(C) Raghuram B. April 1999.
The bright summer morning sun rays pouring through the open windows hit my eyes and wakes me. I see it is Monday morning - 7 AM. Gosh! I grope for the tooth-brush. The tooth-paste is long over. I flick my room-mate's (as usual) - it tastes better too!
The "Times" has come - and I check out R.K. Lakshman's cartoon - and immediately flip it around to check the Backbeat. The comic strips engage my attention (except if there is a cricket match on, when it takes precedence). The paper is done for the day. I switch on the TV and switch it off immediately - it's power cut time!
Soon I'm ready to face the day and it's only 8 AM. Being in the adventurous category, I commute to office in BTS. As I walk to the bus stop (being wary about the friendly neighbourhood - the street dogs!) I wonder what's going to be new today - I realise I've been wondering rather long and discover that my (ir)regular bus has made its disappearing act, yet again! I board one of the company buses going that way and am transported to my office, life and limbs intact!
I'm in office at 9 AM and proceed to the most important morning activity - checking mails. The weekend has brought a dozen mails alas! none from females :( and I need a coffee to drown my disappointment.
Pantry is THE place to be for updates on politics, religion and cricket - as heated exchanges take place during the process of awaiting the machine to deliver what it promises!
That done, I reluctantly get back to my cubicle - but wait! I see a rush in a cubicle yonder and make a beeline for it - yes! it's YASM (yet another sweet mail) - I grab my share and then shake the wrong hands, get it right - congratulate the concerned on his birthday/marriage day. I engage myself in discussions with some colleagues before getting back.
It's time now for newsgroups. Reading and posting to newsgroups is an unavoidable activity, to keep in touch with what's happening in and around the company, and having contributed my two paise to the discussions, I move over to a couple of technical newsgroups. These are a different ball-game altogether - the rare times I can make out what's being discussed, they just expose my ignorance a bit more. Ah! there! I find one poser to which I believe I have the answer. I immediately make a posting (before some one else can steal the thunder) and am delighted - one good deed for the day!
I look at my monitor and will the "new mail" icon to turn on - to no avail. Well! maybe it's time to send a mail to some friends - I compose a mail, check it, recheck it (a Review which would make the Quality folks blush!) and send it.
Now I settle back for some work. Oops! I think I spoke too soon. There comes a colleague - can you spare a few moments? Moments turn to minutes and minutes to half-hour, before I'm back to my seat - and find that it's time for a tea.
The tea is consumed at leisure and I'm back to work - having missed a phone call from a friend during the break. I call back and we get talking. And suddenly spot this mail - Project meeting in the afternoon - just after lunch.
Lunch time adventures (in the newly opened canteen) calls for a separate article and are, hence not dealt with here ;-)
Post-lunch is Project meeting time and there I sit barely keeping awake as schedules are discussed, plans made. The arrival of potato chips awakens me from the soporific mood and a few dozen bites and a coffee later, the meeting culminates.
And I get back to work. Yipes! a mail from a friend - mail size 700k - I don't have to look - yet another Microosoft file - it's a .bmp this time. I don't have the heart to delete without taking a peep (considering who the sender is ;-), and try in vain to log into an NT server (User limit exceeded!).
A million tries (and frantic phone calls to the IT folks later), I'm ftp-ing the file and seeing it in Paintbrush (or whatever). Some silly cartoon! I look over my shoulder and perceive a colleague - coming out for a tea? Have I ever said "No"?
I also get a chance to enjoy some pleasant sights in the process of drinking tea (what with the tea shop overlooking Cunningham Road!) and am quite reluctant to get back. But back I'm - to send a mail to my US counterparts. It reads something like this...
... making great progress. Tremendous work pressure - no breathing time - but will certainly take a look... we're well on the way to slipping, er I mean, meeting our last revised deadline...
It's 6 PM and M.G. Road beckons me... Off I'm, after a busy day's "work" - and miles to go before I sleep (with due apologies to Robert Frost)