When you think of a BPO what is the first thing which comes to your mind? Night shifts or Youngsters spending money like water.I can think of only Alex Sebastian. Alex who? Alex was my colleague when i was working with Reuters.On my first day when i was introduced to him,he was friendly and had a big smile on his face.I was told that he is differently abled ( deaf and dumb ) but he never allowed his inability to hamper his talks with us.He made it a point to teach sign language to us ( there were 2 other people who joined along with me ).Initially i was excited because it was much easier to talk to him in sign language.But i was very slow in learning and Alex used to get irritated at my pace.I never could interact with him daily since we used to work in different shifts.
One day i had to explain a certain task to him and it was difficult trying to make him understand the nuances of the task.He brushed away the papers lying on the desk and walked across to the cafeteria.I was taken aback by his behaviour and gave him a piece of my mind.He simply pushed me away for which i was highly offended.Even though he apologized to me immediately,I did not talk to him for days.No one has ever mis-behaved with me this way.He kept apologizing to me everyday for almost a week but i did not relent.He asked me to have a cup of coffee with him since both of us liked having coffee.At that moment it struck to me that if i am angry i can shout,scream or talk to someone.Alex cant.All that he can do is show it physically.Why didnt i think of it earlier? .I felt extremely guilty about my behaviour and instead of having coffee in the cafeteria we went out of the office.
That's when i saw a different side of Alex.He spoke about his parents,college,friends and his dreams.He was pursuing his MS -IT and had studied in SMIT - Chennai.He is from Kerala and a true bled Malayali.I did not utter a single word since i was pre-occupied with my thoughts.How could'nt i think of this earlier? I was trying to think of few lines but all that i could say was ' Sorry'.He smiled and said his behaviour was not right and he should not behave with anyone like that.I kept on saying Sorry and at one point both of us laughed out loud.I got to know that he wishes to buy a bike,have a beautiful girl sit behind him and cruise away on MG road.Till then he had a smile on his face which vanished immediately when he told me this ' All that i want to do is talk to her which can never happen '.His sentence tugged my heart.We had to come back to office since something urgent showed up.
Sometimes when he stayed back to finish his work,we used to catch up with each other and have dinner together.Alex was never appreciated for his hard work.Like all of us he also wanted to get an award in front of the entire staff ,wanted to see people cheering him when his name is called out but somehow the management was always oblivious towards his work.All of us brought this matter up but nothing changed.When i was quitting Reuters,he came up to talk to me.
He said ' I wish you get everything you wished for in your life and always be happy but don't forget me'.
Even today when i think of him ,my face lits up with a smile.He taught me how to overcome obstacles without harping on it.He taught me how to enjoy life,how to connect to people.Most importantly he taught me how to wear a smile always on my face.
Alex - I can never forget you. I am still in the process of learning the language and when i get it right,you will be first person whom i will talk to.