The cost of poor sleep

Ram, a gentleman otherwise, used to lose his cool temper whenever he didn't have enough sleep, the previous night. A narrative that bears the negative impact of sleeping less and weeping more, later.

Ram stared at his small flat, from the outside, located on the outskirts of Chennai. He told his wife in a soft tone" We bought this flat to stay here, in the long run, so that we would be staying near to my mother's flat. But, after ten years of buying this flat, we find this house not meeting our basic requirement in terms of its layout and appeal". His wife Viji added" Now your mother has shifted to Alandur and is staying with your younger brother Kannan. Our original purpose itself is defeated now" Ram pressed the calling bell. The tenant Mr.Ponvannan opened the door and received them. “Sir please come, inside". After exchanging mutual welfare, Ponvannan informed Ram about certain repair works inside the house. Ram readily agreed to solve and informed his younger brother Kannan over phone to coordinate the repair works. Not only on that occasion, Ram staying in Hyderabad, far away from Chennai, used to attend to any problems faced by his tenant just over a phone call.

Mr.Ponvannan was staying with his wife and two children who were good people.  The only hitch was the uncertainty in the timing of payment of rent by Ponvannan.  There were times when Ram told Ponvannan to meet the expenditure on account of some urgent civil and electrical works and adjust the amount paid by him from the rental payments. On the whole, Ram ensured his tenant lived comfortably in his flat. But a frequent issue for the tenant was water. The bore well never used to have sufficient water to cater to the residents of the apartment. The potable drinking water was not connected to their apartment, only two to three lorry loads were provided by the municipality in a week which was abysmal for the residents.  

Ram was aware of the water problem and had even told Ponvannan to consider vacating if they found the water crisis unbearable At one point in time, the water scarcity become acute and Ponvannan could no more sustain waterless times with two of his school-going children. He informed Ram about his decision to vacate the flat, just a couple of days before vacating. Ram, without any hesitation, agreed even though two months’ notice was required to be given by the tenant before vacating as per the rental agreement entered by the parties.

After vacating the flat, Ponvannan asked Ram to refund the advance amount Rs.20000/- which he paid while occupying the flat. After adjustment of rent, the amount refundable by Ram was Rs.11000/-. In the normal course, Ram would have refunded the amount instantly. But since Ponvannan had to hand over the electricity card and key of the flat, Ram waited for these two things before making the refund. In a few days, Ponvannan returned the electricity card and key to Ram’s brother.

 

Ram, then took the bank details from Ponvannan for transferring Rs.11000/- through net banking. Around the same time, Ram was in the midst of superannuating from his organization. Ram transferred Rs.11000/- twice to Ponvannan’s bank account but on both occasions, the amount bounced back to Ram's credit, the next day. Ram wondered why this was happening. He informed Ponvannan about the failed transactions. Later it turned out that the account number earlier given by Ponvannan was a current account with a different account number. But Ponvannan inadvertently gave the previous current account number to Ram. That was the reason why the two transactions of money transfer by Ram failed. Later, on intimation from Ponvannan, Ram added him as a new beneficiary with his new savings bank account number. But during this process, Ponvannan reminded Ram to pay his dues, stating urgency, even before his new account could be activated as Ram's beneficiary. Ram, was already in bad mood due to the negligent attitude of the Farewell committee in his department. Ram himself was earlier a member of the Farewell committee and contributed to a handful of successful farewell functions to the superannuating employees. 

 

When Ponvannan kept reminding him about his dues, Ram felt irked. Ram, concealing his anger, told Ponvannan he would transfer the amount as soon as his account was activated by the bank. Even on the penultimate day of superannuation, Ram was not given any formal invitation to attend the farewell function. Already a poor sleeper, Ram did not sleep well the previous night, the attitude of the farewell committee also hurting him.

 

On the day of retirement Ram had an emotional morning session at the office involving the farewell committee. The farewell committee apologized to Ram for its lapse for not inviting him earlier and pleaded him to participate in the official function during the post-lunch session. Although Ram was not at all happy with the un-ceremonial attitude of the farewell committee, he could not say no to the organizers, that day being is his last day of service in the organization. Ram along with his family attended a farewell meeting by his section staff in the morning where he shared some reflections of the past. He ended up with a song, as well.

