Twice Folded Letter - The taste of Margarita

The twice folded letter in my hand
still stretched out in the position
I had received it from her;
my voice stopped all of a sudden;
Every part of me that is left conscious

sending signals to the brain asking

whether it is a dream; my eyes see

only her walking away from me;
left the brain cells creating visions of
the last 12 months that had every day
with something to say about her.

[+/-]At first sight

It is the day I started my career. But that is not important now. It was the day, she entered my life. And its also the same day, he crossed my life. I was in the company provided Guest house waiting for the bus to take me to the first step of my career life. I was tensed for the big day ahead. Being the only person from our college to join the company, I was left alone searching for any face that might say hello. The bus honked and I walked to the bus when he crossed me and ran ahead as if catching a running bus. I slipped and almost fell on the road. While hoping no one noticed me, I got into the bus found him sitting on the first seat. And next to him was the only seat left. I took it and we sat silently for a while. I watched around and could realize most of them are new like me. And most importantly, more than half were girls. I wondered if girls are dominating even in this bus, we really should join the equality rights here. When the bus stopped, few more persons got into the bus and everyone were girls. With no place to sit, they have to stand except for the one who got in last. He stood all of a sudden, almost pushing me from my seat and showed her the seat. Now, I have to give my place for others, else it will look look as if I don’t have any manners. As if I am not the only guy to have the thought, few more guys stood giving up the seats for girls. But every guy who stood were staring angrily at him who was shaking his head too much when she thanked him. My anger on him went away the instant I saw her face. Not a bad decision. I smiled at him who was still blushing for her thanks.

[+/-]The clock and the colors

I was trying hard to stay awake in the boring training session and all I have written in my notebook is the title. He rushed to the training hall and hit my back. He dragged the chair and asked "Where is she?". He was late as usual and all he was worried was about her. "Can't you at least say Hello before you can ask about her?" I felt annoyed. "Ok dude. Hello for today and for every day I am here. Now where is she?". He never gets distracted. "10 'o' clock. In white next to Indigo." I replied and looked back at the trainer. He looked towards his right at 2 'o' clock and asked "What color is Indigo?". Not feeling surprised, I just turned his head towards 10 'o' clock and pointed at her. His head did not turned back for the next whole hour. Then he hit my legs hard enough to make me limp for a day and said "She looked at me!". "Freak!" I said and found her looking at everyone in the class bored. Then she saw me seeing her and smiled back at me. We are introduced well to each other as she takes the last seat left in the bus next to me everyday. And please remember that it is his idea of not coming in the bus so that she can find a seat to sit. I rejected his request asking me not to come in the bus so that he can sit next to her.

[+/-]Reflections of a smoking mind

Our company had a peculiar way of assigning the employee number to the trainees that the order did not appear to be in alphabetical, age or college wise. And it happened in a way that she was seated next to me, while he is behind us turned back. Therefore, even if he turns, he will see only the back of us. The troubles he went in switching places were futile as the employee numbers were already stuck in the respective desks. "Hey! I got an idea" he said and moved his system to the right of his desk so that he will be diagonal to her. Then he placed a CD supported by his cigarette lighter at my desk facing her seat and another CD at his desk facing the CD at my desk. So by the reflections theory, he was able to get a blurred ghost image of her seat. He smiled at me as if waiting for me to award a noble prize for that. "I will give you a better idea. Why don’t you sit next to me and appear as if you have doubts all the time.", I asked. But he was quick in his reply to that. "Dude! She would think that I am dumb". "What about me? I already think you are dumb." She returned back to her desk and we turned to each other's desk as if nothing has happened. Her eyes rested on the CD at my desk. To avoid any questions, I took the CD and kept it inside my book. Looking at the cigarette lighter that was holding the CD, she asked "You smoke?". "Why? Does it bother you?" I asked back. "Yeah! I hate men with smoking habit." she said with a displeasing expression. "So do you prefer women smoking?" We laughed and she thought and replied "May be, you are right. Women do look cool when they smoke." His face turned white who was overhearing our chat from behind. There was no use telling him that she was just joking. When I told him that I can never ask what brand she believes to be cool, he started investigating which brand most girls prefer. I would try to leave him whenever he asks the salesmen about "girls-favorite-cigarettes". Anyway, if there is one thing that came good because of her, it was that he stopped smoking from that day. As a non-smoker, I welcomed it very much. My house can at last be a smoke-free zone.

[+/-]You got mail

Our training days are over at last and we were waiting for the posting letter. Everyone had their fingers crossed praying to be put in their home place or anywhere nearer to it while he was there praying in every religion to be placed in the same place as her. I turned around and she was also in prayer watching the mailbox closely. "You got mail" was all everyone was looking for. And then it happened. A cry came from the far end followed by screams at the other end. People were jumping high and congratulating each other. Outlook beeped in my system and I was also jumping high. There were many who looked dejected and few were crying too. And sadly she happened to be one among them. Obviously, the posting was not as she expected. I turned to him and he was still waiting for his mail. It popped out and I found it to be the same as mine, which means it is not the same as hers. She surely would have felt happy if it is the same location as ours. He was looking at her and he felt sad and pinched me. "What is her posting?". I really did not like to answer. So I told him to ask her directly. When we both looked at her, she was looking at us with her sorrowful eyes. She told something to her friend and her friend looked back at us and nodded. Not knowing what they were talking about, I stood there with blank eyes. She came towards us and stood near me. I could feel her cries within her and before she could say anything, he spoke. "So where are you posted?" It was a big surprise to me for it was the very first time, he has ever said more than Hello to her. She looked at him feeling worried. He added, "I am posted in this DC itself. Where are you posted?" His words had a hopeless expectation as if the question was asked even though he knew what the answer would be. She said "Can you swap with me?" softly. Tears were on the verge of leaving her eyes. Even my heart stopped a beat that I would swap places sacrificing myself by becoming a savior for both of them. But I know it is much harder for him. He can not disagree to her for it would be against the nature of his affection to her, but if he agrees, he would have to leave her away to a far away place.

[+/-]Home Sweet Home

"I told you already about that apartment. It is too costly and it will be difficult for us to get bus from there." I was stubborn. We have developed good friendship in the training days and have talked a lot on anything that might relate to her. So when it became clear that the company will provide accommodation only for the training days, I became the obvious choice to him for a roommate. But moving to that apartment in question is unnecessary and I would be wasting most part of my salary as rent. An apartment with swimming pool and lift access to a three storey flat guarded by a security guard is not important to me. But his point is a clear one. When we both were dumb struck at her request asking if he can swap the transfer with her, as if time was on our side, another guy intervened and asked her if she is looking for a swap to our DC. She thanked that guy hundreds of times and even gave a treat in the canteen. When he heard about this, he took it hard saying that he should have agreed to her; because getting a treat from her is worth staying away hundreds of days away from her in hell. To hell with him I thought. And then when the question of finding accommodation came into picture, I recommended that apartment to her as it is a very safe place and many other girls from our company are staying over there. She is sure of fixing that apartment. With no point in talking with him, I threw the paper at him with ads circled on it which I felt suitable for us. He looked into it for a while and said, "May be we should try the one in the K.T street". It is definitely not near her place. Actually, everything I circled in the paper is far from her. Why is he interested in that place? I raised my ear brows. He looked at me casually, stretched his hands and said "We may not live in the same street, but we will live in the same house number 7."I could do nothing but hit my head on the wall.

