Just Another Day

A sunny day, warmly providing respite from the cold seemed perfect for Rajesh to take a break. His spirits rose in spite of having sworn at his friend who had buzzed him out of his cubicle. He had a project to deliver that week and his PM was losing his nerve with every day ticking until the deadline.

But those things could wait. Arun had been unequivocal and demanded Rajesh to meet him at the cafeteria immediately. Rajesh walked into the café. It was pretty crowded. That made him wonder, if he was the only one in the company working his heart out. He thought why the company was not considering any downsizing? May be the first step in increasing productivity could be closing the shutters of the café.

The chatter was quite excited and high on decibels. Rajesh chose a table in a corner so that the din did not annoy him. He seated himself facing the entrance. He did not want to waste any time more than required amongst this motley. The steward walked towards him, but he waved him off to come later. He looked at his watch absent mindedly, just to curse Arun.

As he was glancing at the entrance, he suddenly caught sight of a girl entering. His instinct made him look again. Smirking at the fact that all that work had not whetted his primal instincts, he looked at her. She was tall, slim and was wearing a bright blue full sleeved top and the conventional denim. She had long beautiful hair, let loose. She glanced around the café. He believed that while looking around, she lingered a moment longer in his direction. He tried making eye contact. But by then, she had turned. She sauntered and took a table to the right of his'.


Rajesh kept staring at her. He was struck by her poise. She fiddled with the menu with her slender long fingers. He was amazed by the range of feelings she evoked in him. He started interpreting her character from her actions. He was sure that she would have by now noticed him ogling at her. But still she did not look in his direction. And her twitchiness, related to his staring or unrelated, convinced him that she was a very conservative girl. But the sparkle in her bright brown eyes seemingly concealing naughtiness and the high heel she was wearing contradicted it.

He started wondering if he should actually move to her table and strike a conversation. But he recalled his previous similar encounters. And in all of them, he had been so dumbstruck or choked that he had never made that first move. He thought, may be all that was actually leading to this day. Fate always has pleasant surprises in store. All the work he had to finish by that week seemed like child’s play to him now.

As he was basking in the pleasure of watching her, her lips parted and she was smiling. Her hand slowly raised and now she was waving at someone. He tried to see who it was. Arun appeared from nowhere and walked towards him. At the same time she stood up from her chair. Both of them took the seats opposite him. Arun spoke, ’Hey!! Meet my fiancée, Anita.’ Rajesh proffered his hand and smiled, more so because of not having made that first move.

Memoirs Part 2

As soon as X entered the room, the cold hit him, literally too. Prof. Y was on the phone talking with someone and curtly pointed to the chair in front of his huge table. X obediently took the chair. Not wanting to worsen the situation, he lowered his head humiliatingly and kept staring at his own fingers. Time seemed frozen. The banter on the phone extended to eternity.

And then as abruptly as things had happened all day, Dr. Y hung up and asked X, ‘Mr. X, How do you find the courses here? Are they up to your standard?’ X thought of the damage control mode he had decided to adopt. So he just looked at Y pleadingly. Y stressed, ‘What are your thoughts on my course and International Marketing? Write them down on this sheet.’

X took the sheet obligingly and stared at it. His thoughts were racing. Should he write anything at all, the least now he wanted was to make Y more furious? So he timidly started writing the course names. Y was waiting with his hands folded. Seeing that, X timidly started writing.

Good structure and content. Case studies extensively discussed. Live strategy games could be held to make the class more interesting.

X now wondered what made him write that last point. Why is he habitually pointing out things? Will he ever change? Maybe the dressing down today will achieve that. He meekly extended the sheet forward. And then something hit him on the face. He was surprised although he expected anything to happen. Then he realized it was another sheet of paper. He slowly picked it up. It was THE FORM.

Y spoke calmly, ‘I had to study all the handwriting in the answer papers to zero down on the one who wrote this. Now what made you write this?’

X was wondering if that was really a question or just figurative. So as always he kept quiet.

‘I have had some mistakes pointed out in feedback forms. In fact there were 5 negative forms from your class, but nothing this outrageous’, said Y, still very calm and restrained.

