The Guru's Gratitude !!!

It was the end of the year, and everyone at the office was going about thanking their special person by scrawling a note on the Thank You card.?

I ambled across the checkered rows of cubicles to my own place at the end of the row. Everything on my desk was the same except for one thing.??

"Six 3.5x5-inch Thank You cards" were propped up on its legs like miniature tents you stayed inside while camping. I did not know one of them would open up a special memory and eventually become the reason for writing this.?

?“I admire how you coach your boys!” said one anonymous card.?

?“You are full of positivity.” said another card, yet again–anonymous. A few of them were from my team.?

?Then I picked up the one that became more special than the rest.?

?It was from a "Application Engineer" who had thanked me for giving him a wonderful career to remember.?

?Slowly, the Thank You card I was holding transmuted into an answer sheet, and the office space dissolved into a college campus with over 300+ students in neatly arranged rows and columns.?

I was in my memory all of a sudden.?

The first round of the campus drive was almost at its end, and I collected the answer sheets as the students filed out of the room to wait with bated breath for the results.?

Those answer sheets promptly went to the college professors for evaluation. While it was in progress, one of the professors called me over to his desk and said, “????, ???? question ????? ???????! ??????? confirm ???????????”?

Well, I defended my technical team at that moment and told him there wouldn’t be any mistake with the question. However, I couldn’t turn down this opinion coming from a qualified professor. So, I assured him to carry on with other questions while I verified this question with my technical team.?

As it turned out, the professor was right that the question was wrong!??

I passed on this information to him and made sure every student got the marks if they attempted the question.?

That error was put to rest. But, after some time, there was another.?

The professor again called me to his desk and said, “????, ???? question ?? answer ??? ?????. ???? answer key ? ????? ???????.”?

Yet again, I gave him assurances and checked with the panel member.?

And yet again, the professor was right that the answer was wrong!?

Fortunately, no other question or answer had an error after that and the first round of assessment ended.?

As I saw the professor collect the papers and stand up from his desk. I had a spark.?

What if he joined the company as an engineer? He had a strong logical reasoning ability, no doubt about that! And it was the foremost quality the company preferred. Also, I have seen him since 2015 as a professor at the college who constantly lent support for the campus drives.?

So, I approached him and had a chat that meandered into his life journey and his career path.?

He had created a wealth of talented engineers in his long years as a college professor. However, I felt he was stuck–willingly or unwillingly–as a teacher. I knew he was not afraid to reach new heights, but he missed a ladder that would take him there.?

So, I asked him, “????, ???? ??????? ? ????? ??? ?????????? ?? join ???? ????????????????”?

He diffidently turned down the offer initially, although he hinted at his yearning to become an engineer.?

I pushed him a little. “????, ????? ??????????? ???????? ????? ?? ??? ?????????? ????????! ???? career ? ?????? ??? ?? ?? ??? ????? ?????????. ???, ??????? ????? ????????? ????????, ?????????? ????????.”?

The professor thought for some time. As if he was relishing his near future as an engineer. Then, nodded his approval with a radiant smile on his face.?

It was not so long before a vacancy appeared in one of the teams, and I immediately forwarded the professor’s profile to the hiring panel member, and he was called for an interview.?

His passion for engineering showed his concomitant experience in the field and secured his position as an engineer at the company.?

His compensation was very low for someone who has nurtured so many engineers. But that changed with this job.?

However, he had to leave his hometown and his wife (who was expecting their second child) and build a place from scratch in Chennai. But, the desire to satisfy his yearning to become an engineer impelled him to make those hard decisions and make a living in a new city.?

Finally, he became the engineer he wished to be and still gives his best for the company!?

“Good morning, sir!” one of my boys greeted me, and I was abruptly pulled back into the present.?

I waved at him, but my gaze was still fixed on the thank you note from the professor who had transformed into an engineer. A question tugged at my mind that was immediately followed by the answer.?

???? ?????? ??????? ??????? ???? ?????? ???????? ?????????????

??? ????????? ???????, ?? ???????? ???????????? ???????? ????, ??????????? ??????????. ????? ??? ????????????? ????????.?

With that thought, I closed the thank you note and put it on top of the others.??

Well, who knows when some other thank you note from someone in my HR life would knock on the doors of my past and let out a flurry of human emotions??

"There is an ENGINEER behind every Engineering PROFESSORS"?