July 8, 2014
Based on a true story
Dubai, World Trade Centre Metro Station, February 2, 2014, 5.45 pm
Another hectic working day has come to an end and I am waiting for my train to arrive. I hear the familiar metro announcement, that the train to Jebel Ali is arriving at the Jebel Ali Station. Lost in thoughts, and mentally deciding what I should cook for dinner, I navigate my way through a pretty crowded train. On hearing a familiar voice call out to me, I turn around to find my ‘Metro friend’. Glad to find some company for the rest of the half hour journey back home, we smile at each other. Lets call my Metro friend - Riya (name changed to protect privacy).
Riya and I are Metro friends from the past few months. We frequently use the metro line to travel home after work hours and sometimes end up taking the same metro. Although we noticed each other before we became friends, it was Riya who initiated a conversation. Young, pretty, bold and newly married, Riya had come to Dubai pretty recently to join her husband already working in Dubai.
Qualified and smart that she was, she soon found herself a job in Dubai. And here is her story that I like to write about today.
Riya joined work as an accountant (profession changed) in a renowned company in Dubai. She was a hard worker and a complete professional. Her colleagues seemed to love her. Her manager (who was of the age of her father, about 55) seemed to be extremely sweet to her. He would involve her in decision making, discuss general administration issues with her and joked and put her at ease. Everything seemed to be going perfectly well.
Riya’s husband had some important work that came up in India and he was forced to leave Riya alone in Dubai for a few days. This was when the trouble began.
Let’s refer to Riya’s 55 year old manager as Mr. Deepak.
As Riya went to office on Sunday (post weekend) :
Mr. Deepak – Hi Riya, how was your weekend. Which new places did you visit ?
Ms. Riya – None sir, my hubby had to go on an emergency leave to India. So I was home all day
Mr. Deepak – oh poor you !!! Had I known about it, I would have definitely taken you out, to the creek and to the beach !
Riya found this a little strange but brushed it aside as Mr. Deepak was of her father’s age. It must have been a casual offer she thought to herself.
The next day Mr. Deepak rings on Riya’s extension, and calls her to his cabin. He starts with discussing about work, and when done, as Riya gets up to leave, forces her to sit down and chat with him. Well yes ! ‘CHAT’ with him. Riya, awkward, seeing the sudden change in his behavior, is in a fix, not knowing how to disobey the manager. Left with no choice, she reluctantly sits down and Mr. Deepak starts talking of random topics. He begins with places to visit in Dubai and then talks about his family who is settled in Australia (consisting of his wife and daughter, studying in Australia, who is about the age of Riya).
He then continues to talk about his maid, who got sexually involved with some neighbor. Riya gets totally uncomfortable with the topic and does not know how to react or what to conclude of the cheap talk. Soon she excuses herself with the pretext of some important work and leaves.
Next day, to her bad luck, she is left alone with the manager in the office. And again she is called for. Nervous, worried and angry, she walks up to the Manager's cabin –
He begins talking about a software installation and then again continues with random topics. He goes on to tell her that she is pretty but doesn’t take care regarding the way she dresses or does up her hair. That she has the potential to look even better and that he wants to change her !! To mould her ! As per his liking !!!
Red in the face, Riya listens, helpless, not knowing how to respond. Otherwise a very bold girl, Riya is unable to react with the fear of losing her job which was very important to her. He then opens his drawer and holds out a packet, neatly wrapped. "Here you go ! I have brought you a GIFT !!!"
Riya is now definite that a man, of her father’s age was trying to take undue advantage of her. She musters enough courage and says "No Sir ! thanks ! but I don’t like accepting gifts". She gets up to leave. "Riya ! Won't you see what’s in it ?" "No sir, I woudn’t want to". She manages to say. Riya wants to slap the old man. All the respect she had for him vanishes. "I have to leave Sir, I am getting late" she says and leaves.
She lay in bed awake that night, pondering on what went wrong, she had treated him with respect and had regarded him to be a father figure. Was her boldness misunderstood ? Was her friendly attitude mistaken ? She felt disgusted, she felt embarrassed with the entire turn of events. She cried, unable to share the matter with her husband who would have got worried for her, more so as he was away.
