Fridays are Blue-Blue symbolises the heavens if am right-Once in a blue moon they arrive with all the hype.All the cliches about the upcoming 'weekend' are on air and mails,which make me wonder why the hype was not so relevant a few years back.Ofcourse it must have been a different kind altogether.
Come to think of it Fridays are indeed delightful.Like today it is too.In my favorite tortured and tatterred blue jeans, with the upturned blue waste bin for a leg rest,and music playing in my ears, am rested and self-sufficient.The other day I changed my cubicle.With my new bay positioned next to the french windows, things could not have been better.As I lift my eyes to look up from the monitor the blue sky spreads out in front of me.Yeah in my honour they are a light blue today.No puffed up clowds.The heads of an array of Coconut trees(Coconut trees are glamorous enough!!) positioned against the side walk next to the windows delightfully obstruct my field of vision.As the tree leaves fan the sky the thin white clouds move freely like cotton bundles.A lamp post among the trees destroy the romance, yet it would have added spice when the day grew old.
Curbing my reel of mental images, a pair of squirrels play peekaboo on the trunk of one of the trees.An eagle swarms around the tree which makes me wonder whether the scene I had set up was going to turn bloody.But it was not to be.I caught the innocent eagle romancing its partner.Yet I thought it would have been even more romantic if the set had a pair of pigeons.Eagles seemed a little out of place,right?
So what was it that was making me unlike the Me?Was it the friday or the scene in front?Must be both.As I gaze cozily at the scene spread out in front of me am unaffected by the fact that my Team Lead sits only an arm's length away from me.My CPU has been cleverly adjusted to hide my dormant monitor from his line of vision.
But all beautiful moments wither away a little too soon.And this time the villian is the fact that windows have to be cleaned too.I watch with increasing despair as the maintenance boy arranges a ladder against the window, climbs it and commences his job.As I gaze at the alien in my set sloshing liquid soap onto the glass panes ,the set blur like that tear which blinds the eye.
What an anti-climax! But then when he is done maybe, the friday will look brighter,maybe my set will look spotless.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Woke up lost
When was it that I was wide awake last?The rays din't blind.Neither did it seem right.A well defined red sun.No anger but surprisingly firm and decided.Had it chosen the rise or the set?The air was calm save for chirps from birds.Were they off to prey or back with it?A barely noticeable breeze.The direction of which could not be gauged.What scent did it bring along?That of the glory or the primrose?
Are the evils obliged to disappear or still hanging around?Who will light the time ahead?The sun or the moon?Was it a bad dream that woke me up or the call of time?Close my eyes and it is a deep crimson.Open them its the same crimson.The twilight played games again.Woke up lost...
Are the evils obliged to disappear or still hanging around?Who will light the time ahead?The sun or the moon?Was it a bad dream that woke me up or the call of time?Close my eyes and it is a deep crimson.Open them its the same crimson.The twilight played games again.Woke up lost...
Friday, November 2, 2007
Odysseus' friend
At the end of an eventful one year of handling millions of mails a day ( forwards to be exact) , scrolling repeatedly through the available contacts in Google Talk,taking commendable number of tea breaks in between socialising through mails and messengers,bitching about Project Managers,Tech Leads or anyone of their kind who ever tried to throw their weight around, I came to be known as one year experienced .Or rather the realisation came in its full force when some of us, the 1-year experienced, were asked to give a piece of our ""hard-earned knowledge"" to the Oct-2007 fresher's batch.The task was simple,mentor a group of 200 odd 'just out of college-eager to get into corporate life' (yaaawwwnnnn) or 'just out of college-give me a project' (double yaaawwwnnnn) proffessionals.
And an irony it was that the topic of mentoring had escaped all the 4 years of study in college.We had a big white book for the subject.It would not even have served as a head rest as it would position the head at 90 degree to the torso,thanks to its volume.If I had to open that book today I would find the fossil of the ant which got in between its pages as I opened the book the first and perhaps the last time to savour the smell of new paper.The last nail to the coffin was laid the day when the coordinator for the whole mentoring program distributed the slide show for the day of mentoring.What little notion I had about the topic had gone down the drain.
