SANTA

Job as a parking attendant in G.I.P mall was not a high paying one. Add to it the expenses of living in an expensive city like Noida and bringing up 2 kids and you have got yourself a life long struggle for making ends meet. But Abraham Adler, was still a happy guy. It was about 7 years ago when he boarded a bus to Mumbai from a picturesque bus stop in Goa. Before leaving he assured Janice that he WILL be back for her. He was young; he was smart and somewhat talented in acting and dancing. He believed that he can make it big in Mumbai. A part of this belief came from his abilities the rest was formed by the continuous encouragement from others.

Once in Mumbai he got the real picture. He saw the vast ocean of strugglers from every other parts of India, adopting any means to get a break in the silver screen. The cut throat all consuming competition, the inherent dog eats dog mentality, the manipulative agents, the gloom behind the glamour and losing 10000 rupees in one month; all this was enough to take his heart away from this dream city. But being a self-respecting individual he was determined not to go back to Goa. With around 200 rupees in his pocket and a general class ticket he hopped on to a train to Delhi.

Through twists and turns of life he ultimately ended up working as a sweeper in GIP mall Noida. His English speaking, singing and ever smiling personality was a sharp contrast to other sweepers and security guards in the mall, who were mostly from East U P or Bihar. The owner of the mall once saw him humming an English tune and when he came to know that he is good at communicating in English he assigned him the job of parking attendant. GIP was a famous mall in Noida and was frequented by the upper class and college going people. Most of the crowd were more comfortable while communicating in English rather than Hindi. So having an English speaking attendant was a real bonus for the mall.! 5 years ago he went back to his village in Goa to get married and despite everyone’s request to stay back he decided to come back to Noida with his newly wed wife. As expected the first year after marriage was bliss. Roughly 2 year later the Adlers were blessed with twin girls.

With 2 new members in his family, Abraham was finding it difficult. His wife Janice tried to pitch in some income by undertaking sewing work from the neighbourhood. She was real good at making sweaters with patterns or fancy embroidery on salwar suits etc. But it was hardly enough. From next year the schooling of the girls had to be initiated which meant even more expenses. Janice and Abraham spent many a sleepless nights trying to work out what they can do. Their options were limited. Abraham was not highly educated to undertake any major job so he had to make do with whatever low strung jobs he gets. He opined that he can at least try doing more jobs to add another source of income. Janice was a graduate. But in Delhi where roughly 70% of all the graduating engineers remain unemployed, it was kind of difficult for her to get a job anywhere. Moreover someone had to take care of the little twins. But Abraham always believed he can make it work. And no matter what the circumstances the smile never faded from his face. His smile was a re-assurance to Janice as well. Their hopes, their ambitions were like the flickering candle in front of the picture of Jesus. At times it seemed the flame is about to die, sometimes it needed to be guarded against the wind but it always returned back.  

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The owner of the mall Mr. Chaddha was a kind old man. He treated everyone equally, be it a sweeper or a floor manager. He knew all of them by their first names and was friendly and fair to all of them. And all the employees in the mall knew that whatever the issue is Mr. Chaddha will sort it out fairly. Though Mr. Chaddha didn’t like it but everyone called him boss. But this year Mr. Chaddha was in a fix. He had plans for a grand Christmas celebration in the mall this year. But the year had not been very profitable for him. Many show rooms had pulled out from the mall. The global economic slowdown reduced the customers in the mall. He had to lay off many of his employees. Still he did not have enough funds to put up a grand show for the Christmas. One thing about him was whenever he had to lay off any of his employees he did it personally by meeting the employee in his office. Call to Mr. Chaddha’s office was something that employees now started to dread.

It was 24th December. Abraham was a not a good mood. The smile from his face was gone. The twins were not well. Both of them had flu and occasionally their temperatures will shoot up. Janice was by their side all day. Abraham himself wanted to take the day off but this last week of December was a very busy week for the malls. People are in holiday spirit and the malls witness large number of crowds around this time of the year. Abraham wanted to call Janice to inquire about the twins but his mobile had zero balance. He did not wanted to waste money on recharges right now. Their funds were barely enough to see them through the last week of the month. It was around 3 O’clock in the noon. The sun had already begun to lose its intensity. A fog covering was creeping up slowly. Abraham got a message in his mobile.

“Boss wants to see you”.

In a flash of a second a cold sweat ran past Abraham. This message could only mean one thing.

I am going to get fired.

