Baruah the great!

By Sandeep Datta

It was Baruah's farewell today. The event was being planned for last 20 days. Should it be turned a big thing or small one was the main subject for Foreign Desk all these days.

The main thing which was consistently taking away the joy of organising a good send-off was Baruah's behaviour with everyone since getting into one-month notice-period of resignation. He turned sarcastic, extremely lazy and more pain in the arse for his team, including the boss, more than he had always been. 

When the day arrived, I, who was perhaps closest to him, had lost any interest in him. He was back in his typical self -- selfish, insensitive and insulting to anyone and everyone around him. It felt disappointing to see a person completing his over five years in IANS having failed to learn the value of peers.

On the final moment, when it was his turn to deliver the farewell speech following euologies by his immediate boss Dr. Rahul and M.R. Narayanswamy, Baruah opted to do what was least expected of him. 

He thanked MR and all others in the office except his Rahul or his colleagues. When pointed out, 'in lighter vein', that he forgot even Rahul in his word of thanks, he said: "Main to bhool he gaya"!

His last question on the last working day with me was: "Why people don't like to share the information they have about any development happening around and known to them? Even after staying together for whole day one of my close friends, who has enjoyed Daru from me at times and had a very good time having fun together, didn't bother telling me that Assam's chief minister was arriving in Delhi. Why did he do so Sandeep?" 

 I told Baruah, who is all set to join as 'Bureau Chief' till the right person is found for the post in the Seven Sisters, an Assam-based daily,: "Brother, In media or life...good and trustful relations are nurtured on the basis of sincerity with others and not with over smartness.We have to show a sincere attitude to others to evoke an equally favourable or helping response later. And, always remember Media is a small industry what goes around that comes around."  

Maybe he couldn't get the moral of the story.