X was still pondering if at all he should say anything. X went through his form again to get a grasp of things he was hearing. Then he noticed the word, ‘FAMILY’. What made him write it? Who in their right senses would have mentioned that in the feedback form of an academic course?

X had his reason as always. X had had his share of trouble with Prof Y prior to this. Once he had rejoined college 2 days late as his dad was due to fly back home then. His father told him that he will call up the administrator. X had insisted, ‘This is no primary school dad, I can handle it’, thinking of how much an arse he will be made to be by Y in class, after his dad’s call. But X, to his rude shock was awarded 4 DGPs (Derogatory Award Points) for joining two days late. And as the trimester progressed he found that people were joining weeks late. But the only thing they did right was they were in Y’s good books. And meanwhile Prof. Y was rescheduling all his classes to take a break and go home.

DGPs are awarded in extreme breaches of code of conduct. If one gets 8 of them, they are duly asked to forfeit the course. Y had sarcastically remarked when awarding the DGP’s, ‘What if you had started out of home and then wandered away and then joined late. This will teach you a lesson.’ X was slipping away in his thoughts. But this was no time to think of all of that. He needed to imagine something good about Prof. Y so as to have a real pitiful expression. He knew he could not fake his feelings now.

Dr.Y ’s voice brought him back to reality, ‘What is your CGPA Mister? What makes you think that you are eligible to advise me, when the toppers have all given me a good review? Tell me, what is you CGPA?’

X was cornered now. He did not recall his CGPA. 20 years of education and thousands of scores. How can anyone remember them all? He tossed between 3.1 and 3.3. Trying to be modest, ‘Sir, it is 3.1’.

Dr. Y was getting hysterical. X could clearly see the signs. X was wondering where was all the usual nervousness he had had during interviews in the past. Strangely, he was feeling quite calm unlike the other side of the table.

Dr. Y screamed, ‘What makes you think, you can do this and get away with it? Do you know my history? If this thing happened anywhere else, you no longer will be alive. I studied in Loyola in Chennai. You should know about its notoriety. How long have you lived in a metro? You have no idea about the kind of contacts I have.’

X was stupefied. How can anyone kill someone for writing a feedback form? Under the influence of his new found temperance, he was even laughing at the irony of the statement. If it really gets down to it, he was wondering who would be in a better position. A college guy or a man 10 years into teaching?

‘You had no right to say anything about my family, forget the teaching part which is also false by the way’, shouted Dr.Y. X now made up his mind to answer. ‘Sir, I never thought any faculty member goes through these feedback forms. I just wanted to sound funny to my friends. Nothing in it, I ever meant’, said X politely, knowing that it dint even convince him. And as expected it fell on deaf ears.

‘Even those DGPs have not helped. Now I would not punish you. I will let you go and I never want to see you again. Don’t attend my lectures. I will give you an A in Business Management. Don’t even come anywhere near my classes’, barked Y.

‘Sir, I am sorry, I never meant any of it’, pleaded X.

‘Do you know what I can do to your career? Just one minute, and you would be a loser even before you start’, said Y, snapping his fingers demonstrating the fickleness of X’s career. X was wondering if he should have used the college fee and started a kirana store rather than joining here.

‘Now get lost out of here. You will get an A. Don’t come to my class. I will make sure you repent for this, till you leave this place’, said Y tapping THE FORM.

X rose out of the chair, turned his back and walked out of the room with a sheepish grin across his face. What more could he have asked for? An A, full attendance, a one on one with the boss and special treatment for the rest of his college years. He took out his mobile and dialed. He sure had a grand tale to tell her.

Memoirs part 1

Disclaimer: Personal views. This post has high perishability.

This is where our Mr. X (for choice of a better name) can speak out. Now can he? That is what he thought when he filled out that wretched feedback form. The course was some basic one on management. The lecturer was the Numero Uno Mr.Y, of the new campus. He was terror unleashed on the students. His booming voice, hostile remarks and short temper unnerved everybody. Now in this perfect setting, our bloke sat about filling the form at the end of his first trimester exam. The form had just 3 simple questions. And enough space to communicate his feelings. Or so X thought. So here goes THE FORM.

Comment on the following

1. Course structure

Loosely structured with total disregard to students.

