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01:54 AM
Bikram Vohra
JournalismPakistan.com
January16, 2015
Have you noticed when people are in important jobs and have the accoutrements of office to give them that sense of power are never available and all the sycophants who surround them create this opaque wall of hush hush awe that he or she cannot be disturbed by mere mortals.
And it never strikes them that there will be some other bum sitting on that chair one day and that will happen, no one is forever and somebody will come along, so take it lightly, stop being so insufferable.
But they cannot help it and then one day, it is all over and they are retired and the sycophants and lickspittles have deserted the ship and now they are so pathetically lonely that they are not only available, they are in your face, all pleasant and warm and friendly and full of bonhomie and stories to tell.
Oh, what stories to tell, endless sagas of life, trying desperately to capture an audience, not even a little apologetic for the runaround they gave to ten thousand people and more.
I met one of them a few days ago, bereft of the symbols of power, no lackeys in attendance, buying groceries. He met me like we were long lost brothers, asked me to have coffee with him. Say what???
So, let me give you the five indicators that the person who thinks is worth being a friend with because he perches like a parrot and preens on some temporary Olympian cloud is not… your friend or anyone else’s.
If he does not answer your messages and calls and does not have the courtesy to be gracious.
If he makes promises and then disappears and you cannot collect the concession, the invitations, the cards, get the appointment etc.
If, when he does speak to you, someone else has to dial your number and then ask you to hold.
He has no real friends only strands of a network and has an opinion on everything, like everything.
And he says things like call my secretary, I don’t get involved in the day to day nitty gritty. Sure, you big picture hero.
They never learn, do they?
(The writer is a Senior Editorial Advisor of Khaleej Times and the paper’s former Editor. He has also been the Editor of Gulf News, Gulf Today, Emirates Today and Bahrain Tribune)
If my call is so important to them, why don’t they answer it for 22 minutes?
How come when I want to, but something specific online is the only item out of stock.
When I get into a queue or lane going fast, the moment I get in, it becomes the slowest and refuses to budge.
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