Being NICE Sucks !

It was a busy Wednesday evening at the CB solutions office, Chennai. Farhan was finishing up the report on completion of his team’s latest project. He was recently promoted as a project manager and had successfully completed his first lead project in due time.

The report had to be sent to the main office in Boston, USA and it had to be sent as a hard copy, so he had to print out the 33 page report and decided to send it through express courier.  It was about 9 pm, all his staffs were leaving from the office and were wishing him ‘Good Night’ as they left. Farhan was on his desk resting his eyes a bit after a hard day’s work at the office and dozed off for a few minutes. When he woke up, he could see that the printer had gone out of paper and the print job was stopped. He then fed the paper and restarted the printing work.

By the time he was finished, it was about 10 pm, he packed his stuffs and took the report, started down the elevator to the parking garage where he had his bike. He was too tired already, and had to travel 23 kms to his house, on the way he had a detour about 8 kms on a perpendicular direction to the courier office.

On his way out, he saw one of his colleagues, Rachna standing alone. It seemed like she was waiting for someone. Farhan had a dilemma whether to ask about her situation or just leave as he had to go a long way and was already exhausted, but she was his team member and as a leader, he had a responsibility. So he walked his bike down to the place she was standing. He smiled at her, asking “Hey Rachna, what are you doing here, all alone?” She replied “well, I missed my cab back home, and my phone battery is down, so not able to call anyone for help”. Farhan immediately thought of giving his phone to help her, but he smiled to himself when he saw that his phone was also switched off. He then asked her, where she was staying and found that her place was quite close to the courier office he had to go on the way.

Farhan felt pity for the girl, as it was late at night and the office was 15 kms outside the city. She wouldn’t get any taxi or auto at this time, he offered her a ride home and said “It’s not gonna be a problem for me; I have to go that side… anyway”.

Rachna accepted to ride with him on his bike and they both started from their office. All the way, Rachna was talking continuously about something and Farhan couldn’t hear her properly with his helmet on. So he decided to remove it, when he stopped at the signal. Thereafter, they discussed about where he lived, about their families, the Football world cup, movies and stuff, all through the ride.

Finally Rachna’s destination arrived and she got down in front of a working women’s hostel. She said “Thanks a lot Farhan; I don’t know what I would have done without your help. I definitely need to treat you for this timely help”. Farhan laughed, he felt her talk was silly, so he replied “Don’t worry; maybe next time when I am stranded, you can give me a ride home”. Rachna made a pouty face and said “like that’s gonna happen anytime”, “am serious farhan, I need to return this favor, how about lunch tomorrow, it’s on me. OK?”

Farhan looked at his watch and realized that the courier shop would close in ten minutes and he had to rush, so he said “anything’s fine for me, sorry, I got to go, Good night.” and left rushing to send the courier.

Next day at the office.

Farhan happened to cross the coffee room on the way to the restroom while he overheard someone talking. He was about to leave thinking that some girls were leisure gossiping but stopped there to listen as he heard his name being said. He stood there listening to the girl talking, who happened to be Rachna, she said “You know preethi, last night, I missed my cab to home, and I was standing alone, when our manager Farhan came and started talking to me, very flirtatious in his words, he asked me about my situation and asked me if he could drop me home.” “He could have just given his cell phone for me to make a call or arranged for my ride, instead literally forced me into dropping me home.”

Farhan couldn’t move from the place or keep his ears closed, as he couldn’t believe what was being told, shocked and surprised, he stood there listening to more of it, as she said “ during the ride, such a show off, took off his helmet, thinks to himself as a dare devil I guess”. Rachna and her friend laughed as she continued “ hmm, while talking to him, I came to know that his house is nowhere near to my house, he just faked a reason to get a chance to drop me home saying he had a work in that area, what a loser”.

Farhan thought he had enough of listening to this out of control exaggerated version of last night’s incident. he decided to move on to his work, as he started walking, he couldn’t stop listening to her, as she spoke “ Since he did a small help dropping me home, I thanked him and told him that I need to treat him, as a formality, but he took it seriously and  again started flirting with me. He even asked me out for lunch today. I think I may have given him a lot of wrong signals that I am interested in him. May be I should stop talking to him”.

He still couldn’t believe what he had just heard from Rachna as he walked into the restroom, Farhan smiled and thought to himself  “Oh my god, can’t believe how a small help could be interpreted by another person in such devious ways”. “Really… Is Being Nice and Helping others a sort of lust or crime, do I deserve this”.

Words, he overheard from Rachna was running in his mind like a recorded tape, and as Farhan washed his hands, he looked at his face in the mirror, smiled again and said to himself… “Seriously, Being Nice Sucks..!”

Retirement

Sydney, Australia.

