Tuesday, October 06, 2009 

My City.. My Life.. II

Part 1: CLICK HERE

‘Yes, please provide the snapshots of the various scenarios by next Monday. Asok will then be able to provide an analysis report and then we can discuss and frame the roadmap for the project’, said he.

He sees Peter nodding in the screen in front of him. It's the weekly status meeting after which everyone cuts away from the office for the pursuit of everything and nothing; some just sleep, some do sports, some read, many go for dates and movies and also few do come to office on weekends occasionally.

'Yes, I'll provide the inputs. Anything else', said Peter.

He's all ears and concentrating to decipher the English accent. He replies, 'That's it, so have a great weekend'.

At the back of his mind one George Bernard Shaw's quote crosses his mind, "It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him".

Peter. "Thank you very much; you too have a good time. Bye.'

He collects the meeting agenda sheets, and dashes towards his cube from the conference room.


One more turn left and then he'll be at his cube.

That wasn't supposed to be. Instead all papers that were in his folder; now had taken to the air and were flying like kites in Kabul sky (Kite Runner - Kite flying is a passion in Kabul). He had banged into a new glass door that house-keeping had put in place to segregate the floor into two zones. As the kites were falling all over him, two small eyes and a lovely little nose appeared at the background of the sky.

In order to cut short the description of this angel and without any intention of racial remarks; she is a chinky from Chungju near Seoul in South Korea and is one of the international recruits in the company.

'Are you okay?'

He was still coming to terms with this chinky angel in a Kabul sky.

A coarse voice, 'Hhey aare youu okayy'.

Thick moustache and a big face. Asok.

Finally, he gets up and Asok helps him to his cube.

His friends had booked a bowling alley for the Friday night outing, but with an aching back, he decides to head for home.

'Hey, mister...hey hello....listen..'

He turns while he was just about to get into the lift. It's the chink.

'Here take your paper planes', said she as she handed the folder to him.

'Slumdog..AR Rehman..fan huh..by the way thank you very much'.

'Actually Paper Planes is by M.I.A .. But yes I am big fan of AR Rehman'.

'Hmmm okay..So not finished yet on a Friday evening.'

'Well, I was almost done with my last mail of the day when you crashed in front of my cube', she starts laughing.

'Oh....anyways thanks for your helping hand', he gives a smile.

He continued,' well if you are done for the day, shall I walk you till the tram depot.'

'Okay, thanks'.

Chink in the armour!!

'So you are new in the office, I guess you are one of the international recruits in HR department.'

'Yes, you are right and I am Michelle from Chungju, South Korea'.

'Michelle..I am xxxxxx.. and I'm in the Consultancy department..well I Know only of one city in Korea, which is Seoul'.

'Ban Ki Moon, the UN secretary general, he is also from Chungju..it's a small town near Seoul'

'Oh really, Moon has taken over the Earth and another is on the trail already'.

They walked till the bus depot and before they bid good bye, there was exchange of mobile numbers.

She wanted to explore the city and he was already on a free fall with his latest crush.

Will the jinx of a single status be broken by a chink?

To be continued..

:)

Tuesday, October 06, 2009 | |

 

My City.. My Life..





It's 30 minutes past 8 in the morning, he would most often snooze his alarm untill well past 9 am. The housemaid has not turned up yet. There is another strike today in the city and office goers are looking forward to an extended weekend.


He finally stopped the alarm at 9:49 and he has to hurry today. No transport coz of the strike, breakfast at office canteen coz of the maid not turning up (the strike is just an excuse; she lives just a few kilometers away) and an important conference call to attend. He must pick up the call at 11:00 am from his cube in office.




He's brushing his teeth & going through the city digest in one of the dailies. There has been a massive jam last day as a huge procession was held by a section of society for some welfare cause. People missed their flights & trains. Tourists could only do sight seeing of a sea of human bodies & enjoy the fish & sweet delicacies of the city in their hotels. He must hurry and leave the paper.




Unfortunately for him, both the bathrooms are occupied. The maid has been bunking from her duties that week. Some 3-4 times that week, the roomies have had to eat food from the nearby "Ultimate food centre'. The noodles sure had got intertwined in the intestines & did the damage to the digestive system.




He surely did not like people bunking their duties. He wanted to get rid of her & keep a new one. What a vidambana here, if you get rid of her or even cut her wages for the days she did not turn up for work, she may create a big hue & cry. Probably she will get some support from some local associations. On the other hand, there are several thousands who are working in NGOs(the non-sarkari companies). The recession(the word which was said may be hundred times a day just a few months back, yes slowly recovery is on) adding fuel to the cause; people were losing their jobs just because they were sitting on a bench out of their wish. These NGO workers when they lose their jobs could just manage a foul word or two and carry on looking for other avenues. The sarkari and local workers sure have an advantage of job security.




Wo wo wo, today's generation is lot more confident and entrepreneuring. Recently few of his friends have decided on taking on the rough road. They have put their mind to where their heart is.




Talking of heart, one of his roomies is romancing a beautiful maiden. Earning some bucks in the share market has added to his confidence to go ahead and romance at the famous restaurants of the city. It has infused into him a thinking making him to talk more of open-relationships. Suddenly he has an altogether different outlook on life. The roomie is taking his risks which are infact calculated & rewards are coming along.




Returning to our friend who has by now managed to dress up in his favorite blue jeans & white cotton shirt for office. He still has 35 minutes to pick up on his conference call. Since public transport is not plying on the road coz of the strike, he takes a hand pulled rickshaw which luckily is available. The city has got all systems of transport but still strangely the city isnt really in motion.




A packet of chips and mango frooti on his way to office gives him the energy to take him through the conference call to lunch time. He swipes and gets entry to his office building. He makes it on time but most of the office is deserted. People are already enjoying the extended weekend.




People join in from across the globe for the conference call. Thomas Friedman may take a note on this. The status reports are shared, pending works are discussed, new strategies are formulated and finally greetings for a happy weekend, which has already begun for some here in this city.




By evening the strike is over, yeah nobody wants to work after five. isnt it? Our friend is taken over by TGIF effect(Thank god its friday). He calls up few of his friends & they decide to go for a movie.




The movie is yet another neo-bollywood formula of slapstick humour & some skin show. Together all of them curse the director & producer, but they just love the new heroine. They all go to his flat where the dinner is ready. The maid did show up in the evening & there is two types of fish dishes for dinner. They eat and gossip till late into the night. Yes there's catching upto do after five days of work.




It's saturday morning and he's up and running in the nearby stadium. It just 5 in the morning now. It's as they say in hindi 'paapi pet ka sawaal hai'. He wants to get rid of the occupational hazzard, his extra bulge around the belly which some say as an indication of going up the hierarchy. This time moving up the hierarchy is given a miss as new females have joined in the office. These days, the females like 6-8 packs instead of an 'O' pack.




To be continued..

Tuesday, October 06, 2009 | |