Tambe glared from his desk. How could he tolerate his junior enjoying a cup of tea served by a uniformed waiter? He soon came up with a way to stop him.
He called for Mahadev.
‘Where were you?’
‘I’d gone out to order tea for Satwalekar saheb.’
‘You can’t leave without my permission. You’re here for office duty and not for running personal errands.’
Tambe smiled gleefully, having found a way to stump Satwalekar. But the next day the uniformed waiter came in again with a cup of tea in a tray. It was quite simple. After all, it’s easy to give standing instructions to the hotel-wallah, isn’t it?’
‘Have you seen the way our head clerk behaves?’ I said.
‘Our head clerk or yours?’
‘What do you mean? Ours.’
‘He is a cent per cent human being.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘He has all the traits of anger, greed, jealousy, etc. That’s why I say he is a complete human being. I know how to guard myself against such people.’
‘I agree. But there’s no point in being jealous, is there? After all, we’re simple folk.’
‘Quite natural, isn’t it? He can’t be jealous of the prime minister now, can he? Anyway, let it be. Such people will always exist.’
‘He keeps glaring at your tablecloth and flowers.’
‘He doesn’t know that I got the handle and lock fixed on my own, at my own expense.’
‘Oh, is that so? I didn’t know that either.’
‘It’s not difficult. It doesn’t require any special skills. The department would have taken two months to fix two screws. In all likelihood, I’d have got transferred by then. That’s why I make sure I inspect the place I’m moving to beforehand. So that I know what to expect.’
‘Do you do this wherever you go?’
‘Yes.’
‘How many Tambes have you met so far?’
‘I still believe Tambe isn’t at fault. It’s easy to win over such people. I can win him over any day by ordering a special tea for him.’
‘Don’t tell me that’s all it takes to win people over!’
‘Of course! Their expectations are as small as their jealousies.’
‘How can you say that?’
‘That’s because even their smallest expectations remain unfulfilled. So it’s easy to satisfy them.’
It didn’t take long for Satwalekar to gain Tambe’s confidence. If not by ordering a cup of tea, he made himself indispensable in other ways. Satwalekar’s penchant for cleanliness and orderliness came through in everything he did. He would never use a crumpled sheet of paper to type on. In fact, he would refuse to use one even if the edge was bent. He firmly believed that one couldn’t repair an aeroplane after it had taken flight. All repairs and checks needed to be done before taking off. The plane takes off only when everything is perfect. Similarly, he wouldn’t allow any paper to move from his table until it was perfect. He would subject everything on his desk, whether it was a file, a statement, a tender or a bill, to the same scrutiny as one would subject a plane to before take-off. Tambe kept looking for opportunities to send a file back to Satwalekar for some minor correction, but in vain. And it was thanks to Satwalekar’s attention to detail that Tambe managed to save himself from being accused of a major fraud in one case.
The word ‘mistake’ did not exist in Satwalekar’s dictionary. How can there be a mistake in the first place? That was his favourite question. Mahadev dropped a bottle of ink once. Seeing the ink spilled all over, he asked,
‘Mahadev, how did the bottle fall down?’
‘I brushed against the desk by mistake.’
‘Does one go about brushing oneself against desks?’
‘But sir…’
‘Is it some lottery that it happened by chance?’
‘But…’
‘Tell me, how did you do it?’
Overhearing the conversation, someone shouted from across the room,
‘Satwalekar, he will have to drop one more bottle to show you.’
Everyone laughed.
Someone else tried to diffuse the situation,
‘It happens, sir.’
Satwalekar had no choice but to keep quiet.
I was the only one at work with whom he got along. He would share his frustrations with me. He was a perfectionist and was disappointed when he found that others did not measure up to his standards.
He used to write his thoughts in a diary.
He had filled page after page, writing about his parents, siblings, friends – anyone he had come across in life. He would note down their faults.
‘Mother swept the floor when there were guests in the drawing room. She shouldn’t have done that. It creates a bad impression. I scolded her.’
‘Last evening, my brother-in-law landed up at my place with his children. I’d made plans to go out. I didn’t change my plans. My brother-in-law was upset. He should have called me before coming down. When I told him that, he said he had misplaced the diary in which he had noted down my number. How does one misplace a diary like that? This is because of bad habits.’
‘My younger brother lost his wallet. Bloody fool! He should have been attentive. How can one lose a wallet like this? I scolded him.’
He encouraged me to read further, but I was hesitant after reading a few pages and returned it. Keeping the diary in his bag, he said,
‘This is how people behave. How do I change them?’
I didn’t say anything. What could I have said?
Satwalekar surprised me one day.
‘I’m going on leave for a month, starting tomorrow.’
‘Why, what happened?’
‘I’m getting married.’
‘Oh, that’s good news! But is this any way to announce your marriage?’
‘It all happened very quickly.’
‘Is your fiancée from Mumbai?’
‘No. She’s from Khandesh. She’s visiting some relatives here.’
‘Hope you grilled her properly. After all, not everyone can live up to your high standards…’
‘I just looked at her. The marriage had been fixed by my uncle from Khandesh and my approval was a mere formality.’
‘Have you got the invitation cards printed?’
‘No. There’s been no time for that.’
Our conversation ended there. He seemed reluctant to talk about his impending marriage. I could see a faint shadow of sadness over his face. His silence dampened my enthusiasm. I wondered what he would