He started walking towards Mr. Chaddha’s office which was situated on the top most floor (8^th) of the mall. He deliberately used stairs. He wanted to delay the bad news as much as possible. His mind was racing fast. He tried to work out some pleas to request Mr. Chaddha not to fire him. But he knew that everyone who was fired earlier had the same problems. By the time he reached 3rd floor he started thinking about his family. What will Janice say when she hears the news. How will he pay for the twin’s education. More than education the immediate concern was what if their flu got worse. They were somehow keeping the flu under control till 31^st December when Abraham was supposed to get his salary. After that they will take them to the doctor. He was in 5^th floor now. All around the mall he could see couples, enjoying the festive spirit, holding hands with smiles on their face. He remembered the first year when he brought Janice to Delhi he used to bring her to the mall on occasions. They used to hold hands with each other while walking. At that moment he felt like the luckiest man on earth. He remembered the promises he made to Janice. How he will look after her and the twins. At that particular point of time, Abraham felt helpless. There were so many people in the mall, in the streets, in the world but no one knows his situation, no one out there to help him. He felt a strong resentment and jealousy towards all these happy people. Lost in these thoughts he reached 8^th floor.

“May I come in boss?”

Mr. Chaddha was smoking a cigar looking out of the large 12 feet by 6 feet window to the side of his table. The whole of the Noida stretched out in front of him. In the far distance the tip of Bahai temple was visible as a tiny blip.  He rotated the chair to face the door, “Abe. Come in. Come in. I have asked you guys not to call me boss. I hear that enough from the corporate monkeys”

Abraham was not sure what to say.

“Why are you standing? Have a seat? Go on.” Mr. Chaddha took one last and long drag from the cigar and put the butt of the cigar in the dustbin and got up from his chair to face the window. Abraham too started getting up but he gestured him to keep sitting.

“You know Abe; I have never discriminated against any of my employees. I have treated all of you like my own children. I have tried to be fair to everyone. What do you feel?”

“yes boss. I mean sir”

Mr. Chaddha gave a weak smile and continued.

“You know must know very well that the last year was not a very good one for us. Many showrooms withdrew. You work in the parking, who better than you to know that the number of cars coming in the mall is almost half of last year”

Here we go thought Abraham.

“You also know about the Christmas celebrations in our mall and its role in increasing the crowd in the mall.”

“Yes sir” Abraham said. He could see where Mr. Chaddha was going with it. Now he will talk about lack of funds. He thought

“But as I told you, this year we do not have enough funds for a celebration of that scale. But I can’t let Christmas go without celebrating it. It could well be our last chance to make things right. If due to the Christmas celebrations the crowd increases i ca make one last ditch attempt to the investors to continue with their funding. And so on behalf of members of my board I have a request to make”

Board members? Abraham was now getting confused. Mr. Chaddha did not have to wind up such a long tale to fire him. Maybe he is just being nice and trying to dilute the shock for me. Or maybe he is trying to shift the blame from himself.  Abraham wanted to make it easy for Mr.Chaddha. He knew that it is sometimes really difficult for a decent man to do a job which he does not want to.

“Mr. Chaddha I am grateful that you have given me chance to work here. I can’t ask you anything more than that. All I am asking is 2 week’s time to find a job and this month’s salary before firing me.”

“Firing you?? who on earth told you that I am firing you ?” replied Mr. Chaddha turning from the window. He was visibly shocked.

Now it was Abraham’s turn to get shocked. “Isn’t it the reason you called me up here?”

“No” MR. Chaddha was amused !

 “I called you up here to make a request on behalf of my board members. You see few of them have heard you singing on the job while they drive in or out of the work. They say you have a fine voice. And I know that your English is pretty good too. So they proposed that can you become the Santa for our mall this Christmas. We will provide you with the dress and stuffs. Rest you know the drill. You just need to laugh, pose for photographs and spread cheer”

Abraham took a minute to register all this. He was finding it hard to believe. Mr. Chaddha continued, “Look right now, with the finds we have we cannot pay you the same as we do to the professional Santa Claus, but I can offer you 15K for the whole day. Half you can have right now, rest half after Christmas”

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Christmas celebrations that year went better than expected. Abraham was good with kids. He laughed with them, joked with them, got photos clicked with them. Also he was good at singing, on his request the mall authorities arranged a keyboard and he played different songs especially WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS... WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS... WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS... AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Mr. Chaddha was able to convince the investors. Abraham never got fired from his job. He started getting offers from different people to perform at their kid’s birthday parties which added another source of income in his household. That following summer Janice got a job in a play school. The pay was not VERY high but she was allowed to bring her twins to the job. Janice knew that their means are not unlimited so she was meticulous in her expenditures. All in all it was safe to say that Abraham will be able to fulfil most of the promises which he made to Janice. The candle in front of the picture of Jesus continued burning.