Lots of nothing to do

It might seem to you (the reader, which usually turns out to be me, based on current statistics) that I have been putting down trivial accomplishments in my blog. Ah, you are mistaken. Perhaps they seem trivial to the uninitiated. Perhaps they are trivial to the initiated as well. But, you know what I think about trivial things?

As Rajesh Khanna says in the movie Bawarchi (a Hrishida classic)
"Yeh jo chhote chhote baatein hai na, aisa lagta hai ki iska koi matlab nahi. Lekin, dekha jaaye to kitna maayne rakhti hain. ... Yehi chhoti chhoti baatein hain jo zindagi mein asal maayna rakhti hain. Kisi badi khushi ke intezaar mein hum yeh chhote chhote khushiyo ke mauke kho dete hain. Arey, badi khushi ke mauke dus bees hote hain, lekin yeh jo hazaaro laakho chhote chhote khushiyo ke pal hain, usey aap ganva dete hain."

For readers who don't understand Hindi, let me try to translate. "If we look at it, it seems these trivial things in life don't matter at all. But, in actuality, these matter the most. In search of big moments of joy, we lose out on these numerous small moments of joy. Such big moments of joy in life can be 10 or 20, but we end up losing out on the thousands and millions of small moments of joy."

Well, all this triviality isn't the norm for me, really. And so, we come to my current situation. Situation - I like that word. "Mr.President, we have a situation here." :-) So, situation it is then. But, what is this situation exactly? If not interested, skip the next blank line. Others, read on.

Ok, let me go into a quick flashback mode. Or is that a quickflash mode? Never mind. Let me just quickly flash my ...uhm... past days to you by saying I was working double hours for nothing extra in return (and I am not talking money, I rarely do) for 10 long and straight months. More about that has already been written about in a previous posting. Look for the section titled Nov 3rd. Ok, so, once I got out of that project, abruptly, in early November, I got some time off to get back to my senses. This basically included catching up with all the work I really wanted to do in office. Make no mistake, some of them are quite an advantage to the company.

Also, after doing all that work, I wanted to get some time off to do what I had missed out on - nothing. Yes, I had lots of nothing to do. But, even in November, I had the internal certifications to clear. Then, I went on a vacation - hey, that's not nothing, especially all the planning and traveling. And then, I got into a project for some days where I had to learn up something new - Ajax. No matter what I learn in the .Net world, they always find something for me to learn up and then use that in my work.

Ok, so after all that, I had to travel to Chicago in late December for my next assignment. It was the first time that I was positioned as a Technical Architect in a project. So, I was elated, looking forward to the new role and a bit apprehensive at the same moment. It was a project for just a few months, just 3 or 4 is what I was told. One of the most interesting topics during an onsite assignment is the travel. In my previous 2 trips, I had traveled by Singapore Airlines and British Airways. I classified them as the best and the worst trips that I had ever had. And since I had to travel from India to US via Europe again, I wanted something else other than British Airways. I got Continental Airlines this time, and I paid the extra 3 thousand odd from my pocket to the travel department for the difference in costs, just to avoid the British cabin crew.

In Mumbai airport, another first happened - they wanted to see if I had proper documentation, including a work permit. Well, they never asked me that before, and even if they did, I thought they would have waited for me to make the trip half-way around the globe. Once that and other formalities were done, I got a couple of hours after the security clearance and I utilized my time in downloading my thoughts onto pen and paper. Why do I mention this? Perhaps those thoughts might be digitized to this blog-spot later.

The flight from Mumbai to Newark was quite uneventful, albeit the longest flight that I had ever been on. As I got onto my connecting flight, my eyes slid to a monument that seemed vaguely familiar. Why, its the freedom lady - the statue of Liberty! That's when I realized how close the Newark airport was to New York. Till then, I thought they were that close only in pronunciation.

As the plane was about to land in Chicago, I couldn't help but recollect the thoughts that came to my mind when I had seen that picture before - a white sheet of snow spread all across the place. It had taken me sometime to realize the first time I saw it, that all that was snow.

I walked out of the airport, and one thing was certain, hell couldn't be colder. Hmm, perhaps hell is supposed to be very hot. But, I am sure they would have zones like this as well.

I failed miserably in urging myself to strike a conversation with the cab driver. I wasn't used to it, and so let that urge go down the drain, again. Perhaps, sometime later, I would talk to strangers better.

I knew the way thanks to the maps now available on the internet, and in fact, I was guiding the driver to make the turns. I knew the address said 985 Atlantic Ave and on Atlantic Avenue, we saw a building saying 985. Well, it wasn't really saying it, but there was a sign that emphasized a self-pronouncement. Anyway, we had seen the back part of the building and so, had to find a way to the front of the building, especially because I had 2 bags, each being 20+ kgs in weight, in addition to my shoulder bag. So, the cab driver dropped me off in the front of that building, I paid him the fare, the customary tip and off he went.

