Sunil, the office boy

Sunil works in one of the corporate offices of the city of Pune. He is a youth from the Northern state of Uttar Pradesh, one with a population of 19 crore! He is a migrant worker in this city. Thin and straight, he works as a office boy. He is placed here by a third party which offer contractual jobs to people. Sunil serves the employees of the office. He rather moves invisibly inside the premises, often carrying a tray in his hands, or silently standing at a distance to count the number of people present in the office.

In the morning, he serves hot tea to the employees. The tea would exactly be the same, like each morning. It carries a perfect proportion of ginger, milk, sugar and the tea leaves. Sunil is never late. He serves everyone by 10:20 AM, then he dissolves into the background. Plain and simple. The office has several cubicles. There are meeting rooms. There are washrooms. There are cabins for managers. There is a desk at the entrance. There is a place where IT guy sits surrounded by the server equipments. Then there is a kitchen, where Sunil sits, works, surf his mobile & gaze out of the window.

Sunil is always tensed. He walks straight. He doesn't talk much except through his eyes. He doesn't shift his gaze while passing through a series of desks, either lying empty or filled with buzzing people. I doubt how many people in the office know his name. During the afternoon, he offers to warm the tiffins of the employees. That's pretty much it. He cooks his own food there. After a gap of four hours another round of tea has to be served. Often people asks for coffee in place of tea. Sunil often feels irritated with the diverse demands of people asking for less or more sugar, or no ginger, or no milk!

He is one of the few people to come to the office in early hours. His job stretches for almost ten long hours. In the evening, he prepares snacks for everyone who has remained late in the premises. He prepares for it. He goes to the shops in the market to buy stuffs. That's pretty much it. We get different snacks in the evening. Post that, he would collect the plates for washing and the left out plastics to be thrown in the dustbin. At 7 PM dot, he has to hurry up as there would be a bus to take him away 15 kilometers where he stays put with a group of other migrant workers in a cramped rented space.

What stands out between him and the other humans in the place is his unironed & color-faded clothes and his deafening silence around people all the time. While other could take off their face masks, he is bound to wear it for some overt regulation. He quietly serves a group of forty people. Today, while he was serving the morning tea, an employee exclaimed why isn't there any sugar in the tea? Listening to this, he stood stuck as if a thunderbolt has struck him. He wouldn't move. His eyes widened in shock. He quickly long glanced at employees whom he has already served. Their reaction to this innocent predicament is all that he is going to listen for the rest of his tenure, or may even lessen his chances of a longer tenure. It may be or may not be so. Marking his frustration, Sunil hit his forehead with his hands. He forgot to put sugar in the tea. Seeing all this, an employee said Laughingly, "this tastes better, Sunil! Let this be a non-sugary day.. Do not worry, all is well!". The tension eased in his face...

Laal Man