The Boulevard Of Broken Dreams

Mood: Disturbed

May 19, 2009

Mysore, India.

                 Sr. No.  Emp. No.  Name  Location  Dept.

                    13                 92xxx   Harish Thangaraj              Pune           CMED

I was ecstatic right now. I punched my fist up in the air. I was looking at the posting location portal. After all these months I had finally got my desired posting location today. Now I could travel to my home in Mumbai every weekend. Yes!! You know, I had postponed trimming my hair by 3 weeks because I was so confident that I will get Pune as my posting and then I will be able to visit my favourite salon in Mumbai. So many little things I confidently postponed, taking for granted that I will get Pune at all costs even though the probability was less than 0.2! Paulo Coelho's 'The Alchemist' reminds me, 'When you want something badly enough, the whole world conspires to give it to you.' I couldn't agree more. They say that the cosmic world and the human mind interact in ways still not understood by humanity. Aye, Aye.

Here I am today, standing in this paradise called [Infosys Mysore], having cleared my intense training of 7 months with a CGPA of 4.97. Life here has been nothing short of a spectacular dream. I have made some of my best friends here. A usual day here is anything but that. How many times must I have walked down to my hostel block at 3am and then rushed back to the main GEC building at 7am again. The after-dinner CounterStrike sessions which went well into the wee hours of the morning, the cycling around the campus with friends at 2am, the back-to-back free movies in the multiplex on weekends, I will miss them all. Maybe even the irritating tri-weekly online exams. But the most missed will surely be my batchmates. Never have I interacted so much with non-Mumbai folks. The girl from Roorkee, the guy from Dehradun, from Jaipur, the Punjab Engg Coll grads, the lot from Delhi, Dhanbad, Varanasi...never thought such varied cultures exist and yet, astonishingly, we all think alike.

The bus to Pune was to leave the next day evening. It was midnight. I went around the campus one last time on one of the thousand bicycles. Played Counter Strike till 3am. Then had a quick game of Badminton. Kissed goodbye to the pool table. Played cards with the usual group. Got up early at 7am. Went around with my college folks door to door to bid my fellow batchmates goodbye. Some cried, some hugged and some clicked photos. I did all of these. 'Fear from death shows the intimidating part of Goodbye' says a friend's blog. I can't agree more. As the clock ticked away to 5pm, we sat there trying to freeze time and pondering how much these memories will mean to us in our lives. 

The bus left the campus at 5pm sharp from the Reception Building. I had seen how previous batches moved out of the campus in a similar way, but somehow the feeling today was totally overwhelming.  I held out my N82 and recorded the length and breadth of this wonderland campus from the moving bus. My batchmates in the bus, 43 in total watched in silence as the trees and landscapes whizzed backwards, away from us. 'Summer Of 69' played in my ears, only that, it was signifying the summer four decades later. The Volvo raced out of Mysore in no time and the mood in the bus was now turning slowly vibrant in anticipation of an exciting new phase of life. This Sunday, finally after a break of 7 months I will be back home. I have never been away so long till now. I missed my friends like crazy. Wow, life is indeed being kind to me. Just recently, I had saved 10k in flight fares by not going to Mumbai while all my other friends had gone. For, I was so confident that in a fortnight I will anyways get posted to Pune! Why even think negative. What Rhonda Byrne talks about in his book 'The Secret', is true to the core.

We entered Bangalore around 8.30pm. I swayed to my I-Pod's 'One Step Closer To The End'. Majestic Bus Depot was as chaotic as Dadar Station. Suddenly I remembered how I had first met her at Dadar Station. I will get to meet her now in less than 4 days! Yippieee..! Dinner was to happen now. My lot decided to check out the KFC across the road. After a delightful filling of crisp Chicken, we hopped onto the bus again. My roommate, next to me was already asleep by the time the bus left the city. Linkin Park was now yelling 'In The End'. My thoughts rushed to Pune. It had promised me so much already. Will it deliver all of that? What about the famous [Dome buildings] of Infosys Pune? Will I be lucky enough to work at one of the two Domes? Can I expect bench for atleast a couple of weeks? How will I fit into the corporate world? Too many questions went around in my tiny mind. I simply smiled and thought everything is already decided, destined somewhere up there. Tomorrow morning I start life afresh. The last song in the playlist was 'Stairway To Heaven'. I closed my eyes.

