In our office, there was a great personality seated in authority—Mr. Tiwari, the senior manager. His title was professional, but his behavior made it seem as if he had personally been appointed as the guardian of time itself. The ticking of the clock seemed synchronized with his heartbeat. If any employee arrived even a minute late, he would look at them as if the nation’s economy depended entirely on their punctuality.
Mr. Tiwari’s philosophy was simple: “Work first, breathing later.” Even when someone wished him “Good Morning,” he would reply, “Morning will be good only if the report is submitted on time.” His meetings were so disciplined that even the chairs seemed to sit upright, and the ceiling fan rotated slowly as if afraid of breaking office etiquette.
One day, I gathered the courage to ask, “Sir, would you like some tea?”
He adjusted his glasses and replied, “First complete the target, then add sugar to the tea.”
That day I realized that in our office, even tea was performance-based.
The entire team was so afraid of him that even typing “haha” on WhatsApp required serious consideration, just in case it was counted as time-wasting. Once, all of us arrived five minutes late. Mr. Tiwari said nothing—he simply smiled. But that smile was so terrifying that it felt as if our salary slips were trembling.
The story took an unexpected turn one day when his laptop suddenly froze. He kept moving the mouse repeatedly, as if the computer would become frightened and start working again. For the first time, we saw panic on his face. The IT department was called. The technician said, “Sir, just restart the system.”
Mr. Tiwari fell silent. After two minutes, the system started working—and something seemed to restart inside his mind as well.
After that day, he became slightly softer. Sometimes he even asked for tea himself. And us? We started arriving on time—not out of fear, but out of habit.
In the neighborhood, people still say,
“Oh, that Tiwari Ji? The one who used to drive people up the wall… and now believes in the magic of restart!”
RAJEEV VERMA 