I was in the midst of meeting a deadline at work and on such occasions I hate any form of interruption. But my phone had begun to ring and there seemed to be an urgency on the part of the caller - at least I thought so. And I'd taken the call, though I must confess, reluctantly.
It was Zaheerabeevi who stays near my ancestral house. She was in tears as her son, Faisal was fetching up from Saudi Arabia over the weekend. The 'first' casualty, from my neck of the woods, after the 'nitaqat' has been introduced by the kingdom of Saudi Arabia which is a scheme to reduce unemployment among the local population. Earlier, the stipulation was that for every 10 foreign nationals one local individual had to be provided a job by organisations. The new scheme changes all that - it wants a local individual to be employed for every foreign national!
Faisal was working as a storekeeper in Dammam. He's the fourth son of Usman and Zaheerabeevi, out of seven children and I remember the fanfare with which he'd set off for Saudi Arabia, four years back, after paying Rs.3 lakhs to an agent. The couple runs a small mango drink manufacturing unit which is in our immediate neighbourhood and they keep an eye on my mom when she's all by herself during the daytime. They'd planned to get young Faisal married later this year when he was slated to come on leave. But fate had willed otherwise. Now, who'll give the lad a girl if he's unemployed?
I tried to put Zaheerabeevi at ease, to the extent feasible and told her that I'd be reaching home for the long weekend and we'd discuss and formulate a plan about the youngster's employment out here. Her parting shot was, "Son, we're banking on you. We know that you'll be able to help him".
Tailpiece.
Zaheerabeevi thinks that I'm the UPSC chairman and therefore, capable of pulling out any job from my hat! People's expectations are scary!! I only hope that I don't let her down and I'm sure that something will come my way to give her son a helping hand!!!
It was Zaheerabeevi who stays near my ancestral house. She was in tears as her son, Faisal was fetching up from Saudi Arabia over the weekend. The 'first' casualty, from my neck of the woods, after the 'nitaqat' has been introduced by the kingdom of Saudi Arabia which is a scheme to reduce unemployment among the local population. Earlier, the stipulation was that for every 10 foreign nationals one local individual had to be provided a job by organisations. The new scheme changes all that - it wants a local individual to be employed for every foreign national!
Faisal was working as a storekeeper in Dammam. He's the fourth son of Usman and Zaheerabeevi, out of seven children and I remember the fanfare with which he'd set off for Saudi Arabia, four years back, after paying Rs.3 lakhs to an agent. The couple runs a small mango drink manufacturing unit which is in our immediate neighbourhood and they keep an eye on my mom when she's all by herself during the daytime. They'd planned to get young Faisal married later this year when he was slated to come on leave. But fate had willed otherwise. Now, who'll give the lad a girl if he's unemployed?
I tried to put Zaheerabeevi at ease, to the extent feasible and told her that I'd be reaching home for the long weekend and we'd discuss and formulate a plan about the youngster's employment out here. Her parting shot was, "Son, we're banking on you. We know that you'll be able to help him".
Tailpiece.
Zaheerabeevi thinks that I'm the UPSC chairman and therefore, capable of pulling out any job from my hat! People's expectations are scary!! I only hope that I don't let her down and I'm sure that something will come my way to give her son a helping hand!!!
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