Root Cause Analysis (RCA)

I had previously mentioned about LEH and her rather horrendous experience one night when she was about to leave for home from school. 

The purpose of this post is to narrate a recent similar incident and try to understand the root cause.

Couple of days back she was in a meeting with the vice principal (VP) of her school discussing some question paper that she, LEH, had set. LEH narrated the incident that happened after the meeting with the VP to another person (TN) - LEH requested TN not to reveal the details to me. 

And obviously TN lost no time in calling me up.

For the benefit of my readers I will try to present the incident briefly - in bullet points.

• LEH completes the meeting with the VP at 6:45PM in the VP's room, which is in the ground floor. 
• LEH remembers that her own bag is in the staff room which is 50 feet away but in the 1st floor.
• At that ungodly hour most of the staff would have left for home.
• LEH is reminded of the previous incident and vows to play it safe this time. She meets Meeramma at 6:48PM, who also works in the school and asks her whether anyone is up there. Meeramma replies in the affirmative "Yes, God is".
• LEH, by this time shaking just a little, explains to Meeramma that her question was not a philosophical one. Was there any person in the 1st floor - LEH rephrased the question.
• Meeramma, being the efficient soul that she is, replied that LNU -  a male teacher -  was in the 1st floor.
• 6:50:12PM: LEH starts climbing the steps. At this point, to describe what really happened, I am going to show a video -  this scene from the movie Chandramukhi is very very similar to what happened to LEH. Watch the video and Alt-Tab and continue reading here - so you will get a kinda running commentary of the events that unfolded in the school in the next few crucial seconds.
• 6:50:12 to 6:50:28: LEH kept calling to LNU knowing that LNU had to be up there. Meeramma was never wrong. She belonged to the group of personnel in the school who always knew who was where and doing what. If Meeramma said that someone was in the 1st floor then even God didn't have a choice. God had better beam that someone to the 1st floor pronto. 
• LEH reached the 1st floor and frantically searched for LNU. 
• By the time it was 6:50:22PM, LEH was in a state of stupor and stumbling just as you see vadiveLEH at the end in the video.
• At 6:50:28PM, LEH located LNU who was sound asleep in a room. 

I am told that LEH has no memory of subsequent events and she doesn't know how she reached home that night. Unfortunately for her, lightning did strike the same place (at 6:45PM too).

Now if we do a quick recap and analysis of the events described above:

1. We can't blame the VP for ending the meeting at 6:45PM. Some meetings are known to extend till the milkman comes to deliver.
2. We can't blame LEH for wanting to pick her purse up from her workplace. 
3. We can't blame LNU for not responding immediately to my friend's call. He was in deep slumber considering the late hour. His choice of a room that wasn't visited often is also easily understandable. We all know how stressful it is to maintain a sweet innocent facade, that too in front of about 50 women.

Now who was responsible for this incident? Why did my friend LEH go through this painful incident (that too, once again)? 

And I squarely blame one person - Meeramma. Meeramma knows all. She is expected to know all that goes around, even about such things that don't go around. 
She knew that LEH would be trembling as she climbed the steps and calling out LNU's name, she knew where LNU was, in what state he would be in and that LNU would not be able to reply to LEH's call. All this would have flashed through the mind of the fiend Meeramma in a fraction of a second.  And yet Meeramma allayed LEH's fears and encouraged (at least allowed) LEH to go up to the 1st floor all alone knowing what would ensue subsequently.

Meeramma.... Vechutangaya aappu ("diye dilen baansh" in Bengali for those that aren't familiar with colloquial Tamil).

PS:

There could be some minor discrepancies in my recounting of the incident. You see, I didn't see the incident with my own eyes. I heard it from another source who heard it from yet another source. I have done my best to accurately present the events of that fateful day.