Well, the reception was cold, other than the fact that I didn't have a welcoming committee. But, little did I realize that in the attempt to find the front part of the building, I had come to another road, which was parallel to Atlantic Avenue. The realization comes later. So, I entered the building, into the little room, protecting me from the weather outside, but not allowing me to get into any of the apartments. I buzz on the intercom and it opens. I trudge along one of the heavy bags with me upstairs. Since I had to get to apartment E, and I just saw A and B downstairs, I knew it was 2 stories up. Hah, I was good at such simple logic. But, to my surprise, I saw a face having a racial origin that I couldn't quite comprehend and he definitely wasn't a person from my country. To make matters worse, he gave me a quizzing look, just the kind of look that people give to those who are lost. And lost I was. I didn't have a phone, didn't have a key to the apartment or whereabouts about the apartment I was looking for. In eagerness, I asked the guy if the apartment he occupied was apartment E. Sure it was. And is this 985? Yes. Atlantic Avenue? No, this is Pacific Avenue. Gawd! Do you know where Atlantic Avenue is? No. Do you have a phone? No, I just came in here recently. There ended the quick chat. But, the thoughts were still flowing. Jerk! Why did you open the door then?

So, I brought the heavy bag downstairs again to meet its companion. Well, now what? I felt like Columbus, and in America. :-) I really am in a fix. I dont think I will find a taxi anywhere close by either. Ok, I will just have to find the apartment myself. I knew that Pacific was parallel to Atlantic. I had seen it in the map. But, I couldnt lumber across the snow-filled roads (thankfully, the roads had been cleared that day) with all these bags. So, I left the heavy bags in that little room, with a note on it, explaining my predicament and to call my friend if I didnt return in an hour. I went around the place, looking for this apartment. Thankfully, I found another 985 within a few minutes. I repeated the procedure - called up apartment E on the intercom, they opened the door for me. I went upstairs, same logic to locate apartment E and then knocked on the door. Who is it? Sudheesh. After a moment of hesitance, the door opened. Thankfully, this guy seemed Indian. Chandan? Yes. Hi, I am Sudheesh. My impeccable logic was at it again. This guy wore something that told me he stays here. Also, I knew the other 3 guys staying there. 2 of them were sleeping then. Hey, its nearly noon! And the 4th guy was away on vacation. I went on to explain in short about the fact that my bags are in the apartment across the road, and that I will now proceed to get it. I will meet you downstairs in 5 minutes, he said. Perhaps he didnt understand that I was implicitly trying to seek help to lug one of my heavy bags. But, I didnt want to make it explicit. I try not to ask for help as much as I can. It builds character. :-)

Thankfully, my bags were resting where I had left them, along with my note, which I pocketed and havent mentioned to anyone yet. Pulling those heavy bags across the snow-filled road has to be defined as manual labor and it wasnt mentioned anywhere in the employee handbook. But, I got all the bags across to the originally intended apartment.

The silver lining during these gray moments was the first walk in the snow. Later, I experienced my first snow fall, the snow flakes falling gently onto me, but it was getting to be really cold. Thats when I realized that snow, like rain back home, is perhaps best experienced from the inside of the residence window. In the next few days, flakes were the norm - corn in the morning, self-served with hot milk and snow during the rest of the day.

Next day I accompanied one of my room-mates to office. I got a visitor's pass, thanks to him. The contractor badge wasnt ready yet, and as I was to find out later, wouldnt be ready for another 10 days. The first day in the new office was a breeze. The manager, to whom I was supposed to report to, wasnt in, on that day. And it didnt occur to me to call him or send him an email. Thankfully, his boss came around later in the day, and I had a witness to prove that I had come to office that day. It wasnt a question I normally come across, but 2 days later I did, and I was glad about the witness then.

On the next day, my manager introduced me to some client, and he looked up my name in a spreadsheet. As he didnt have my name on that list, it meant nobody seemed to have a clue as to what they had called me in for. I found out later I was supposed to work with some other manager in the client team and as he was out on vacation, I didnt get to find that out until after the first week.

Even after a week, the task for which I had travelled across continents was still not approved, they said. In the next few days, I got some work to do, but work that I used to do during my first year of employment in the company. Anyway, I used this work to fill my time in office. And once that was done in about 4 days time, there was no more work for me there. And then, the bombshell. The client had a rethink on the budget and so, decided to "let go" of many of us. My manager spent the next few days trying to find another assignment for me, or so he told me. Meanwhile, I was on bench. Yes, I get to do all the nothing I want to do now.

So, here I am, being paid in full and no work to do. It has been fun so far. But, I can already sense the feeling of boredom coming along. And, also I get this strange feeling of something on the horizon. I hope its sunrise. Time to wake up to another chapter in life!