Last Saturday, I attended the wedding reception
of the son of a dear friend of mine.
Yunus Siddiqui – or Yunusbhai – as everyone
knows him, had joined Mid Day immediately after college, I believe. And in this
day and age of changing organisations, he has remained in the Mid Day Group
throughout the past 25-odd years. He handles Inquilab, and was also responsible
for Mid Day Classifieds.
Over the past two decades and a half, I
don’t think anyone has ever seen Yunusbhai angry or agitated. Even when he was
right, he always worked towards making his client and agency partners
satisfied. Over time, if there’s one thing he has built, it is strong
relationships with people. People who have grown to like him, respect him and
trust him.
Anyone who does not believe in the value of
building relationships should have been present at the wedding of his son.
I do not know whether to call it his son’s
wedding or a Mid Day/Inquilab re-union. Anyone who had worked with Yunusbhai –
even for a short while – was there. Be it Abhijit Pradhan or Gaurish Pathare or
Satish Menon or Bikash Bannerjee, or the countless others like me, people made
it a point to be present and bless the couple. And some people had received
just a phone call from Yunusbhai, no more.
Or should we call it a Classifieds agency
party? Name the agency, and the person was there. And they had travelled long
distances to reach Mazagaon, like Piyush had come all the way from Mulund,
Monty had come from Ghatkopar and Samadbhai had braved the Andheri-Kurla Link
Road traffic. It definitely wasn’t the food that brought them there.
It wasn’t just ex-colleagues and agency partners.
It definitely speaks about the man if his MD, Mr. Tarique Ansari, or Mr.
Niranjan Hiranandani and other such senior people make it a point to come for
the wedding and stay for a long time.
And lest one thinks it was only about
guests, what was interesting was that the hosts for the evening were not only members
of Yunusbhai’s family, but many of his friends were standing at each table,
receiving guests, taking care of them, ensuring everyone had dinner etc. so
that Yunusbhai could be free with the bride and groom. Not that you would
expect that from Yunusbhai. He was everywhere – greeting his guests, on stage
with the newly-weds, ensuring people were eating and relaxed...
Attending the
wedding just reiterated my belief in the power of relationships – not business
relationships – but relationships built and nurtured over time. The power of kind
words, of making people feel special, of ensuring a win-win scenario for everyone
concerned. Values which are embedded in Yunusbhai.
No wonder everyone was just drawn to
Mazagaon last Saturday, braving the weekend evening traffic, the small lanes,
the dug-up roads, the knowledge that they would not get parking space and may
have to walk up a long distance. People’s presence or absence would not have
made an iota of difference – the wedding reception would have taken place
irrespective. But so many of us did. Does that in itself say anything?
Lastly, Yunusbhai again showed that little
glimpse of how much he values his relationships. Within a couple of days, we
had a little message in our phones, thanking us for attending his son’s wedding
and blessing the newlyweds, and how much it meant to him.
Thank
you Yunusbhai. It was your love that drove us all there. May Allah bless your
son and daughter-in-law, and may He continue to shower grace on your family.
Aameen.
