I had an experience which is a perfect example for life playing a wonderful teacher. It was my first trip to Italy, Milan. Since it was unplanned trip planned at the last moment in order to meet a client demand and at the last minute with very limited options available, I had to book a big fully furnished apartment studio at exorbitant rates.
I reached Milan, on a very cold Saturday night. It being Saturday and not a working day, the agent office was not open. I had to wait outside the apartment complex for the agent to come over and hand the key. I had to wait outside the apartment complex on that dark shivery night with my big bags. After hour long wait and multiple calls, the agent arrived. I was so much relieved to see her and felt like guardian from god himself has arrived to hand me the key to escape away from cold. After a long day’s flight and cold, I was longing for a hot bath. The apartment looked very big for a person. Hot shower was the immediate need of the hour. I went to checkout the bathroom. It was one of the luxurious bathroom I had ever seen, with beautiful tiles, neat and shining, with very ultramodern electronic shower room. The shower room had all sorts of knobs to control the water pressure, hotness, coldness, control water outlets for different types of back massage etc etc.
I immediately wanted to take hot bath, but after numerous tries no hot water was coming, it was pouring freezing cold water, I tried all sorts of tricks, turning every different knobs, tried every combination for about an hour, I was aching for hot water to gush out, but nothing happened, just cold water pouring. I was shivering cold. Finally I pulled out the instruction manuals for the shower room, read the instructions and tried to follow the instructions as it is, no matter whatever I tried the water was still pouring cold.
Went back to living room drenched from cold shower, switched on the tv, it was all Italian, more frustration. I was shivering from cold, I needed hot bath. Again I went back into bathroom, checked the taps of hand wash basin, here the hot water was pouring. Now I need some bucket to collect the hot water. But remember it is Europe, you won't find plastic buckets/jugs etc like we have in India. But I found one new looking big steel dustbin, it was brand new and clean, with black plastic cover to collect garbage. I took the steel dustbin, removed the black plastic cover. It was perfect to be used as a Bucket. Now I had to find a way to collect hot water from hand wash tap to the bucket (Don't want to call it dustbin, it is my bucket now).
Searched around the apartment for any pipes and I found none. But I saw one vacuum cleaner with nice looking pipe, I separated the pipe from the vacuum cleaner. Now connected the pipe to hot water tap, adjusted the water temperature to required degree and bingo, I was able to collect the hot water into my bucket. I found one nice looking big tumbler, which I used as a jug and thus enjoyed the much need hot water bath.
Technology is made to satisfy the needs of humankind, but when it fails at the time when you need the most, what is the use of having a technology that is not really dependable. Luckily for me, the old ways was most trusted and satisfying.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Life of an Infoscion on a Friday
Life of an Infoscion on a Friday - Short story by JP
(This story is purely an imagination of the author. Any resemblance to living or dead is purely intentional, sorry I meant it is only a coincidence)
Being an Infoscion is like catching a speeding train, it is thrilling, it is challenging, gosh how do I explain, guys you have to be an Infoscion to feel it :) Let me start the story now…
Shhhrrrrrrrrilllllllllllll went my alarm waking me up from deepest slumber, crash landing me to reality, bang bang came the realities. I was still a bachelor. Chellam was my dream girl, whom I had no guts to propose and biggest reality of all stuck like a missile, It was 6:30am and I had to get ready in 45mins to catch my last Infy bus, otherwise forget 196kmph, I would be stuck in the bus which cannot even move at 1.96kmph in the Hosur traffic jam, finally mother of all reality of realities struck like lightning from dark sky, I had a critical delivery to make today, it is the last day and I was stuck with a piece of code which does not work anywhere except in my system, whatever thrill that was left from my dream vanished. But a small smile developed, Thank god it is Friday and I had a movie and dinner date with jasmine. I thought this day is going to be awesome and legendary :)…
Kicked myself out of bed for a challenging day ahead..Infoscion you know..Winning in the flat world is my passion. Got ready in 40mins equaling my record for how many times..hmm..I don’t know maybe umpteenth time :)
Reached the bus stop in 5mins..Only to realize the bus had just left..called for an auto (3 legged emergency machine) …instructed him to catch this bus..Felt like a James bond chasing a time machine.
