GuruDakshina

My mentor/techlead/supervisor at work quit today. I have been working here for almost 3 years now. Almost 3 years working with him. We didnt start off quite well. We hated each other. He had a bad temper and I was the young fresh grad who didnt know much at all. Grumbliing and gruntling we learned to work together. I stood my ground and he his. Smarting and seething within both of us knew we had to play the game. We wore smiling faces and pretended that all was well. Slowly but surely things changed. With honesty came trust and soon deep respect and friendship. I admire his work and his dedication. He backed me when I was right, defended me when I was wrong and taught me well. I had never thought it would be an emotional experience for me when he quit. But it is.

He came to my office today and said "will you do me a favour?" Sure, what is it?". he opened his hand, and said pick one. Two chits. I picked and gave one to him. He opened it and showed it to me "Go" it read. "What does the other say ?" I asked. He opened and showed it to me. It said "No Go". "So is this how you make important decisions Lin ?""My wife got tired of my indecisiveness, she asked me to toss a damn coin and make up my mind". He pulled a chair and sat down. And for the first time in 3 years we spoke on life. Career money time and all the things that he was thinking of while he made this choice. All through 3 years I have hung out with a lot of my collegues, but with him kept a safe distance. We have never been on backslapping terms or even Would you like to grab a bite ? terms. Today after we had spoken at length i asked " would you like to join for lunch?"

I knew that he was planning on leaving for almost two weeks now. He had pre-warned me "I wouldn't want you to hear it from anyone else." he had said. I have been planning on what to get him as a going-away present, on what would be appropriate, useful and most importantly meaningful. My heartfelt wishes and gratitude for all that he has taught me is everything that I can offer. Anything without that is just a meaningless token.