[+/-]Nice talking to you

Days passed with all of us busy in the projects. As luck was against him, he was assigned to a different project than hers while as the same stroke of luck kicking me hard; I was assigned in her project. This was not good at all. Because apart from helping with her work, I had to explain him about her work in detail and he would raise questions which even the project manager can not answer. The reason is that he is making sure that she is getting work to the level she can handle. If there is anything that he feels difficult for her, he would automatically allocate it to me. I can not disagree with him as the chance of having a good dinner from his cooking is at hand. As she sits adjacent to me we had a lot of hello & smiles and casual talks too. Also, I can listen to all her conversations including her prayers to God whenever she compiles her code. It is always fun to listen her scolding God if the code did not compile successfully. The moment I told him about this cute behavior, he started talking with God every day. "If she can scold God, He must be close to her. So I better familiarize with him" was his response. The phone at her desk started to ring. She picked up and said hello. As part of my spying job, I have to listen to her conversations for hostile entities (boy friends). "Yeah!... Oh! How are you?... I am fine. Thanks…. No no… I am at my desk only." She sounded casual but with a touch of talking to a stranger. "He is at his desk only. Do you want to talk with him? Sure. Nice talking to you anyway… hey!". She held the phone towards me. Now who in the world will call her to reach me? I took the receiver and there he was. "Dude! Did you hear that? She said it was nice talking to me." "Yeah! So?" I was really annoyed. There was a pause and some strange words echoed in my ears which I later realized to be swear words he have reserved for extreme cases only. I disconnected the call and stared back at my screen. "Is that your friend who used to sit behind us in the training lab?" she asked without turning away from her screen. "Yeah! Why?" I acted casual. "Nothing. The voice sounded familiar. That’s all" she sounded casual and got back to compile her code and started praying again. I am surely going to get a big treat if I tell him that she remembered his voice.

[+/-]Riding my bike

"Why am I not invited??" He pulled the plate from me again.
"She did. She told me to invite you too." I pulled the plate.
"But that was just a formality. She never told me directly" The plate was in his hands again.
"May be... I mean may be... she would have called you if you had talked with her before... and talking means more than hi and bye and showing a blushed face." With much force, I pulled the plate away from him while he took the chicken from my plate.
"But you were invited." He said still holding the chicken roast away from me.
"That is because I am sitting next to her in office for the last 3 months"
My eyes were fixed on the chicken all the time. It was a big mistake to tell about her invitation to her sister’s marriage while having dinner. My chicken roast was taken from my plate as he left me like a dog looking at the bone in its master’s hands. I sure have to jump, roll over or catch my tail if I have to get my food.
"I got the invitation only today morning though she is leaving for home tonight." I added desperately trying to get the food.
"What??? She is leaving tonight! Why didn’t you say that to me?"
Oh! Oh! It is another stupid move I made. I did not say anything. I just stared at the chicken roast.
"Which bus is she leaving?"
"The usual one at 10 PM"
Furious, there was only 20 minutes to 10 PM, he dropped the chicken on my plate immediately and ran to the room. Greeted with the greatest gift, I started eating the chicken trying to finish it before he takes it again. After few seconds, he came all dressed up with a key in his hand.
"Hey! That’s my bike. Only I will drive with that. That’s the rule." I shouted.
He just stared back at me and I understood that there are more chicken pieces left and I should keep quiet if I want it. So with priorities set properly, I decided to take two more chicken pieces.
When I had not even finished the first chicken my phone started to ring. It was her number. Things have changed a lot lately. She has become a good friend to me and we used to chat often in phone. She has told about her family, friends, her experiences in life and even the love letters she had received in college days. For some reason, I did not tell him about the love letters. I picked the phone and said "Hi! Where are you? I thought you are going home tonight."
"Yeah! I am in the bus stop. The bus is delayed and I was bored. So I thought I will bore you for sometime."
"No problem. You can try your best. But I will get bored only when you disconnect the line."
"That’s funny." She giggled.
"Anyway, sorry for not able to come to the marriage. Unfortunately, I couldn’t show the invitation as certificate for the only sick leave left."
"That’s ok. I understand." she replied.
Not knowing what to speak about, I kept quiet while she too did the same. With few minutes passing without any words, she said "hey, I think the bus has arrived. Gotta go. Bye" and disconnected the call.
And then almost immediately, my phone rang again and it was his number.
"Where are you idiot?" I asked.
"On the road only. Now listen. Where are the vehicle registration papers?" he asked in a hurry.
"What do you mean? They are in my shelf only. Wait a minute. Don’t tell me that you are caught by the police."
But he was not listening to me at all. He just said "Why would you keep it in home?..... Leave it. I will take care" and disconnected.
I just stood wondering what I could do to help him. After all he is riding my bike. With no idea coming from my mind, I decided to take a break. After 15 minutes of finishing the first chicken, before I could get any ideas, he called me. "Dude! Don’t worry about me. I am fine. It just cost 200 bucks this time."
"Who the hell cares about you? I am just worried about my bike. Where the hell are you?" I shouted at him not able to understand his cool behavior even after being caught by the police.
"On the way dude." He was answering while driving. "listen. She called me and the bus would have probably arrived already. So just return back." "Damn! If it was not for that ________________ (better left unfilled) I would have got her. That ________ (close your eyes and ears again) spoiled all my plans. I was really irritated by his behaviors. For one, there is no plan. All he would do is stare at her from far away which would mostly beyond a sniper range. At most, he would pass her fast in the bike behaving like he never knew her and will make sure she never notices him. So the words about losing her because of the policeman was like India losing the cricket match because the ball was white in color. It doesn’t make any sense. "Whatever. Are you coming back or not?" I asked. "Dude! I am letting this go away. I will catch her in the next stop and come back only after seeing her" "What the hell are you talking about man?? Just come...." That’s when I heard a loud horn followed by shouting noises and the phone went dead. It all happened in a fraction of a second that I was still talking in the phone with half of my mind saying that he probably can’t hear me. The phone is dead after all. I stood frozen for few minutes not knowing what to do. Trying his number again and again though I knew nobody would pick it up. After several tries, his phone started to ring and he answered the call. "Dude! You bike is a mess. I think you have to go to office in bus for the next week"
"To hell with the bike! Are you alright? "I was completely confused how he can talk nuts at this time. Anyway it just made me feel that he is ok.

[+/-]The greatest deed

With the bike still in the ER with the mechanic for more than a week, we got the last company bus to office and were standing all the way in the traffic. He was still looking worried talking to himself on his lost opportunity of getting her due to his encounter with the traffic police. And that’s when my mobile rang and it was she at the other end. "Hi. Whats up?" I said. "Why are you late today?" She asked. Her voice was very low and was not clear due to the traffic. I turned back to him who was in his own world filled with miseries. "Nothing. I woke up late after the big booze yesterday night." "Really! You should have called me." She said. "Sure. We have one more bottle in our house. Do you want to try?" I commented back. She giggled and added "So that’s why you and your friend still appear to be in drowsy state." It stuck immediately that she is also in the same bus and I turned all around but was not able to find her. When I was raising my head to look at the far end, someone pulled my hand from behind and it was she smiling at me. She had been sitting just behind me and very next to him all the time. My minds raced back if we had mentioned anything about her in the bus and relaxed as we did not. Surprisingly, a seat was available next to her and she moved in to give me some space. He was in his world all the time not realizing how close she was sitting next to him. Though I first wanted to avenge him for crashing the bike, with my good soul interrupting me and not ready to get angry faces from him, I spoke in the phone in low voice, "Do you mind him taking that seat. He is still not feeling well." She hesitated a little. "Don’t worry. He is harmless like me" I told her. She giggled and said "That’s ok." I shook him and showed him the seat. When he came back to the real world and his eyes fixed on her and his face was getting red and I was trying hard to suppress the laugh looking at his bizarre stare at her. He took the seat and saw her watching the traffic through the window and turned back giving me a big smile that had thanks written in red all over. I could sense some romantic song singing through his ears. I smiled back like the Almighty except without any halo behind the head. I just hoped he never finds out that I told her that he drinks alcohol.

