The Ringing Bell

Once upon a time, when destiny decided to wreck havoc to people altogether, a Government office got a very cruel and disgruntled person as its Director!!!

Director is someone who heads the department and has full administrative as well as executive control. So he is someone who needs to be sane, judicious and patient. But, this man had an insane habit of torturing the employees by calling them one by one in his chamber for frequent updates and baseless inquiries. The people were pissed off because most of the times, he would insult or shout at them for obscure reasons. Everytime the bell rang, the messenger would rush in and walk out with mischievous air. Everyone would stare at him as if trying to figure out, “Is it my turn now”? And breaking the suspense, who so ever the messenger would point at, rest of the people would take a deep sigh and give pitying look to that person, ‘Poor guy’.

The Director was playing the role of not less than the ‘Hitler’ for the people. Ironically, in government job, people expect lesser work and indulgent environment. But look at him, he had created an environment more stern and harsh than even private companies. Moreover, he would always be skeptical about their performance. 

People were tormented because he would give unrealistic deadlines, or would ask absurd, non-realistic questions, and by the time one mustered up some words in defense, he would embark on another intermittent and wayward lecture. 

He was very impatient, and moody. You would expect him to be satisfied with your earnest performance at work, but he would be roaring in anger, “I gave it to you this very morning, but it’s still incomplete?” And when you would be expecting a scolding, he would be lazing around and making foolish jokes. But you have to laugh even though you couldn’t find it the least bit funny. 

Soon, there was an environment when the bell would ring every now and then. The turnover of the company was falling down to 0. And no one had the courage to even spit out a word because their promotion was as stake. And he was taking full advantage of that. Had it been a private company, he would have surely fired many people, but he anyway issued them strict warning confidential letter (for taking even a day’s leave), else he would send the guys to remote sites conquered by Naxalites ! And the rest of the time, he would bully them by asking them to come on holidays and stay till late. 

The threat was so immense that one day, an old fellow, who was a diabetic patient, got a stroke attack on his last day at office. The next day, another old fellow stumbled on the floor. Last day, he had a blazing row with the boss, and was under constant pressure for few days.

Now here comes the interesting part!!!

Guess, who would be the worst sufferer of all this havoc?  

The messenger- who was tired of the whole day’s toil of running in and out of his room! He was preparing for his B. Com exams, and was not able to study at all. As soon as he would start studying, he would get interrupted by the ringing bell, which he was obliged to attend. He started to feel like a dog that has to follow the bell everytime it rang.  And he was frustrated of trudging here and there the whole day. He was going pale and frail. 

One fine day, he took the notice of a cup of tea lying on the table when the director was not in the room. A smart idea clicked his mind. He opened his drawer and replaced all the tea bags with the ones each having small amount of pesticide in it. He filled the whole box with 100 bags of the same kind. 

Everyday since then, tea made with tea bag having a tinch of pesticide was served to the boss. It was like a slow poison and the result had yet to come which was eagerly awaited. Eventually, after few days, the entire staff was dazed with the news, “Director died last night because of food poisoning during his official tour in Maharashtra.”

Everyone rejoiced! Took a deep sigh of relief because it was more like a ‘good news for them’. A farewell was bidden with the best diplomatic and sugar-coated words ever after which everything went back to normal. The new boss was arriving next month from a site. So, for few days, the company had no boss!!!

It was the best time which all employees saw, in the last 2 years since he had started ruling. They would spend their day partying and watching movies at office without doing any work. They were like independent birds who have just fled the cage. Everyone thought to enjoy these days to the fullest before new director comes, and things get back to serious again. 

But then and there, something strange happened that, gave the messenger the biggest shock of his life. While serving tea to the staff, he heard the sound of the ringing bell coming form the locked room which belonged to the director, who was dead now. As he looked around, everyone was laughing and passing out time, but no one looked startled, as if no one heard anything. 

That bell kept ringing - louder, louder and …

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louder...