What I am about to relate are exceptional events and will not be repeated in the lives and careers of most people. But these events really happened in my life and may serve as a warning and a guide to young and ambitious job aspirants and professionals.
These events took place many decades ago and there is no point in my going to the authorities now. I have better things to do with my life than to fight legal cases and in any case I think that the criminal justice system in India is broken and needs to be fixed.
When I was young and foolish I offended many powerful people in Mumbai who decided to teach me a lesson. They did so by breaking the law – harassment, illegal surveillance and slander amounting to criminal defamation. To be fair I behaved atrociously with them at that time but that does not justify their response. They thought I was of no account and mentally retarded and I suppose they thought that they would enforce discipline in the profession by making an example out of me.
I have already spoken about these experiences at length in some earlier blog articles. Links to these earlier blogs are given at the end of this article. So what is the point in my raking up this subject again.
The first reason is that I still have not completely put these events behind me and still feel angry at the way I was treated. Every time I suffer some sly insults from people I meet who have not heard my side of the story it hurts. I lead a retired life and do not meet too many people but such interactions still take place.
The harm done to me was immense – my career, reputation, social life and family life ruined and I developed a mental ailment partly due to the kind attentions of these gentlemen.
The second reason is that my experiences may possibly serve as a warning and a guide to young job aspirants. If your employer or anybody else has absolute power over you then BEWARE. Think ten times before you put yourself at the mercy of such people.
What do I mean by absolute power – I mean literally the power of life and death over you. The power to kill you and get away with it.
I came to this conclusion about these gentlemen (who had victimized me) some years later after the initial events. After certain other events which took place (during phase two) they offered me a job. And they actually put it as a condition that I should get married before they would employ me.
I can see their point of view. If I had a wife and family and responsibilities I was less likely to act as a loose cannon. As an aside I would advise any young job aspirants to marry once they are sure of their prospects. You are more likely to be trusted in important and sensitive posts if you have responsibilities.
But the main point of the article is this – these gentlemen actually believed that they were doing me a favour by offering me a position.
It is a truism in politics – Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
This applies equally in corporate battles and politics as well.
The reason they had this power was that society cooperated with these powerful gentlemen. The police also turned a blind eye and looked the other way when the way I was being ill treated was common knowledge (although to be fair I never actually registered a complaint at any time).
So my message to all young and ambitious job aspirants is – have a care. Check with the grapevine about prospective employers before you accept a position.
And in case, dear reader, you are in a senior position in a big company and are offended enough by someone to want to kill him (or her) then my advice to you would be to quote Ralph Waldo Emerson. In his essay on Self Reliance Emerson writes:
It is easy enough for a firm man who knows the world to brook the rage of the cultivated classes. Their rage is decorous and prudent, for they are timid as being very vulnerable themselves. But when to their feminine rage the indignation of the people is added, when the ignorant and the poor are aroused, when the unintelligent brute force that lies at the bottom of society is made to growl and mow, it needs the habit of magnanimity and religion to treat it godlike as a trifle of no concernment.
https://archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/emerson/essays/selfreliance.html
If you belong to the cultivated classes then you are very vulnerable. There is a difference between you and Dawood Ibrahim for example. Dawood can kill someone and even if charges are framed against him he will not be affected too much. But in your case a mistake like this can ruin your life.
Link to my earlier blog is below:
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