A cold evening and it was getting dark, Desmond Hume was having a evening walk with his 6 year old daughter Lisa. It was a regular routine as a part of Desmond’s bonding time with his daughter They walked a little longer than usual today, and they walked all the way to a cricket stadium, as they walked in, through the tunnel to the ground. Desmond had a walk through his memories of this stadium, he could listen to the noise of the crowd, cool breeze flowing around his body, he could visualize yellow color everywhere, shining against the bright white flood lights. the lush green look of the field, and as mixture of colors would be, blue was the color of the opposition team. He walked through to the wicket in the middle and narrated his best performance ever, the day his daughter was born. Desmond had scored 176 runs and took 5 wickets of his bowling to seal a dominating win for his team against South Africa. It was a one man show against 11 men.

Desmond had been a integral part of the Australian Cricket team for about 15 years, He was an All rounder known for his power hitting and equally powerful Pace of his bowling. At his prime, He used to open both bowling and batting for his team. A player, who can dominate and sometimes scare the opposition easily. He was considered the best cricketer of the millennium and was even awarded many times for his excellent performances in all formats of the game, including the T20 format, which was relatively new for him. After a major back injury before 3 years, He was out of the team for a long time then his place in the team became a question.

At age 37, after being in and out of the team for 2 years now. Desmond decided to call it a day. He was set to Announce his retirement from all forms of cricket. The press meet was scheduled two days later, while Desmond who’s still contemplating the decision took his daughter to the stadium, he literally grew up his whole life.

He told his daughter “ Lisa, do you know, daddy is gonna stop playing cricket”. Lisa replied, “ why daddy? why are you stopping it, Kathy’s dad is still playing cricket..!”. Kathy’s dad was a younger member of his team, a emerging new wicket keeper. Desmond, not knowing how to explain to his daughter, did what he could in a simple way. “ See dear, every worker has to retire from his job at a point of time, i guess my time is now.” Lisa replies nonchalantly, “ but Kenny uncle is still working, he’s 55, but you are 37 only. why are you retiring so soon?”.

Desmond smiled at his daughter saying “ Uncle Kenny is a lawyer, his job doesn’t require to be young and energetic, Cricket does”. Lisa again replies “ but dad, you are young, energetic, smart and i know you still play really well”. Desmond bent down on his knees, held his daughter close and asked “ tell me, what should daddy do now” and Lisa smiled and replied “ daddy don’t quit, i want to tell my friends, that my dad plays great cricket, i don’t want to tell them that my dad quit cricket because he’s old”.

His Daughter’s emotions was very childish and immature, but still it made him think about his decision to quit. he sat on a bench of the gallery and was thinking about what to do.

His chances of being on the Australian national team was very slim, due to younger players, who perform much better than him. Even though he has experience on his side, there are other players on the team who are equally experienced and are now a integral part of the team, his injury time was a big blow as he lost touch of his skills and took a lot of time to get back to form. So Desmond was thinking of other options beyond the National team, such as coaching, commentary and cricket related business, but he was neither a good teacher nor a good talker, so coaching and commentary was out of question. Desmond’s heart was still yearning to play cricket, he was desperate to get into the field and play some quality cricket, he didn’t mind playing at any level. so he had an option of returning back to the first class cricket or may be the English county, since he had played for Yorkshire for a about 5 seasons in the past.

After about 2 hours of thinking and not able to decide anything, Desmond decided to walk back to his home with his daughter, on the way, He got a phone call. It was his manager on the other side, He said “ Desmond, listen to this, an excellent offer. Its from India, their Cricket board is fancying a T20 cricket league called the IPL or the Indian premier league. Its a lot of cricket and plenty of money for you mate. what do you say ?”

Desmond thought about it for 2 days and then went on to Announce his retirement from International cricket, but he signed a contract to play in the IPL. He was Auctioned the highest in the player action for a Whooping 2 Million Dollars to play in the Franchise Chennai Super Kings !

Desmond Didn’t know if he’d get to play Quality cricket in the league, but the money was very lucrative to give this a shot !

Turbulence

JFK International Airport, New York, NY.

Nikhil had a Oceanic flight to Hyderabad, India. He was very early to the airport at 4 pm for a flight at 8 pm, so he had plenty of time to check in his luggage, get done with security clearance and also get the boarding pass. He also reached the terminal and was planning to pass the time reading a book for next two hours. He went to the nearest coffee shop to buy himself a hot chocolate, while standing in the line, he noticed someone familiar, two spots before him. a woman in her mid 20’s. He could see only her long black hair with curls at the ends, his eagerness increased as the line was moving and while she was at the counter getting her coffee, she turned back to reach for her purse. Time froze a second for Nikhil, that was someone whom he thought would never meet in his life again. Madhumitha aka Madhu, his Lost love and ex colleague.

Madhu had not noticed him standing in the same line. she just grabbed her coffee and went away. Nikhil stood there having a run down the Nostalgia. He had Loved this girl so much, but never told her how much she meant to him. His love died within him, since she got into a relationship with someone else. Even though, he convinced everyone around him that he’s moved on in this 2 years, he still thought about her sometimes and this moment rekindled all the old passion and desire in him.He wished she was single now.

