In the late 1950s, some of my pals and I—all bachelors—were working at a textile industry in Kanpur. In our small circle of friends, there was a young man from Assam. His name was Gurung, whom we fondly called Guru. He was always humble to a fault and quite convivial. Yet, he was much more homesick than all of us. Not a day passed without Guru receiving letters from his home in Assam’s Dibrugarh.
On one evening during those days, we found him sitting in the corridor of our mess sporting an anxious look. When we asked him if something was wrong, he replied, “I have not heard from home for about a week. Will our boss grant me leave for a few days to go home?” “Yes, by all means he must,” some of us consoled him.
The very next day, he placed a leave application. Our boss, who was the divisional manager of our section of the industry, had mostly been cavalier towards the sorrows and sufferings of the employees working under him.
When it was about closing time, the boss summoned him to his cabin. Anticipating good news, Guru went inside. However, to his chagrin, he was told, “Don’t you know no news is good news?” Then cocking his eyes and glancing at him in a quizzical manner, the boss ordered, “Rest assured that everyone at home is doing well, get back to work”.
A dejected Guru withdrew his application and left in a huff. Following this, he withdrew from us and began spending time alone. A fortnight rolled by, and there were still no letters from Guru’s home. Then came the shocking news, broadcast by All India Radio that the Brahmaputra was in full spate, inundating several villages around Dibrugarh— Guru’s hometown.
Placing an application for leave, the young man rushed to Dibrugarh only to find his parents and siblings washed away by the floods. The news shook the whole caboodle of our departmental staff with horror.
The man at the helm, who was insanely holding onto his blunt belief in the adage, ‘No news is good news’, failed in his duty with his frigid attitude towards an ace employee. By refusing to allow Gurung to take leave and go home to be with his family at a time of crisis, he lost a very sincere and studious worker.
H Narayanan
Email: nanan2105@gmail.com