The night before the mentoring Letha and I sat on our beds with giggles that could not be escaped.Ever since we came the engineering ways we had been inseparable be it in sharing a room in hostel or doing the final year BE project.In the next day's act we were again comrades.Flying the slide show hard copies we pulled the blankets for the day.
On the D-Day we dressed smart,an act to look unreachable and distant to the freshers.Would they not shun from asking you their doubts regarding the topic if you put on an act and tried to look condescending and intelligent(which requires hell lot of effort and practice ofcourse) .The act crumbled as soon as we entered the lecture hall,swimming with young,ready to pounce faces.Without further delay,the session started and the mentors for the day were introduced."Seek their help whenever you need it while you solve the problems for the day".....GULP...."Give over your solutions to them.They will validate it for you"....MORE GULPS.. with more gulps to come.
The dare-devil 'act' had given away to kitten in hot water looks.I must have looked very reachable for they summoned me for discussing every thread of thought that passed their mind.I retorted in the smallest decibels, lest another guy in the next aisle got to hear my template answers .I went "Errrrr dont you think this solution involves more number of iterations" or "dont you think that is not an optimal solution" or "yes!absolutely!you are in the right track" gags.God lone knows the number of times I repeated the same comment to a single person or perhaps some angry young men steadfastedly attacking their problem had counted too for I wondered whether there was a depreciation in the number of summonings.However it is worthy of much praise that we ,the mentors, escaped unscathed.Maybe they were saving the stones for another appropriate moment.
At the end of the day,when the session came to an end the coordinator complimented the mentors for their cooperation and without whom the session would not have been a success.So this was how people learned to make template statements in public.The first taste of it.
And an irony it was that the topic of mentoring had escaped all the 4 years of study in college.We had a big white book for the subject.It would not even have served as a head rest as it would position the head at 90 degree to the torso,thanks to its volume.If I had to open that book today I would find the fossil of the ant which got in between its pages as I opened the book the first and perhaps the last time to savour the smell of new paper.The last nail to the coffin was laid the day when the coordinator for the whole mentoring program distributed the slide show for the day of mentoring.What little notion I had about the topic had gone down the drain.
The night before the mentoring Letha and I sat on our beds with giggles that could not be escaped.Ever since we came the engineering ways we had been inseparable be it in sharing a room in hostel or doing the final year BE project.In the next day's act we were again comrades.Flying the slide show hard copies we pulled the blankets for the day.
On the D-Day we dressed smart,an act to look unreachable and distant to the freshers.Would they not shun from asking you their doubts regarding the topic if you put on an act and tried to look condescending and intelligent(which requires hell lot of effort and practice ofcourse) .The act crumbled as soon as we entered the lecture hall,swimming with young,ready to pounce faces.Without further delay,the session started and the mentors for the day were introduced."Seek their help whenever you need it while you solve the problems for the day".....GULP...."Give over your solutions to them.They will validate it for you"....MORE GULPS.. with more gulps to come.
The dare-devil 'act' had given away to kitten in hot water looks.I must have looked very reachable for they summoned me for discussing every thread of thought that passed their mind.I retorted in the smallest decibels, lest another guy in the next aisle got to hear my template answers .I went "Errrrr dont you think this solution involves more number of iterations" or "dont you think that is not an optimal solution" or "yes!absolutely!you are in the right track" gags.God lone knows the number of times I repeated the same comment to a single person or perhaps some angry young men steadfastedly attacking their problem had counted too for I wondered whether there was a depreciation in the number of summonings.However it is worthy of much praise that we ,the mentors, escaped unscathed.Maybe they were saving the stones for another appropriate moment.
At the end of the day,when the session came to an end the coordinator complimented the mentors for their cooperation and without whom the session would not have been a success.So this was how people learned to make template statements in public.The first taste of it.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Sluurrppp!
At a time worthy of a fine siesta am rooted to a chair with a monitor in front.The tea boy arrives.He is a malayali.Giving a smile he places the tea cup at my desk and buzzes around with his tray of tea cups.I raise the tea cup to my lips and even before I take a sip I hear a huge slurp behind me.Not unexpected but a reminder.I quicly rummage in my desk cupboard for my headsets.A life savior at this H-Hour is the music when someone or the other around me would be spraying away the tea into their mouths with huge slurps.
