Tears for a Teammate

 

Tears for a Teammate

P K Routray

 

 

Ekadasi! My colleague engineer

a true Nalconian to every heart you are dear

left us prematurely while on duty,

shattered our dream to see you at managerial height.

Our tears and our prayers sprout from our hearts’ abyss

for your shocked son and spouse and for your soul’s bliss.

You are none from my kith and kin

in life, you, somedays as a teammate I had seen

but my heart feels empty and forlorn

when at such a young age you left us all on a sudden.

Staying hundred and hundred kilometers away

news of your recovery at hospital bed gave me immense joy.

But Lo! to my horror and pain beyond measure

reached me the tragic news “ You are no more.”

True you were an engineer par excellence

soft speaking, respectful to all was to your credence

As your superior colleague to take work out of you

I had an acquaintance to the extent limited to a manager’s view

but you touched my heart by your deeds extraordinary.

now I realize that it propelled the lord to act in a hurry

to take you to His abode near to His throne

a place coveted by sages and saints to make their own

A decade has elapsed since our separation

when I parted NALCO on my superannuation.

As a senior citizen, I am waiting for my next destination

with prayers and practices that do not make me a burden

on the present-day society that elongates the lifespan

with a wretched living on a wheelchair being a sick man

emptying the savings on doctors, diagnosis, and drugs

unheard of diseases one after another comes and us hugs

the death is better welcomed when you put others in tears

not when you suffer for long your dearest prays for your departure.

You were kept at a distance from such old age wrath

a pleasure to you, pain to us, did you pray the Lord to craft this path?

Often the memories of my service days

twenty-seven eventful years with Nalco blaze.

From the blaze you peep with your smiling face

your spouse Soma and son Sachi also grace.

In a superior-subordinate relationship in a business

reigns the hypocrisy, conceit but devoid of kindness

to have an easy time, false recognition in the plant and society

nothing was there with you but your ornament was your simplicity.

you found in me a student lacking the knowledge of spirituality

along with your spouse coached me Aurobinda philosophy with all sincerity.

The dictionary on Aurobinda’s vocabulary adorns my study table

Besides its philosophy, it speaks the philosophy of a subordinate incredible

Relish I and all guests of Nalco at Damanjodi your madam’s handmade cakes

you were with dishes for the breakfast of guests before dawn breaks

The great guests Manoj Das, Kabi Mishra, Hurdananda Roy and host of others

had conveyed through me relishing your cakes their gratitude and honors.

Their gratitude stands for the gratitude of all who lived around you

we all pray in unison “Oh Lord liberate Ekadasi as he was a man pure and true”

 

 

(N . B- Mr Ekadasi Sahu was AGM mines NALCO. He had presumably a brain stroke on 5^th July  while he was on duty. at mines., later succumbed to it on 24^th july at Appolo Hospital Vizag)