kailash

Kailash worked in a research agency. Well, he was the head of the regional office and each day he left for work by 8.00 so he could reach the office by 9.00 and have at least half an hour by himself to organize his day. Actually the thinking would start almost as soon as he was up. The alarm would ring for Anita, she would doze for ten more minutes, he usually gave her a cuddle before she got up and he would doze till she came in with a cup of tea for him. It was one of the things that he loved…. Tea in bed, looking out on the verandah, where Anita put out bajra seeds for the pigeons who waited for her each day.

He could recognize them now. Each one had a different personality…. That one was the bully. On certain days he would peck at any of the pigeons who were eating. If any pigeon dared to come behind his back and take a seed from the corner, he or she would immediately turn and flutter his wings and aggressively send the pigeon flying off. Sometimes a pigeon would fluff up all its feathers and making cooing noises go round and round with his head going up and down, round and round, up and down. The mating game. Today there was one pigeon in the middle and two wooers one on each side. She would turn, look at each, and … I guess not liking what she saw, flew away.

It was only these few minutes in the day when he enjoyed things around him in a quiet uninterrupted way.

Thinking would start ….. what did he have to finish today…..what had to get done. Kailash was with a research agency. He was one of the few guys who had studied arts – he had been the only guy amongst 100 girls in his college when he did his bachelors, and also his masters. Sociology, the arts were considred soft girlie topics…. Not for those who wanted to succeed. They would be in science, becoming doctors, engineers or atnMBA from the IIM’s. Kailash was more interested in what he saw as the chaos of life. And that’s why he went into sociology and where he had met Anita. They had both been part of a college team which had gone to the drought areas of Maharashtra in…

Today he had to send a proposal on what kind of research was needed to address the growing decline in the sex ratio in some of the districts.

He sighed… it was always difficult to work on topics like this, than on market research, where it was all about toothpaste, cigarette, soft drinks how to build up the brand, or how to improve customer or employee satisfaction. To a large extent, this was quite standard, and it did not have the capacity to upset or depress anyone. After all, there was nothing really special about it.

It was trying to understand how one could approach a social topic topics that angered, that one got emotionally involved with which were the most challenging. Most difficult. One got involved. It was something that people in research wanted ….mainly because they believed that what they said could make a difference in the lives of others. It gave a sense of mission and purpose and that essentially was why one went into research in the first place. And it was rare to get an assignment . Anita would be valuable to have onto the meeting….. and wondering how he could entice her into coming, he went for his bath