Ever since I was a kid I had grown up with increasing irritation of tea slurps.When I grew teeth and nails I realised they were as horrendous as pulling a piece of nylon against the tip of your teeth or scratching your fingers against the blackboards.Well a lot of people share this sentiment.I once asked Acha the logic behind slurping tea.He said maybe it was to prevent scorching your lips with the hot tea or maybe so that you get the taste of tea in all the nooks and corners of your mouth or maybe just because you loved the sound.Now the third one is an absolute horror and I had solutions for the other two.Why not wait until your tea is cold in the first place and if it was necessary to get the taste of tea why not do it after the sip?You do not have spray it into the mouth.After all its tea.It will find its way.
Sipping my tea I muse on what standards ought to be set for drinking tea.It would be better to alter the texture a little.Maybe we should start taking them with chopsticks or take it as tea tablets like they must be doing in space.Ah in that case,it would be all chomp-chomps instead of slurp-slurps around.But that would be a change atleast.I shrug at the wacky brain waves.They could not be helped.If Ajay had been around he would have had more of such wacky points to offer.Only the other day he was reminding me not to drain my cup of tea completely at a hosts' and demonstrated the same by leaving behind an ample portion of it in his cup for my examination.After all I was the host.My string of thoughts come to an end when someone does a huge slurp behind me.I hurriedly add more songs into my playlist and drain my tea cup.And yeah I can drain it this time.I guess am not at a guest at my desk!
Ever since I was a kid I had grown up with increasing irritation of tea slurps.When I grew teeth and nails I realised they were as horrendous as pulling a piece of nylon against the tip of your teeth or scratching your fingers against the blackboards.Well a lot of people share this sentiment.I once asked Acha the logic behind slurping tea.He said maybe it was to prevent scorching your lips with the hot tea or maybe so that you get the taste of tea in all the nooks and corners of your mouth or maybe just because you loved the sound.Now the third one is an absolute horror and I had solutions for the other two.Why not wait until your tea is cold in the first place and if it was necessary to get the taste of tea why not do it after the sip?You do not have spray it into the mouth.After all its tea.It will find its way.
Sipping my tea I muse on what standards ought to be set for drinking tea.It would be better to alter the texture a little.Maybe we should start taking them with chopsticks or take it as tea tablets like they must be doing in space.Ah in that case,it would be all chomp-chomps instead of slurp-slurps around.But that would be a change atleast.I shrug at the wacky brain waves.They could not be helped.If Ajay had been around he would have had more of such wacky points to offer.Only the other day he was reminding me not to drain my cup of tea completely at a hosts' and demonstrated the same by leaving behind an ample portion of it in his cup for my examination.After all I was the host.My string of thoughts come to an end when someone does a huge slurp behind me.I hurriedly add more songs into my playlist and drain my tea cup.And yeah I can drain it this time.I guess am not at a guest at my desk!
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Boomerang
Some of the greatest joys of travel are gleaned from knowing that your preconceptions were wrong.Sometimes right.And that sometimes that you are a real lucky bum.You cant be all three of them at the same time.I must have been a lucky bum for a change,then.Unfortunately I never went to check whether the bee had developed knees.
One rather normal night I started off to my home town.Since the urge to go home had spurted only a day before I was travelling in a special bus due to unavailability of tickets in others.Trying to make most out of the 10 hour journey I settled in to sleep only to wake up an hour later to be chased out of the bus along with my co-passengers into the unbelievingly active and swarming Bangalore-Hosur highway.The 'special' bus had no inter-state license.It was to spend the rest of the night at the polices'.As a chaiwala tried to make the most out of the situation,we stood staring at the dispersing bus,unbelievingly .Some of guys who had snapped out of the numbness a little earlier had succeeded in man-handling the bus driver who seemed totally lost.Among them I noticed a guy who was a little more active at it.His gilded bride stood glowing at her hubby's heroism.
