Truth Beyond Imagination

It was still early morning. Sun rise yet to happen but faint light is visible in the sky. I along with my wife and father in law were staring silently at Savitri. Savitri the girl attracting attention from all village heads, her sister with brother-in-law and my family; was not looking at any of us even though she knows we were all waiting for her words.

I adopted Savitri. Perhaps tried to adopt but for my adamant wife who has different view. Savitri lost her parents at young age. She had only Sister Suramma who is married to another worker Chalamayya. Their earnings are just good to manage their own life and cant bear any 3rd person. My Father-in-law a highly respectful gentleman in the village suggested us to adopt her if possible. I and my wife both promptly agreed even though for different reasons. We carried Savitri from the dead body of her mother to my home.

Savitri came to the city along with us. She brought a small bag of torn clothes and nothing else. I have my little daughter as well. We didn't have a second child and I made up my mind that Savitri is my child and will grow along with my daughter. She will be educated to lead a good and respectable life.

First thing we did was to burn her clothes and bought good and decent clothes. It needed some time for me to teach her the good habits of being clean, oiling and combing hair regularly, improve her local slang to speak in more refined language. We tried to teach her alphabets as well.She was in the mean time smoothly dragged to responsibilities of taking care of my little daughter. For me, it was lovely feeling watching the elder sister taking care of little one.

She sits with us watching movies on TV, having lunch together. We went to many temples like Shirdi, Tirupathi which she never had a chance to visit. She also watched lot of movies along with us in multiplex theatres and enjoyed the rich experience of watching in a nice environment. Every festival we buy crackers, clothes, gifts like we did to second daughter. In fact Savitri enjoyed more as my second daughter is yet to understand these celebrations and struggling to learn walking.

We even tried to open a Bank account for Savitri for regular savings to make a future for her. Thats where the Manager asked who is she.

I said 'She is my first daughter'.

Simultaneously my wife said 'she is our maid'.

The manager for obvious reasons started looking at my wife and heard her with no attention to me in the further conversation. He said there has to be a notarised document and many other irritants to open a Bank account in the name of Savitri. We had a reason to avoid this and decided to open another account in the name of second daughter but wanted to run it as the account for Savitri.

My house is fully air conditioned hence Savitri sleeps comfortably in the caretaker room we had in the house. Days were passing quickly and we completed close to an year.

One day Savitri said, she wanted to meet her Sister. I understood the sentiment and we were also thinking of having a vacation next month. I told her we can go next month as we are also travelling. Like any other time, Savitri nodded her head in agreement and left silently.

This is how we landed in the village. When We reached the inlaws house, Savitri jumped out of my Audi car and ran towards her sister's house without even looking at rest of us. We laughed at her for the kind of eagerness she showed to meet her only relative her sister. However Savitri didnt come back even after several days. I was wondering after 2 days about why she was not coming back. Finally my father in law sent his servants to escort her back. The servant returned alone with a message that Savitri doesnt want to come back. It was a big surprise. What went wrong?

We called her sister and Brother-in-law to discuss. They came and stood in front of us with maximum humbleness possible and said 'Savitri is home sick sir. She wants to stay here at home. '

I smiled and said 'now her home is in Hyderabad. Is she still thinking her home is here in this village?'

They didnt respond. Suramma however hesitantly asked 'Sir, I understand there is some money deposited on her name ......'

I was shocked and said angrily. "That money belonged to her. What made you discuss about it? Is this the reason for all this drama?"

She told at low tone 'I agree you are taking care sir. But we want to know the amount deposited so far ....'

I got up furiously and said 'I am giving the cheque for 1 Lakh (100,000) Rupees. Will it solve the problem for ever? Will you forget your sister?' I handed over the check to her.

She took the cheque but still didnt reply immediately. 'Thank you sir. But Savitri doesnt want to go with you'

I was shocked. "Please call her. I want to hear from her. She is living like angel in my house. I wont believe she wants to stay here. You guys want money. You know? She is my elder daughter"

Suramma hesitated a lot but finally we were able to bring Savitri. Now entire village got to know about this and they all gathered to watch the show.

Irrespective of repeated requests Savitri didnt answer to any of us. My earlier confidence was getting lost. Is Savitri really upset for anything? What wrong did I do?

Suramma asked Savitri "What is this Savitri? Why are you not answering? They are taking care of you like their daughter. You only told. You watch 5 movies every month. You always go in a big car. You went to several temples with them in all comforts. You fire crackers on Deepavali (A festival in India), you get good clothes, toys, good food. You live in a comfortable house with AC and other comforts. You can watch Big screen TV. None of these comforts are here. Why dont you go and live with them?"

First time Savitri lifted her head and looked at all of us.

"Yes Sister. I went to several temples but when they wanted to go. I watched the movies when they wanted and to their selections. I have a TV but watch when they switch it on. I go anywhere in nice car but to the places where they go. Even when I wanted to come here, I needed to wait for a month because thats when travel was planned"

She broke down and said.

"I want to live my life. whatever it is Sister. Please tell me if I am a burden to you but dont ask me to go there"

There was dead silence for a couple of minutes.