Reached office at 8:15am, after finger print match, Iris scan, multi-dimensional pattern head to foot match, the system recognized me as the employee and cleared my entry.
After a quick breakfast of Masala dosa and filter coffee, I reached my desk by 8:30am. I started my Dart, with general catch all, started to check my mails, there was around 100 unread mails, 10 from K-shop, 10 from Tools group, 11 from Go green, 4 reminders to fill my performance appraisal. I was still not smiling…4 reminders to submit my Dart, 3 reminder mails to change my password, 6 mails from Messenger (To approve leaves, New ILITE courses, Certification exams etc)..still no smile…there were more mails about all hands meet, conferences to attend, Tax return reminder mails…biggest fear was developing in my mind and finally there I saw the mail I was looking for hiding among sea of other mails, the mail from Jasmine, the date was still on….she would be waiting…at the reception of building number 58.
My smile returned …Thank god it is Friday :)
I went through all other mails, noted down all the tasks for the day, I call Fridays a meetings day, because all the meetings somehow automatically planned during the week suddenly happens on the Friday. Status meeting, Meeting with OSC, with the customer it goes on…on top of it..I had to finish this delivery all by 6pm. It was impossibly challenging…but again Infoscion you know..challenge is my passion and it comes on plate. The clock showed 8:50am..
I had exactly 8hrs to make my code work in all the machines and most importantly to make it work in a user system somewhere in Belgium…
Set the Dart for coding task…jumped into sea of code..getting latest from all vss, building, compiling and started the debugger..I was all set to fix this code once for all, was just about to start coding, pop came the messenger from my PM, there was the status meeting. (FYI, readers just yesterday before going home I had provided complete status)
Status meeting went on for an hour. My PM was talking mostly about all the risks, mitigation plans…for me I saw a biggest risk of loosing jasmine’s date. If I don’t finish the code by 6pm, my date will go for a toss and there was no mitigation.
I got back to my seat at 10am. I had to reset my Dart and log time for time spent in meeting..
Again I started back on the code, I was 30mins into it. I got a meeting reminder, I was supposed to attend Performance goal setting meeting. The meeting went on for an hour and half. It was already lunch time and I was going nowhere with my code, called up my friend satz to get a sandwich packed for me, planned for working over lunch.
It was 12:15pm, I sat back at my desk and all set to finish the code. I changed my messenger status to ‘Do not disturb’, just when I started the debugger, I got a call from Trisha (She works in IVS) she asked whether I am busy and whether I can join for the lunch at Gol gonda for ‘Chicken biryani’. I replied back “I am totally free, where I should meet her”, she was calling from reception
Came back to my desk at 1:15pm, I had made no progress on the code and biggest risk was looming heavy. I reset my Dart again. I also had couple mails from my PM and OSC asking for the status on code delivery. This time I was determined to finish before I leave my desk.
Did some progress till 2pm and just when I thought I was all set to finish, My DM came around announcing all of us are supposed to attend the all hands meet, it is compulsory, few important announcements about new wins, Irace announcement, most important policy change on CRR and promotions etc are going to be discussed. Gosh, Yes, I said I cannot miss this meeting.
We all went to the meeting room. The meeting went on for almost an hour and half, many important announcements and policy changes were discussed. Everybody seemed to understand everything that was being said expect me. I did not want to ask any more questions and prolong the meeting since I had to complete this code. I just made a note to check with my colleagues later about the summary (FYI readers, only later found out that none of them understood most of things from the meeting )
I was back at my desk. It was 3:30pm. I had exactly 2hr 30mins only to finish my code. This time I made up my mind even earthquake will not make me move from my desk until I finish the coding.
