Ram passes the water cooler where Jamshed and another worker are standing

Ram passes the water cooler where Jamshed and another worker are standing. Ram

does not care much for Jamshed. In fact, he has had a few run-ins with the man since

Jamshed joined Typical three weeks ago. Ram cot explain exactly what went wrong. At

the beginning Jamshed appeared to be a pleasant enough chap. He and Ram had lunch

together that first day. But soon after that time Jamshed started to find fault with some of

the work procedures in the department. He even pointed out some things that Ram could

do “to improve operations.” As

Ram saw it, there was little a neophyte like Jamshed could tell a man who had been on

the job for almost 20 years.

As Ram passes the cooler he waves his hand slightly in a feeble gesture of recognition.

Jamshed responds halfheartedly with a nod of the head. These simple gestures clearly

communicate how these men feel about each other Ram’s thoughts now are even more

hostile. He wonders how long it is going to take Gopal, his department head, to notice

how much time J amshed spends at the water cooler, in the toilet and at tea break.

Yesterday Ram saw Jamshed getting ready to go home for the day a full ten minutes

before quitting time. As Ram sees it, Gopal must like Jamshed. The two talk together a

lot, and Gopal has accepted a number of ‘J amshed’ s suggestions. But Gopal always

has had his favourites,