I stood up with no words. I gave another cheque of 2 Lakh (200,000) Rupees and left the place silently.

I know what is wrong. And understood I am wrong. First time in my life one drop of tears came out of my eyes with guilt. I never cried and I was never sorry to anyone so far but this time ....

More than anything people want to live Free. There is a truth which is beyond imagination.

***

Disclaimer: I have been writing the blogs in the style of story telling based on real incidents but with some fiction added to emphasise the message. Hence I request not to make any conclusions to derive facts based on the posts in these articles

Enablers are needed but Outcome is more Important

When I went to Nobel Hospital I found Nobel already waiting there with a garland with bunch of people behind him, all in business suits. Before I got down Nobel opened the Car door and invited me. A beautiful lady came with the garland and before I prevented the garland was around my neck. "Mr. Khaderao, it is a great feeling to have you here. Please come" We all went inside. It was stunning experience for me when I looked inside. It was a huge hall fully decorated and equipped with five receptionists sitting in the middle of the floor. All of them are with Neat and Clean Hospital Uniform. Even all other Staff moving on the Hall were full of White and Clean clothes. The Hall is full of room freshener flavor. They all greeted me and I folded my hands and told Namaste to them before they offered a hand shake (I am also a mad guy). "Dear Khaderao, we have five receptionists to ensure we serve the best. Their job is to ensure who ever enters this building are authorized" First receptionist Swathi asked me show my bag. She almost tore the bag to check all parts and sides of the bag and ensured there are no dangerous items like Pen Drives, Data Cards, CDs etc. She returned the (Torn) bag as it is and I needed to close all portions and put all my belongings in to my bag. Thinking that my job is done, I wanted to move forward. But Rosy (next receptionist) stopped me. "Sir I want to check your laptop" I replied "I didnt bring laptop" "But I need to check sir. My apologies""Just now Swathi checked my bag and there was no laptop inside?..." "Sorry Sir, she checked if there are CDs, Pen Drives etc. I need to check if there is Laptop"

"But she didnt find any laptop in my bag. You also must have seen?" "As per process I need to do my checks sir, I am sorry without this checking we do not permit any one to go inside our Office' Nobel interfered and said to me "Dear Khaderao, I know this is slight inconvenience, but we have robust process to ensure there are no risks. Please cooperate" I was quite impressed and my Bag was again torn to the max limit. There are 3 more to check my bag. Probably one will check if I have bombs and Arms and another whether I have a camera and the last one will check if the Bag is still useful!!! Fortunately the other checks were completed very fast in an hour. When I thought of moving, the last receptionist told me, "Sir outside items are not allowed. I request you to please leave the bag here in reception" I left the Bag after filling 5 page form with all details of what is in the Bag. At last I could go inside the office at about 12.30 PM. It was lunch time. 

Nobel asked me if I want to have lunch. I asked what the best nearby Hotel. I wanted to go but quickly changed my mind after Nobel explained that I need to leave with my bag and enter again through the same process that I followed in the morning.

"Let us have something here itself. I may not be able to enter again in next 3,4 hours" "Lunch inside office is not allowed Khaderao" Nobel said.

Good. One day fasting is better. I am already fat to the extent that I reached irreversible state and skipping one meal may help. I made my mind to skip lunch to save that many hours of checks at reception again. Nobel took me to the Research and Development Section. "Dear Khaderao, this is the Research and Development group. The people whoever work here undergo complete checks including mental check to make sure they dont go mad for next 1 year."

"Why So?" I asked with curiosity as well as fear about what will happen to me.

"This is because our systematic approach is not digestible to many immatured people and hence we decided to have this kind of treatment"

We moved forward. "We dont supply papers so that people cant print any documents. We dont provide the phone to ensure our team dont call outsiders"

I was surprised and asked "What if they need any print out? Why cant they call outside?"

"Our Intellectual Property cant go out. If anything is printed you may see the content of printout and reveal to outsiders. Similarly the guys may call outside and reveal the confidential matter to outsiders"

"What if they need to speak to customers, Experts or others for any clarifications?" Nobel smiled proudly.

"We have a process for that as well. The team needs to fill this 7 page form and submit a business case for a phone call or a Printout or both. It will go through a robust approval process and we strictly follow the SLA of 10 days. The team are informed to followup only after these 10 days if they do not get any response."

"Great!!! "

And the approved conversation is monitored by a team of 10 people and it is recorded as well to make sure any of the Monitoring team doesnt join hands with the R&D teams and sabotage"

"What if the recording guy also cheats you?"

"It cant happen because the recording is done in such a way that no one can access the recorded item. And no one can know even the place where the recorded version is stored" Nobel replied with lot of Pride.

"Than how you will anyone access that version if the conversation needs to be verified?"

I didnt ask the question as I was feeling hungry and not having much energy to hear.

Nobel took me to another room. Before I asked, he explained "This is brainwashing room"

"<!*&$#%?????"

"People who are released from the Services are brainwashed completely to forget all they did here !"

