Man was once no more than a primate, with a finger comfortably placed in his bunghole and a sure-footed perch on a tree of his preference, gazing down at the gold and black stripes of a menacing tiger and greeting it with the enthused calls of 'kho-kho-kho'. Then came a few thousand years of evolution that gave us thongs and loincloth and subsequently replaced it with pants and an in-built sense to avoid a Bengal tiger at any cost or at least, in those perplexing happenstances when you come across one in the course of your day-to-day doings, not to entice it with enthusiastic invites to supper.
Then came Arindam Paul. At first glance, he might strike you as the proverbial hobo, going about his business, as hobos are wont to do. But gaze closer and you'll find that the threadbare blue hoodie he dons just doesn't fit the discarded Pantaloons bill from a decade ago that you'd expect your typical urchin to wear, the dry patches of grime that adorn his face with all the majesty of war paint are not, in fact, your average smudges of destitution and the laudably tragic dance moves he pulls in your occasional DJ parties will not invite a quick seize-and-dispose operation from the bouncer. They all come tinged with the blasphemy of choice. For this Arindam Paul of ours is not your average human 2.0 you'll find in every crevice of IIM Indore. He is, in truth, just the anthropological equivalent of a Dell laptop that comes with a few non-essential components missing, and the customer, also being Arindam Paul, signs for it with the resigned air of an Arindam Paul who has made his peace with the fact that the a higher power directs the good folk at Dell to stick him with a malfunctioning piece.
Sushan Kottari, a man of few passions and fewer words, has a keen eye for human traits. Over the last year and a half, I have had plenty of insightful and rather pleasing conversations with the guy on riveting topics of trivial interests. It was no coincidence today, that I found myself seated beside him during a particularly lackluster session on the IT Industry, discussing the affairs of civil wars in the Middle East and the freshness of the boiled eggs served at breakfast this morning. Sushan, having no interest in the latter (having skipped breakfast himself) and my having no knowledge of the former, turned the discussion to the much more welcome topic of what one would be if not his particular person. Siddharth Jain, for instance, with his groovy analytic skills and BCG temperament, would easily lead one to imagine him as a slightly bemused badger.
-'But what of Paul?' I asked.
-'Sloth!' came back the immediate reply. And I felt myself inwardly concur.
Sushan and I have the amazing and slightly irksome tendency to think along the same lines. We are like two peas in dissimilar pods, and being so, recognized the wisdom of forging an intellectual alliance early on, sprinkling our verbal tete-a-tetes with the kind of wry banter that would (were he slightly less hirsute or perhaps even in the possession of a vagina) make for some interesting sex.
Evidently Paul's internal radar detected the mention of his name as he rose lugubriously from his seat like phlegm slithering down the basin and scanned the surroundings with sleep-crusted eyes. 'Oh, there's a lecture in progress,' he might have imagined. Or 'Hmm..it's been 3 years..My hoodie needs washing'. But having about the same aptitude for gauging the working of Paul's mind as a rodent might for the functioning of a hamster wheel, I shall leave the machinations of Paul's mind to himself.
-'Tu Why Marketing ka answer janta hai kya?', Nagdev once asked him.
-'Arre tu interview-er ko resume dikhake bol,' he famously replied, 'ki 'Sir, dekho mera internship ITC me hai..ab aap hi batao Marketing karu ya Fin?'
Paul, finding the lecturer rambling on about the growth rates of IT firms, sank back in his seat and immediately gave in to peaceful slumber.
But it is not fair to judge Paul based on an isolated incident. He was particularly hungover today after last night's new year bash. Paul is the kind to get inexplicably hyped up about visiting the seedy bars in Indore for a booze session on sporadic occasions and last night just happened to coincide with new year's. I know for a fact that he will spend the next few weeks avoiding the juice with claims of an upset stomach from having gulped down too many pegs of BP. But all in all, he's a good egg. Indeed, he does look the part. Now that I think about it, he bears an uncanny resemblance to this morning's breakfast egg. Hard boiled and only slightly cracked.
Then came Arindam Paul. At first glance, he might strike you as the proverbial hobo, going about his business, as hobos are wont to do. But gaze closer and you'll find that the threadbare blue hoodie he dons just doesn't fit the discarded Pantaloons bill from a decade ago that you'd expect your typical urchin to wear, the dry patches of grime that adorn his face with all the majesty of war paint are not, in fact, your average smudges of destitution and the laudably tragic dance moves he pulls in your occasional DJ parties will not invite a quick seize-and-dispose operation from the bouncer. They all come tinged with the blasphemy of choice. For this Arindam Paul of ours is not your average human 2.0 you'll find in every crevice of IIM Indore. He is, in truth, just the anthropological equivalent of a Dell laptop that comes with a few non-essential components missing, and the customer, also being Arindam Paul, signs for it with the resigned air of an Arindam Paul who has made his peace with the fact that the a higher power directs the good folk at Dell to stick him with a malfunctioning piece.
Sushan Kottari, a man of few passions and fewer words, has a keen eye for human traits. Over the last year and a half, I have had plenty of insightful and rather pleasing conversations with the guy on riveting topics of trivial interests. It was no coincidence today, that I found myself seated beside him during a particularly lackluster session on the IT Industry, discussing the affairs of civil wars in the Middle East and the freshness of the boiled eggs served at breakfast this morning. Sushan, having no interest in the latter (having skipped breakfast himself) and my having no knowledge of the former, turned the discussion to the much more welcome topic of what one would be if not his particular person. Siddharth Jain, for instance, with his groovy analytic skills and BCG temperament, would easily lead one to imagine him as a slightly bemused badger.
-'But what of Paul?' I asked.
-'Sloth!' came back the immediate reply. And I felt myself inwardly concur.
Sushan and I have the amazing and slightly irksome tendency to think along the same lines. We are like two peas in dissimilar pods, and being so, recognized the wisdom of forging an intellectual alliance early on, sprinkling our verbal tete-a-tetes with the kind of wry banter that would (were he slightly less hirsute or perhaps even in the possession of a vagina) make for some interesting sex.
Evidently Paul's internal radar detected the mention of his name as he rose lugubriously from his seat like phlegm slithering down the basin and scanned the surroundings with sleep-crusted eyes. 'Oh, there's a lecture in progress,' he might have imagined. Or 'Hmm..it's been 3 years..My hoodie needs washing'. But having about the same aptitude for gauging the working of Paul's mind as a rodent might for the functioning of a hamster wheel, I shall leave the machinations of Paul's mind to himself.
-'Tu Why Marketing ka answer janta hai kya?', Nagdev once asked him.
-'Arre tu interview-er ko resume dikhake bol,' he famously replied, 'ki 'Sir, dekho mera internship ITC me hai..ab aap hi batao Marketing karu ya Fin?'
Paul, finding the lecturer rambling on about the growth rates of IT firms, sank back in his seat and immediately gave in to peaceful slumber.
But it is not fair to judge Paul based on an isolated incident. He was particularly hungover today after last night's new year bash. Paul is the kind to get inexplicably hyped up about visiting the seedy bars in Indore for a booze session on sporadic occasions and last night just happened to coincide with new year's. I know for a fact that he will spend the next few weeks avoiding the juice with claims of an upset stomach from having gulped down too many pegs of BP. But all in all, he's a good egg. Indeed, he does look the part. Now that I think about it, he bears an uncanny resemblance to this morning's breakfast egg. Hard boiled and only slightly cracked.
1 comment:
How the hell did I not know about this till now?? :P
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