When life gives you lemons and serves you a lemon cake.
This post and the posts which will follow are about some wonderful charismatic powerful people who in their own way make life better for people around them. They have positively in them which enriches people around them. They are my peers my elders my young friends.
So lets begin.
She was tidy in her dressing. Not pretty girl but attractive enough and she carried a strong person aura image around her. This was stark in contrast with her voice which was smooth yet soft. She was a few kilos heavy but that actually added to her personality.
Aarti is one of the few people anybody would like to have in their team. She is practical, result oriented and an excellent planner. But hey this post is not her linked in recommendation. Seriously isn't.
Aarti met me almost 8 years back. She was my colleague. But what made her memorable was the fact that she could connect with anybody and everybody on a same level. Or she made the person in front of her comfortable. It could be an office boy, a canteen wala, a client, a vendor, boss, company owner, basically anybody.
She spoke the language of the person next to her and naturally that helps to connect with people.
But the thing which made her stand out was her ability to actually finishing something on time.
I was unsure of something once and she said to me, " I have started it right, and you know that you will have to finish it, so just buckle up focus and finish it. Waiting, contemplating, awaiting wont take you anywhere."
She respected her work and people related to it but did not let that be the only focal point for her. She did listen to you even when you spoke something else. But she was not someone who listen to someone crib.
I remember an incident when a particularly bad client was being very stingy with money and actually wanted to do barter (which was not beneficial to our company at all). Aarti and I were in that meeting together and were pitching in for that business jointly. She politely refused the offer and as we walked away after the meeting she actually had a smile (a real one ) and she then she talked about the work in pipeline for the next day. It would have been apt for anyone to foul mouth that client for the jerk he had been. But for Aarti it was a small defeat (hiccup).
She had flaws of course. Any body has. But the point here is she makes people around her comfortable, and I am sure people like her for that.
The city of Mumbai ensures that you dont meet a person often. But isn't it great that when you do, you make the person you meet so comfortable in life that he/she will never forget the moment you spent with that person.
Aarti did that. Regularly.
