A birthday bash and a funeral

SS Bhatti

My niece, born and brought up in Singapore, has been working in a company recently declared a top-ranking establishment that manufactures electronic devices sold worldwide. On her way to Chandigarh she met her boss in Shatabdi Express in which they spent the travel time exchanging anecdotes as light-hearted gaiety. She was coming here to attend her husband's birthday bash; he to attend a funeral, besides meeting his parents in Panchkula. His wife, who was once my student at CCA, now works as an architect and interior designer. He has a Punjabi's robust sense of humour such as would never take offence much less nurse ill-will even when he is made the butt of a joke, either intentionally or accidentally. 

The second variety manifested itself when he told my niece that he would call on her in-laws’ residence. She wanted to know the time so that the household was in good shape when the boss visited. Thus nervous, she queried, “Sir, when will your funeral be over?” His response was a boisterous laughter that amused the co-passengers. But he won’t tell the time because a 'surprise' visit was his intention.

When he came in the evening he was quick to make the hosts feel at home with his infectious friendliness and chummy informality. Among things that built the right ambience preparatory to the birthday party, he regaled everyone with his experiences of having finally become a Singaporean. He said that the original settlers there were slow to understand us Punjabis' robustness in everything. Our loud natural tone of talking puzzled the people in the neighbourhood and my office. They were confused why we had to quarrel everyday for no apparent cause for verbal belligerence. 

And when he narrated the 'funeral' faux pas the laughter was far louder in the house than his in the train. It was my niece's mother-in-law who laughed the loudest and longest, much to the preferred amusement of the distinguished guest. During his mesmerising conversation he revealed many tips which could be of great benefit to entrepreneurs. He said my niece had joined him at 16. Raw as she was he had to occasionally scold her on mistakes. Her defence weapon was the invincible feminine power of tears. “But she has grown up now to be my “CEO”, with a reversal of roles. It’s my turn to weep when she scolds me!” In turn, admiring her boss's unshakable trust in her ability to handle difficult situations, she said even when the deal she had made means a million-dollar loss, far from admonishing her the boss cheers her up not to worry because he knows that next time she would not only make up for the loss but also fetch a million-dollar profit.

His strange attitude reminds me of the American genius which has made that country the superpower in just two centuries since their declaration of independence on July 4, 1776. They never lose trust in human genius to succeed in life. Thomas Alva Edison, that self-taught inventor with 1,093 patents to his credit, has the last word on optimism that takes off from the launching pad of trust to scale new heights of success. Here goes: “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. Many of life's failures are people who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up. I never did a day's work in my life, it was all fun.” Here are nursery lessons for the Indian polity struggling so hard to make India shine!