Ya os he comentado algo sobre
Abraham, Thomas, the boss, pero ahora os lo voy a
presentar. Abraham fue la primera persona de aquel país en darme una oportunidad
de trabajo. Llevaba 3 semanas de búsqueda incesante sin haber encontrado nada. Mi cuenta de banco había
empezado con su particular cuenta atrás… I have already
told you something about Abraham, Thomas; the boss, the main manager, but now I
am going to introduce him to you. Abraham was the first person who gave me a
job opportunity in that country. I had been looking for job intensively for
three weeks and I had not been able to find anything interesting. My bank
account had started its countdown...
¿Cómo estás? How are you?
¿Todo bien? Is everything
fine?
¿Cómo van las cosas? Cuídate. S ab xeriyat he? Th ik he. Everything is fine?
Mañana hablamos y te digo algo. Tomorrow I ´ ll talk to you…
Desde el primer momento, la
necesidad de ganarme la vida me llevó a querer aprender todo lo posible sobre
el negocio, fue un tiempo, que ante todo, dediqué a escuchar a los demás; a
todos y cada uno de mis compañeros. From the very first day I wanted
to earn my own bread, so for this reason I was learning everything on the trade,
the work, the tricks and the secrets. It was a time, which I spent, over all,
dedicated to listen to my mates, all and each one of them. It was such as an
apprenticeship.
Con toda seguridad, el hecho
de ser de fuera y mi falta de fluidez
con el idioma contribuyeron a que me convirtiera – de algún modo – en el
cómplice de los secretos de muchos de ellos. The fact of
coming from abroad, to be the only “foreigner” there, and my lack of fluidity
with English helped me to become, - in some way -, the confidant of many of their secrets.
Me tomé el tiempo necesario (margen)
para hablar con ellos sobre diferentes aspectos de su vida personal. I
allowed myself time to talk with them about their own single personal lives.
Abraham trabajaba seis días a
la semana, unas 75 horas de media. Ésa
había sido su rutina durante los dos años y medio que llevaba viviendo allí.
Disfrutaba de un día libre de ciento al
viento. Abraham used to work six days on a week, around 75
hours of average. That had became his routine for the last two years which he
had been living there. He enjoyed one day off some special occasions.
Antes de eso, había recorrido
medio mundo. Incluso había llegado a dirigir todo un hotel-rascacielos de
Dubai… Before this
platform, he had been living and working worldwide. He even was managing (as a director)
a whole skyscraper-hotel in Dubai…
Dominaba varios idiomas,
entre ellos el árabe, el urdú y el inglés. Se interesaba por todo. Era curioso
por naturaleza. También quiso aprender algunas palabras en español. Compartir
mesa con él en los descansos era apasionante. He could speak
perfectly several languages, also Arabic, Urdu and English. He was very curios
of everything and also wanted to learn some words in Spanish, just to be polite
with clients from our country. Sharing table with him during the breaks was
something amazing, we had good times.
…
Era ya tarde, casi la hora de
cerrar. Como de costumbre, antes de apagar las luces, subí a limpiar el staff-room, siguiendo las instrucciones
de Osman, otro compañero. Llamé a la
puerta. La golpee un par de veces con los nudillos. La abrí. Abraham estaba
cenando solo (siempre era el último en hacerlo, por ser la persona con mayor
responsabilidad y el encargado de atender las necesidades de los clientes en todo
momento; el último en abandonar el barco).
It was late, we were just on closing time. As usually, before turning
off the lights, I went upstairs in order to clean the staff-room, following the
orders (instructions) of Osman, another workmate. I knocked the door. I did it
softly twice with my knuckles. I opened it. Abraham was having dinner alone.
(He always was the last one on doing it, just because being the person who had
more responsibility and who had to care the clients in every single moment; he was
the last one in leaving (abandoning) the boat).
Gentilmente, me invitó a
sentarme y compartir mesa con él. Gently, as always, he invited me
to take a seat and spend some time talking together.
¿Cómo estuvo la cena? Have you enjoyed
your meal?
Deja eso. Siéntate, por favor. Toma asiento.
Leave this. Sit down, please. Take a sit.
Las lecciones de todo tipo se
sucedían en su compañía; también las económicas. He taught me
every short of lessons, also the economicals.