Surveying the scene I realised that there were only two other women present.The bride and another girl about my age.When the men were done with their machismo some of them went about calling the travel agency demanding them to arrange another bus for the rest of the journey.I for my part also called up the agency to notify them that women were also involved.By then it was 11 in the night.The agency was all apologies and promised to send a bus to Hosur at the earliest.By then the husband and wife were making other plans to reach atleast till Coimbatore and borad another bus from there to Cochin.They also succeded in getting 2 tickets to Coimbatore at a travel agency along the road.Yet others, unbelieving about the agency's promises were hitch-hiking at every possible passing buses which would take them anywhere near their destination.I realised that Anu(that was the girl's name if I remember right) and I were not part of any action at the moment.Now we were in a hole.We did not have the courage to jump into any passing bus.The husband offered to take us along if we were willing.Anu was game.Atleast they were a couple.I was not very interested,yet diffident about losing the company of a more seemingly mature woman.But then the agency had promised another bus.
"Lets wait for the bus.I guess we can manage this".I assured Anu,hoping I was not being a pea-brain.Much to my relief she only needed me to say that to her.She relented.We began our wait.The couple's bus came around midnight.Before departing they warned us that we girls were being silly and that no bus was to come.Nevertheless they asked us to take care.The number of people who remained was reduced from 20-something to 7.It was a freezing and intermittent winds added pain.I wondered whether I would have to enter feet first into the bus when and if it arrived.Anu and I discussed everything but about the not-arriving-bus.It must have been on a mutual understanding.Our wait did not go waste.At 2 in the morning a tempo-traveller arrived."Fantabulous!.As if not enough we were supposed to travel with the torso erect".I discussed with her.But the traveller interiors were a little more promising.The seats were plush though erect.But to our absolute horror the driver was playing tamil folk songs.The vehicle would be taking us to Coimbatore and from there another bus had been arranged to take us to Cochin.Not very confident about this proxy bus arrangement I decided not to sleep,lest I woke up changed.
With folk songs for company,I watched the traveller drive into the dawn with swimming eyes.At around 7 in the morning we reached Coimbatore.Much to our relief there was a bus waiting for us.Doing a few stretches we boarded the bus which was luckily, a sleeper.Without further hiccups we would be reaching our hometown.As Anu and I settled down into our seats we let out a sigh and exchanged smiles before trying to catch some sleep.The bus started off immediately,only to be stopped the very next moment.A"What now!!??" must have been on everyone's minds as we craned necks to see what had happened.I wanted to hoot and whistle as I saw last night's couple enter the bus.Situations like these brings back the kid.With a little provocation I would have gotten up,wagged my fingers at them and given them a "You did not get very far did you!". Anu shared my sentiments.We let the men in the bus do the hooting.Feeling unnecessarily puffed up we settled down to sleep into the afternoon.
One rather normal night I started off to my home town.Since the urge to go home had spurted only a day before I was travelling in a special bus due to unavailability of tickets in others.Trying to make most out of the 10 hour journey I settled in to sleep only to wake up an hour later to be chased out of the bus along with my co-passengers into the unbelievingly active and swarming Bangalore-Hosur highway.The 'special' bus had no inter-state license.It was to spend the rest of the night at the polices'.As a chaiwala tried to make the most out of the situation,we stood staring at the dispersing bus,unbelievingly .Some of guys who had snapped out of the numbness a little earlier had succeeded in man-handling the bus driver who seemed totally lost.Among them I noticed a guy who was a little more active at it.His gilded bride stood glowing at her hubby's heroism.
Surveying the scene I realised that there were only two other women present.The bride and another girl about my age.When the men were done with their machismo some of them went about calling the travel agency demanding them to arrange another bus for the rest of the journey.I for my part also called up the agency to notify them that women were also involved.By then it was 11 in the night.The agency was all apologies and promised to send a bus to Hosur at the earliest.By then the husband and wife were making other plans to reach atleast till Coimbatore and borad another bus from there to Cochin.They also succeded in getting 2 tickets to Coimbatore at a travel agency along the road.Yet others, unbelieving about the agency's promises were hitch-hiking at every possible passing buses which would take them anywhere near their destination.I realised that Anu(that was the girl's name if I remember right) and I were not part of any action at the moment.Now we were in a hole.We did not have the courage to jump into any passing bus.The husband offered to take us along if we were willing.Anu was game.Atleast they were a couple.I was not very interested,yet diffident about losing the company of a more seemingly mature woman.But then the agency had promised another bus.
