Chapter 5: Mr. Brahma’s Struggle

As normal, Bharat came home, showered, and had lunch with his family. Even though his parents, him, and his mother are the only members of his family, his home was sizable. They had enough space for themselves because the two-story home included five bedrooms, a kitchen, a large dining area, two baths, and a garden at the front with stairs leading to the roof. Since Mr. Brahma's parents had moved to Rajgarh Metro City to live with their older son, who had a wife and daughter, this was actually their ancestral home. Bharat and his family used to adore their ancestral home because they had so many special memories of it and would never part with it to move out to live with their relatives in Rajgarh Metro City because Mr. Brahma had gotten a job here at this IPB Bank branch.

When Bharat saw his father for lunch, he was taken aback because, typically, he would only return home in the evening. He reasoned that there might be a special reason for his father to be home during lunch, but he didn't ask too many questions because he was already preoccupied with his studies—this was the last month he could get ready for his exams—and he needed to concentrate on them because the results of the board exams would determine whether or not the students would be admitted to the college of their choice. Mr. Brahma asked his son: "Son, how was school today?"

Bharat said: "Dad school was fine and since we have our Board Exams next month so teachers have arranged for extra classes for better preparations. Also we have decided to study in groups so that we can help each other out on difficult subjects."

Mr. Brahma said: "Good, prepare hard and go for it. I wish you all the best for your exam."

Mrs. Arundhati said: "It's not a good idea to talk too much while eating, so stop chattering and focus on your meals, you two."

They listened to Arundhati and finished their meal quickly without any delay.

While on the other hand Mr. Brahma was thinking about his own problem which he had as he had been terminated from his workplace and did not have a job at present. He was thinking about how to get a new job since most of his experience was in the banking sector, however now he was blacklisted so he cannot apply for any other banking jobs he had to look for something else. Also he was thinking about how he will support his son for his higher studies since this year Bharat was going to complete his class twelve and his college life was going to be started soon and these days higher studies in any reputed university requires huge amount of money so he was really very tensed about getting a new job.

Though Mr. Brahma had his savings which was enough to support him and his family for next one year however it was not enough to support Bharat's higher education fees which was huge so for the next month he constantly looked for jobs in newspaper, online portals, also enrolled himself for the job sites since he wanted to apply for any jobs to meet the requirements of his family. He did go for interviews with many international and local companies however every time applied he had to get rejected. He simply could not understand the reason behind it and when asked for the feedback he used to get a diplomatic reply as he was not eligible for the job role. He was wondering why he was being turned down for the job since, given his qualifications, he had more than enough capacity to do it. After getting rejected for numerous times he finally settled to apply for a type writing job since in this his typing speed was very good and not much qualification is required so he went for the interview for a typing job however the fate had something else in mind.

Mr. Brahma showed up for the interview for the typing position for a lawyer since they require a typing assistant to type a variety of legal documents and applications for PILs (Public Interest Litigations) as well as case-related materials.

Curious, the lawyer asked: "Mr. Brahma, after looking over your bio data, I discovered that you had a highly qualified Master's degree in finance, which is not necessary for this position. This is a very simple job for typing and filing various applications and forms with a very simple wage in which you have to work for a whole day so will you be able to work with this."

Though Mr. Brahma's salary in IPB bank was more than one lakh rupees in INR which was ten times more than the salary offered by the lawyer however he was in great need of the job so he accepted.

Mr. Brahma said: "Sir I accept I am in great need of the money right now due to my family situation so I do not have any problem in doing this job."

The Lawyer said: "As you wish since you have accepted the job, report to me tomorrow morning. I have a lot of documents and applications which need to be completed."

Mr. Brahma said: "Yes sir, thank you for accepting my application."

With that he excused himself and returned home in relief that at least he had something to look forward to on the next day. Though the wage was too low, it was better than being unemployed.

While on the other hand Bharat and his friends were preparing for the exam next month in full fledged so they attended extra classes and did group studies to improve their preparations since Board Exam results were a very important part of each student.