Atul Nene

Travelling in India can have its own charms. A recent trip of around 600kms one-way from Pune to Omkareshwar (in MP) in the month of May turned out to be as hot as I had imagined. A battered Tata Sumo, affectionately called Somu by some passengers, trying to skip across the uneven national/state/district/town highways through brown, dusty and occasionally shady rural landscapes, proved better than some of the other options available to the hoi-polloi. Time moves slowly inside a packed vehicle, and with nothing to do except trying to sleep, look at the road, and wipe some sweat at the same time, one has plenty of time to ponder. Add catalytic events like a crackling Ram bhajan record by the dhabaside to this and one can get really creative. So the Ram bhajan extolled the virtues of a bhakta and narrated a fine piece of mythology when Hanuman bit off each pearl and threw away a pearl necklace gifted by Sitamai because "usme ram nahi".

For no reason that I know, I wondered what I would do if I ever got a necklace and how my team members would respond. Knowing each one of you as much as I do, I was tickled pink with the scenarios that floated to my mind.

I hope this tickles you too, and in no way makes you unhappy. I leave that to Sitamai.

Yatin was creating an incident on a late night (of course before he got married) when Sitamai popped in front of him, smiled sweetly, and offered him pearl necklace. Yatin was zapped .... My, she is so fair. No wonder Ram fell for her. oops what am i thinking ! .. "uuh Sitamai, thank you so much. this is really beautiful" .. sweet smile. sweeter smile. cibaca smile. Sitamai dissappears. oh this is quite long. but what will i do with it ? of course i'll give it to Priya. but why did Sitamai give it to me ? oh im so fair like her. she must have liked me very much. of course I deserve this one. actually i should have got a diamond necklace. thats the most expensive you know. but anyways, i'll make do with this.

Sayali was surprised when Sitamai popped up. "umm tumhi kasha kay ikade" "oh giving me the mala ? aggo baai, thank you so much. kiti chhaan aahe. Sitamai tumhi kiti chhaan disata ho" .. what should I say now. what will I do with this, why is she giving me this. but its so nice. i must have done some punya to get this. i didnt used to do a lot of pooja till now. but i will do now. oh where did she go. she seemed so nice.

Swapna was surprised no end too. "oh my, too much. I mean I'd read about this, but never really thought ... oh wow this necklace is so beautiful. why me ? but id love to wear it. but you know what ? i cant wear it with jeans. my mom keeps pestering me to wear saarees. i think i can do that and make her a little happy now. you know what, i'll get a pearl brooch to go along. btw where did you get this ? oh what a question. i know Ram gave it to you. but see that is a problem for me. Shoppers stop wont have a matching brooch. and I dont have a PNGadgil Jwellers frequent shopper card. I hate to lose out on those points. hey wait ! where'd she go ? i wanted to thank her. oh well. but this is really beautiful"

Deepak couldnt believe his eyes. It was 4am. Sitamai ? in person ? giving me the necklace ? rubbing hands in glee ... bahut paisa mil raha hai. "thank you Sitamai, I remember you had given one to Mr. Hanuman too. And he threw it away. Remember this next time you want to give it to anyone. Only give it to me. You never know the next guy might throw it away too. You can never really tell about such chaps anyway". aur mujhe bhi paisa milega. tcp se na sahi, manager se nahi, isbar Sitamai se to mila. "bahut bahut dhanyawad mai, ye to bahut sunder hai. aapne mujhe is layak samajha, main bahut khush hoon." are kahan gayee ye, abhi 4 hi to bahe hain. kitni achchee muskaan thee unakee, wah mazaa aa gaya.

Arvind was confused. Yes I had heard about this ... bachpan me. but .. but .. there was only one pearl necklace that Ram had given her. how come she has one more to give me ? should I thank her .. "thank you Sitamai" .. but how did she get another one. how long ago did she give that to Hanuman ? how long does it take for one pearl to be formed ? no but this is wrong. this is supposed to be mythology. i ... usha ... where is usha ... but mythology isnt true. ok what will I do with this ? Usha doesnt need to wear pearls, but of course she wont mind one bit. hey Sitamai's gone. I mean this is really a beautiful necklace, but what a waste of time, I would have fixed 3 incidents by now. Raghu fixed 4 yesterday.

Sumona was very happy. She really liked the necklace. I'll pester Limesh for rest of the matching stuff to make the set, and then when he refuses, i'll go and but it myself, she thought. "ooi maa, bhalo aachche"

Salil was enamoured. What a beautiful necklace ! Such shiny and large pearls. Simply marvellous. He started wondering what to do with it and was immediately ashamed of himself. whats there to wonder. he'll give it to Reena of course. Just as he was thinking this, came Reena, gave him one stern look, assumed that necklace was for her and wore it. Salil was happy too, he was proud of their understanding of each other.

Mrinal shyly told Sitamai how much he liked the necklace and thanked her very much. " i mean ... Sitamai ... one generally doesnt get this kind of stuff everyday ... its ... so nice ... i'll show it to my grandma but give it to my girlfriend ... thank you". smile. sweet smile. shy sweet smile.

Anurag couldnt believe his eyes. oh he knew Mythology very well. but imagine expriencing it ! " are bhai Sitamai .. yeh to kamaal ho gaya. aapake badi kripa hui. mujhe to wishwaas hi nahi hota. chalo itanee baar aapke aur ramji ke darshan kiye hain, aaj sab saphal ho gaye" are yeh kahan gayeen. chalo ab roj kam se kam ek baar hanumaan chaalisaa padhana chaahiye.

Madhu was very happy. " sahi ... Sitamai, khoop chaan aahe. dhanyawaad. ... pan .. ek prashna wichaaru ka ? ... tumhi hanumaanalaa dili hotee na ? mag aata parat kuthun aali ? bar te jaude. bar chalel. pan tumhi jewha hanumanaalaa dili hotee, tewha Ram tumchyawar ragawale navate ka ? i mean one doesnt gift a gift right ? bar chalel. this is really beautiful. ... she had tears of grattitude and happiness in her eyes.

Saurabh put it across clearly. "See Sitamai. To be frank, I dont believe in this mythology. But now that you are actually giving this necklace to me, I must not say so. Thank you so much." now that I have got it, what should I do ? I have got it while in office. So I think I should distribute it within the team. It has a total of 36 pearls. and I have 15 team members. so that means each one will get .....

I was so happy. I had got what only Hanuman had got in the past ! See the point ? But wait, this isnt logical... i mean this just isnt reasonable ... but of course what is not apparently reasonable is always some "higher" reason. So that settles it. I was so happy. I decided to sing a Ram bhajan everyday.