[+/-]Time to click Good-bye

I was at my desk trying to do some work and when I heard her saying "Yeah! He is here. Hold on a second. Nice talking to you." I turned and took the phone from her. "Of course, I got that." I told him before he could repeat about her nice-talking-to-you words. "What’s up now?" I asked him impatiently. I have to finish of five more modules before leaving to the other DC on a short term transfer. "Nothing. Just wanted to see if she is there. Bye!" he said. "Great! Bye" I replied and disconnected the call. I got back to my work and within few minutes a light flashed across the room. To my surprise and shock, he was there with a camera in hand. "Just thought that we should take a photo together before you leave." he said loud enough for her to hear. She turned around to see us while he looked only at me as if he did not notice her even if it means staring straight into my eyes. Then he looked in all sides trying to find someone to take photo of us and by chance he appeared to have found her looking at us and asked "Could you please take a photograph of us?" She got the camera and focused at us. One can easily say he was staring right into the camera lens. I was glad he was staring only at the camera lens. At least that’s what it appeared to be. Once she took the snap, "Dude! You know what? You should have photo with everyone here before you go. Something that can remind you how great and wonderful people around here are" he spoke like rehearsing for a play in front of the mic. And with similar dramatic pose, he looked at her and turned back to me giving a classic look, "We must take a photo with her." Before I could wonder where "WE" came from, she replied "Yeah! I will like that". Now not ready to get any more damage, I just did what he said and walked next to her while he adjusted the camera for a self timer shot. I could clearly see that he have kept me out of the focus area. With me grinning at him as he smirked back trying to get the perfect shot of her with the imaginative wolf standing next to her; there came the villain to the scene. "You can join. I will take the photo for you." It was our Project manager who is always ready to help us. "Any problem, come to me. There will be no problem" are his famous words. Not able to refuse, he gave the camera and stood next to her. Still happy to have his photo taken with her, he gave a big smile for the photo. Later, his plans of cropping me out of the photo did not work as our no-problem PM had covered the flashlight and everything was dark in the picture. More strange words echoed back in our room for which I do not want to know the meaning ever in my lifetime. By the way, I did not tell him that she asked for that photo next day.

[+/-]The Phone Call

"Dude! She has not come yet." He told me for the fifth time in the last 10 minutes. "I am in another call man. I will call you back." I replied and disconnected the call. Things did not improve even after being away on a short term transfer. I would have to listen on when she came to office, what she had for breakfast and lunch, who she was talking with and how it made him so upset that he couldn’t code properly on that day. None of his code ever was passed by QA is a different story. There will also be daily notes on how many times he saw her and how many times he thought she looked back at him and of course how many times, he would have called my old desk number mistakenly and would have got her "Nice-talking-to-you-anyway" words. But most of them save a few that involves him would be a repeat to me for she would have told the same in our calls already. After all, she is working in the module that I was looking at before and I have to help her most of the time. He called me again. "Dude! She has never been late before?" "I am in an onsite call now. What do you want me to do idiot." I said controlling my temper. "Dude! Try calling her and see if everything is fine." "What am I supposed to ask her?" I was furious and mocked "Hi! Why are you still not in office? Don’t ask me how I know that. Because I have super human powers which lets me watch any surveillance camera as and when I want. Also I have access to the company security records that send signals to my brain when you swipe your identity card." I was completed irritated by his whining and couldn’t control myself. "You $#%&^%&$" was his reply and it stuck hard on me. It made me realize that he has never used such words at me before. We both became silent for more than a minute and I understood I have crossed the line. I calmed down myself and kept his phone on mute and spoke in the office phone that was on mute earlier. "Yeah! Sorry about the interruption. Where are you right now? ok.. just asking.. nothing.. its just my friend.. Shall I call you back after sometime? Yeah! Sure. Call me from your desk." I disconnected her call and returned to his call. "I am really sorry that I spoke like that dude. Chill down. She should be there in anytime. I will call her and check. Is that ok." I told him with lot of guilt and lies. He too became cool and replied "That’s ok dude. I am also sorry. Just one more thing. Ask her why she is late?" "$#%&^%&$", I screamed and threw the phone.

The taste of Margarita

We were seated at three corners of the perfect triangle in a round table for three. It was an uneasy situation and a very awkward one for him. She of course did not know what to do. We were just sitting silently while the entire crowd is chatting and laughing happily over New Year eve. Someone had to break the silence, but it is not going to be me. "So, if your manager around?" he asked though he know the answer to that. It is a definite "No". It was a client sponsored New Year party in a five-star hotel and coupons are provided only to the project members. It was just another way to make people work on New Year Eve. After I returned from my short transfer, I was back in the old project with her. His case was not the same though. The reason how he knows the answer to his question is that he is using her manager's coupon. But still it is worth an attempt for starting conversation. She said "No" and returned back to staring the empty wine glass and I at the half-full Margarita. The main idea of getting her manager's coupon was to sit next to me and stare at her while she enjoys the day with her girl friends at the next table. But things never happen as we plan. I and she were stuck working late in office and had to take a cab together to the party. The only place available was a small round table he has reserved for me. And here we are sharing the table for three.
"You must drink tonight", he said out of the blue.
My eyes just rolled over to his side. One thing was clear. He is already drunk. The vodka shot has already started its work. He was absolutely out of his mind.
"No. Sorry! I don’t drink." I decided not to comment and rolled my eyes back to the drink.
"Yeah! You should at least taste wine for sure. It is New Year eve. Whatever you do today will become past in few hours", he nudged me to help him out. For a moment, I was not able to understand what was going on. A shy guy whose cheeks would turn red at her sight is asking her to drink wine! When I nudged him back disapproving his request, he decided to turn me out. "You know, this is exactly what he would say after getting drunk. He will hold the glass behind his back and would shout, 'I don’t drink! I don’t drink'". She started to laugh looking at me while I just poked his shoulders. But her laugh created different effect on him. One who would give a treat if she says "hi" was able to talk freely while selling out his friend's secrets. "Do you know then he would start talking to the chicken pieces, saying sorry to each of them before eating them." Both were laughing hard while I was the point of humiliation. I also joined with an empty laugh and poked him back. "Stop this or I will have to tell about you too?"
"Like what?" he laughed showing clearing that he was not in the listening mood at least after seeing her happy making fun of me.
Anyway, I decided not to interrupt the fun. After all, the only topic all the three of us can talk is about me. It is the only thing common in the table. So I let it happen and sometimes laughed along with them. The talks went on from my expertise in making puri that look like pappads and snoring at nights to my fear for roaches. His voice would sometimes attract the crowd from the near by tables and more were having fun at my expense. While I joined them for all of them, things went different as he crossed the line. "Do you know about his girl friend?" he said with a broad smile after the fourth vodka shot. Stamping his legs was of no use. "What?" she asked with excitement and confusion on her face. "He is just talking stupid really. Its not true" I said but still got a surprised look from her. I hit the back of his head "What are you saying idiot?" He was completely drunk and continued laughing and pointing his finger at me as if I am hiding something and turned to her "Ask him with whom he is talking every night after 10 PM? He only told that it is his girl friend." She wasn't laughing to that. Neither could I. We both know who that girl was. "Dude! I told that just to drive you away. It is not true" I tried hard to hint him with a strong glare. But it was of no use.
"How does it taste; the drink?" she asked all of a sudden. At first, I didn’t realize what she was asking about. But when I looked that she is pointing to my Margarita, it was strange. I had a slight feeling that she is just trying to change the topic. "It... it tastes good. Bit sour... but good." I managed to say in between her surprising words. She giggled with a mixed smile. "How much will it take to say I am drunk?" she asked again with a big mischievous smile. "Excuse me..." I added though I heard every word of hers. He of course was in complete shock with eyes and mouth wide open. She casually took my Margarita and took a sip slowly. Both of our eyes were fixed hard on the tequila disappearing within her lips. When she kept the glass back, there clearly was a change in liquid level. "Not bad" she said looking at us. We just nodded.

