It is that time of the year to gratify the urge to dress up – going shop to shop, looking at new designs, checking the price against money in the pocket, and end up giving into temptation to add that piece of cloth to our wardrobe. We (my sister, brother-in-law, and I) were on a shopping tour this weekend. My BIL always said that it was difficult to go shopping with my sister. Now I witnessed it. While we were looking at Jeans and T-shirts, she would sneak out for a whirlwind trip of the shop, but when she was buying, we had to stand next to her until she finalizes her choice, which could be eternity in a man’s timeline. But it was fun hearing all the excuses and reasoning of her why she rejects one and buys another.

I bought two churithars for her and a T-Shirt for my BIL and they bought me a jeans. Added to that was a long list of individual shopping. We swiped cards and wiped our bank balance.

The other day I had to go a restaurant. Unlike in Europe (and possibly US too), here we don’t use maps. And there aren’t many sign posts either. So how do we get to a place? Either we already know where it is, or we stop here and there and ask around. To avoid asking total strangers, I asked a colleague for the way. This is what he said, ‘Take the airport road, first you will cross Nehru Statue, go further down until Sardar Patel Statue, then take a left and follow the road until Thevar Statue, where you take a right. On the first left is the restaurant’. If you are not used to Chennai traffic system, this instruction will put you on a spin. But we are used to these statues for leaders of yester-years.

I don’t know how much of respect they got while they were alive, but most of them get at least a statue and multiple garlands whenever our politicians want to display a show. And for their part, these leaders stand still and be a part of ‘finding our way’.

During their heydays, Vantive (a CRM product) consultants enjoyed a great deal of demand and thus prospered well. For most of them it lasted more than half a decade making them an object of envy. However every beginning has an end and their end came in the form of Peoplesoft (PSFT) buying Vantive. Even there we saw a ray of hope as PSFT continued their support for Vantive and released a migration path for existing Vantive installations. So it seemed that, after a dip, we will be back on demand if we would all learn PSFT. Then came the unpleasant surprises – the downturn of economy due to 9/11; but the monstrous threat came in the form of Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle corporation. He unleashed a hostile bid to take over PSFT shaking the confidence of the clients, who were planning a migration to PSFT, across the globe. Not just them, but us too. We don’t know if we should go ahead and invest in PSFT training or get trained in SAP (another ERP tool which is so big that Larry wouldn’t dare to bid) or better to wait.

Some lucky fellows got their contracts extended; others got into other IT fields like analysis; few are going for PSFT training; others for SAP. But all of us are waiting how this episode is going to unfold.

For once, I am wondering whether to invest in private training or wait for the firm to come up with something.

Yesterday (Thursday) I went to donate blood for an open heart surgery. The patient’s son works in our firm and he sent a request via email. The surgery was supposed to be at 8h00. But due to other emergency operations it got postponed until 13h30. We were two donors, the second donor also came from our firm. As we were fresh-blood-donors we were asked to wait until the patient was taken in. Then we donated blood and after a while I came to office. In the night my co-worker called me to inform that the operation went well and his father is doing fine in the ICU.

I felt happy that I could be of help. Something good out of seemingly good for nothing life.

My sister asked me, if I have any plans for the evening and if not would I mind going to one of the famous hang-out places in Chennai. She pronounced the name of the place as, ‘Quickie’. Well, having been in Belgium for so long I could not think saintly. I was shocked and she could understand from my facial expressions that something is wrong. Next time, instead of pronouncing the name, she spelt it – Qwiky. It does sound similar.

I could not beat the curiosity. We proceeded to Qwiky. It is one of those cofee-only-hang-out places that are fastly coming up in Chennai. You get all kinds and flavors of cofee – Latte, Cappacino, whatever. I had latte, my sister and BIL had some kind of cold coffee. We watched Australia-India cricket match on a big screen TV in the cafe.
It was rather a quick outing, but Qwiky is indeed an experience! (I do surely mean Qwiky).

For those saints who don’t know the meaning, check
Merriam online dictionary

Today is Deepavali (or Diwali as spelled in some parts of the country). It is a Hindu festival. The legend has it that Rama, the Hindu God, killed Nakasuran, an evil king, in this day. Hindus light small pot based oil-lamps and lit their house in this day. In a Hindu dominanet area, when we were kids we lived in one, tonight all the houses will be lit and it will be a wonderful sight. More than that, what kids enjoy is the possibility to fire up crackers. From less decibel crackers to those that blast your ears will be fired today. Not just kids, even my brother-in-law is very passionate about crackers.

The first Deepavali after marriage is very special for couples (it goes without saying that it is for Hindu copules). I dont have experience with this, as I am neither Hindu nor had this day. But I do know it is special for them.

I just came to my parents house. There are special TV programs – comedy clips, Discussions on current social and political issues, movies and so on. So I spend time in watching them. As we, my parents and I, meet after long intervals, we catch up on various issues – house development to relatives.

A year ago, on October 10th, my sister got married to the guy whom she loved for years. It was a different sort of marriage, for it was not an arranged marriage as it happens here, rather how a marriage ought to happen – a public declaration of hearts-in-love. My sister revealed about her venture half a year before the marriage and sought my support. Just then we, as a family, were going through a tough period. I had no second thought about supporting her, but one thought was predominant in my mind – this marriage has to happen with the blessings of my parents. It is no easy task to swim against the current, especially in a society like ours. It took us time, but as we were convinced and persistent, not only they agreed but they came and blessed the marriage too. A year is gone and in this time my mother would have said a thousand times that they couldn’t have found a better person than my brother-in-law, which is true. I am very proud and happy that I stood by my sister.

My sister and brother-in-law (BIL) took a day off on Friday. They went for a movie, shopped around and bought some sweets. My BIL’s younger brother bought a cake. As usual, I am damn poor in these kind of occasions and I forgot to buy them a present. But I took them to (Park) Sheraton on Saturday and we had a good food. They presented a cake as a complimentary and sang a ‘Congratulation’ song for them. All in all, the anniversary went simple and joyful.

It has been tough days ever since my contract was terminated with Proximus. I had to leave Belgium where I had established a home of my choice and enjoyed a life tailored to my wishes. It wasn’t perfect, but was in many ways how I dreamt of living – a house with just the kind of furnitures that I liked, an independent lifestyle, the possibility to travel at my wish and few good friends to hang-out with. If I had a partner it would have been the dream life in reality. All this came to an end when Larry Ellison (CEO, Oracle) made a hostile bid for Peoplesoft. The project came to a premature closure and as it turned out, just my contract came to a halt. With limited contacts and other business constraints I failed to get another contract and so my honeymoon with eveything Belgian ended abruptly.

After returning to India, I rejoined the Indian firm. Two months have passed and yet I am yet to be alloted to a project. It is not easy to sit idle when one is not used to it, for a while it is ok but not for long.

I believe that, as evey good thing comes to an end, even a bad thing comes to an end. I have experienced it time and again. Finding the first job, facing the wrath of a CEO for greeting a girl on Newyear (He was a psychopath who informally banned unofficial conversations between opposite sexes. Any laughter in the conversation meant an unwanted conversation. He threatened to beat people who disobeyed with rowdies and he did. Those were the scariest days. However, I escaped.), being taken out of project for political reasons and so on. Invariably, every bad thing turned life for better.

Now-a-days, every morning I wake up with a hope that, that day will be a good-news day. By night it is a disappointment but I say to myself – This too shall pass.