Transcript

It’s rather hot in the city today but a cup of chai just can’t be missed. This city can’t be touched but only looked at. Probably everyone here is supposed to be looked at too.

I reach my stop, punch out and almost start sprinting towards my workplace, rubbing sleeves with the crowd and yet trying to catch the rhythm.

The clock strikes 9.00 am.

It’s not busy on the floor but i do see our sir (boss) discussing something. I also see a small team gathered around him and listening intently. My duty today is to get chai (tea). I rush to the kitchen, make some chai and pour it for everyone at work. The discussion seems to be getting a little serious now. I serve the chai and hear our sir talking about an issue of not being able to get a proper Mineral Glass diameter which could fit in one of our customer’s watch. Turns out, that a case of the same size is unavailable. Most of the service centers do not have a grinding machine and if it is available, it’s a challenge to use it due to high RPM and friction. The glass case could break. The option now is  to approach the local market to grind the Mineral Glass and solve this issue. The team is on a deadline.

I say out loud, ‘Sir ji, can i help you with this?’ I know how it works! Sir looks at me swiftly. I’ve seen him to be a hard working man. My favourite kind. He smiles and asks me about my idea of solving this. I explain the process of MG grinding in my own vocabulary. All those visits to the local market and observing those grinding machines has finally paid off. Sir smiles again. I request him for his permission to develop a small grinding machine with RPM control and coolant facility.

'I would like to build it!,' I say. Sir again asks me to explain how I intend to build it and asks me to give a demo. I get started and I see Sir now smiling, this time with a shine in his eyes.

Within three days of seeking permission from him, I get to know that that the machine is working perfectly. The problem has been solved. One of my colleagues in the kitchen serves me chai this time. I take a sip. Sir joins me. He congratulates me on my involvement and my rigour of doing the job. Sir jee tells me that I saved cost for the company and solved a customer problem. I just feel overwhelmed.

Clock strikes 7.00 pm.  The Metro compartment is overcrowded. I brush sleeves again with the crowd but I take care that the name on my uniform is clean and the creases are intact.

The fact that my boss and the team has showed so much trust in me and my abilities gives me a different type of confidence to make things happen and look at life. It's not only the journey that matters. It's also the people with you, your fellow travellers who help you reach your destination. The metro gradually speeds and even in this chaos, I see my reflection in the glass window of my metro compartment. I see my name revealing itself as the crowd disperses upon reaching the stop, ‘Mrityunjai Chakraborty'; not just a valued office assistant today but a person who built a grinding machine from scratch. A person who made a small difference.

Produced by Nivedita Gokhale