Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Cape of Good Hope

"Congratulations! You have been promoted to the next level". Satish was grinning from ear to ear. Just as he was to receive the offer letter, someone was pulling his hand. He was stunned to see that it was Gayathri...his other half. "You need to go to office early today. WAKE UP" she shouted. Then he realized that it was a dream.

He fumed that he was not getting his long awaited promotion even in his dreams. What was the day today? He questioned the calendar which obediently answered Sunday. "Oh God! Today is Sunday" Satish sounded as if Poes Garden was on fire.

Gayathri "So What? Throughout the year 24*7 you have been in the office. Does it matter if today is Sunday?"

Satish knew this was coming. They had been married for one and a half years and had been blessed by a son very recently. They had named him Sanjay and Satish called him Sunny. His project in office was a complex one and so Satish had been working for the past 3 months without a days break. He decided to put an end to this today.

"OK. How about going to Mayajaal today and watching Rang De Basanti today?" Satish asked. Gayathri looked at him as if she was exorcised. Then she smiled. "Wow..nice to see some rang change in your face" said Satish and he went to take bath. He came out and was changing his clothes, when he had a look at his son. "Sanjay...Sunny" he said aloud to himself.

"What should you become? No...not a software engg. You will have to work hard and though you will be paid well, you would have to compromise between family and work. How about a Cricketer? Hmmm...but then you will have to play more off the field than on the field. Is Chess fine for you? Oh...I forgot. I was always bad with it in my childhood days. Being my son I don’t think you are gonna be too good in that. Tennis? Yeah...that should be great. I will send you to this coaching academy. You will be Champion in the under-10, under-14 and under-17 championionships and then we will travel to Wimbledon. Maybe we will get Federer's coach for you. Does it sound fine Sunny?" Sanjay kept on talking to the kid.

His dreams were interrupted by his mobile phone. It rang and the display on his phone had a "CALL 1". It spelt danger. This meant that the onsite guy was calling him up. Mouthing some unprintable words Satish attended the call. His onsite guy Dibyankar called him up and said "Hey Satish. Dibyankar here. There is an urgent production issue that has come up. Are you in the office now?"

Satish masked his displeasure and said "No". Dibyankar "Hey. Appreciate if you could fix it up man. Its very critical and the client is all over us." Satish had listened to this dialogue a 1000 times and knew how 'critical' it was. But he heard himself saying "No probs man. I will go right now and take care of it."

Gayathri was looking at him from the far side of the room and said nothing. Frowning, Satish took his car keys and was just starting when he saw his son. "How about becoming a singer Sunny?". His son smiled as if he has approved of his father's wish. Satish smiled for the first time in the day.

P.S: Dedicated to my colleague Mr.K who has a kid (3 months) at home but slogs 24*7 in the office.:-)

15 comments:

nandoo said...

yethu yethu ... satish enna mathiri bayangara uzhaipaali ya irupparu polaa...

Itho Cape of Good Hope Part 2

Gayathiri - ennanga
Satish - itho vanthuten
Sunny - naina
Satish - tho varenda chellam
Oniste - Hey Satyy
Satish - :( oh my god not again... jey dude just complted tht *CRITICAL* **** man!!!!

Mothala Gay N Sunny kitte sonnathu rendum Phonela ;)

Harish - unmaiyile paaka pona.. athu satish illa .. nee thaan daa

Anonymous said...

Gayathri dint say anything-a???
'Kaasa kondaa, naane poi paathuttu varen...' who needs a husband...all you need is a debit/credit card ;)
I bet Sunny would have agreed :D
Better learn to answer calls like the one in the story, else be ready to part with ur family... :-P

neighbour said...

Its very critical and the client is all over us." Satish had listened to this dialogue a 1000 times and knew how 'critical' it was.

These words never been forgoten in S/w Life history.

enna maamu.. unmaiyaa puttu puttu vaikaraae...

Ramesh said...

Depicts the real life of so called "software" engineers..

Anonymous said...

Harish,

I do agree with Nandoo..athu satish illa .. nee thaan daa

Celia said...

Dunno what to say!!!
My friend who is in a top software company often says this these days...
"Naamalaam romba soolnilai kaithigal aayiotom"...

Empathisize with Mr.K ... wish he gets atleast Sunday as off..

Harish said...

Welcome here Veda
Perhaps this should be dedicated to all s/w enggs

Nandoo
Thanks buddy
Entha neratulla sonnayo teriyala...i am now in a similar situation...sans the wife and kid of course :-)

Harish said...

Sat
Bayamuruthaadae thaayi...i fear that is what most of em are going thru

Neighbour
Ettanai dadavai nama kitta inda dialgue solli irupaanga...edho pudusa s/w join pandravanga inda dialogue kaetta inimae ushaara irukatum nu oru aasai thaan

Harish said...

Welcome Ramesh
Truth is stranger than fiction !

Sriniji
Venumna mike pottu naane oorukellam sollidaren...adu naan thaannnnnnnn

Harish said...

Bindhu
No chance
Mr K would still be in ofice...eppa thirunduvaaro teriyala

Sandhya Ramachandran said...

He he... nice one! Sad right,that we lose so much in life by not looking at the trifles but concentrating only on the 'ig picture' only to realise, in the very end, that it is the trifles that make life!!! :)

Vani Viswanathan said...

nalla velai naa engineer aaga poradhu illa! ;)
Good one!:)

Harish said...

Sandy
"Trifles make life". sorrowfully true

Ammu
We MADE it common.It is NOT common.

Vani
I never said that it was restricted to engineers. Beware :-)

Anonymous said...

yes harish... it should be dedicated to all the s/w eng.s .... huh!

Anonymous said...

Machi,
Is that Mr. K our Mr. K?

This is no situation but part of our so called 'soft'ware life. Its better to switch off the mobile on weekends and stay disconnected.