More memories to be recalled.....

Reject to Rejoice - A fake false interview

Welcome back! This is Iris reporting from the Injey's cubcile, the all-in-all Production Support and Quality Assurance technical Lead. He is recently noticed for rejecting every Migration submitted by the Development team and also been the main person in raising Hemant's barometer to the highest for the last 3 months successively.

Iris: Hello Injey! We are thankful to you for sparing few mins admist your busy schedule.
INJEY: Its always a pleasure, Iris.
Iris: Tell us INJEY, how do you feel about rejecting every migration from the developers.
INJEY: Its really a big achievement. I am thankful to all the developers for that.
Iris: What do you think made it possible for you to achieve this?
INJEY: Well, it is basically "The Will to Reject". And you must also have the "Unwillingness to Work". After all, if you approve the migration in UAT, you will get more work.
Iris: That is interesting. Do you think that more you reject, the less the client satisfaction?
INJEY: That is a wrong assumption. The more I reject the migrations, the more we ensure that the client believes our commitment to quality. So we are adding client satisfaction.
Iris: So how do you feel about the developers INJEY?
INJEY: As I said before, I am very thankful for them. Without their minor mistakes here and there, I would not have been able to reach where I am now.
Iris: Thats so wonderful to hear. How do they feel about you?
INJEY: Hmmm... I never thought about that. (laughing) I mean... I think... They are making me a happy person by helping me reject more migrations. Obviously, they are working towards making another person happy and they should feel happy themselves.
Iris: Which migration do you think was the difficult one in getting rejected?
INJEY: Hmmm... Thats a tough question. My eyes are so sharp, that I would easily identify a defect whenever I want. (laughs again) But to answer your question..hmmm... (looking up)... the UPDATE query that they sent last week was a tough one to reject.
Iris: So how did you reject that? It must have been painful.
INJEY: Yeah! It was a very difficult situtation. If I approve the migration, I will have to wait 30 minutes before going to lunch. So I spent 5 minutes in checking each letter of the UPDATE query and finally identfied that he had given AMOUNT = 0 instead of AMOUNT = 0.00. It was a serious standard issue. I immediately sent it back to Hemant whose barometer shot up again and a critical weather alert was issued on the developers.
Iris: That is really amazing. What do you like to convey to everyone inspiring to become like you?
INJEY: Always remember Nobody is Perfect. So no migration can be perfect. Reject to Rejoice.

THE ABOVE CONVERSATION IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF COMPLETELY FALSE INFORMATION THAT PEOPLE MIGHT BE RUMORING ABOUT.

But indeed, the introduction was true though.

Pongal - Software farmer's celebration

Pongal is one festival that people celebrate very grandly without basis of any religion. Though it would appear to be a Hindu festival if you are not clear of the history, a little knowledge would make you realize that it is a festival of the farmers for making a good produce in the last year. That is why it is also known as "Uzhavar Thirunal"(Farmer's day). And it is indeed a blessing that it is made a State Government holiday for all organizations even though its based on farmers only. This is mainly because Agriculture is considered the backbone of India; and it is true. But none of these mattered when you are a kid waiting for your dad to bring the long sugarcane that will lead to your mom shouting at you for leaving the chewed sugarcane bits all over the house.
Pongal in our home had always started with bitter very early morning wake up calls from my dad who says that we must be awake to greet the sun on the auspicious day. My answer is always to postpone the meeting for 5 more minutes and would get back to my sleep. But the lazy time will be over once we are ready for the prayers infront of the pot placed on the fire stove. With adding jaggery to the pongal and the pot overflowing like they show in our village movies, it would mean a fresh start of the busy day. The rest would go on with chewing sugar canes all day infront of the TV watching the special programmes in between the in-house fight for the remote. Honestly, Pongal is not an appealing one as food to me. I would prefer a festival on Dosa or Puri if we have to have Pongal(food), because the festival is named after that. (Or is it the other way around?). So the breakfast will include fights and cries for Dosa while my dad would be strict on making us eat Pongal only. But mom will always be there to help us out saying "He already had little after the prayers and that is enough.",(Little - Unquantified small quantity which might range from few rice grains to whatever fits in your finger tips.) and would start serving dosas to us.
This Pongal was a very different one though. With no one to command to wake me up, I said Hi to the sun when it was already up and was close to wishing "Good afternoon". But I had better plans for Pongal this time and decided to cook Pongal(food) in the evening. So when the evening came close, we got all the ingredients for making pongal and gathered a team of 5 including me. This includes Naren, Srikanth, Ajaz and Nimesh from the Track 3 team. Please be reminded that the team contains the building blocks of our project and any harm that my pongal might create would have a huge impact on the whole. So with much care, I(not WE) started preparing Pongal with the recipe from my mom. Everything was set and the cooker was kept on the stove and turned on(which I usually forget). The next step is to wait till the cooker whistles. But the wait turned out longer as the cooker being shy refused to make any whistles and hence did not tell us the status for a long time. With no prior experiences in cooking, we continued to wait with the logic that as the new cooker from Srikanth's home is double the size of our usual cooker, it might take double the time to cook. Though we are not sure whether we were dumb to wait double the time, it raised some doubts that the project is going to be a failure. Naren already started making curries separately as a backup. After a long wait for more than an hour and as the cooker was still feeling shy, we decided to make it whistle unnaturally by holding the vent-weight up to let the steam rush off. But I must say that the luck was on our side and when we opened the cooker atlast, the pongal looked bright and with jaggery and cashew added, the dish looked very close to the original Pongal and even the taste was certified to be very good by everyone. We even had fresh coconut slices to add special taste to it. Ajaz was very cautious though and waited 10 minutes after we have had my dish and checked if we are good and healthy before having for him. You can also find the recipe for the pongal(food) below which might be helpful if you are bachelor and have not had pongal in the recent past and might not be able to recall the actual taste.



Ingredients needed: (Serves 3 to 5 persons)

1. 1.5 cups of rice
2. 0.5 cups of split Moong dal(small light yellow colored)
3. 2 cups of milk
4. 5 cups of water
5. 4 tbsp (or about 1 cup) of Jaggery (You can add more if you like sweet)
6. 10 or more Cashews and raisins
7. 5 to 10 pieces of whole cardamoms
8. 3 tbsp(more if you like) of ghee

Step 1: Mix rice and Moong dal in cooker and wash it with water for two or three times.
Step 2: Once cleaned, drain the water away. Add 2 cups of Milk and 5 cups of water.
Step 3. Close the cooker lid and put on the vent weight and keep in the stove and keep the heat to high.
Step 4: Wait for a long whistle and then reduce the heat to minimum.
Step 5: Switch off the stove after 10 minutes.
Step 6: Once the pressure becomes low, you must be able to open the cooker. CAUTION: Do not open the cooker with force when the pressure is high. The cooker might blew up its contents and will cause serious injuries.
Step 7: Dissolve jaggery in little hot water separately and mix it well with the rice in the cooker.
Step 8: On a small pan, heat the ghee and fry cashews, raisins and cardamoms in it.
Step 9: Once it becomes hot, add the contents of the pan to the cooker and mix it well.
Step 10: Serve hot!