The next day, she went to work as usual, she walked into his cabin, sat herself down and spoke – "Mr. Deepak, I am neither keen nor interested in knowing of your colorful past or present. I work as an accountant here and not as a model, so I don’t need to dress to impress. What do you mean by girls of my age go on a date with you ? They must be desperate to earn money the cheap way - I am not !! One should know what to and what not to talk to your colleague, that too me who is of your daughter's age ! Would you tell your daughter to impress her senior colleagues with her dressing ???"
Many times Deepak tried to interrupt and justify himself, and to tell her that she had misunderstood him, but Riya spoke … and she spoke her heart out ! "If you can behave professional with me, I shall continue to work. If not, I shall quit. I will give you my resignation letter right away if you don’t intend to be professional and only professional with me in future," Saying so, she left the cabin.
The following day she arrived at the office. On her table lay an envelope addressed to her. She opened it, and to her horror it read "We regret to inform you that we no longer need your services at our company...
A Termination Letter !!???
Riya was not surprised and yet she was. She was rather shocked. She found it hard to hold back her tears. Just because she had raised her voice against harassment, she had pay for it with her job. Her hard work had gone down the drain. She did not know what to do and how to face the situation. She took her bag and as she was leaving, she crossed Deepak’s cabin. She walked up to him. Snapping her fingers at the man who couldn’t look her in the eye, said to him. – "I WILL SEE TO IT, THAT YOU PAY FOR THIS".
She cried a lot, throughout her journey back home and till she could cry no more. And when she finally stopped crying she began to think. She was filled with rage. Why should I pay for his misdoings with MY job? he should !!!
I should not let this repeat. I should act. She sat herself down and wrote to her management and explained her grievances. I do not want the job back, but I want justice, she wrote. She didn't expect a reply, but she intended to expose the wicked man.
Couple of days later, she received a call from office. It was a colleague. "Riya, the MD wants to see you this evening, he as flown down just to meet you , so please be present," he said. Riya didn't know what to expect of this.
She arrived at the office, angry yet confident. In the meeting room she saw Deepak, trying his best to justify himself to the MD. She walked in and greeted the MD, sat down and explained her plight. The MD, belonging to a respectable, conservative family, patiently listened to Riya, at the end of which he said, "I shall scrutinize this, and if I feel Ms. Riya is right, then Mr. Deepak, you WILL have to resign."
Deepak froze when he heard this. He had worked for the company for 15 years and now a newcomer would get him sacked ?? He coudn’t believe his ears!
Riya said to the MD, "Sir, I have proof of loose talks ! Fortunately I had my phone in my hand one day when Mr. Deepak was torturing me with his talks and it suddenly struck me, so I pressed the record button ! You may listen to the entire conversation. This is enough proof of harassment !
Deepak wasn’t expecting this. What !!! he said. The MD interrupting him, "Yes Ms Riya, please send it to me, I shall definitely listen to it."
Deepak realizing that he had no defence and that Ms Riya had proof against him, embarrassed and caught unaware, got up from his seat and left the office in a haste. Riya was given back her job respectfully!
Sounds filmy, doesn't it ? It definitely does! Believe me, this is a true story and every bit of it is true. There’s more to it, which most women who have undergone harassment will be able to relate to. But I had to cut down on the length so couldn’t keep it detailed.
Karma, they say, has no menu and serves you what you deserve, well this is the fastest I have seen Karma work. Funny how, a man who worked with the company for 15 years has to lose out to a girl who was a new recruit, it implies that everyone has to pay for their misdoings – EVERYONE !!!
Just because someone has power or money, it wouldn’t exempt them from Karma. And sometimes maybe we shouldn’t wait for Karma to act, but raise our voice, fight against injustice and take no crap. Riya is back to office now and Mr. Deepak sacked, shamed in front of all the colleagues and Riya is praised and appreciated for her guts.
I would have loved to introduce Ms. Riya to you all, as it is not often that we come across a person as brave as her, who fought for her rights in a new country and without support and won the battle, but am afraid that would be invasion of her privacy and hence I have chosen not to. Well ! All is well that ends well. Hats off to you Riya ! I couldn’t stop myself from writing about your brave deed. May your story inspire victims of harassment!