I started the debugger, after an hour of debugging I discovered the root cause of the problem, it turned out to be because of invalid character in the data which was throwing the flow into error handler. The problem which took me almost 2days to figure out turned out to be just a 30mins fix. I fixed, did a round of unit testing, followed by integration testing, regression testing, check-out, check-in, packaging and deployment all in the record time of 45mins. The clock struck 5:45pm. I had another 15mins to send my status mail, dart updation, quick call to OSC. I got a messenger pop-up from jasmine, that she is done for the day and going to reception to wait. I was about to say, there is still 15mins …but again girls somehow manage everything early..did not make the mistake to question her. I continued with my work, fired a quick status update mail, updated Dart, called up OSC and explained the inexplicable, he seemed to understand everything, but I knew I had to explain the same thing again on Monday. The clock stuck 6 ‘0’ clock. I made it….I punched my hand in the air..packed by bag…
Just when I was about to shut down the system, I got this very good idea to check the mails for one last time, before I close for the day. Guess this was a very bad idea which was about to spoil my evening…
There came a mail from shakalaka, I am supposed to complete at least one certification exam by Monday, in order to meet the compliance, my heart sank, there goes my date and weekend plans :)
Tring tring rang my phone, it was from Tamana, she said she had two tickets to this new movie tomorrow and whether I can join :) ….
This is the life of Infoscion on a Friday. Watch out for my next episode of the short story to find out, did I go for the date with Jasmine, did I go for the movie with Tamana or did I cancel everything to study for the exam or did I go for double date and still pass the exam and who is Chellam, did I propose her ?
- Short story by JP
(This story is purely an imagination of the author. Any resemblance to living or dead is purely intentional, sorry I meant it is only a coincidence)
Being an Infoscion is like catching a speeding train, it is thrilling, it is challenging, gosh how do I explain, guys you have to be an Infoscion to feel it :) Let me start the story now…
My speedometer was showing 196kmph, I had broken my own speed record of my previous best 184kmph. I was driving BMW Mini one, from Madrid to Valencia on the high speed lane on a dark night with only light of full moon to guide me, the road was amazingly visible like a runway, the reflectors reflecting light from my own car headlamp. The road stretched straight ahead into dark night as long as eternity with the big full moon straight ahead of me. I felt like I was driving towards moon at high speed. Chellam was chatting animated about some gossips at office, but yeah, which living man on the earth listens to his wife when you are driving your SUV with your favorite song playing. “chikku bukku railay..A.R Rehman’s all time hit from Gentleman was playing” ….I was feeling like Michael Schumacher on the race track, it was heavenly speed thrill, just when all was getting better....I crashed craaaaaaasssssssssssssssssssh
Shhhrrrrrrrrilllllllllllll went my alarm waking me up from deepest slumber, crash landing me to reality, bang bang came the realities. I was still a bachelor. Chellam was my dream girl, whom I had no guts to propose and biggest reality of all stuck like a missile, It was 6:30am and I had to get ready in 45mins to catch my last Infy bus, otherwise forget 196kmph, I would be stuck in the bus which cannot even move at 1.96kmph in the Hosur traffic jam, finally mother of all reality of realities struck like lightning from dark sky, I had a critical delivery to make today, it is the last day and I was stuck with a piece of code which does not work anywhere except in my system, whatever thrill that was left from my dream vanished. But a small smile developed, Thank god it is Friday and I had a movie and dinner date with jasmine. I thought this day is going to be awesome and legendary :)…
Kicked myself out of bed for a challenging day ahead..Infoscion you know..Winning in the flat world is my passion. Got ready in 40mins equaling my record for how many times..hmm..I don’t know maybe umpteenth time :)
Reached the bus stop in 5mins..Only to realize the bus had just left..called for an auto (3 legged emergency machine) …instructed him to catch this bus..Felt like a James bond chasing a time machine.
Reached office at 8:15am, after finger print match, Iris scan, multi-dimensional pattern head to foot match, the system recognized me as the employee and cleared my entry.
After a quick breakfast of Masala dosa and filter coffee, I reached my desk by 8:30am. I started my Dart, with general catch all, started to check my mails, there was around 100 unread mails, 10 from K-shop, 10 from Tools group, 11 from Go green, 4 reminders to fill my performance appraisal. I was still not smiling…4 reminders to submit my Dart, 3 reminder mails to change my password, 6 mails from Messenger (To approve leaves, New ILITE courses, Certification exams etc)..still no smile…there were more mails about all hands meet, conferences to attend, Tax return reminder mails…biggest fear was developing in my mind and finally there I saw the mail I was looking for hiding among sea of other mails, the mail from Jasmine, the date was still on….she would be waiting…at the reception of building number 58.