Phew! It is difficult to write the recipe without any silly jokes in it. Anyway, it is great to make a big social contribution to the bachelor community atlast.

HAPPY PONGAL!

Super Mario - Saving damsel in distress

Someone please pinch me; Better stab a knife on my chest. I must be dreaming; It must be a nightmare to be correct. I cannot imagine a world where people dont know "Super Mario". I mean, if you are somewhat nearer to my age,(YOUNG) and were introduced into the world with rectangle-box called Television and have went to School in which atleast one of our classmates would have boasted himself having TV video game, then you must be exposed to the Mushroom world of Super Mario. If any of the above doesnt fit to you, I regret to say that you had been a big LOSER in your childhood days. And it was very disheartening to find that many of my friends have not heard of Mario at all. Forgive me if it gives a shock. They dont know Pacman too.

The life it was a simple and silent one, but not after the invasion of TV video games to every house with kids. Then all the parents could hear was cries of their children before getting the console and the sound of tinkling sound of Mario hitting the coins after getting the console. Even a 8 year old kid can challenge a 18 year old easily. It was the era of complete addiction to the TV. Mario challenged the ownership of the television between kids and parents in home. Though the parents were angry at losing their small screen time for watching the glycerine-for-free serials, they are relieved as they dont have to worry about the invasion of the poor-actresses and very-close-friendly-actors appearing very often in the small screen. Though there were so many games to play, the consoles were loaded by default with the 5 important games.

• Super Mario
• Dr.Mario
• Duck Hunt
• Gunmen
• Tank

Of these, Super Mario is the de-facto king of Nintendo video games kingdom. We used to remember every step in the 8 worlds of the game. The positions of all the secret blocks in the game like 1up mushroom or multi-coin bricks were passed onto every new player by the experienced Gurus(mostly 8 year olds) helping the Mario world grow bigger and bigger. Our dreams always had the sound of tickling coins, eating mushrooms and occasionally hitting the school bullies with your fireballs. Within weeks of hardwork, your 8 year old Guru would tell you the warp zones to take you from world 1-2 to 4-1 and world 4-2 to world 8-1 directly. But you will need lot of practice before you can pull off cool stunts like sliding through narrow passages, jumping high above the flag poles, trick to get fireworks which will give you 500 points each. So many games came blooding in side scrolling style following Mario's success. But nothing could ever match the plumber. If you dont know, Mario is an Italian Plumber as per the game.

Trivia that you might like:
(Ref: Wikipedia)

1. Mario first appeared in the arcade game Donkey Kong as a character named "Jumpman"
2. Mario was named after the landlord of Nintendo of America's office.
3. The Princess who Mario tries to save in the 8-bit game is later named as Princess Toadstool and changed to Princess Peach.
4. Super Mario Bros. holds the Guinness world of records for best selling game with more than 40.53 million copies(as of 1999) and the whole Franchise must be above 140 million copies.
5. Mario main competitor was Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog till 2001. But after Sega's new third party status, both started appearing together in many games including "Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games" and "Super Smash Bros. Brawl".

Manicka's MaGiC oF PaLaCe

I am proud and amazed by the imagination of my 11 year old kid sister. If you have not noticed before, my kid sister has a blog titled after her name, Manicka. All the work in it are done by her alone and on her own interest only. Her latest work is purely original with no help from anyone that includes me.

Read "MaGiC oF PaLaCe" for a new adventure in Manicka's Fantasy world.

Doesn't it feel like a great author in making?

Do not enter 1408

The specialty of horror movies is that you don’t have to think logically. A bleeding hand can drop blood for miles and a body can walk without heads and a dead body which walks without any heart or brain will die if you punch the face. As soon as the movie starts, you must understand that you cannot point your fingers and ask the question "why?". It is all covered in the disclaimer reading it is all imagination only. Probably imagining in a way, things cannot happen and most importantly things you don’t want to happen.
Given a glimpse about horror movies, I had avoided them a lot in my childhood for various reasons. The most obvious one is the nightmares in which I would either be chatting with the headless rider or using the hands of an undead to play cricket. You will never realize the gruesome in the dream. It is always at the time before you wake up; you would realize that it is difficult to hit the ball holding someone's hand for a bat as the wrist would bend leaving the ball straight to the stumps. But before you realize that, you will wake up with the real terror that you are holding a dead hand in your nightmare. Still I would boast to everyone that I have seen every horror movie that is released including ET, the scariest film ever made. It was not until my higher secondary school that I got to know ET was a kid's film. But luckily all my class mates had the thought that Batman is the scariest movie. So they couldn't object anything I said. With childhood passed with just stories about horror movies, I got a liking for horror stories later.
Evil dead, Omen and Exorcist became favorites very soon.
The most important I like in horror movies is that though its always blood you are going to see, you should appreciate the effort in which the director tries to be creative in showing how the blood splashes out. But I do feel sick if the director crossing his imagination boundaries and gets over enthusiastic in showing blood all over the screen including the actor's face. And obviously I hate flesh-eating undead creatures which is seen in most of the horror movies. I think the feeling was common with the audience that the blood-thirsty horror movies stopped appearing slowly. Then there came the thrillers with paranormal activities like "The Ring" which was much scarier than any other blood thirsty beasts. I still remember watching "The Ring" in the hostel at night. By the time the movie was over, it was 10 PM and the mobile started ringing. We switched off the mobiles for the whole night for some other reasons...
The interest also moved to reading scary novels especially by Stephen King. It was the cover of the book and the confusion between Stephen King and Stephen Hawking that made me buy the book. The first book I read was "Pet Sematary" which literally made me curious about evil nature of cats. I have always felt something strange about cats. They look as if they know something that you don’t know. And at nights if you shoot a torch light on them, they will stare back at you, turn their head and walk away slowly. Pet Sematary was the best book I have read so far from Stephen King. Other books I have read include "Salem's lot", "The Plant" and "The Sun Dog". His books are always helpful in two other ways; you can skip dozen pages without losing the plot; and you can use it as a pillow. It is very large all the time. But the horror it imposes on you is bone-chilling. Especially he has the knack of creating a perfectly tragic ending. Did you ever imagine the ending of "The Fog" before? I am sure you would have used either of the two four-lettered words.
I had even thought of writing a horror story on my own, but then let the world survive for some more time before that horrific event can happen. If you are wondering why the post is titled so, "1408" is the name of the new movie based upon Stephen King's short story. It’s definitely not for the faint hearted. So do not enter the room 1408 unless you are ready to face your worst nightmare. No wonder it is now added to my favorites.

who you calling geek?

People call me a geek! Though I like being called like that, I doubt if I am one especially after reading the below mail from a fellow gamer in InfyGamers club. I feel I am not even a dumb noob in this Geeky world.

There is a mouse pad that feels like satin, very soft on top
with firmrubber base at the bottom. It sells for Rs.20 to 25. Try it before you
decide for something more expensive.

It helps if you are a palm player , use 6+ sensitivity and have
a bighand/mouse. The cushion reduces friction due to weight and you needless
force to get the mouse moving from standstill.

Check in some ofthose cheap computer shops. This mouse pad wears
out in 3 to 6 monthsdepending on usage and where you live. You need to wash it
every monthto retain the cushion.