"<!*&$#%????? <!*&$#%????? <!*&$#%????? <!*&$#%?????............"

"This is because we prevent CDs Pen Drives, Internet Access, Telephone access and what not. But the guy can still remember the content of the Intellectual properties developed here" Nobel clarified.

This is very innovative!!! And really true. The intelligent guys can still store all the information in their brain. It must be thoroughly washed to protect the IP.

Nobel took me to another room. I saw 100 screens on the big wall with 20 people watching the screens without moving the neck. "These screens show what is happening in the Hospital. We prevented Printouts, phone calls and data storage but people talk between themselves and information may pass between them"

Oh thats valid point !!!!!

"If we find any one talking to other in Development room, conference room or even Toilet, immediately an incident is logged. A 15 member team will review and interrogate the people on what they talked. Depending on the outcome, beyond SLA of 30days (Beyond or within ???) the Employee will be punished or even laid off."

I opened my mouth and hearing.

"We may go with a simple punishment of plastering the mouths of members involved in the discussion for a duration of 30 days. Or we may go to the extreme of terminating them with a fine of 10 Lakh rupees" Nobel elaborated with glowing face. "Currently we have a debate of whether the duration is 30 calendar days or 30 working days. As a matter of safety we are following 30 working days. A 3 member committee is reviewing the Procedure document to figure out what is the correct duration. they will complete the investigation beyond SLA of 2 months (- calendar days or ???)"

Very systematic!

I saw a few more cameras in the same room. Nobel understood my curiosity and explained before I asked. "These cameras are to monitor these 20 guys. They cant move their neck towards anything other than screens"

Oh!

"Yes. We also do a mock drill when we deliberately make huge noise of 100 decibels and if any one turns their neck to understand that noise they will be sacked immediately. This is to ensure they are all disciplined and focused towards their work. Even 1% of deviation is taken very serious in my organization"

I appreciate. He took me to the next room. There are around 50 people sitting and working with lot of concentration. They didnt even look at us. "They are all Inspection teams" "They keep writing new processes to confuse the teams to the best extent." 

~^*%$^#@(*&@^@@????

"This is because even our processes are IP (Intellectual Property) Protected. No one should share these processes to outside. More the confusion much is the protection of our IP"

Thats very true.

Nobel took me to Robot section where there are 100+ Robots which can do all types of Surgeries including Heart transplantation. He clarified that even these Robots will be brainwashed to make sure their thinking algorithm keeps changing and cleaned frequently. 

In other wing, all testing equipment are placed. "Anyone even if he is dying in front of me before I treat them, they need to undergo the tests!" Nobel proudly told.

"Without the test reports, even a dead body will not be touched by our doctors. We go by everything that is documented. We don't go by anything by apparent symptoms or verbal reports. This is the reason why our auditors don't find even one flaw in our Processes"

Fantastic. 

Nobel took me to another hall which is big to an extent that I can meet the guy on the other end only the next day. There are hundreds of beds with clean bed sheets. Every Bed has a big shelf, lockers, refrigerator and partitions. Beside each bed, there are equipment to support blood tests, Saline loading and even small surgeries etc. What a great Infrastructure! There is a TV infront of the Bed. There is also a room consisting of team which supports the Cable TVs. All that Staff are blind folded. Whenever a repair is required they are allowed to see, fix the issue and go back to blind folds. 

Yes I know why before Nobel clarified. Intellectual property and Process orientation. 

Nobel took me to Ambulance management. There are 100 ambulances. Each Ambulance is like a house. Everything is there in the Ambulance Once again TV is also included. Staff were watching "Munnabhai MBBS" when we went there. 

When Nobel went they stopped the TV immediately. Nobel was furious and told them that the TV is for Customers only. He logged incidents against each of the staff.

We went to many other sections and everywhere it is clean, and perfect.When I finished the visit, I was checked thoroughly again in the most impressive manner. I collected my bag from the 5th receptionist after filling another form and started to move.

But the fourth Receptionist stopped me "Sir, I need to check your bag before leaving"

"Just now I got it from your colleague what will be there other than what you already checked in the morning?"

"Sir that is something I need to confirm. As per process we need to check the visitor before he leaves. We dont go assumptions."

After one full day duration in the the office, I understood a few things and without too many questions I got my bag checked by other 4 as well.My bag is now in very bad shape but I am still happy to see that nothing offensive was found even after a thorough checking.

"Dear Khaderao, you went through the entire show. How is your feeling?" Nobel asked me on my way back.

"Dear Nobel, I am quite impressed by your infrastructure. All latest equipment, robust practices and the most disciplined team. With this kind of system, I am sure you can do a great job and protect the interest of the IP"

Nobel was very proud.

Suddenly I realized one thing before getting into the car.

"By the way, I didnt see any patients. How many are there?"

So far Nobel was answering all queries confidently but for the first time the smile disappeared from his face.I didnt wait for the answer and got in to the Car.

Disclaimer: I have been writing the blogs in the style of story telling based on real incidents but with some fiction added to emphasize the message. Hence I request not to make any conclusions to derive facts based on the posts in these articles