My smile returned …Thank god it is Friday :)
I went through all other mails, noted down all the tasks for the day, I call Fridays a meetings day, because all the meetings somehow automatically planned during the week suddenly happens on the Friday. Status meeting, Meeting with OSC, with the customer it goes on…on top of it..I had to finish this delivery all by 6pm. It was impossibly challenging…but again Infoscion you know..challenge is my passion and it comes on plate. The clock showed 8:50am..
I had exactly 8hrs to make my code work in all the machines and most importantly to make it work in a user system somewhere in Belgium…
Set the Dart for coding task…jumped into sea of code..getting latest from all vss, building, compiling and started the debugger..I was all set to fix this code once for all, was just about to start coding, pop came the messenger from my PM, there was the status meeting. (FYI, readers just yesterday before going home I had provided complete status)
Status meeting went on for an hour. My PM was talking mostly about all the risks, mitigation plans…for me I saw a biggest risk of loosing jasmine’s date. If I don’t finish the code by 6pm, my date will go for a toss and there was no mitigation.
I got back to my seat at 10am. I had to reset my Dart and log time for time spent in meeting..
Again I started back on the code, I was 30mins into it. I got a meeting reminder, I was supposed to attend Performance goal setting meeting. The meeting went on for an hour and half. It was already lunch time and I was going nowhere with my code, called up my friend satz to get a sandwich packed for me, planned for working over lunch.
It was 12:15pm, I sat back at my desk and all set to finish the code. I changed my messenger status to ‘Do not disturb’, just when I started the debugger, I got a call from Trisha (She works in IVS) she asked whether I am busy and whether I can join for the lunch at Gol gonda for ‘Chicken biryani’. I replied back “I am totally free, where I should meet her”, she was calling from reception
Came back to my desk at 1:15pm, I had made no progress on the code and biggest risk was looming heavy. I reset my Dart again. I also had couple mails from my PM and OSC asking for the status on code delivery. This time I was determined to finish before I leave my desk.
Did some progress till 2pm and just when I thought I was all set to finish, My DM came around announcing all of us are supposed to attend the all hands meet, it is compulsory, few important announcements about new wins, Irace announcement, most important policy change on CRR and promotions etc are going to be discussed. Gosh, Yes, I said I cannot miss this meeting.
We all went to the meeting room. The meeting went on for almost an hour and half, many important announcements and policy changes were discussed. Everybody seemed to understand everything that was being said expect me. I did not want to ask any more questions and prolong the meeting since I had to complete this code. I just made a note to check with my colleagues later about the summary (FYI readers, only later found out that none of them understood most of things from the meeting )
I was back at my desk. It was 3:30pm. I had exactly 2hr 30mins only to finish my code. This time I made up my mind even earthquake will not make me move from my desk until I finish the coding.
I started the debugger, after an hour of debugging I discovered the root cause of the problem, it turned out to be because of invalid character in the data which was throwing the flow into error handler. The problem which took me almost 2days to figure out turned out to be just a 30mins fix. I fixed, did a round of unit testing, followed by integration testing, regression testing, check-out, check-in, packaging and deployment all in the record time of 45mins. The clock struck 5:45pm. I had another 15mins to send my status mail, dart updation, quick call to OSC. I got a messenger pop-up from jasmine, that she is done for the day and going to reception to wait. I was about to say, there is still 15mins …but again girls somehow manage everything early..did not make the mistake to question her. I continued with my work, fired a quick status update mail, updated Dart, called up OSC and explained the inexplicable, he seemed to understand everything, but I knew I had to explain the same thing again on Monday. The clock stuck 6 ‘0’ clock. I made it….I punched my hand in the air..packed by bag…
Just when I was about to shut down the system, I got this very good idea to check the mails for one last time, before I close for the day. Guess this was a very bad idea which was about to spoil my evening…
There came a mail from shakalaka, I am supposed to complete at least one certification exam by Monday, in order to meet the compliance, my heart sank, there goes my date and weekend plans :)
Tring tring rang my phone, it was from Tamana, she said she had two tickets to this new movie tomorrow and whether I can join :) ….
This is the life of Infoscion on a Friday. Watch out for my next episode of the short story to find out, did I go for the date with Jasmine, did I go for the movie with Tamana or did I cancel everything to study for the exam or did I go for double date and still pass the exam and who is Chellam, did I propose her ?
- Short story by JP
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