It struck!

Post lunch marketing lecture going on..the passage of time is excruciatingly slow. I am struggling to pay attention. Some drone about value,benefit to customers,target market segment,Tata motors,IBM,efficiency..its all just meaningless words falling almost on deaf ears.Suddenly the banned instrument (mobile) springs to life.the sound of the vibration is enough distraction to make me sit up straight.Now I am alert..looking for an opportunity to check the msg,staring hard at the professor, waiting for him to look away.
Finally i managed to read it. "Hi. I know know SAP script now!"
Then it struck me,everyone is always striving to know abt stuff they dont already know.Here i was, having left the comfort of an AC office,a salary,a settled life....only to learn new things that i thought interested me, that i was meant for.I cldnt be sleeping and cribbing about being here.I was destined to be here and I shall make the most of it..(hopefully i dont need another such msg to make me realize this!) Adios!

A Day!

The dawn Breaks in
Ushering mind awakening

The bell rings.
Maid enters-cleans.

The Daily chores.
Life for-Bores.

The elevator call.
A long wait (in the)hall.

The sun's reach.
An auto's screech.

The pot-holed road
Drive into (the) IT-hold

The flooring shift.
An economical drift

The Desk-empty
My inbox-hefty

The cafeteria: crowded
The food shrouded

The technical hitches
Solutions (but not without) glitches

The CE courses
That require many forces

The cafeteria again
Coz its the best bargain

The day comes to an end.
With everyone clicking send

The road back home
Then enters:the TV zone

Some more food
Marking the end of the route

The Final goodnight
That keeps the vision in sight.

Grapevines!

So its been over 18 months of me working…that’s like around 6% of my life, not a lot actually—but once u enter a new phase of ur life..it seems u’ve been in it for like ever. All working professionals eventually learn how “work life” works. But then “work life” has some niche traits that that one has only heard about and does not believe till one is actually a part of it.
So here goes…everyone knows office-life thrives on gossip. But then “gossip”, its always about others… it could about managers or the cafeteria wala “anna” or the chics who are always in the cafeteria or the girl with an awesome dressing sense or the guy with long hair, or the RMs and their parties…I mean “gossip” is always about everything other than you.
So, while you are whiling away time “gossiping” (about others: D) in the cafeteria with a bunch of your batch-mates and you get called by a manager (who you hardly speak to!) and are made to sit with him on his table—u cannot help getting a little intimidated. So you obviously are left with no choice but to leave your “chai” un-touched and walk over to his table and pretend to be honored at being approached by him! :P In the 8 feet distance that I traversed from my table to his, a million thoughts ran through my head—new project assignment, some compliance issue (cldnt think of any) but mostly—WHY ME,WHY NOW,AND WHY BY HIM??? With all this in my head…I reached his table (he was with another manager-who I spoke to even lesser!) and sat down. So his opening sentence “ Where in the Himalayas have u gone trekking?” I mean like OMG. How out-of-the-blue was that?! “I have been told by a lot of people in the Hyderabad office about ur trekking feats”. Like yikes. Hyderabad office-ME-Mumbai-trekking-Himalayas-this manager. It just didn’t seem to fit. And then it struck me, I was at a luncheon meeting with my project GDM (who had come down from Hyderabad), and upon being asked “tell me something I can remember u by” I mentioned in passing about my trekking interest. So this was like 3 weeks back. For it to come up again, and from someone completely unrelated—was more than a shock. So anyway, I got over the initial shock, narrated my trekking expeditions, generally made small talk about projects and the organization…and somehow managed to get away from that the “freak” table.
But this just left me thinking…a GDM..that gives him the designation of a Sr Manager, then the two managers who I had this conversation with and then there is ME—a poor developer-- the lowest rank in the IT world. I mean was trekking so consequential? To see the positive side of it…maybe going to the Himalayas is a deal(especially for a person who has health issues). But I could not help thinking--- if such inconsequential things get discussed across offices in the organization, between people at the manager level…then there is no wonder even a small affair, a minor engagement ,a late coming, female attire(s),I mean anything can make a topic for conversation over tea/coffee/lunch. And it really doesn’t take too long for the conversation to turn to gossip and bitchy one at that. So yes, this revelation came to me quite late. But better late than never…I’ll atleast be aware of it from now on…anything, absolutely anything qualifies as gossip…there is no syllabus for it :D

ME

The shine in my eyes
The dust on my specs

A good hair day
An untimely wind

A hot looking guy
A bitchy girlfriend

My best friends
My not-so-liked acquaintances

Feeling elated
Feeling sad

Being self obsessed
Being self critical

Loving Life
Hating Life

Wanting to stay
Wanting to run away

Working my a**off
Working to remove voids

Feeling Brainy
Feeling Stupid

Comfy cracked old stuff
Hard intact new stuff

Freaked me
Calm me

A new me
The old me
The changing me
The same me

All this and more
At same and different times
Makes me, me
and my life mine.