"Lets wait for the bus.I guess we can manage this".I assured Anu,hoping I was not being a pea-brain.Much to my relief she only needed me to say that to her.She relented.We began our wait.The couple's bus came around midnight.Before departing they warned us that we girls were being silly and that no bus was to come.Nevertheless they asked us to take care.The number of people who remained was reduced from 20-something to 7.It was a freezing and intermittent winds added pain.I wondered whether I would have to enter feet first into the bus when and if it arrived.Anu and I discussed everything but about the not-arriving-bus.It must have been on a mutual understanding.Our wait did not go waste.At 2 in the morning a tempo-traveller arrived."Fantabulous!.As if not enough we were supposed to travel with the torso erect".I discussed with her.But the traveller interiors were a little more promising.The seats were plush though erect.But to our absolute horror the driver was playing tamil folk songs.The vehicle would be taking us to Coimbatore and from there another bus had been arranged to take us to Cochin.Not very confident about this proxy bus arrangement I decided not to sleep,lest I woke up changed.
With folk songs for company,I watched the traveller drive into the dawn with swimming eyes.At around 7 in the morning we reached Coimbatore.Much to our relief there was a bus waiting for us.Doing a few stretches we boarded the bus which was luckily, a sleeper.Without further hiccups we would be reaching our hometown.As Anu and I settled down into our seats we let out a sigh and exchanged smiles before trying to catch some sleep.The bus started off immediately,only to be stopped the very next moment.A"What now!!??" must have been on everyone's minds as we craned necks to see what had happened.I wanted to hoot and whistle as I saw last night's couple enter the bus.Situations like these brings back the kid.With a little provocation I would have gotten up,wagged my fingers at them and given them a "You did not get very far did you!". Anu shared my sentiments.We let the men in the bus do the hooting.Feeling unnecessarily puffed up we settled down to sleep into the afternoon.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
The Swing
I remember,back in school when we had 10 minute breaks in between 40 minute class hours it was a dash out to the little park in the school backyard to take turns at swinging.The person who reached the swings first got the first turn.Others who dashed in subsequently waited for theirs.No bullying.Peaceful wait.No timers.The person on the swing had to get tired of his stunts.It was all about swinging to the greatest heights.You were a star if you recorded a good height.
Today if I feel like getting into swings,mood swings are the only option.Yeah you could ride high on them.More so with greater amplitudes.And anyone who tried hauling you over to mean position would be a victim of rarer stunts.
About a month back when I visited my school with some friends and tried using the swings again we would not fit into it.Squeezing myself into it I had looked up to see the school roof top which we in our swing-fitting sizes ,claimed to 'virtually touch' as we rode high on it.
Well.. I sound desperate enough to spend my day on a swing rather than an ergonomic office chair.Not really.If I had been,I would have put up a swing in our apartments' balcony and swung on it day and night.But would not people in neighboring flats summon fireforce to bring the girl down -from the swing- who seemed to have lost it?
Coming to the point, swinging is not a passion.But then this piece of writing was inspired by how the meaning of swinging gave way to another.Though life is not about swinging the next time you see a swing(I mean the one with ropes and a sitting thing) dont look at it with apprehension.If you can fit onto it dont miss a ride.
Today if I feel like getting into swings,mood swings are the only option.Yeah you could ride high on them.More so with greater amplitudes.And anyone who tried hauling you over to mean position would be a victim of rarer stunts.
About a month back when I visited my school with some friends and tried using the swings again we would not fit into it.Squeezing myself into it I had looked up to see the school roof top which we in our swing-fitting sizes ,claimed to 'virtually touch' as we rode high on it.
Well.. I sound desperate enough to spend my day on a swing rather than an ergonomic office chair.Not really.If I had been,I would have put up a swing in our apartments' balcony and swung on it day and night.But would not people in neighboring flats summon fireforce to bring the girl down -from the swing- who seemed to have lost it?
Coming to the point, swinging is not a passion.But then this piece of writing was inspired by how the meaning of swinging gave way to another.Though life is not about swinging the next time you see a swing(I mean the one with ropes and a sitting thing) dont look at it with apprehension.If you can fit onto it dont miss a ride.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Your berth or mine?
