The British Rule

My Grandmother once told me, “Whatever you do in life, will come back to you! No matter whether it’s good or bad. It will definitely come back to you…”- I don’t think that she said this just for me to do good things in my life and I do have faith in spirituality. But I had another thought in my mind! Everything we do today has a connection with the past! It may connect you to 100 years back! Sometimes 1000 years! Sometimes to the Stone Age!

Is it??

My world is very small. Every day I wake up at 6 AM. My office timings are 8 AM to 6 PM, and it mostly stretches to 8 or 9 PM. I work for a multinational IT company in India, and we deal with US clients. And of course, I like to write whenever I get time- This is my life apart from my family which comprises of my Father, Mother, Brother, his Wife and their one-year-old daughter.

That was a hectic day completely messed up with the codes and computer. I was fast asleep than the usual!

“Hey… Work! Work!” Said Vikraman pushing the employees who were barely wearing a piece of cotton. They were toiled hard carrying the sacks of paddy, rice husks.

Vikraman is the chief accountant and the personal assistant of Shudhama Prasadhan, the Zamindar, who ruled the western region of Tamil Nadu under the East India Company.

Every day Vikraman’s work is to monitor the employees in the paddy field. The employees were the people of that locality and most of them were starving for food. Even a one-time meal per day was a big deal for them. They work in the field and earn on a daily basis. Every day they reach the paddy field early in the morning, they plow the land, irrigate and take care of agriculture throughout the year. Some of them work in the coconut farm and oil factory. They are often used to clean the houses and garden of the British people who were living there. They also worked as a watchman to safeguard their properties. Their ultimate aim was to make the British people happy. They never get any free time to take rest. They were allowed to drink water from the Zamindar’s well for free and that was their break time. And Vikraman gives them the wages for their work in the evening which was very less.

“Krishnan…” Vikraman called a worker.

“09.02.1916… 2 Ana” Said Vikraman and gave him 2 Ana (Indian Rupee during that time)

“Samy(Lord), 2 Ana is not enough.” Said Krishnan.

“Bloody dog! Get what Shudhama Prasadhan ayya (chief) pays you. Is this not sufficient?!” Said Vikraman.

“Remember… you won’t be seeing this place again!”- He threatened!

Krishnan didn’t speak anything and left the place. But he had the vengeance over the entire system and he used to talk about this with the people in his region who were either not able to understand or they were accepting it.

“How atrocious it is… We work throughout the day for them and we are paid ‘2 Ana’. And they enjoy the luxury”- Krishnan said being the last man on that money chain!

The people were looking at him!

“The British rule India. The East India Company works for them! The Zamindar works for the company! This Vikraman again loots the money that reaches us and treats as like underdogs! And we don’t have any choice not to work for them. Because they are the source of our food and the people who are not ready to work here, don’t have food! I am going to put a letter to Robert, The East India company’s head on this and we must form a union.”- He said!

“Tring Tring”- My Phone was ringing. It was a call from my colleague Krish. Time was 6.15 AM, 09 Feb 2016- My day started. I woke up and realized it was a dream. About my ancestors. Indian Independence! British rule and the past. I started thinking about it for a while. Great Indian kings came into my mind. Freedom Fighters, Independent India. And the India after almost seven decades of Independence! We have grown a lot! The infrastructure, Technology, Education. And we could find an in Indian in any part of the world, in any kind of field. A proud thing.

I reached the office at 7.58 AM. Yet another busy day. Lots of mail, a couple of meetings.

“Hey… Work! Work! ” My team Lead Vikram said to Krish, My Teammate.

“Our ultimate aim is to make the client happy, and our project manager S.Prasad was expecting a good work from you people.”- He added.

I had a lot of work that day too and it stretched till 8 PM. Our routine is like daily calls with clients with different requirements and developing an application in a short time which seems to be impossible most times. We stretch for day and night, sometimes work on Saturdays and Sundays to complete the task. We have a team lead who allots the work. A Project Manager and onsite coordinator who gets the project. And our company deals the final settlements over the project with the client on delivery. (Of course, I have not explained the complete IT. Leaving it to the techies J )

“Buddy… Coffee?” Krish asked me. Few more teammates joined us.

We were in the pantry. Though I don’t like the coffee from the coffee machine which was for free, I took one for Krish!

Krish was completely devastated with the meeting with Vikram. He was so much stressed and didn’t like this environment. Vikram was a poor lead and he hardly considers the welfare of the employee. The order to him is to obey the management. Vikram made Krish work so hard and he was not happy with that.

“This is atrocious…” He stated.

“Cool”- Heard a heavenly voice!

“Client says his requirement and your company, the so called MNC gets money from them. They utilize all your energy and won’t even pay 10% of what they get- But IT is the highest paid sector in India! They treat you like slaves with weekend and night shifts! And you know people who are not ready to work here don’t have jobs! You, he, S.Prasad and Vikram are all in the part of this dirty business, but still you can complain this with Robert, your Chief HR!”- It said!

“Tring Tring!”- My Phone again! It was the morning alarm. I woke up and realized it was a dream.

What is happening? Dream in a dream?

I stood up and came out of the room. My mom gave me a Tea!

Two dreams in a row?

Or a day passed? I looked at the calendar. Yesterday was 08.02.2016 and Today 09.02.16! - Perfect, I didn’t sleep for one full day! And this dream- I couldn’t recollect it!

British Rule, East India Company, Zamindar, slaves, letter to Robert, Union, Client, MNC, Krish, The heavenly voice?? – I tried to remember it! But I couldn’t. I had the tea.

This is really confusing! Was it just a dream or did it have a point? I was trying to understand its content! But the story I could reminisce travels in a different direction!

This is a crap man! – I said to myself!

“Tring Tring”- My Phone was ringing. It was a call from my colleague Krish. Time was 6.15 AM, 09 Feb 2016- My day started.