Really I do not know what made Eswar to ask me to spend that evening with him, so I have accompanied him to his hotel and was with him talking about all and sundry - otherwise I would have missed the other and hidden angle of an efficient Indian. Eswar is my pal and was my class mate during my high school to undergraduation. He used to narrate poems, lots of text and quotes from the novels he was reading - from Sri Sri's Maha Prasthanam, Shadow Madhu Babu to Yendamuri and Malladi were all the writers we used to discuss those days. It was a fascination for me to talk to him and I used to wonder for the knowledge and his dynamic nature. Those days we used to play under the captaincy of Naga Sena my other classmate I do not know where he is now. But Remebering Naga Sena is like reading a short story of Mulk Raj Anand.
We separated during our graduation. I went for Engineering and he has chosen Dairy Technology as his field and did his masters also in that in Karnal, Haryana. We used to write snail mails in 80s and used to meet once in a year or so. Slowly there was a gap. So after two decades of gap, I longed to meet him and poured the internet for his address and searched all the data. Also send mails with eswar and kolli in so many combination's, some returned and some might have reached a wrong person.
Do you believe in miracles happening in real life? One day my auditor Mr. K V Mohana Rao told me that there is an internet site where you can get back your old classmates. I told him casually I was longing to meet one of my class mate. He sat in front of the computer and asked me the full name of my pal. I told him Kolli Eswar Babu. He stopped for a minute and asked what is his profession and I told him - might be working with a Dairy still. Pressto - from his pocket then and there itself, he has taken out a visiting card. Eswar was dealing with my auditor for one of his business affairs at Hyderabad. So that's how I got him back. In life there are certain things under your nose you fail to identify unless somebody guide you.
In my April, 2006 posting I was asking what for people work. What motivates them towards a profession or to work hard for earning a fortune. I am still searching for that. I think spending an evening with Eswar I got a partial answer for my thoughts and questions. He has not changed a bit. Years of rotten work in Indian conditions worned him off or polished him I do not know. May be he is the guy who has to answer that.
So Eswar was talking not only about novels in vernacular language but Indian and English literature as a whole. Fiction to non fiction and quoting Larry Collins and Dominque Lapirre to Mr. Robin Sharma from his famous book "The Monk who sold his Ferrari.." to the movie The Dollar Dreams. So after that evening's discussion with you what shall I say my dear pal? Definitely there is a hidden angle in every person which when surfaces others will be surprised. But with Eswar am not surprised because I know he got that spark in him from his young age and still it is burning inside.
I do not know Eswar has earned a fortune or not but the way he talks about human life and its twists and turns am impressed. I read an article in a business magazine how to run a small business. As a Manager turned into an enterprenuer I contradict with some of its contents. But in my view dynamic people always want to do something their own. If it fetch money and fame - excellent - if not then? Think, think and answer me. Eswar left an excellent job for a unit of his own, so is Satish and so am I. We all have our own dreams. But if dreams do not take a shape?
At times if you travel a long path and half way through, if you stop and look back (I definitely feel) you wonder, is it - you only who traveled all that way? Because the path has so many obstacles and hills and vallies. In half way, to that extent with after every step in our life we keep on thinking for the next step involuntarily. So to make the thinking further easy let me conclude - in so many cases only the first step is in our control (is it also there?) remaining all lead our way like a guided mechanism of a missile. What do you say Eswar? Let me know when we meet again...........
I got an SMS from Eswar quoting the song "Woh teri duniya nahin, woh teri mehafil nahin, uss taraf rastah tho hai par manjil nahin...". What an excellent thought. I also remembered the poem of Robert Frost "The Path less taken..". At a junction when we are not sure which road leads to where - what path shall we take? At least for Eswar he will take the Road less traveled. But my dear Friend in the way we are traveling there are shelters and houses and homes but only thing we are commuting so fast without rest we failed to notice any thing. But the ultimate question is what for we are traveling and where to?
