Experience of a lifetime

mood: thoughtful
Dated.. but still..

Wednesday,
27-Jul-2005,
INFOSYS guest house,
Mumbai.

It all started on a cloudy Tuesday afternoon in the outer areas of Mumbai.I was seated comfortably coding away the requirements of ICICI bank HQ, BKC.All was fine. Some of my colleagues smoke, so I advised them to do it quickly as it was threateningly cloudy. The heavens were issuing warnings every few minutes and finally it came….it came with all it could, the one above used all his might.It was as if he was bent upon showing his supremacy and reiterating that we are nothing without his mercy.Cats and dogs would be very euphemistic, I should say even dinosaurs would have feared that lashing downpour. BKC is quite highly perched on the Mumbai terrain. But it too could not escape the fury of ‘The One’.FM radios started issuing warnings. That was the only source of information. The internet was down, the phones weren’t working either.I just about managed to call one of my friends before the network went off. She said she was leaving and had no idea of how’s she’s going to go back.I was still too indifferent to understand that the situation was already alarming.Most of the people in my office were having a good time looking at the water logged roads from the HQ of ICICI. I too didn’t find it foolish to be a part of them.Finally I went for snacks and then, common sense, for the first time came face to face with me. I heard people saying that their cars were floating in the basement.Then I took a decision, my colleagues were still in a party mood as none of us had seen such a thing before…I told them that I would be leaving irrespective of their plans.They too took notice of what I said.We were 7 people in all. All of us left the building in a jiffy only to be stranded at the bus stop for 2.5 hrs.There was absolutely no sign of autos or taxis, the taxis that were visible were flooded and the drivers had left.I took a brave step and crossed over to the other side of the road hoping to find some auto. I was knee deep in water. But the kid in me was not complaining. I never managed to find anything on that side of the road too.Despaired, I came back. It was very dark. The clock had gone well past 8pm.I just jokingly mentioned it would be fun walking down all the way to Santa Cruz….not realizing that my fantasy was just about to come true.We finally started walking on the main roads to avoid water and invisible manholes. We knew that it would be the toughest walk of our lives but we also wanted to prove that software engineers aren’t that bad at anything apart from programming. We walked, walked, walked…it was tiring, troublesome, really irritating and very very dangerous.We saw all kinds of accidents on the road… but kept on walking. After walking for about 1.5 hrs we reached the linking road, we were a little happy, we could call that our home ground. We lived and died by it everyday.Kept walking and walking. The water was getting dangerously high but we dint bother.Finally after about walking 1 hr on linking road we reached santa cruz. That was the worst place someone could ever buy a house at.The water started to climb over my neck. Absolutely dark, and everything covered by water. I even climbed over the bonnet of a car accidentally which was totally underwater.Few drops of water tried to enter my mouth too, but I somehow sustained.My bag was on my head and I was in water.I knew that my guest house was close, I could even see it, but reaching it was not as easy.My PL and I were holding hands, together we reached guest house. As we climbed towards the gate our bodies came out of the water. It was such a victorious feeling to have walked 11.5 kilometers and have reached safely. We were shouting, people were looking at us!! Mostly Infy guys and gals… cheering us on.There was a huge pool of water in our reception but we were too excited to notice it.My PL almost fell down in the water but I managed to hold him up.Finally when we reached upstairs, it was celebration time!!Most of the Infy guys had the same story like ours.Guys and gals reached home walking from BKC, neck deep in water.One by one everyone was back.Today things are much more peaceful, the water is still there but we are safe.I thank God for this.
Terribly exhausted still, I remember all those moments, I feel that yesterday was hell, but one hell of an experience…
This was ‘THE EXPERIENCE’ of my life.
An experience which teaches the value of human life.
An experience of a lifetime.

Why am I expected to do my job perfectly?

mood: frustrated

Nobody in this country does their job perfectly...Why am I expected to do mine perfectly then?Trivial it may sound, but according to me.. bad food leads to bad mood which leads to bad productivity and many other ills.The disappointment i face in food court everyday is the reason for this entry.The caterers never make the food properly.. its their job to. They are paid for it. But they always come up with some junk.Bad taste, bad items, half cooked cereals which are as hard as ice cubes.. and cheap imitations of famous dishes...For God's sake.. if you dont know how to make Rajma...please dont attempt to... the Punjabis would be cursing you like hell.. Do you even know what chinese stuff is about? Its not about maida noodles and a mud like tasting veg machurian with gravy. Why dont you include asparagus soups with banboo shoots? Why dont you include marinated chicken in sour gravy? Let me tell you why... because you dont know how to...Thats the point then... just stick to what you can cook properly & please dont experiment with the taste buds of 8000 + people everytime the clock strikes 12 pm.We will be better off if you cook 10 items properly instead of making 50 non edible items everyday.The only thing edible i look forward to is 'Amul Masti' which i have everyday after the lunch.God save the corporate catering industry in India.

BB - Crazy kiya re

mood: crazy

I sometimes fail to understand why people get desperate to get noticed.There was this post which eventually turned into a chain mail.Side effects of IT on junta.One guy just started a conversation asking for weekend gateways and the path to the places recommended. His mistake or not - he asked for 'path' instead of 'way' or 'route'!!Now the population of 8000+ have a reason to go berserk! and they do.. in characteristic BB ishtyle!Now some actual action : One guy goes home late in the nite and flashes his ID card at his gate to get inside his own house...goodness me!! u need sleep!Another guy was wondering why his mobile doesnt feature the Ctrl+Alt+Del.Advice ... please go join Motorola and change the rules of the game.One guy goes to his home and places his hands in the wash basin and waits for the water forgetting to turn something on!! Aaah... BSNL Broadband effect... jitna istamal... utna bill!!One guy wants to decide the name of the restaurant 'runtime' ... now this was where i started to feel that its getting overboard.Some people looked for an Alt+Tab feature to switch channels on their TV.Buddy.. there exists something called TV tuner card... Put it on ur comp. It may not help u changing channels... but surely will satisfy your fancy to switch... albeit between TV and PC.People want Ctrl+Z in their life when they are in trouble..Man i wonder if people really feel like this!Whenever I am in trouble ... i never feel like havign a Ctrl+Z ...
I just run from there like hell...I guess the abnormality lies with me!

I feel like going to the dorm :(

mood: bored

For the uninitiated : BB --> our official bulletin board in the company.
FC --> Food Court

Just arrived a hour and a half back... and already i feel like going to the dorm to escape the mundane routine.Supposedly I am into a project.. but practically I am as unemployed as the people in our political system.Last month has been unkind to me.. I come to the office, switch the PC on..then fill my water bottle and wait for outlook to pop up a new mail message...and it turns out to be "Cloud 9 wishes XYZ a happy bday"...My senses again prod me to move to the lower food court.. but i bravely wait for the next mail...and pop... HYD_XYZ Relations .. please update your details on sparsh.Goodness me, I updated that when I was officially on bench 3 years back..Now let me enjoy the virtual bench in peace for God's sake.Then chai/coffee time-->wait for mails-->BB-->lunch-->BB-->BB-->BB-->BB-->BB-->BB-->BB-->BB-->510 pm...oh i should be running back home.Why does the daily routine have to be so unforgiving??I envy a few of my friends who finished off their MBA when i was taking pride in getting a job straight after college!Its all alike... they get paid for doing nothing now... and so do I...
The only difference is the quantum!