2. Course content

Out of date case studies. Repetitive slides

3. Course scheduling

According to the whims and fancies of the professor and his family.

The forms were collected back by the assistant. As usual the chatter was about the exam. People were asking each other how many additional sheets they used. Our X felt so much left out of all this. He was wondering if anyone will even go through the answer scripts and he was pretty sure about the feedback forms being thrown away. Or else someone would have infused some sanity into the professor way back. But in his batch he was sure no one else would have written anything other than the typical three ‘GOOD’s. He smirked with an evil sense of power at having had the opportunity to lead the crusade. He turned to his mates to begin the ‘chai’ routine before classes resumed. But they were still immersed in discussing the paper. In his mind, he reinforced his thoughts of not belonging to the college in any way.

The rest of the day was uneventful, some boring lectures with few nodding in the first row and religiously making notes of what ever were on the slides, not withstanding the fact that the lecturer mailed all of it the next day. The chai routine was only something that our X was looking forward to everyday. Sipping his cuppa, he reached in his trousers for his ringing mobile. X was wondering as to who it could be. A local landline number in a new city was unusual. As he answered, he heard the familiar voice of the dutiful assistant from the administrative desk. Again unusual! What does X have to do with the administrative desk? In fact he wanted to be as far away as possible from it.

The assistant said ‘Where are you Mr. X? Prof. Y wants to meet you. Immediately!’ Then it dawned upon our dumbo. Oh Holy f***!! They have zeroed in on the feedback form. But how could they? It was supposed to be anonymous. The assistant was awaiting his reply. ‘Oh! Mam. I just returned to the hostel. Can’t it wait till tomorrow?’

‘NO ! SIR SAYS HE WANTS TO SEE YOU TODAY!!’

‘OK mam. I am starting from the hostel to college mam. I will meet him right away’, X hung up.

Now was the first time, X missed all his close friends back home. Anyway he had a new group. So form the Chai Dukhan opposite his campus, he called them (SMS: Save My Soul). B & C turned up. X curtly narrated the situation. C said, ‘Bosidike! Kya ho gaya tuje!!’ And B pitched in saying, ‘Dude you are a goner’.

So the three gulped their chais, trying to think clearly. The gravity of the issue was still sinking in them. B broke the silence saying, ‘Dude the maximum he can do is, throw you out of campus. Can you handle that? Will your parents stand by you then?’.

X was simply blinking, imagining how his father will react if he came to know of it. No, that is too much to think about now. One problem at a time. ‘Guys! Just tell me what I can tell him now, to reduce the impact of the damage already done.’ B called out, ‘Gulfam!! 3 more cups.’ Gulfam gleamed and was right there with his chai.

C out of the corner of his eye watched the assistant returning home. X now tried hiding behind the tree. Too conspicuous. Gulfam’s cash counter seemed better. So he pushed Gulfam out and hid himself there.

‘OK you are safe now. Come out. How much time do you have left?’ enquired B, glancing at his watch.

‘Not much. I told her, I am starting from the hostel. That gives me like 20 minutes. So ten more I guess’, said X wiping out beads of perspiration from his forehead.X was now visibly shaken. Adrenaline was coursing through all his veins. Such level of heightened thrill, he had never felt before.

‘Mate! You cannot go in and argue that it is not your form. So get in, agree that it is yours and ask sorry. Also I think he cannot throw you out, as an anonymous form cannot be used as evidence’, B encouragingly told X. Now X felt a little better. Yeah! You cannot use a lousy form as evidence against you. C chipped in saying, ‘Dude, be brave. We are with you.’ X knew that it was only figurative. But when you are under pressure, you like to hear reassurances like that, though they mean nothing.

‘Chalo logon, time to face the music. Anyone coming with me’, asked X mockingly. B being in the goodbooks of Prof Y asked earnestly, ‘I can mate. If you want me to.’ ‘Thanks yaar! Let us save that one for the bigger troubles’, grinned X.

X got into the lift, acknowledging the ‘All the best’ signs shown by B & C sarcastically. He found the lift climb slowly. He smirked to himself thinking even the lift is having its share of fun. Finally it jerked to a stop on his floor. He walked out of it and asked the guard if Dr.Y was in his room hoping against hope that Y would have left. The guard nodded his yes very cheerfully. The lift and now the guard, X felt as if everybody is conspiring against him.

