My new girlfriend!

It was last Thursday night when I met her. She had been in my mind for months, and I was hoping I could get to meet her pretty soon. After months of dreaming, it was finally time. Here I was, looking right into her eyes.

"Hi, nice to meet you - was so looking forward to it" - I blabbered. She giggled and the happiness on her face was evident. "Hi, I am Hiatus and am glad that we finally met. I hope we can spend some quality time together for the next 3 weeks".

Yes, my friends, I am taking a much needed break from my day to day routine and going into hiatus for a while. I am hoping I get to spend some real quality time with her and don't get time to post here. (No disrespect to followers of this blog intended whatsoever!)

So there you go - I am on vacation visiting friends and family and will be unavailable in this space for a while. Meanwhile, all of you have fun!

What could be the story behind..?

He was leaning against the sign post of a bus stop. Clearly, today was not a cheerful day for him. As I drove past, I noticed that he almost collapsed onto the small seat in the bus stop. Shortly thereafter, he broke down in tears and all I could see in my rear view mirror was the image of a man wiping his tears, trying to prevent an outburst of emotions. Though my car had left the scene, my brain was hooked on it. He must be in his 30s, I thought to myself; so what could be the cause of his sadness? Did he lose his job? Was he hitting the now cliched "mid life crisis"? Did he just hear some devastating news?  

Careful! A red light..I must stop thinking about strangers and their problems and concentrate on the road.

That's me - a big sucker for flashbacks. I am always interested in moments that are out of the ordinary, since they usually have an equally interesting story that culminated the moment just preceding this one. What could be the series of events that led to this? Does it have to do with how the person reacted in that situation? Or does it have to do with society and its practises? Or as many who believe in a superpower say - is it all a part of a giant play that is orchestrated

with immense precision, skill and forethought?

At the next traffic light, I saw a bunch of boxes scattered on the road.  They were small wooden boxes and their contents (which was some kind of vegetable - as you can figure out I am a carnivore, hence the lack of skill in identifying a lesser known vegetable)  had spilled out in all directions on the road. I wondered why people were not paying attention to this - perhaps they were in their own little wooden boxes trying to get through their daily grind. But my mind wandered again - Was it an accident? Did somebody knock off these boxes when their vehicle hit a bump? Or did someone forget to tie down these boxes carefully? No matter what the situation was - how did bystanders and passers by react? Were they helpful?Or did they just ignore it? The undoing of these small wooden boxes is no small matter, it requires deep afterthought and analysis. (At least, I thought so!)

This obsession for flashbacks has ruined many a good movie for me. When friends mention a scene in the movie that is particularly good, my rebuttal goes somewhat like this - "Well, he was raised in a rich family and had a good education - So I don't think the portrayal of his reaction was accurate". I would have constructed his whole life for him based on the facts mentioned in the movie - and eventually conclude that the flashback does not lead to this particular scene. I also find faults with situations that are the reverse - the flashback shown in the movie conveniently ignores some facts of the present. Well, my dear director friend - you cannot deceive me - I have identified the traits that must go in the flashback, and it should be depicted as I perceived it to be!  

I must really seek some professional help.

I parked my car at work, headed up to our floor and slowly walked to my section. The scene I saw  stopped me on my tracks and got me in the ever wondering flashback mode - a messy laptop docking station, a cup that was  half full with old coffee and an empty cube- what could be the story behind..Wait, that is my cube - and I am late for work. I better get on my tasks or else someone else could be wondering about this scene  - " A teared up version of me walking down the stairs with a pink slip in hand". 

No, I definitely would not want that. So long, wandering mind. Now go rest in peace.

Stranger(?) on a Train

The doors on the train closed right after I boarded. I guess all the running paid off! The train conductor looked at me and said - "You barely made it!". I was so breathless that I couldnt gather enough air to say "I know". So  I managed to nod my head to agree with him that he was right.

It was the summer of 1999. I had landed in the US of A a couple of months earlier and was slowly learning the ways of the land. I had learnt that a sale is not really a sale, that "how are you doing" is a form of salutation rather than a genuine interst in my health and well being and that holding hands with male friends was well - gay.

I  sat on the first empty seat I could find to catch up on all the oxygen that I had spent running. A couple of minutes later, my "blackout" was almost over and my breathing returned to normal. My mind instructed me to get to my daily routine - which was to people watch; but my brain begged to differ and was recommending me to take a nap. The party I attended the previous night had run into the wee hours of the morning and apparently, had taken a toll on me.

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I was crossing the frontiers of sleep territory when I noticed a man sitting opposite to me. He looked Indian (not American Indian - an Indian from India. Sometimes I think we Indians have to makeup a lot for Columbus' mistake). He might have been in his mid thirties, definitely a techie in the valley and had a warm smile on his face. "That was a close call", he said, "you could have missed the train". I remembered my manager saying - "It is totally normal for strangers to start conversations in this country; so don't shy away from it". Well, here was my chance. "Yeah", I responded, "I am glad I was not wearing the shoes I got on sale - they would have made me run slower!".  He made a sincere effort to laugh so I would not realize how bad myjoke was. After exchanging  pleasentries, we started discussing about careeers, economy, the work culture and life in general. He said that he had been in the valley for 10 years. I was eager to crosscheck with  my "things that had to be accomplished by a software engineer in 10 years" checklist and see how well this gentleman had scored. 

"So are you a citizen now?" I asked.

"No, I never planned to stay this long here - who knows, if I stay here longer, I might be one"

"Oh, ok. Since you have been in the software field for so long, you must be a director or a manger right?"

"No, I just lead a team of engineers to build products. I provide guidance and wisdon from experience, I would say."

Hmm. So far, he's not scoring great in my checklist of "elements required for success".

Sensing that I was not impressed by his  answers, he went to to say "I do have a great team though - I guess it is your priorities that chose your career for you. My prioirty is to have a great working environment and be around smart  and talented people and to learn from them".

Nice Excuse for you lack of skills, I thought to myself. Without skipping a beat, I jumped on to my next bullet item - "So did you buy a house?"

He smiled and mildly and nodded his head to mean "No". I was sure what he was thinking  was - "This kid has planned out his entire life and has jotted down his criteria for success. I am sure the success stories of Indian software engineers making it big in the valley has got to his head. He needs to take it easy and enjoy life" - or atleast thats what his expression conveyed.

"Well, I may not be a director and may not own a house - but instead of all those board meetings and offshore calls, I get to spend time with my family and have fun with them. We can afford to go to all the fun places and have more play time with the money which would otherwise go into the mortgage. I choose to spend money and time when I am in good health, when my kids are young and when we can all have fun as a family. What will I do with all the time and money when I age and my kids no longer want to be with their parents?"

"You have a point there" I said. "Give it a little more thought", he responded and continued - "This is my stop - see you around sometime - By the way, my name is Sunil; nice meeting you, buddy".

"Oh, what a coincidence, my name is Sunil too", I replied with a surprised look on my face. I was expecting the same from him, but he remained calm and whispered - "I know -  I AM YOU, just ten years from now. Why don't you stop planning and start living? Trust me, you will have a lot of fun."

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I woke up to a pat on my back - "wake up man,  it's our station! You bachelors party too hard, I tell you - You have been sleeping all the way!". It was my colleague from work who had boarded the train a couple of stations after mine. We got out of the train and walked towards the shuttle. Suddenly, I got the message from my dream. I smiled, took my "success" checklist, shredded it to pieces and threw it in the next trash can I could find. 

It is 2009 and now, I hope one of these days I will meet a man in his mid forties who will tell me how my next ten years would be like.