Underdogs don"t bark.

 " Yeh Raghavan Kohn Hai?" Barged in a guy in twenties, with a typical salesman bag on his shoulders and sporting a necktie bought in the Foot Over bridge in the Dadar Railway station.

I was in a very important discussion with some business associates , sitting in the ante space of our meeting room. In a PSU,any one can walk past security so long as you do not display any hesitation. Even Kasab.

I called my PA over and requested to check this jumping jack's requirement.

Our Meeting continued .Once it was over, my PA came with anxiety writ large on her face,

"Sir, Please see this"

She handed over a A4 size sheet ,a letter head of the Vertical I was heading. It was an undertaking by our company to guarantee the loan given to one Mr..., an employee, promising to deduct EMIs from his salary and remit to the Dadar Sahakari Cooperative Bank.

The most shocking bit was that that the title of the signatory was that of mine. Fortunately, name was different. Rubber stamp was official.

Was putrified to say the least. My official designation misused to guarantee loans to random borrowers .Dug deep into the matter and finally our surmise was correct. It was the handiwork of our Record Clerk. A Mr.Hemant , who was a nightmare ever since he was posted - four out of five incoming calls were asking for his whereabouts. Was clearly a man with questionable financial dealings. Promptly reported to the Head of HR. Follow ups led to nothing. Mr.Hemant was a key resource person of the local party and its active Union .Was specializing in supplies of Stage decorations to party functions. None dare touch him.

Cut to 1998. Was operational head of  large business unit in Nariman Point. In due course ,came across a particular employee, who was perennially irregular. He was also reported to be an alcoholic and highly indebted. When I had a personal sitting with him, he was so innocuous, that I felt an inner urge to put him back on track. Called his family- the typical Kohli type wife and a son and daughter. Explained to them about the need for family support in any rehabilitation attempt. They gave their commitment and we got this chap enrolled  in a Deaddiction Session of an NGO.

Advised the wife to come and collect salary by herself. This continued for few months. He showed signs of cooperation and I started feeling vindicated.

All along , no one ever  mentioned his sporting background clearly ,except that he used to play cricket for the Company in the league matches.

Later I moved out of the Unit and lost track of the character.

Till  reading a two page Op Ed article on him in the Indian Express published in 2013 (See link 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12TRbDksTL2h7G8HYUWdhf6jmERZ0ggsB/view?usp=sharing

My heart sank. I foolishly realised how I did not appreciate the actual potential of the addict and let go a great talent down the drain.

But what bugged me more was the same Union ,the same cricket team mates, the HR ,which sponsors all Sports did nothing ,nothing about putting this extraordinary talent on track.

He was  apparently  of  amazing batting skills, standing tall over Sachin Tendulkar, Vinod Kambli (and trained by the same legendary Ramakant Achrekar) but his career did not measure upto even the latter's sordid story.

A system which would nurture Hemant's fraud and cover it up would not touch this Underdog with even a barge pole., let alone a Windsor bat.

Had someone mentored him, he could have been  effortlessly a Dhoni, Yuvraj or Kohli, at the least.

Together , by looking the other way ,we finished him. 

He was terminated from service, now languishes in Nallasopara, salivating for his next peg of Dharu.

Sorry, Anil Gurav, I still am not sure ,where I went wrong.

But ,then ,where were they all?

Even Madam Nita was not there.