Someone by name Sastri.T has joined Megasoft where my brother-in-law and sister are working. He has worked in the firm that I work now and my BIL asked me if I knew him.
Four years back, at around the same period (August-September) a project manager came to look for me. Just then I had been relieved of the project and I was very happy to be relieved. The team was aweful and the project was not that great either. Obviously I agreed to work under this guy. I have heard lots about Sastri (who signs as Sas3). He is not only technically sound, he is pretty good in people management as well. The project was a short term project. I wish I could have worked under him more. I owe my growth to this guy. Once he found that I am skillful, he refered to higher authorities and I was selected for vantive training in California. That is how my career in CRM began.

Shortly after I went to Belgium, Sas3 resigned and joined an US firm. I had been trying to locate him. Here he is. I should try to meet him, may be he has something interesting for me.

Life has become banal and boring. I have finished reading through the novel – Ponniyin selvan. HR indicates that it will be end of month before getting the project. Even the single computer in the library doesn’t connect to the internet. I don’t know what to do during the office hours. I will have to use my smart brain (!) and find an innovative method to spend time.

When I come home, I like to connect to the net and browse, check mails and so on. But the effective net speed is not more than 10 kbps that even downloading e-mails end up in errors. Forget about browsing my favorite web pages.

These stupid TV sports channels telecast cricket, hockey but telecast only a highlight of tennis. I couldn’t watch Sampras bid farewell, the all belgian US open finals, Justine being rewarded for her hard work. How I wish I could see that match between the belgian beauties.

Ok, let me stop nagging. To beat the banlity, I have decided to do some travel. These bumpy roads, and long bus journies does challenge me. But anyway I have decided to tour through my region. I guess I know more of western Europe than my region. I know map of western Europe better than that of Tamilnadu.

Also after 8 years of working, I have decided to be little more serious and invest for the future. The way my contract got over in Belgium taught me something. I have bought a small piece of land with the idea of constructing a house. I have to save quite a lot if I have to have a house. So no extra spending. All expenses should be approved by Finance minister, Prime minister and President of my kingdom. I just ment: me, myself and I.

It has been a relaxing, calm, eating weekend. Though we had four days, we didnt tour anywhere. One of the reason is that we have seen almost all the places nearby. Added to that my sister and brother-in-law developed neck pain. So we decided to stay home and rest.

We watched a lot of TV – comedy clips from Tamil movies, Tamil TV series, Tamil movies and three English movies – IQ, Back to the future and Anaconda. I particularly liked IQ. It is a story of Albert Einstein and few of his collegues helping a young auto mechanic who loves Einstein’s secretary/niece. It was such a fun. This auto mechanic doesn’t know a science and she won’t date someone who is not a scientist. So these old fellows team up to make him appear one. She falls in love but eventually comes to know the truth. But she has passed the time where her mind doesn’t intervene with her heart anymore.

On all the days it was some kind of sea-food – fish, crab, prawns. Why not? We live so close to the beach. We had crab curry, prawn fry and a fish dish. Wow, it was good. We were eating, eating and eating. Then we slipped into resting and watching TV.

We also had some intimate discussions within the family. It has been a long time since we had one like that. We talked about how each of us are coping with our situations and sought feedback/advice from each other. Applied family dynamics!

And we are back to Madras today. Same old library, same old story.

One thing I am particulary happy about and enjoy is reconnecting with the family. Though I visited India every year, it was only for few days and even in that short period there was so much to do that I seldom found time to spend time with my family.

As soon as I returned, I took two weeks of holidays and went to my parent’s house. It is heartening to see smile on those old faces of my mom and dad, clearly expressing the joy of their heart. My mother cooked all kinds of food that she has learnt over the years. As they are living near a seashore, it was spicy seafood almost everyday.

My sister and her husband joined us for the last leg of my holiday. We took two one-day trips to near-by places. I got to know how naughty my brother-in-law is. My sister has to keep him under control. It was fun to find someone to make and enjoy jokes together.
In Madras, where I am working, I am staying in a house adjacent to my sister’s. It is my brother-in-law’s old house. They are renovating it for me (ofcourse with what I paid as advance). I eat in their house too. After around 5 years, I am having a family. Probably in this tough time, that is what I need. As grown-ups, my sister and I didn’t spend time together. I see this as a good opportunity for that.

On Saturday I took my motor bike (Suzuki Samurai) that I had left with a friend when I left India. There were starting troubles. But yesterday I drove around 45 kilometers to visit a relative. I have not seen them in 8 years. We had lot of good food, fun and playing with their kids.

Life is a paradox. When I was in Belgium, I got to know a family. But due to various reasons, I lost in touch with them. Before leaving Belgium, I visited their house for a brief time, just enough time to say good bye. They have come to India for holidays and are spending few days in Madras. I took Xavier (the shrewd Belgian who married an Indian girl, and getting best of both worlds) out and showed some parts of Madras that I know. This was a bonus, I didnt expect or plan.

I will be meeting some of my friends in the coming days.

So all in all, it has been a pleasure to reconnect with family and friends. Hope a longer stay in India will not remove that pleasure.

It is going to be a month since I am back from Belgium. I was in Belgium for more than 4 years, so I cannot avoid comparing things between Belgium and India.

Probably India remains the same in many aspects, but I have changed. I am looking with different eyes.

I am staying with my sister’s family. When I get back home, there are people to talk to, make jokes and have fun, though the time is seldom more than an hour. My sister and her husband come home not earlier than 21h00. When I walk on the streets, the games that kids play are familiar. I can understand what they talk to each other. Anywhere I go, I dont have any language issues that I had in Belgium. The betterness of being here stops there. I am especially annoyed by the way people are treated. There is no respect for human life. May be it has to do with the huge population. Power or money or position commends respect. If you appear to have none of these, then forgot about being treated well. Even at office, I was asked to wait for three days before meeting my would-be project manager. No timing was given. “Just wait, whenever he has time, he will call you”. For god’s sake, I am an employee of this organization for 5 years. Bottomline, dont expect respect. If you get it, be happy. When I say thank you or just be polite, people look at me as an alien. They are amazed. I am relearning the concept of integration to be one with my own community.