Standing on ice

Everything that glitters is not gold. And for a software engineer working as a cheap labour in an MNC in India, the gold is just a slab of ice floating on water in a stranded lonely island which could be located on either of the poles. The helpless software engineer has to struggle in the freezing water against hundreds of fellow software engineers and find himself a large and stable slab of ice. Little does he have an idea that the slabs of ice visible in water are almost friction-less on the top. Unless he knows the trick, he cannot stand on any of them. The day he manages to balance, the next moment the sun shines brightly and before he realises the ice melts into water. He is back to where he began from except only with an additional ability to stand firmly on ice. But to his dismay, there are no slabs of ice remaining! The damned waves lash the shore and his house of sand that he had built on the island starts to collapse - grain by grain. He is left with no option but to go on a different island.

With challenging and competitive work atmosphere to hone our skills, shining salary packages and lucrative benefits to shoot up our bank balance, MNCs are voluntarily one of our preferred employers. But situations go adverse when the market giants lose business, The project that was hot until now loses its strategic value to the company and is scraped off. Human 'resources' are shovelled and we find ourselves in a state of disbelief. Tough times befall and we step back to revisiting the fundamentals of all the software design patterns, the data structures, the concepts of object-oriented programming and the innumerable algorithms. But other than the definition and hypothetical examples that are replicated on all the web pages on internet, we hardly are able to think and write a complete correct program in one go. Because it is mainly the bug fixing and maintenance work of the existing code that we are expected to be the best at. Sooner or later, we find our next potential employer and again winter arrives faster than the spring ends. 

Events repeat but nevertheless, slowly and gradually we get used to such shaking incidents and they become an add-ons to our already malware infected lives. Optimistically, we look towards a silver lining in the cloud and eagerly await spring to end this winter but damn this human behaviour! We end up getting blinded by the glittering gold!

Learning to grow

After successfully managing to spend 7 months on my own in a brand new city 2000 miles from home, I am beginning to develop a little bit of confidence inside me along with a sense of accomplishment that I am finally becoming independent. Finally ! This small journey has been refreshing, full of new experiences and has taught me new lessons.

Lesson 1 - Always stay calm and composed.

Yes dealing with the landlady and all sorts of other people is no trivial task. Even if I feel like hitting them in any situation, a thing which I cannot afford to loose is my self-control. I cannot let my emotions misconstrued by anyone as that of a cynic. I have to maintain my calm and composed stature 24x7. And of course, politeness always pays.

Lesson 2 - Manage finances

Setting up a monthly budget and managing all the expenses within the limit is not easy. I am no Warren Buffett but I have to let my money grow too. I wonder how mom does it.

Lesson 3 - Travelling alone is not that bad

With very less time in hand and given that I have not been to any places other than school, college, office and home in 25 years now, I sincerely do not want the Sun and dear clouds to rule my travelling plans. With the zeal and desire to travel as much as possible on level 100, the fact that I do not have any companion to make the journey beautiful does not matter. And travelling alone, by the way, does bring one close to oneself.

Lesson 4 - Learn everything possible

Other than my age one thing which is ever increasing is my wishlist of items. And my pledge is to execute each and every single bullet on it by the time I die. Till now, I have scratched five.

Lesson 5 - Boys are better friends than girls

No offence to womenfolk but lately I have realised that boys prove far better friends than girls. This is aside from the fact that I am the only woman at work in a team of around 30 people.

Lesson 6 - You need someone

Life is too short to be spent alone. We always need a wonderful companion to make it worth living.

Lesson 7 - Spill it out

You like someone? Say it. You hate someone? Say that too. I would definitely not want to die with an ocean of deep secrets inside me. I am no Rose Dawson.

So 7 months and 7 lessons! I am definitely looking forward to whatever more life has in store for me.

Will cross roads again

Anything first is always special
Memories and experiences cherishable
We remember them throughout our life
Amidst all odds, struggle and strife

And so is special my first job on campus
Comprising one written and one F2F process
As a software engineer to begin my career
And getting a mentor better than Fourier

5 hours of daily travel, 6.30 in the morning
Riding on dad's scooter no time for walking
Reaching office at 8.30 and leaving at five
Still full of energy - fresh and alive!