Ever looked at a mouse pad like that????? By the way, this is just a sample for the thousands of mindless techincal jargon chaos that happens in the daily mails of Infygamers, the unofficial club in Infosys with a liking to kill each other only in games.

Twice Folded Letter - The Phone Call

The twice folded letter in my hand
still stretched out in the position
I had received it from her;
my voice stopped all of a sudden;
Every part of me that is left conscious

sending signals to the brain asking

whether it is a dream; my eyes see

only her walking away from me;
left the brain cells creating visions of
the last 12 months that had every day
with something to say about her.

[+/-]At first sight

The day I started my career. But that is not important now. It was the day, she entered my life. And its also the same day, he crossed my life. I was in the company provided Guest house waiting for the bus to take me to the first step of my career life. I was tensed for the big day ahead. Being the only person from our college to join the company, I was left alone searching for any face that might say hello. The bus honked and I walked to the bus when he crossed me and ran ahead as if catching a running bus. I slipped and almost fell on the road. While hoping no one noticed me, I got into the bus found him sitting on the first seat. And next to him was the only seat left. I took it and we sat silently for a while. I watched around and could realize most of them are new like me. And most importantly, more than half were girls. I wondered if girls are dominating even in this bus, we really should join the equality rights here. When the bus stopped, few more persons got into the bus and everyone were girls. With no place to sit, they have to stand except for the one who got in last. He stood all of a sudden, almost pushing me from my seat and showed her the seat. Now, I have to give my place for others, else it will look look as if I don’t have any manners. As if I am not the only guy to have the thought, few more guys stood giving up the seats for girls. But every guy who stood were staring angrily at him who was shaking his head too much when she thanked him. My anger on him went away the instant I saw her face. Not a bad decision. I smiled at him who was still blushing for her thanks.

[+/-]The clock and the colors

I was trying hard to stay awake in the boring training session and all I have written in my notebook is the title. He rushed to the training hall and hit my back. He dragged the chair and asked "Where is she?". He was late as usual and all he was worried was about her. "Can't you at least say Hello before you can ask about her?" I felt annoyed. "Ok dude. Hello for today and for every day I am here. Now where is she?". He never gets distracted. "10 'o' clock. In white next to Indigo." I replied and looked back at the trainer. He looked towards his right at 2 'o' clock and asked "What color is Indigo?". Not feeling surprised, I just turned his head towards 10 'o' clock and pointed at her. His head did not turned back for the next whole hour. Then he hit my legs hard enough to make me limp for a day and said "She looked at me!". "Freak!" I said and found her looking at everyone in the class bored. Then she saw me seeing her and smiled back at me. We are introduced well to each other as she takes the last seat left in the bus next to me everyday. And please remember that it is his idea of not coming in the bus so that she can find a seat to sit. I rejected his request asking me not to come in the bus so that he can sit next to her.

[+/-]Reflections of a smoking mind

Our company had a peculiar way of assigning the employee number to the trainees that the order did not appear to be in alphabetical, age or college wise. And it happened in a way that she was seated next to me, while he is behind us turned back. Therefore, even if he turns, he will see only the back of us. The troubles he went in switching places were futile as the employee numbers were already stuck in the respective desks. "Hey! I got an idea" he said and moved his system to the right of his desk so that he will be diagonal to her. Then he placed a CD supported by his cigarette lighter at my desk facing her seat and another CD at his desk facing the CD at my desk. So by the reflections theory, he was able to get a blurred ghost image of her seat. He smiled at me as if waiting for me to award a noble prize for that. "I will give you a better idea. Why don’t you sit next to me and appear as if you have doubts all the time.", I asked. But he was quick in his reply to that. "Dude! She would think that I am dumb". "What about me? I already think you are dumb." She returned back to her desk and we turned to each other's desk as if nothing has happened. Her eyes rested on the CD at my desk. To avoid any questions, I took the CD and kept it inside my book. Looking at the cigarette lighter that was holding the CD, she asked "You smoke?". "Why? Does it bother you?" I asked back. "Yeah! I hate men with smoking habit." she said with a displeasing expression. "So do you prefer women smoking?" We laughed and she thought and replied "May be, you are right. Women do look cool when they smoke." His face turned white who was overhearing our chat from behind. There was no use telling him that she was just joking. When I told him that I can never ask what brand she believes to be cool, he started investigating which brand most girls prefer. I would try to leave him whenever he asks the salesmen about "girls-favorite-cigarettes". Anyway, if there is one thing that came good because of her, it was that he stopped smoking from that day. As a non-smoker, I welcomed it very much. My house can at last be a smoke-free zone.

[+/-]You got mail

Our training days are over at last and we were waiting for the posting letter. Everyone had their fingers crossed praying to be put in their home place or anywhere nearer to it while he was there praying in every religion to be placed in the same place as her. I turned around and she was also in prayer watching the mailbox closely. "You got mail" was all everyone was looking for. And then it happened. A cry came from the far end followed by screams at the other end. People were jumping high and congratulating each other. Outlook beeped in my system and I was also jumping high. There were many who looked dejected and few were crying too. And sadly she happened to be one among them. Obviously, the posting was not as she expected. I turned to him and he was still waiting for his mail. It popped out and I found it to be the same as mine, which means it is not the same as hers. She surely would have felt happy if it is the same location as ours. He was looking at her and he felt sad and pinched me. "What is her posting?". I really did not like to answer. So I told him to ask her directly. When we both looked at her, she was looking at us with her sorrowful eyes. She told something to her friend and her friend looked back at us and nodded. Not knowing what they were talking about, I stood there with blank eyes. She came towards us and stood near me. I could feel her cries within her and before she could say anything, he spoke. "So where are you posted?" It was a big surprise to me for it was the very first time, he has ever said more than Hello to her. She looked at him feeling worried. He added, "I am posted in this DC itself. Where are you posted?" His words had a hopeless expectation as if the question was asked even though he knew what the answer would be. She said "Can you swap with me?" softly. Tears were on the verge of leaving her eyes. Even my heart stopped a beat that I would swap places sacrificing myself by becoming a savior for both of them. But I know it is much harder for him. He can not disagree to her for it would be against the nature of his affection to her, but if he agrees, he would have to leave her away to a far away place.

[+/-]Home Sweet Home

"I told you already about that apartment. It is too costly and it will be difficult for us to get bus from there." I was stubborn. We have developed good friendship in the training days and have talked a lot on anything that might relate to her. So when it became clear that the company will provide accommodation only for the training days, I became the obvious choice to him for a roommate. But moving to that apartment in question is unnecessary and I would be wasting most part of my salary as rent. An apartment with swimming pool and lift access to a three storey flat guarded by a security guard is not important to me. But his point is a clear one. When we both were dumb struck at her request asking if he can swap the transfer with her, as if time was on our side, another guy intervened and asked her if she is looking for a swap to our DC. She thanked that guy hundreds of times and even gave a treat in the canteen. When he heard about this, he took it hard saying that he should have agreed to her; because getting a treat from her is worth staying away hundreds of days away from her in hell. To hell with him I thought. And then when the question of finding accommodation came into picture, I recommended that apartment to her as it is a very safe place and many other girls from our company are staying over there. She is sure of fixing that apartment. With no point in talking with him, I threw the paper at him with ads circled on it which I felt suitable for us. He looked into it for a while and said, "May be we should try the one in the K.T street". It is definitely not near her place. Actually, everything I circled in the paper is far from her. Why is he interested in that place? I raised my ear brows. He looked at me casually, stretched his hands and said "We may not live in the same street, but we will live in the same house number 7."I could do nothing but hit my head on the wall.

