Satisfaction redefined....

Three months before.....

That was a camp held in our college for the sake of training students to get employed. In short it was an employability training camp. Not many of the students use to attend it as we have to stay for 10 full days in the college hostel...... and of course the tasteless food adds on to the burden.

Morning sessions include aptitude training, communication classes ...while guest lectures were in store for the evening. As usual my peer group felt it's better to attend the camp rather than facing the barking and bites of higher officials.

Previous night of 24th November we assembled in the college campus. when it comes to my mates they exactly know how to enjoy these type of gatherings. We met our other electronics and computer science counterparts, talked, ate, gossiped, wander around the campus till it was mid night.


When we returned to our room i saw a boy, thin, dark,... neatly combed hair even at the mid night.No doubt he was just match stick personified. He was dressed in his T-shirt and tracks... if i am correct. But the more peculiar thing about him was that he was studying some kind of
text book perhaps a book of objective type questions. i couldn't imagine a boy, who while his friends were enjoying themselves was reading a book that too a text book. But my body demanded some rest so i threw him of my mind and went inside the room.

it was Day one, Faculties stuck to there schedule... aptitude classes went on for 2 hours. it was fortunate my friends were in my batch in spite of shuffling students and separating them into batches.

Faculty... if i'm correct was Mr.Manish kumar, an IIT alumni who taught about some fundamentals of mathematics.... each time he came up with a question, there was a murmur of the answer from the row behind... mind u it was only a murmur, it was not loud enough for manish to hear. I pretended as if not noticing it.... and the class went on.

Each time a question was posted same murmur would raise, tell the answer, and fade away in the air. i couldn't resist myself from looking back at the person who did so. It was not a surprise to me .... it was the same lean figure, neatly combed hair, now it was oil tinted. i'm always attracted towards these type of brilliant people. so i just waved my hand and said my name and obviously expected a reply. "Mahesh kumar, ECE department".... that's all was the reply that came from him. i couldn't continue the conversation because that broad face of his hung down towards his note book.... some people are really strange.

things went on, sessions passed, days passed, but that peculiar man, mahesh was always peculiar in fact strange .... very strange.

Then came that day, it was the communication class. students were asked to talk about themselves. all had their turn... so did i ... and so did mahesh.... he was in no state to talk to the gathering.... he was disturbed, something bothered him too much. the faculty in charge of the session took over .... and asked him to speak the next day.

Next day was no different one, same faculty.... same mahesh.... same stumbling... same fear in his mind.... and i tell u.... i couldn't find what was wrong with him.....

Things went on.... as usual.... now comes what i would call a turning point. The scene was set up in an undesirable location.... the rest room. when i entered, i found the same lean mahesh looking himself at the mirror. i don't know what to react ..... and if we don't know anything i suggest silence is the best solution.

But this time it was mahesh who invoked a conversation. He said he wants some help from me for his language development. before my mind could analyze what he exactly wants from me my mouth replied him to come to my room in the night. I myself is not a pro speaker but i felt something that urged me to help him out. Anyway, i thought there was another 6 hours for that rendezvous.

But i say that there was no 6 hours in my life that passed so fast. before i could realize what happened in the morning, he was there, in front of me in that cold night, sitting in my room, waiting for me to reply.

"ok.... let me encourage him first." this was my notion. He speaks well in his mother tongue but not a word in english. i tried everything possible.... even wrote a small paragraph about him and asked him to speak by reading it.... seeing me struggling with the guy, my friends naga, sai, ajith joined hands with me and did all in their efforts to make him "TALK ABOUT HIMSELF"

Mahesh, born to a farmer of vizhupuram district, Tamil Nadu was a school topper in the government school both in his 10th and 12th classes. His school though trained him academically never threw light on his soft skills. and now this lad is suffering to speak what is known as a simple english to the urban mass.

He came up with plenty of complaints about him. he said he had stage fear, he worried if girls present in the batch would criticize him. he feared the faculty would scold him...... perhaps he imagined more than that ever existed.

My friends did everything make him feel confident. We even made a small panel and asked him to speak in front of them. when he was able to speak a little about himself it was already two in the morning.We felt he can manage the next days communication session. Before going to bed he asked me to sit in front of him tomorrow in the classroom, so that he would gain some confidence. without hesitation i agreed.

For anyone it was an ordinary communication class but for me and my friends it was like an armageddon, an experiment. we waited for his turn to come. i sat in front of him. waiting for him to start. he was hesitating... for once i thought the toil till 2 a.m was not influencing him. but then came the faint voice of his... slowly but steadily he talked..... you won't believe me... he talked in english... although not the perfect one.... but the one good enough from a rookie. the faculty was all in praise of him for his enduring efforts. i would tell he was a little amazed about this guy. but for us it was not a surprise, after all the hard work it was a gift that mahesh gave us.

that day was not mine, as i did a pretty ordinary presentation but that day really belonged to mahesh. he was on cloud nine. all girls were shaking hands with him, praising him. poor fellow too embarrassed to take their hands even.

my friends and myself stood in a corner just watching the guy getting his appreciation from the small group of boys and girls. His eyes were searching someone... and when he found us, he walked towards us like a king who won a war, like god of heavens, like a child who is overwhelmed with joy. He literally hugged each one of us. An unexplainable emotion was seen his eye.

we friends shared a feeling, a feeling that would have no bounds. it was not joy but pure Satisfaction......satisfaction REDEFINED.