Lost Marble(s)

I thought we were quite sensible and would never lose our marble(s). Just goes how wrong I can be sometimes. Our operation theatres were state of the art. The walls up to the ceiling and the floors were of marble. It used to look good, feel cool, and was durable. Unfortunately the slabs and walls underneath were old and getting older every day. So they undertook repair work that was overdue by thirty years, said the civil engineer. When the discussion got around to what would be put on the walls. “My OT is made up very well, with fine marble and all, and should not be broken up. Repair the rest of the building” the Boss said. “The floor and walls underneath the marble had all but gone, causing all the leakages of water in and out of monsoon“ the architect-consultant told him. “I will remove the marble and repair those.” “You will have to put marble on the walls and floors, of as good quality as the original” the Boss said. “Your existing marble is of second quality. I will put first quality marble” the consultant said. The Boss’ face fell, because the consultant had criticized his marble, and was promising to put better one after repairs. “OK” he said. Months passed. Then they showed vitrified tile sample to our professor and said those tiles would be put on the OT floor and walls. We were aghast. It was against the original agreement. We protested. “The Boss has consented to vitrified tiles” the consultant said. He was the same old one who would say I had signed the plans whenever we found fault with his work. I contacted the other heads of departments concerned and asked them if they knew about it. One did, the other did not. The first one did not want to protest against it. I wrote a letter of protest and left the result to merciful Gods. Perhaps it was divine order that had changed things. The contractor had taken away our original marble and was giving us far cheaper vitrified tiles instead. He must have made a lot of profit in the bargain, both having got good marble and not having to spend on new marble but on a far cheaper substitute.