[+/-]Nice talking to you

Days passed with all of us busy in the projects. As luck was against him, he was assigned to a different project than hers while as the same stroke of luck kicking me hard; I was assigned in her project. This was not good at all. Because apart from helping with her work, I had to explain him about her work in detail and he would raise questions which even the project manager can not answer. The reason is that he is making sure that she is getting work to the level she can handle. If there is anything that he feels difficult for her, he would automatically allocate it to me. I can not disagree with him as the chance of having a good dinner from his cooking is at hand. As she sits adjacent to me we had a lot of hello & smiles and casual talks too. Also, I can listen to all her conversations including her prayers to God whenever she compiles her code. It is always fun to listen her scolding God if the code did not compile successfully. The moment I told him about this cute behavior, he started talking with God every day. "If she can scold God, He must be close to her. So I better familiarize with him" was his response. The phone at her desk started to ring. She picked up and said hello. As part of my spying job, I have to listen to her conversations for hostile entities (boy friends). "Yeah!... Oh! How are you?... I am fine. Thanks…. No no… I am at my desk only." She sounded casual but with a touch of talking to a stranger. "He is at his desk only. Do you want to talk with him? Sure. Nice talking to you anyway… hey!". She held the phone towards me. Now who in the world will call her to reach me? I took the receiver and there he was. "Dude! Did you hear that? She said it was nice talking to me." "Yeah! So?" I was really annoyed. There was a pause and some strange words echoed in my ears which I later realized to be swear words he have reserved for extreme cases only. I disconnected the call and stared back at my screen. "Is that your friend who used to sit behind us in the training lab?" she asked without turning away from her screen. "Yeah! Why?" I acted casual. "Nothing. The voice sounded familiar. That’s all" she sounded casual and got back to compile her code and started praying again. I am surely going to get a big treat if I tell him that she remembered his voice.

[+/-]Riding my bike

"Why am I not invited??" He pulled the plate from me again.
"She did. She told me to invite you too." I pulled the plate.
"But that was just a formality. She never told me directly" The plate was in his hands again.
"May be... I mean may be... she would have called you if you had talked with her before... and talking means more than hi and bye and showing a blushed face." With much force, I pulled the plate away from him while he took the chicken from my plate.
"But you were invited." He said still holding the chicken roast away from me.
"That is because I am sitting next to her in office for the last 3 months"
My eyes were fixed on the chicken all the time. It was a big mistake to tell about her invitation to her sister’s marriage while having dinner. My chicken roast was taken from my plate as he left me like a dog looking at the bone in its master’s hands. I sure have to jump, roll over or catch my tail if I have to get my food.
"I got the invitation only today morning though she is leaving for home tonight." I added desperately trying to get the food.
"What??? She is leaving tonight! Why didn’t you say that to me?"
Oh! Oh! It is another stupid move I made. I did not say anything. I just stared at the chicken roast.
"Which bus is she leaving?"
"The usual one at 10 PM"
Furious, there was only 20 minutes to 10 PM, he dropped the chicken on my plate immediately and ran to the room. Greeted with the greatest gift, I started eating the chicken trying to finish it before he takes it again. After few seconds, he came all dressed up with a key in his hand.
"Hey! That’s my bike. Only I will drive with that. That’s the rule." I shouted.
He just stared back at me and I understood that there are more chicken pieces left and I should keep quiet if I want it. So with priorities set properly, I decided to take two more chicken pieces.
When I had not even finished the first chicken my phone started to ring. It was her number. Things have changed a lot lately. She has become a good friend to me and we used to chat often in phone. She has told about her family, friends, her experiences in life and even the love letters she had received in college days. For some reason, I did not tell him about the love letters. I picked the phone and said "Hi! Where are you? I thought you are going home tonight."
"Yeah! I am in the bus stop. The bus is delayed and I was bored. So I thought I will bore you for sometime."
"No problem. You can try your best. But I will get bored only when you disconnect the line."
"That’s funny." She giggled.
"Anyway, sorry for not able to come to the marriage. Unfortunately, I couldn’t show the invitation as certificate for the only sick leave left."
"That’s ok. I understand." she replied.
Not knowing what to speak about, I kept quiet while she too did the same. With few minutes passing without any words, she said "hey, I think the bus has arrived. Gotta go. Bye" and disconnected the call.
And then almost immediately, my phone rang again and it was his number.
"Where are you idiot?" I asked.
"On the road only. Now listen. Where are the vehicle registration papers?" he asked in a hurry.
"What do you mean? They are in my shelf only. Wait a minute. Don’t tell me that you are caught by the police."
But he was not listening to me at all. He just said "Why would you keep it in home?..... Leave it. I will take care" and disconnected.
I just stood wondering what I could do to help him. After all he is riding my bike. With no idea coming from my mind, I decided to take a break. After 15 minutes of finishing the first chicken, before I could get any ideas, he called me. "Dude! Don’t worry about me. I am fine. It just cost 200 bucks this time."
"Who the hell cares about you? I am just worried about my bike. Where the hell are you?" I shouted at him not able to understand his cool behavior even after being caught by the police.
"On the way dude." He was answering while driving. "listen. She called me and the bus would have probably arrived already. So just return back." "Damn! If it was not for that ________________ (better left unfilled) I would have got her. That ________ (close your eyes and ears again) spoiled all my plans. I was really irritated by his behaviors. For one, there is no plan. All he would do is stare at her from far away which would mostly beyond a sniper range. At most, he would pass her fast in the bike behaving like he never knew her and will make sure she never notices him. So the words about losing her because of the policeman was like India losing the cricket match because the ball was white in color. It doesn’t make any sense. "Whatever. Are you coming back or not?" I asked. "Dude! I am letting this go away. I will catch her in the next stop and come back only after seeing her" "What the hell are you talking about man?? Just come...." That’s when I heard a loud horn followed by shouting noises and the phone went dead. It all happened in a fraction of a second that I was still talking in the phone with half of my mind saying that he probably can’t hear me. The phone is dead after all. I stood frozen for few minutes not knowing what to do. Trying his number again and again though I knew nobody would pick it up. After several tries, his phone started to ring and he answered the call. "Dude! You bike is a mess. I think you have to go to office in bus for the next week"
"To hell with the bike! Are you alright? "I was completely confused how he can talk nuts at this time. Anyway it just made me feel that he is ok.

[+/-]The greatest deed

With the bike still in the ER with the mechanic for more than a week, we got the last company bus to office and were standing all the way in the traffic. He was still looking worried talking to himself on his lost opportunity of getting her due to his encounter with the traffic police. And that’s when my mobile rang and it was she at the other end. "Hi. Whats up?" I said. "Why are you late today?" She asked. Her voice was very low and was not clear due to the traffic. I turned back to him who was in his own world filled with miseries. "Nothing. I woke up late after the big booze yesterday night." "Really! You should have called me." She said. "Sure. We have one more bottle in our house. Do you want to try?" I commented back. She giggled and added "So that’s why you and your friend still appear to be in drowsy state." It stuck immediately that she is also in the same bus and I turned all around but was not able to find her. When I was raising my head to look at the far end, someone pulled my hand from behind and it was she smiling at me. She had been sitting just behind me and very next to him all the time. My minds raced back if we had mentioned anything about her in the bus and relaxed as we did not. Surprisingly, a seat was available next to her and she moved in to give me some space. He was in his world all the time not realizing how close she was sitting next to him. Though I first wanted to avenge him for crashing the bike, with my good soul interrupting me and not ready to get angry faces from him, I spoke in the phone in low voice, "Do you mind him taking that seat. He is still not feeling well." She hesitated a little. "Don’t worry. He is harmless like me" I told her. She giggled and said "That’s ok." I shook him and showed him the seat. When he came back to the real world and his eyes fixed on her and his face was getting red and I was trying hard to suppress the laugh looking at his bizarre stare at her. He took the seat and saw her watching the traffic through the window and turned back giving me a big smile that had thanks written in red all over. I could sense some romantic song singing through his ears. I smiled back like the Almighty except without any halo behind the head. I just hoped he never finds out that I told her that he drinks alcohol.