Most important person in life is a teacher
God's gift and a fascinating creature
I was lucky for God bestowed me with one
Polite and humble, can beat even Newton

Under his mentorship, I learned from scratch
4G, linux, embedded, and NAND flash
Got some core tough work to implement
And understood OS - one of his greatest talent

Made some friends, fast and furious
Fat, thin, beautiful, funny and studious
Full of energy, zeal and enthusiastic
Bright and colourful, intelligent and energetic

Other than work, the outings were fun
Rocking and adventurous, spirit loved one
The celebrations were colourful, enhanced team bonding
New folks were chirpy, their spirit highly infectious

Today I am in my new job, in a brand new city
No winters here without any family
A new phase of life, new sort of challenges
A brand new assignment, I am being positive

With team mates so helpful
Office so peaceful
Never was it tiresome
Even with the travel so dreadful

My dear salary

It has been a month since I last met you. You looked amazing in that green crisp dress of yours. Perfectly shaped. Slim body, Ageless. Your aura is better than the smell of any perfume I know. But I think your rate of growth is very slow. May be you are a  dwarf and you just do not increase beyond a point. May be you should start taking complan . It is famous for making many children taller, stronger and sharper. Or you can even try my favourite Bournvita. Bournvita little champs. It contains DHA which makes brain sharp. Your edges, though, are already very sharp. But with me, you are just a kid. I like you more than your cousin Diwali bonus. But have you heard of your step sister 'expenses'?

It is increasing exponentially month by month. And you? Look at yourself! Aren't you ashamed?   Your rate of increase is only logarithmic. Dear salary, if you flip through the pages of history, you will find that the only member of your family that has grown considerably is your step sister expenses. It is high time you do something about it. Your brother 'bank balance' is, I am sure, suffering from mal-nutrition. It is losing inches day after day. Why don't you give him something to eat? Your step sister is torturing him. May be you need to wake up and ask a doctor to check bank balance. As if this is not enough, your step brothers 'rate of interest' and 'loan' are making people's life miserable. Your step siblings are like rahu and ketu- decreasing the growth of your very capable bank balance brother. To check this I think only your father 'increment' can help. But do you ever get to meet him? I mean I find him extremely busy. He is visible only once in a year. What the hell does he do rest of the year? Wait for his own increment? Your father is a miser by the way. Does not give anything to anyone. He should remember that charity begins at home.

Enough of it! I am getting head ache. But hey salary! Hold on!  Head aches too result in expenses!

So dear salary, I am deciding to stop worrying about you. I am going to make 'intelligence' and 'hard work' my friends. You can think of marrying hard work. I have heard he is a fruit seller. And all his fruits are very sweet. Intelligence is hard work's sister. And unlike your case, they both care for each other. In case you require to stop the expenses of buying complan or Bournvita, you can marry him . History bears testimony to the fact that with hard work by your side, your growth has been exponential. And who knows your father might end up giving you a large share of his fortune!

So dear salary, what are you waiting for? Run!

How are you?

Small things give us pleasure and getting a weekend of complete four days is definitely not a small thing. After months of tiring, staggering, and over timing weekdays, it feels even better than the Diwali bonus to have an extended weekend. Mind begins to plan a number of things. Sleeping like a devil tops the list followed by shopping, watching movies, reading novels, eating, partying with friends, etc. It wants to have every single cup of cake. We want to enjoy as if these are our lives’ final four days. And what if in these happy holidays, a good old friend of yours calls you?  Feels like Diwali bonus in addition to the extended weekend!

                             

But what if you do not get to execute any of the plans you had planned? And what if you end up looking at your phone pleading it to ring at least once? At least one of your friends should call you up! There should be someone who misses you! But, sadly, people remember others only when they are sad. Who has time otherwise? You say NO ONE. I say EVERYONE.

You do not have to take out your complete one day or one hour to remember your friend. You do not have to leave your work to visit him/her! One phone call or one text message can do wonders. It wouldn’t cost millions. But people might argue that texting is not equivalent to talking. Correct? Wrong! It is all a matter of priorities. See, it has been just ten to fifteen years in India since mobile phones took over letter writing. Before that, letters used to be the most prominent medium of communication. People used to wait for letters from their near and dear ones eagerly. Postmen were treated as Gods. People would write as if they were talking to their loved ones in personal. Family, friends and relatives were their priorities. And every word of the letter had an emotion associated with it. But it was a slow means of communication. However, today we have access to far better and plenty of lightening fast means of communication. They allow us to connect to each other anytime, anywhere, anyplace. But our priorities have changed. We would rather sit in front of the television and watch ‘Comedy nights with Kapil’ than ask our friend ‘how are you?’ We have become selfish and our lives self centered.

Let me ask you one thing. Later in your lives when you turn old and bones become weak, what satisfaction will your successful professional life bring if you will not have anyone to share the joy with? You can pick up books to keep yourself busy. But books do not talk! They do not have emotions. They are abstract. You can paint pictures but paint brushes cannot bring colors to your black and white life. You can adopt a pet but it will not speak your language. You can socialize on social networking sites but that is all virtual existence.

Friends, man is, by default, a social animal. He requires someone to love him, care for him, and a person who is very special to him. Professional life earns you success while personal life brings you joy and happiness. So let us all call our friends to share that happiness. Let us ask them ‘What’s up?’