1 a.m to her heart’s content. No one woke up. She was very happy. She took a shower and slept next to her baby. For the first time since he was born, the baby and mother both slept peacefully.

Dhara couldn’t contain the excitement the next morning. Akash and she discussed her dance adventure on their journey to office. Two hours were not enough to discuss the topic. It wasn’t as much about dance as it was about creating your happiness. It was about finding a solution rather that crying about a problem. The episode had unknowingly revolutionized Dhara.

The next morning, Akash did not see Dhara at the bus stop. He did not have her phone number. She also did not have his. He wondered what was wrong but there was no way he could find out. Suddenly, two hours to the office felt like twenty. He felt as if he saw every tree on the road, every vehicle that passed by. He had never experienced this feeling. He was wondering why he was so depressed, which was highly uncharacteristic of him.

He longed for the day to get over. At home that evening, he felt alone for the first time. He longed for the night to get over as well. He couldn’t sleep peacefully. And he did not know why.

The next day, he saw her at the bus stop. He felt relieved. She told her that her son was unwell and hence, she had taken the day-off.

And again, their conversation continued.

The next six weeks

This became a routine. Every morning, they spent two hours on the same two seats of the same bus. And this repeated most evenings as well.

Akash’s mannerisms and thoughts changed her outlook to life. She changed the way he dressed, in a positive sense. For the first time in all these years, since his grandmother passed away, Akash felt that someone cared for his appearance.

They became each other’s favourite people within six weeks of the first rendezvous. What Dhara said on the first day of the sixth week was an absolute dampener. She announced that this was her last week at the job and she was moving into another city with her husband and child. He had been transferred and hence she had to leave.

That day, they did not speak much. Akash was wondering what made him so unhappy.

From Tuesday, onwards, they made the most of the two hours in the morning and two in the evening. They chatted more than all the other people in the bus put together.

The unanswered questions

Akash wanted to know why she felt her life was not happening. Dhara decided to answer but not before having him promise her that he would give her a good reason for the hatred he nurtured towards his mother.

After having Akash accept her demand, she said that her life was lonely. Her husband rarely talked to her. Her in-laws demanded too much from her and so did her work. She needed a sounding board which wasn’t there. She appreciated his presence and said that he was the greatest sounding board she had and it is destiny that made her meet him. She said she will cherish these six weeks of her life the most.

Now, it was Akash’s turn to answer the reason for the rancour he carried towards his mother. He said that he doesn’t remember seeing her even once. He said that she left his father for a neighbour when he was merely three years old. He said that it was the most selfish thing a lady could do. The calm and controlled Akash’s anger could be seen on his face. He said that he hated her for what she did, to him and his father. He said she ruined his life. He requested Dhara if they could stop it at that. He concluded the discussion by declaring that he will never forgive her in life.

Had they fallen for each other?

What do you think as a reader? What do I think as a writer? The two protagonists had to ask this question to themselves and then to each other. Necessarily in that order.

It was the fateful Friday and the bus had arrived at the same place from where they boarded it in the morning. They alighted and talked for another five minutes.

She said Good-bye. He said Good luck. They walked in opposite directions. Yes, Akash told her he had work in the other part of town. He was lying but he wanted this to end.

They turned back. They came closer. They hugged.

It was a moment of truth. It was the most honest emotion. It was what they felt for each other. They wanted to be together. They did not tell this explicitly but the hug told more than a story.

They remained in embrace for more than a minute. A passer-by stared and walked away. Many others did the same. They were oblivious to this.

While in the embrace, she asked him, “If there is one last thing, I could do for you, what would it be”? This time Akash did not hold back. He said he would have loved to marry her that very instant. Dhara told him she would leave everything and go with him if he was serious.

The moment of truth, the raw emotion that clouded their head slowly gave way to thoughts about society, people, relatives, friends, tradition, culture and innumerable such allied elements.

Akash spoke, albeit with a heave voice and a heavier heart. “I would be the happiest if we could be together for a lifetime. However, by doing so, I will create another Akash. I was three when my mother left us. Your son is three today and he will hate you for the rest of your life if you did this. I don’t want that to be your fate. I want you to have a respected and dignified life. I think you should go home.”

Dhara had started to subconsciously believe that Akash’s solutions are the best and she should go ahead with them without any regret. She did the same. They broke the long embrace, wished each other luck and were about to go their separate paths when Akash said, “I think my mother was never wrong. I can now see what she did. She was probably in this situation when I was three years old. I thank you for solving the biggest problem of my life. I will try to search her and make peace with her if possible. I won’t hate her any more. Thanks Dhara”.

And they went their separate ways. Their names mean the Sky (Akash) and the Earth (Dhara) and just as the names suggest, they are not destined to meet. What stopped them? The fear of society.  For the society will find faults, not happiness. That is something you have to find yourself.  

Was their love true? Was their love pure? Should they have been together? My answer is yes. And I believe it is progressive. What’s your answer to these questions? I would be happy to know your views. Do drop your comments. 

And before I conclude, the three condition my wife wanted me to weave the story around are as below:

1. It should be a love story

2. It should have a tragic end but no one should die.

3. It should made her cry. 

I will again ask the readers to let me know if I have met all the conditions with this story though I wont be particularly proud of having fulfilled condition 3.