[+/-]Time to click Good-bye

I was at my desk trying to do some work and when I heard her saying "Yeah! He is here. Hold on a second. Nice talking to you." I turned and took the phone from her. "Of course, I got that." I told him before he could repeat about her nice-talking-to-you words. "What’s up now?" I asked him impatiently. I have to finish of five more modules before leaving to the other DC on a short term transfer. "Nothing. Just wanted to see if she is there. Bye!" he said. "Great! Bye" I replied and disconnected the call. I got back to my work and within few minutes a light flashed across the room. To my surprise and shock, he was there with a camera in hand. "Just thought that we should take a photo together before you leave." he said loud enough for her to hear. She turned around to see us while he looked only at me as if he did not notice her even if it means staring straight into my eyes. Then he looked in all sides trying to find someone to take photo of us and by chance he appeared to have found her looking at us and asked "Could you please take a photograph of us?" She got the camera and focused at us. One can easily say he was staring right into the camera lens. I was glad he was staring only at the camera lens. At least that’s what it appeared to be. Once she took the snap, "Dude! You know what? You should have photo with everyone here before you go. Something that can remind you how great and wonderful people around here are" he spoke like rehearsing for a play in front of the mic. And with similar dramatic pose, he looked at her and turned back to me giving a classic look, "We must take a photo with her." Before I could wonder where "WE" came from, she replied "Yeah! I will like that". Now not ready to get any more damage, I just did what he said and walked next to her while he adjusted the camera for a self timer shot. I could clearly see that he have kept me out of the focus area. With me grinning at him as he smirked back trying to get the perfect shot of her with the imaginative wolf standing next to her; there came the villain to the scene. "You can join. I will take the photo for you." It was our Project manager who is always ready to help us. "Any problem, come to me. There will be no problem" are his famous words. Not able to refuse, he gave the camera and stood next to her. Still happy to have his photo taken with her, he gave a big smile for the photo. Later, his plans of cropping me out of the photo did not work as our no-problem PM had covered the flashlight and everything was dark in the picture. More strange words echoed back in our room for which I do not want to know the meaning ever in my lifetime. By the way, I did not tell him that she asked for that photo next day.

The Phone Call

"Dude! She has not come yet." He told me for the fifth time in the last 10 minutes. "I am in another call man. I will call you back." I replied and disconnected the call. Things did not improve even after being away on a short term transfer. I would have to listen on when she came to office, what she had for breakfast and lunch, who she was talking with and how it made him so upset that he couldn’t code properly on that day. None of his code ever was passed by QA is a different story. There will also be daily notes on how many times he saw her and how many times he thought she looked back at him and of course how many times, he would have called my old desk number mistakenly and would have got her "Nice-talking-to-you-anyway" words. But most of them save a few that involves him would be a repeat to me for she would have told the same in our calls already. After all, she is working in the module that I was looking at before and I have to help her most of the time. He called me again. "Dude! She has never been late before?" "I am in an onsite call now. What do you want me to do idiot." I said controlling my temper. "Dude! Try calling her and see if everything is fine." "What am I supposed to ask her?" I was furious and mocked "Hi! Why are you still not in office? Don’t ask me how I know that. Because I have super human powers which lets me watch any surveillance camera as and when I want. Also I have access to the company security records that send signals to my brain when you swipe your identity card." I was completed irritated by his whining and couldn’t control myself. "You $#%&^%&$" was his reply and it stuck hard on me. It made me realize that he has never used such words at me before. We both became silent for more than a minute and I understood I have crossed the line. I calmed down myself and kept his phone on mute and spoke in the office phone that was on mute earlier. "Yeah! Sorry about the interruption. Where are you right now? ok… just asking… nothing… its just my friend… Shall I call you back after sometime? Yeah! Sure. Call me from your desk." I disconnected her call and returned to his call. "I am really sorry that I spoke like that dude. Chill down. She should be there in anytime. I will call her and check. Is that ok." I told him with lot of guilt and lies. He too became cool and replied "That’s ok dude. I am also sorry. Just one more thing. Ask her why she is late?" "$#%&^%&$", I screamed and threw the phone.

More memories to be recalled.....

New Year - Once again

Yes! 2008 is here. The year has changed again. Its been changing at an interval of 365 days for the last 3 times and at an interval 366 days before that. But for software professionals like us, the New Year rarely changes exactly at 365 or 366 days. For example, when 2005 started I was in India. But when it was changing to 2006, I was in UK which celebrated 5.5 hrs later than Indian time. So I enjoyed 365 days and 5.5 hrs in 2005. But then when the year changed to 2007, I was back in India by which I was in 2006 for only 355 days and 18.5 hrs. This appeared to have balanced the extra 5.5 hrs I enjoyed in 2005. But what can I say, this year I am in US and celebrated New Year 10.5 hrs later than the previous year which means there was 365 days and 10.5 hrs in 2007 and 'My Manager knows' how many days I will have in 2008. Its wicked that being in IT field makes even the calendar unpredictable.

And here are the questions for the New Year.

1. Where were you when the clock stuck 12 and the year changed from 2007 to 2008?
I was standing in the middle of the road, South Tyron street; 5th street to be exact. After being blocked entry from the dance club because they did not think I could dance with my Woodlands shoes or may be they got scared that I might hurt someone's feet. Explaining that the heels of the girl who went infront of us can punch a hole in every foot inside and my shoes are harmless compared to that did not impress the guards. So left with nowhere to party, we waited with the crowd for the light to change to green. And we were crossing the road when the clock showed 12:00AM with everyone busting to shouts and screams. Yes! I crossed the 5th street of South Tyron in the New Year eve.

2. Who was the first one to wish you?
Few minutes after the year changed, some drunk girl wished everyone on the road and unfortunately I was there next to her when she wished aloud those words that included the four lettered forbidden word in the middle.

3. Who was the first one you wished?
Srikanth. After returning to the car, we realized that we haven't really wished each other and said it before some other drunk can take the chance.

4. What did you eat first in the start of the New Year?
It took about an hour before I could taste anything in this New Year and it was a Milkyway chocolate bought for my last birthday laying frozen in the refrigerator.

5. The most important question: What is the New Year resolution?
My resolutions are very fragile in nature and I always leave them on the edge of the table which results in breaking them as earliest as I can imagine. But here are some resolutions that I probably should take for the New Year.

• Watch the calories - This is the resolution that I make and break almost every day.
• Think before you spend - Definitely important one considering the shopping spree I made in 2007. Atleast I must not buy anything more than the already existing purchase list.
• Follow Gita's words - I am talking about Bhagavad Gita here. "Do your duty. Don't expect its benefits"
• Spend more time on blogging - It is not a resolution. But its a desire towards my passion. This should not be a difficult one compared to the other resolutions.
• Learn cooking - After seeing the movie Ratatouille, I realized the true meaning of "Anyone can cook". But the question that remains is "Can everyone eat" what I cook?

!Happy New Year!