He grabbed his coffee and went searching for her, just to get a glimpse of her from a distance, know where she’s flying to, who she’s with, and possibly talk with her. there were about 60 gates and for about 60 minutes, he went up and down searching for her and it was in vain. he quietly returned back to his gate lounge to try and relax. the boarding of the plane started and he went into the plane, now pretty calm and relaxed. he went walking down the aisle, trying to find J23. his seat. it was a pretty long distance. finally found his seat, put his cabin luggage safely and sat down in the seat. he relaxed and let his eyes rest for few minutes.

After sometime, he slowly opened his eyes to check out who was going to sit next to him. he literally gasped for breath with that sight,  as luck would have it, Madhu was his adjacent seat. Nikhil took a heavy breath and was about to say Hi, when Madhu saw him, got excited with a loud “heyyy… Nik” and gave him a hug, and started showering questions such as ‘where have you been’, “what are you doing these days’ and ‘why no contact’ etc… before he could complete answering for one set, she’d start asking another. it was the Madhu he knew, and loved. still the same, no changes…! he smiled to himself about his crazy search only to have her sit next to him on the plane.

the Flight took off and in moments they were up in the air and flying towards their destination. Nikhil and Madhu had lots to catch up and they talked a lot during the flight. he came to know a shocking truth that she was married and was heading to India to visit her husband who’s currently working in Microsoft, Hyderabad. Nikhil’s little dream of her being single got broken, still he was happy that he had a chance to meet her and spend 20 hrs on the flight with the woman he loves. both had their in-flight dinner and slept for a while, even in his dreams, she was haunting him and his urge to tell her the truth he’s been hiding for years was increasing by the minute.

about 6 hours into the journey and the flight was crossing the Atlantic ocean, towards Dubai. the plane was about to hit a large air pocket, it caused a slight disturbance. things started rumbling a little around them. the Pilot announced about the turbulence and asked everyone to have their seat belts on. Madhu was little nervous about the rumbling. she started to ramble herself about how flight travel is unsafe and Nikhil, with his usual awkward timing, reminded her about the TV series Lost, where the flight crashes into a island.  Madhu was slightly pissed off with his talks in a near panic situation.

the flight started having more heavier disturbances as it went through the air pocket. the whole plane was shaking like it was inside a cocktail mixer and the shaking and rumbling got heavier and heavier by time. people started panicking, cries and screams were heard everywhere. the oxygen masks popped down from the ceiling, Nikhil grabbed them, put on the mask for Madhu and then himself. Madhu was on verge of crying and Nikhil himself was very scared. his mind started racing, there was adrenaline rush in him and for a moment, he thought to himself, its a 99% chance that they would crash into the Atlantic, anytime now and if he’s going to die, the last thing he wished to do was confess his love to Madhu. tell her how much she was special and how deeply had he been in love with her.

Nikhil turned to Madhu, took his oxygen mask off, he said “ i wanted to tell this to you for 2 years, but never could do it. ever since i first met you in office, i liked you like crazy, i was in love with you very deeply, I love you so much, even before boarding the flight, i saw you at the coffee shop, went thro the entire terminal searching for you… hoping you’d be single now,  and i was very crazy in love that i even tried to sabotage your relationship with Vimal, remember the stripper issue. it was actually me who set it up, you broke up with him after that, i never got you in my life.” now, i think god has given me this final chance to let out my feelings that i have for you. I don’t care if you are married, I just want to be with you when i die.”

Madhu was shell shocked in fear of the turbulence and Nikhil’s mad speech, she never knew this guy was so much in love with her, she just held his hand in a state of shock. Nikhil pulled her close, removed her mask off and gave her a deep kiss, she was in a state of fear to even respond. she knew they were about to die, so she let him. they both kissed passionately for some moments, and then he kissed her again and again, as a show of his final moments of love.

This incident between them, changed things around them, there was a gradual decrease in turbulence, they hadn’t noticed. the pilot had successfully maneuvered the flight out of the deadly air pocket, the rambling and chaos was settling down slowly. the passengers were slowly out of their panic state, and the pilot announcement was made, which said “Extremely for the inconvenience, it was a very rough air pocket, but no worries, we are safe now”

the flight had become safe and sound now, but there was now an air of awkwardness and inconvenience surrounding Nikhil and Madhu. she was now out of her panic and stressed out mind, but couldn’t get herself out of this sudden situation with Nikhil, he had confessed his true love and kissed her with a lot of passion. but she also came to know about his sabotage work previously. Madhu had loved vimal so much, she felt he was the right one. his alleged fling with a stripper made her hate him so much, she broke up with him and to get over him, she got married. she was angry, confused and in terrible shock about what just happened in past 15 minutes.

Nikhil on the other hand, felt the same awkwardness, but in a good way, he finally got his feelings out and confessed his love to his beloved girl, his burden was reduced and he also got to kiss her, but also told her the truth.

The air of awkwardness surrounding them, stayed on for the rest of the journey, they couldn’t see each other in the eye and Nikhil requested change of seat and moved to another place. they didn’t talk a single word for rest of the flight. Finally, Truth was mighty shock for both, than the actual deadly turbulence.

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