A few weeks back I was travelling from Banglore to Chennai to meet a few friends.The train started after 11.30 in the night.Maybe everyone had gone beyond their getting-into-bed times.I noticed that all my fellow passengers including me, were not in a hurry to call it a day.Three young ladies were chattering away and nibbling at chocolates.Two young men were chattering away about(no prizes for guessing) technical jargons.Well.. you can't miss software proffessionals anywhere you go.Being in the field myself I did not stop myself from trying to decipher where and on what and for how many years they had been working.Without much strain I got to know that they were both about 2 years experienced and that they worked in respectable firms.
Dousing my curiosities, I happily settled down with my music player and a book I had won over from Letha after a squabble.In about an hour everyone was ready to settle into,for the night.Mine was an upper berth.As I prepared to climb up,one of the men asked me whether he could swap his berth with mine. Since his was a middle berth I did not have a problem.I agreed.
I heard the other man asking his friend."Hey why do you want the upper?".And my friend was like "Oh I dont want anyone to disturb me yaar.It is so much peaceful up there.The middle berth will have people either staring at you or dashing against your feet as they pass by.I choked on the water I was drinking out of a bottle.Pretending not to hear I struggled to tie up my hair while settling into the middle berth."You are right there, and yeah....verrry little head space too".The other guy offerred,seeing me struggle to keep my head high.I would not attempt any yogic posture other than a Shavasana in the middle of the night ,I wanted to assure him.Suppressing my irritation I smiled brightly at him and said."You should not have enlightened him in front of me".They grinned and went on their way to the upper berths.
The train was scheduled to reach Chennai at 4.30 am.I woke about 15 minutes early and went ahead freshening myself up.When I returned the guys were just waking up.Stiffling a huge yawn my friend was saying."Arrey yaaarrr the mosquitoes ate me alive.The fan wind was not coming onto me"."Yeah exactly!Even I was awake almost all the night.I had just slept when my alarm went off!".The other guy was saying.Both of them had not noticed me come in.They looked down at the same instant while I looked up at them innocently.
"The next time am asked to write an essay about the advantages and disadvantages of using the upper berth I will not get stuck".I said suppressing a much awaited giggle.As we grinned sheepishly at each other,I added hurriedly."Hey no hard feelings.Bubbyee".With that I dashed out into the already buzzling Chennai Central station.
Hard feelings or not they were just two other faces in the crowd.
Dousing my curiosities, I happily settled down with my music player and a book I had won over from Letha after a squabble.In about an hour everyone was ready to settle into,for the night.Mine was an upper berth.As I prepared to climb up,one of the men asked me whether he could swap his berth with mine. Since his was a middle berth I did not have a problem.I agreed.
I heard the other man asking his friend."Hey why do you want the upper?".And my friend was like "Oh I dont want anyone to disturb me yaar.It is so much peaceful up there.The middle berth will have people either staring at you or dashing against your feet as they pass by.I choked on the water I was drinking out of a bottle.Pretending not to hear I struggled to tie up my hair while settling into the middle berth."You are right there, and yeah....verrry little head space too".The other guy offerred,seeing me struggle to keep my head high.I would not attempt any yogic posture other than a Shavasana in the middle of the night ,I wanted to assure him.Suppressing my irritation I smiled brightly at him and said."You should not have enlightened him in front of me".They grinned and went on their way to the upper berths.
The train was scheduled to reach Chennai at 4.30 am.I woke about 15 minutes early and went ahead freshening myself up.When I returned the guys were just waking up.Stiffling a huge yawn my friend was saying."Arrey yaaarrr the mosquitoes ate me alive.The fan wind was not coming onto me"."Yeah exactly!Even I was awake almost all the night.I had just slept when my alarm went off!".The other guy was saying.Both of them had not noticed me come in.They looked down at the same instant while I looked up at them innocently.
"The next time am asked to write an essay about the advantages and disadvantages of using the upper berth I will not get stuck".I said suppressing a much awaited giggle.As we grinned sheepishly at each other,I added hurriedly."Hey no hard feelings.Bubbyee".With that I dashed out into the already buzzling Chennai Central station.
Hard feelings or not they were just two other faces in the crowd.
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