Tanuj

It was a pleasant morning. Warm interiors of the hotel restaurant was bustling with breakfast activity. Soft clutter of cutlery, whispers and low tone laughs were indicative of polished and sophisticated gentry within. Along with my colleagues, I was stopping over in this hotel while enroute to a tribal district in western Madhya Pradesh.

As its name, Hotel Lemon Tree had a citrus ambience. The waiting staff in the restaurant was dressed up in lemon coloured uniform. The room was filled with gastronomical smell emerging from variety of food mixed with faint fruity odour. We settled down at a table placed in a sunny corner of the room. Deep in our discussion on the tribals, government policies on social inclusion, mainstreaming of the marginalized population etc. , we were analyzing the policies with a social lens; how the seem-to-be-straight-and-implementable policy has bearing on the society to make an informed choice. The young waiting staff was efficiently moving around the room taking orders, placing needed things on the table, clearing the plates. Everything was happening in perfect unison without giving anybody a chance to wait for any demand.

My colleague reckoned a staff as he wanted an extra sachet of sugar. A young, handsome boy with left ear pierce with a diamond stud immediately attended us with a pleasant smile stuck on his face. His lapel plate announced him to be Tanuj. He indicated to a tag around his neck which said:

I am dumb and deaf, please point out the article you need from the list here.

The list contained food items, consumables, cutlery, which was exhaustive in all probabilities.

For a second we all were puzzled and started looking around for a ‘normal’ help. Tanuj stood there confident, smiling and expecting us to place our order, holding the neck tag list close to our faces for our convenience. My colleague put a finger on the item which said sugar sachet. Within minutes extra sugar sachets were delivered at our table. We had the lower jaw dropped in amazement, to which Tanuj was oblivious and carried out errands in perfect composure.

Coming out of our table-talk, I studied the surroundings. I could spot three staff with the similar tags around their necks. Without conscious attention, it was difficult to spot these young fellows who were carrying out their responsibility with equal professionalism as others. We were amazed, surprised but extremely satisfied to see such beautiful mainstreaming in a corporate setting. Sometimes in social development sector equity and social inclusion terms are used very loosely befitting to the society’s convenience. But here I witnessed a perfect example of  it .