The Unlikely Hero

“The MD wants to meet you”

It’s not every day the managing director of a company would like to meet someone from his office. Even if they did they would not be someone as small as a security guy.

“Ramanna, The MD wants to meet you”, shouted his security head.

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(Few days earlier)

“Please let me check your bag sir”

“Oh yeah.. Well OK, here it is”

Ramanna started to check for any pendrives, hard-disks or CDs in the bag.

The gentleman’s time was being wasted.

He asked, “Do you realize I am the MD of this company”.

Ramanna did not know what it meant. Surely he did know that it was some post in the company.

He said,”Sorry sir, I don’t know. If you have any questions about this random bag checking procedure, you can talk to your manager or security head. He will be able to inform you” and returned the bag.

The MD took the bag and left in a hurry.

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“Guys, this is serious, we need to reduce our task-force and so have to let go of some people whom we no longer require. Management orders”

“But sir, he has done his job with utmost honesty all these years. We cannot ask him to leave all of a sudden.”

“OK, in that case, send me a strong report on why we should not remove him or why he is indispensable?”

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Ramanna was a shy, introvert security guy whose only job was to check employee bags at random and confiscate any pendrives, hard-disks or CDs in their bag. 

Nothing else.

Nothing else, other than catching a snake that occasionally stole into the company premises.

Yes, you read that right. Snakes in the company premises.

Whenever it would come, they would call him. He would go to the location, catch the snake with his bare hands, put it in a gunny bag and throw it in a “safe” remote location and return back to his work.

He had done this many times in his village where he grew up. He was not afraid of them.Infact he did not even consider them dangerous.

It was that simple.

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The security head was tensed. He had to save the job of poor Ramanna but could not find a way to say he is required in the company.

And that fateful day, he heard some noises, a small crowd had gathered. Curiosity got better of him and he rushed to the spot only to find another snake making its appearance. Someone was calling Ramanna.

This is the moment, the security head thought. Ramanna came and as usual prepared to catch the snake.

“Stop”, said the security head.

"Let me take its photo". 

He took two pictures of the snake and asked Ramannato catch the snake from the other direction, facing the camera all the time.

Ramanna was always amused by the ways of these big people but never thought of questioning him.

The whole incident was now recorded. The snake was left in some remote location and Ramanna was back to his work.

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“Hello, Sir, Tell me”

“Listen Ramanna, there will be one guy coming towards your gate now, wearing a blazer and carrying a small bag. Check the bag as you do with others and let him go. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir”.

Ramanna checked the bag as he did with hundreds of others and left him.

The MD took the bag and left in a hurry.

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There was a huge uproar in the Berlin office.

A monthly report had come from the security head informing the usual updates from the Indian office but this time it had something new, the presence of the snake in the office premises.

They had to take swift action. A committee was set to come up with an action plan the next time this happens. Snake Catcher Sticks, safety gloves, hard boots etc were ordered and dispatched to the Indian office and were instructed to hire an expert to handle such situation.

The video of a guy catching the snake with his bare hands went viral inside the company video portal.

It was a huge news. It reached the MD.

The MD looked hard at the person catching the snake in the video.

He was the same guy who had stopped the MD of the company to check his bag. And yeah the rules applied to him too.

He made a mental note of it.

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The MD was in India.

“Ramanna, The MD wants to meet you”, shouted his security head.

Ramanna entered timidly inside the room. There were 10 blazer wearing “big” people sitting inside the room.

They played the video of him capturing the snake, spoke something in English so fast that he gave up trying to understand after the second sentence.

The MD also spoke about his dedication to his work and his strictness in applying company rules.

They all clapped and gave him a medal, certificate and an envelope.

He did not understand a thing.

He smiled, saluted and left.

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“Yes, you can retain Ramanna. Also mention Snake catching in his set of special skills. Do not hire a new guy for that, just raise his salary a bit."

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Ramanna had now become a hero.

Whenever a snake made its appearance, he went there with Snake Catcher Sticks, safety gloves, hard boots etc, posed for photography acting as if he was catching them.
Then went ahead and caught him with his hands and threw them as usual.

No, he would not do anything with the photo now though.

The number of bags he checked also increased.

The security head could only smile at these changes. He was only satisfied in saving a job.Only he knew that its not enough to just do your job and shut up. You need to advertise yourself, let the world know what you are doing.And if you are deserving , you will get the rewards. Cringing silently does not work.