 

After the party hosted by his section, Ram returned home and had lunch with his family. He was about to relax for some time when, Ponvannan phoned him exactly at that moment and reminded him about the refund for the nth time. Ram got wild at this and expressed his displeasure to Ponvannan venting his anger and irritation, mincing no words. He shouted angrily Ponvannan. He asked Ponvannan “Could not you wait for one more day before reminding? Are you thinking that I want to earn interest on your amount by delaying? Having stayed in my flat for such a long time and having defaulted many times in the timely payment of rent, you don’t have the courtesy to wait for one day”

 

Ponvannan did not expect that kind of retaliation from Ram. He told Ram “Sir, you keep the amount with you. I don’t want any refund from you” and disconnected the phone. Ram could not even relax for ten minutes after attending this phone call. The next day, the farewell committee honored three retirees, Ram being one of them. Ram jotted the points for his farewell speech and made a unique address to the audience, which was a bit abnormal from his earlier jovial speeches on the earlier occasions. But he did impress the audience. He told the audience “from tomorrow, every day will be Sunday for me. I will be a freeman in the real sense. The company gave me not only my provident fund today but gifted me with dust allergy since twenty years ago, citing the obnoxious environment of dust and cobwebs in the old record room, where I had to go several times in search of official documents of previous years.” Earlier he shared a poem like composition on the eve of his retirement through the official website of his organization.

The next day, Ram did transfer Rs.11000/- to Ponvannan. But he felt hurt by the manner in which he harshly spoke to Ponvannan.

 

Later when Ram wanted to let out his flat for rent, he could not find any takers, mainly due to the water scarcity in his apartment. After waiting for more than 6 months, losing at least Rs.10000/- per month on account of rent, Ram decided to sell the flat outright. 

 

Post-retirement, one day, Ram was not having good health. He did not sleep well the previous night. The next day he went to doctor for treatment. When he came out of the clinic, feeling weak and exhausted, due to lack of sleep, he received a phone call. The caller introduced himself as the party interested in buying his flat in Chennai. He told Ram unless he reduced Rs.2 lakhs from the already negotiated price of Rs.32 lakhs, he would not buy the flat. Ram was already not in good mood. Still, he gathered his cool and told him “I can’t reduce Rs.2 lakhs. I was expecting Rs.35 lakhs but have come down to Rs.32 lakhs. I have to pay Rs.1 lakh to the broker. It is also pertinent to say I have been losing Rs.10000/- per month, foregone on account of rent since the past one year. But because you called me now, I can consider a token amount as a discount at the time of final settlement”. But the party was not happy with Ram’s response and told Ram that he was withdrawing from the deal. Ram felt bitter at this sudden change instance by the other party. 

It was almost two years since his flat was vacated. Ram could neither let it out nor sell it and lost approximately more than Rs.2 lakhs towards its rent. He later felt even if he had agreed to the price of Rs.31 lakhs as a counter offer by the earlier aspirant, he would have not lost anything significantly.  

 

In the meantime, the covid-19 crisis swept across India and Chennai bore its adverse effects. This meant that the sale of Ram’s flat was deferred indefinitely. Finally in January'2022, after two years, Ram managed to sell the flat for Rs.30 lakhs. After concluding the sale of the flat Ram introspected and contemplated as follows:

 

1. I spoke harshly with Ponvannan which must have badly hurt the ex-tenant. Perhaps that incident had the impact of not bringing any new tenant to my flat, and deprived me of the monthly rent of Rs.10000/-.

2. When the only prospective buyer negotiated with him for a rate reduction, I could have sought time to respond. That would have given the scope for me to evaluate the sale price arithmetic and take a prudent decision. In all probability, I would have agreed to the prospective buyer’s price of Rs.31 lakhs, since that would have still met my expectation of Rs.30 lakhs rock bottom price. My shortsightedness and hasty decision has contributed in losing the opportunity long back.

 

Interestingly Ram noticed a common feature in the above two episodes. He did not have proper sleep the day before these two incidents. He did not keep up his cool on both occasions. He continued to pay a heavy price for his thoughtless reactions. Ram learned great lessons in life after sixty that prompted him to coin the following couplet: 

“Never deal with crucial things, if you have not woken up from good sleep; Lack of good sleep can play havoc and cause you to get hurt, deep"