Sci-Fi Way to future

Of late I have been yearning to become a techie, trying out and reviewing new gadgets, staying at the forefront of technology. This is more because of my inner conviction of being able to identify which new developments will click and which are just namesake additions. This attraction towards technology is in spite of spending four years in engineering (precisely electronics) and feeling lost. But that feeling has lot to blame on the course structuring. The faculty did an unbelievable and unparalleled job in making it drab and incomprehensible.

Let me take you through a sneak preview of your home fifty years down the line. All electronic gadgetry will be integrated and master controlled. For convenience let us call your master system as fido. Fido be accessible at a couple of places in the house. Accessibility will be through a projected screen which will be touch sensitive. (Imagine a transparent screen with icons)

Mobile phone will become obsolete atleast inside the house and will stay confined to your car and exterior locations. From anywhere inside your house, you can use it by just calling it out. Also the microphones will be hidden in the walls and the listener on the other end will hear your voice as good as if he is in your room. There will be voice recognition, thus allowing only calls from you and not anyone in your house, unless you give them a code to access it.Movies and music can also be played by calling out the appropriate codes. Vast collections of movies can be saved in a small drive without any fuss which will reflect both the efficient compressing algorithms and huge memory capacities that will prevail then.

In your wardrobe, the clothes you throw on the bottom will automatically be channeled to the washing machine which will be invisible to the dwellers. The washed clothes will be dried, ironed and even your deodorant (permanent smell) will be added to it and placed neatly back in your wardrobe.

From the projected screen you will be able to access the inventory in your refrigerator. If you feel you have run out of something, you can just call out an order to Fido. It will place order with the grocer and the grocer will deliver it instantly. There will be a small box outside your house. Fido will pick this up from there and place it in the refrigerator. You will be billed in the end of the month for this.

The airconditioning system will work based on your presence. Thermal detectors will sense your position and the vent near that vicinity will work. The same principle will also be applicable to the lights. There will be face recognition at the door and depending on who turns up at the door, Fido will tell you of that person's arrival in the room in which you are present. If it is someone new, it will try describing you the person.

You will be able to change the color of your walls and also your car through simple commands. Your car will drive automatically. The traffic will be syncronized by a big server (Fido senior) run by the state. When you get into your car and announce your destination, it will send a request to the fido senior. It will obtain the route from fido senior. There will be no traffic signals anywhere and regulation will be done by modifying speed suitably so as to keep moving continuously and not wait anywhere.

I guess this preview is enough. Too much of it and it spoils the surprise for you. In a nutshell, people will become so dumb and lazy and if anything goes wrong with fido, you will go mad. Also it will take a whole group of technicians to get it right.

A dirge

This article is dedicated to one of the lives lost in our campus. Our campus although innocuous has got the potential to take away lives. This may be shocking to you, but this is true story which can be verified by asking any of our hostellers. If you are faint hearted please do not proceed further as the gory details of the death are hard to digest.

It was a sunny day as usual and there was this one poor rat. It lived in abject poverty that it lived in a really wretched place, a place even dreaded by humans to live, the boys hostel. The food the rat used to have was worse and scarce. However it used to feel contented after seeing the food had by the hostellers. Atleast his was better than theirs.
As usual after his frugal lunch he was taking a walk on the roof when the untoward incident happened. One wrong foot and he fell into the water tank. His screams and shouts fell on deaf ears. He struggled for quite some time before giving in.

The even more pathetic part is that he was found only after 3 days. Also his identity couldn’t be established. His body didn’t even receive a proper send off. The three days old bloated corpse was just thrown away without a decent burial that even an orphan human deserves. If only the hostellers had known to use their sense of smell they could have found it out earlier and the rites could have been done a lot earlier.

I hereby kindly request you to observe a two minute silence for the one who has departed from our midst. I also wish such horrible incidents don’t take place in the future in the campus. Even if a rat has to die, can’t it find a more respectable place to end his life rather than a filthy tank that smells so much that even a rotten corpse doesn’t add to the odour.