May 22, 2009

Mumbai, India.

A father closed his [newspaper]. Tears rolled down his eyes. His wife lay beside him on the floor. The boy was weeping onto his crossed arms. He remembered the last time he had seen his brother, 7 months ago. They had fought over something trivial and since then they had not been on proper talking terms. He remembered 'The Kite Runner', where Rahim Khan tells Amir, 'There is a way to be good again'. Is it always the case?

[*Newspaper]

5 Infosys staff die as bus overturns

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

Belgaum: Five new recruits of Infosys were killed and 37 others injured when a KSRTC Airavat Volvo overturned after the driver of the vehicle lost control while negotiating a curve on the outskirts of Nippani town. 
Infosys Technologies head (HR) Mohandas Pai told The Times of India, “A KSRTC Volvo bus taking 43 of our fresh recruits to our Pune office to resume work after the completion of a training programme in our Mysore facility met with an accident at Nippani town.’’ 
Reports say the driver attempted to turn at a high speed and lost control, and the bus turned over. Three persons died on the spot, and the other two at the hospital.

Quick Note 1: I thought editing this post will alter the emotions I experienced when I heard about this tragedy. So I didn't. Also, my fellow Infoscions will relate more to this particular post. 

Quick Note 2: Sometimes we wait for tragedies to happen and then repent our silly grudges. Forgive And Forget. Life Is Always Too Short For Human Mistakes. (Personal Experience...)

The Revenge (555 Fiction)

Mood: Been There, Written That

It was one in the night. He had just returned from work. These IT companies literally suck out the last drop of blood from us, he thought. Tired and exhausted, he flung open the door and pushed himself in. She was no where to be seen. But he seemed too bored to even think about her and headed straight for the bedroom. It was empty. He changed quickly and collapsed onto his bed, fast asleep within seconds.  

It was then that she came out from the kitchen. Stealthily, she entered his room and approached him from his back, hoping to give him a surprise. She placed a peck on his cheeks. But he slept as if he hadn't been touched. She lingered around him vying for his attention. But she got none, for he was purely oblivious to her presence. Another kiss to his lips and this time he seemed to stir. Half asleep, he signaled at her to get away. The previous night's affair was all too fresh in his sub-conscious mind. He wanted to be all alone after another grueling day at work. But it didn't matter to her for she was in mood for mischief tonight. Again...

The lights were off and she was getting into her best. He lay there trying not to get into a situation again at this time of the night. But one fuss too many and then, he could take no more. He got up cursing, but she just managed to hide behind the curtains. Sleepily he shouted at her to come in front of him, but she always had this habit of playing around with him. After all, he looked so innocent when he was mad at her. Cursing, he rolled the blanket back over himself.

It was now three hours into the new day and she again got back to her game. She approached him, this time from his side. She whispered to him that he could satisfy her all night. But he just changed his stance, uninterested. She switched over to his other side now. How he knew she would! She buzzed that he seemed cuter and sweeter than usual. But he had planned out the next turn of events. Out of thin air, he slapped her, fair and square with his strong hands. She lost her balance and fell. Blood trickled from the corners of her mouth. The job was done. She wouldn't disturb him again tonight. She lay there sobbing and too hurt to respond or react. The guy whom she liked so much had hit her. How many times must they have locked lips...And now, he had slapped her. It was all over, she knew. Least bothered, he was already asleep.

Two weeks later: I woke up. It was the sixth time I was dreaming of this. Like a ghost, I had again travelled back in time and witnessed that night's turn of events.

I knew it was just a matter of time now. I was dying. Dengue was now in the advanced stages. I could hear a knell somewhere. The ringing was getting closer and closer each passing minute. Suddenly, I heard a high pitch laughter and then, Revenge Is Oh So Sweet, said a chilling voice, that of the female Aedes aegypti mosquito I had killed a fortnight ago...

Quick Note: This was my attempt at the now-famous 55 word fiction. I just changed it a ‘little’ to suit my lengthy writing style. And, Eureka!!  It turned out to be a 555 word fiction. Always happens with me..Duh..! 

P.S. Please leave a comment if this font is too uneasy to read. Thanks.