¿A cuánto está el cambio de la rupia hoy? – le pregunté -. What
about the rupia change today?- I asked him… -
La India es un país
emergente; y eso, saber que algún día las cosas mejorarían, les hacía sentirse orgullosos de su propia
patria, albergando la esperanza de que la prosperidad económica trajera consigo
mejoras en la calidad de vida de sus gentes. India is an
emergent country; and this fact, knowing that some day in the future thinks
could change to better, knowing that things will improve, used to make him to
feel proud of his mother country, hoping that economical prosperity would bring
a better quality of life for its countrymen.
Su cabeza siempre estaba en
aquella lejana India, lejos del ruido del local. Tenía tres pequeños y una
mujer a los que no veía desde hacía varios años. Hablaba con ellos a diario,
pero aquello se le antojaba insuficiente. His mind was
always in that far India, far away from the restaurant noise. He had three kids
and a wife whose he had not seen since years. He used to talk with them by the Internet
daily, but that was not enough for him.
El vuelo UK-India duraba unas 8 horas, pero de algún modo, no sé cómo, él conseguía viajar hasta allí en el tiempo
que el té de su taza tardaba en enfriarse. Flying from UK to
India used to take around 8 hours of flight, but in some way, I don´t know how,
he used to travel there by the time that it took his cup of tea to get cold.
Deje mi casa porque… I
left my home because of…
Trabajaba tanto porque quería
compartir con su familia las bondades que un país rico en divisas y recursos
como Inglaterra, ofrecía a sus ciudadanos. Una mejor educación, una casa mejor,
una mayor expectativa de vida… en fin,
algo diferente. Y lo cierto es que, como él mismo me confesó, estaba a punto de conseguirlo. He was
working so hard because he was willing to share with his family the goodness of
a rich country, plenty of resources and foreign exchange, like England, was offering
to its citizens. A better education, a better home, a good life expectancy… I
mean, something different from what he had lived. And the fact is that, as he
told me, he was nearly to get it.
De Abraham me quedo con la frase que le soltó a otro
compañero: I always will keep in mind the sentence
that he said to another workmate:
Respeto: lo das, lo recibes. Respect: give it, get it
Me impresionó tanto, que al
llegar a casa, alrededor de la una y media de la madrugada, me tomé el tiempo
necesario para apuntarlo sobre una de las hojas del libro de Hassan Fathy que estaba leyendo. It
caused me a great impression, till the point that when I arrived home, around
midnight, I took the necessary time for writing down it onto one of the sheets
of the Hassan Fathy´s book which I was reading (it was also my pocket
scrapbook).
Valoraba el trabajo en equipo
tanto como yo, incluso me echaba una mano con los platos, al final de la
jornada; no sé si por terminar antes, o
sencillamente por solidaridad, por eso; por echarme una mano. Si algún día
terminábamos antes, Abraham aprovechaba para reunirnos a todos y contrastar
opiniones en torno a la dinámica del grupo y los puntos a mejorar. Su éxito
residía precisamente en eso, en su empatía, en ser capaz de escuchar a los
otros, en hacer equipo, no solo en
los buenos números. He strongly appreciated the teamwork, in the way I did
it, and even he used to give me a hand with the set of dishes, at the end of
the shift, I don´t know if he used to do it just for finishing earlier or
easily to help me, because of solidarity, giving me a hand. If for any reason
we finished earlier, Abraham used to take advantage of this for organizing a
brainstorm-like to talk about the group dynamic and how to improve some points
of the life together. His success was based on its empathy, on being able to
listen to the other, on making team from the respect, not just in good numbers.
…
Como en el bar no se vendían
bebidas alcohólicas, los clientes se traían su propio vino – algo que sí estaba
permitido -. Mis compañeros sabían que
coleccionaba corchos para después hacer cuadros con ellos. Por eso, siempre que
descorchaban una botella lo guardaban para mí. Gracias a eso cuento con corchos
procedentes de casi todo el mundo conocido, incluso de cepas de países tan
remotos que ni siquiera figuran en los atlas de geografía. Because
we did not sell alcoholic drinks, some regulars used to bring their own wine, - something what was allowed -. My workmates
knew that I was a cork collector, because I had learnt to make a short of
pictures by using them, I am just an artist. So whenever they uncorked a bottle they kept in into
his pocket to me. Thanks of this I have got corks originals from the whole
known world, and even from vines natural from countries so remotes that they
are not registered on the Geography charts.
...
hoy suena bajo el paraguas: for the price of a cup of tea / belle and sebastian (en) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3za2qahgUAQ
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