|| Swanta Sukhaya ||

Greetings! He had keen, playful and observant eyes. Although our acquaintance was few days old; we were speaking with an ease of old friends who have met after a long time. "Let me tell you the most important learning of my life!", he quipped. I was all ears. "There is someone who has been a Godfather to me and shaped my career entirely for two decades. I have no qualms in saying that he prodded, nudged, cajoled, pushed, intimidated, motivated and gave almost all growth opportunities in my career." I could see the respect in his eyes too. But there was a glint of sadness and a lining of wisdom. I was intrigued. "But, it so happened that the day I grew out of his shadow and into my own was the very same day he started treating me with excruciating vehemence. It went on for months.  Nothing in my life has hurt me so much. This just crushed me to the core.", He took a moment to glance out of the window. I held my breath. "And you know what? When