Xavier's Interesting Yarns

Preamble: For the  Blogchatter's A2Z challenge during the month of April 2024, I am writing mini stories on various subjects and characters on each day of the month except on Sundays. The name of the protagonist shall begin with the alphabet assigned for the day.  

Xavier Fernandez was an ex service man. He claimed to have worked in the infantry battalion of the Indian army. After premature retirement from the army, he joined public sector companies one after the other. He stayed in a company for about three years and then moved on. The first role was that of a sports officer. However,  he changed roles to security and then sports again depending on the requirement of the organization. One thing he ensured was a higher designation and higher pay each time he moved.  

Wherever Xavier  worked, he was known to be very popular with colleagues and employees. Any free time (freely available in PSUs in the 80s) and Xavier would regale them with his heroic and adventurous operations while in the army. Many youngsters admired him and  looked up to him as a role model. They wanted to have a similar healthy physique and also have the ability to tell entertaining stories like Xavier. 

The stories related by Xavier were breathtaking. Some of them involved daring attacks behind enemy lines, navigating through hostile territory and evading enemy patrols. Others were about daring rescue operations to rescue our officers or soldiers trapped in enemy territory. Challenges of defending a strategic position under siege by the enemy that involved surviving with limited food, ammunition, medical and other resources were all stories that were a hit with his listeners. By the time people got used to his tales or  they were no longer evoking  the same enthusiasm , Xavier would have quit for another company.   

If a visitor to the company was a serving officer in the army or an ex-serviceman, they sometimes asked  Xavier questions about his colleagues or details of his battalion. Xavier appeared to be uncomfortable on such occasions and seemingly evaded answering on the pretext of attending to an important work. 

Then, the mystery of Xavier's disappearance or leaving within three years of joining a company appeared to have got solved . This was after Xavier had recently quit as the head of security of  an electronics company in Bangalore. The new incumbent, an ex service man on seeing Xavier's photograph remarked that it was a familiar face. Surely, he had interacted with him in one of the units that he had worked. However, he was not able to say exactly where and when. 

It happened on the third day, after they had finished lunch in the canteen. The new Head of Security exclaimed " Ah , I can place him now. He was in charge of the mess operations in our unit at Jabalpur!" 

NB: This post is a part of  challenge #BlogchatterA2Z