The toughest thing in one’s life is to bid someone “Good Bye”! though "good bye" is something which holds good till we see / meet again, i dread the
thought of bidding good bye to anyone!
I equally do not enjoy receiving anyone either, be it in airport,
railway station or bus stand. by and large planes, trains and busses do not
come on time. we got to wait, wait & wait endlessly in places where little
facility exist. crowded, without the comfort of good seating, air conditioning
(most places do not even have fans!!)…. that too in very odd hours.
but in life one cannot avoid these rituals of receiving and bidding good
bye as both are inevitable.
.
there were times when i had gone to the wrong railway stations as in
city like Hyderabad there are three railway stations big ones in which
interstate trains arrive, Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Kachiguda. Once my
brother was coming from Mumbai for the first time to Hyderabad. I went to
Secunderabd station to receive him. After a great wait I learnt that the train
reached Hyderabad and the Journey for it ended then & there. By the time I
reached home my brother was already there to receive me.
Once to receive my boss I went to Airport in Chennai. By the time I
reached driving my car, my boss got lift from someone and reached his hotel.
Thus the day began on a bad note and continued whole day!
forget about reception now let us go to send off !! it is certainly a
very painful experience, especially when it involves members of the fairer sex
! Tears, more tears and many many more tears!
We were moving to Malawi on 1st May’1995. My father had a brain
tumor surgery a few weeks back. despite that as a brave man he consoled my
mother when we were moving out of Chennai to Blantyre. The scene is still very
vivid in my mind ! My esteem of him rose many more notches that day !
There was a time when I had to see my daughter off for her college in
Raipur. Her train was from Chennai Central and I had travelled along with her
from Bangalore to Chennai. In Chennai I could spend just ten minutes with her
as my return train to bangalore was about to start. I handed over her to my
brothers in Chennai station and ran to my train only to start crying inconsolably
as my daughter was shedding tears when she bid me good bye! Though I had put up
a tough front in front of her I could hardly control my tears during my journey
to Bangalore !!
One Good Bye for me which I shall never forget in my life span ! It was
my last working day in Thailand. I was warned by my wife to return home in
time. She was also insisting that if possible I should avoid visiting office
that day ! But I was asked to be there for the first half. Therefore I was
there in my cabin after winding up all & sundry waiting for the clock to
reach 12 Noon !
By then one by one all my team started coming to my cabin with a plastic
rose ! I accepted all of them with great humility ! after that all the flowers
were made in to bouquet and handed over to me. then i told my right hand man
that time was up and I must leave. By then all the pregnant girls who were
given light duty by management lined up in front of my office, followed by team
leaders, supervisors, shift in charges, Asst. Managers and Managers. There was
literally a procession in front of me. Around 70 people in all walked slowly
with me up to the car park. I was seen off from there by the General Manager.
My car was Driven by my right hand man. Then from home to airport he
drove the car. In the airport I was seen Off by him.
Thus at times, I used to joke that in the Thai “Good Bye” I have seen a
rehearsal of my funeral with bouquet instead of a wreath !!!
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