WHAT YOU DO MIND

(Celebrating the 59th Independence Day.......on a lighter vein)

Come morning and the sky begins to shed its silvery-grey mantle and clothes itself in a pleasant salmon-pink hue and the gentle, teasing breeze tiptoes its way through the sleeping neighbourhood, right upto your bedroom, to make it a little less than comfortable with both the cooler and the fan on full speed. So you have to pull up that 'endi-sheet' to get cozy and continue with that oh-so-pleasant dream that you dont want to end. Just then the crass cacophony of the neighbourhood dogs, roosters, children and grown-ups wakes you up and after checking the time with a squinted half-open eye, you groan : "What the @#*& ! Its only as early as seven in the morning. Why is everyone up so early today? What a way to start the day ?!" But then you remember, today is the 59th year of India's independence. They are being good sports carrying on the tradition of flying kites and showing it their way of celebrating the day. You don't mind.

You try to sleep back again and after vaguely remembering whether you actually could sleep back or not, you jump-start your day with a little exercise and a cup of black tea, as the alarm goes off at 10:00 hrs. After all, its a working day for you, as you work for a UK based call centre. And as you'll be compensated for the day with a day's salary and a comp. off, you dont mind.

Then, when you have to make do with a boring low-fat, low-calorie brown-bread-sandwich breakfast, you dont mind...it's the way to be...fit and healthy. Above all, its the 15th today and exactly the middle of the month and keeping in mind the already deteriorating bank balance (all thanks to the oh-so-irresistible SALE season and all those new movie releases), it will be a challenge to make ends meet decently till the month ends. You check the time again and shift interest between watching the neighbourhood children fly kites from your balcony and/or choosing what to wear to the work place today. Its a tuesday, dress code is ethnic wear and something possibly to give the tri-color a close competition. You really don't mind as such situations come only twice (Republic Day & Independence Day), may be thrice a year (if Gandhi-jayanti is also a working day). You take your shower and dress up, getting ready for work.

After half an hour past the usual cab-arrival time, it seems like an interminable wait for the cab to arrive, you try to keep your cool as you shuffle calls from your mobile to the company transport, to your team-leader and your colleagues in the same cab to find out the status of your cab's arrival. However, your collective hope is belied as it is almost login time and the cab still hasn't arrived. Just then, a transport supervisor calls you to give you a 'token number' and asks you to reach office on your own. You don't mind. After all, it will get re-imbursed, even though it might take a couple of weeks...a month...or a year at the most...

You reach the nearest auto-cum-taxi stand and ask the only 'available' auto-driver and when he demands almost double the normal fare plus toll-charges extra without batting an eyelid and refuses to budge an inch, you don't mind. It is a national holiday today and the poor guy has to earn that extra to make both ends meet. So what if he fleeces you in the process. If he doesn't maybe someone else will. But as you try to step into the vehicle, he suddenly seem to change his mind, as he remembers there might be a problem due to the delhi-noida borders being sealed. Just as you are in a fix and thinking fast on how to tackle the situation, there is a call from transport department again, saying they are arranging for a cab, after all. That, you certainly don't mind.

The cab finally arrives, picks you up and the minutes tick by as you're caught in an infernal traffic jam, and men, animals (read COWS) and vehicles snarl at each other just at the Ashram red-light as the toll-road begins. Just as you heave a sigh of relief on being able to inch forward, you're pushed back to the sidelines. Some V.I.P. and his entourage fly past, sirens wailing. You honestly don't mind, for he may well be on his way to innaugurate some building or flyover, which may/may not see the light of the day.

After the countless number of people being picked up from Noida and a short nap in the cab, you finally reach office at 14:30hrs..exactly an hour later than your log-in time. At work, you find everyone discussing the need to do something about the transport system. But you don't mind that either. So what's new? Which department or which organisation after all, is perfect? You only hope things get better soon. Time for another external-audit survey, maybe. As you settle down to start your work, marking your downtime for being late, and signing the PSB (pre-shift-briefing), you discover that the software you work on(read EVOLVE) refuse to function. There seems to be a SIEBEL ERROR (technology downtime)and nobody has been able to start work as yet. You certainly don't mind. After all, this is a technical shortcoming happening from the UK for all the processes and the IT-team is definitely working to get it up and running soon.... :-((

22:30 hrs, the day's work done with adequate downtime, breaktime, tea, coffee, cigarettes, meals, bay-decorating and some calls, too, its log-off time now. But easier said than done, the same old rigmarole of hunting down the right cab from the other building, starts all over. Once inside the cab, you find yourself precariously positioned between colleagues breathing down your neck, literally and otherwise, as there have been a few allignments, in addition to the maximum people who can actually fit in comfortably. You ignore the foot that is comfortably placed on yours or the elbow sticking onto your head, for all of you are sailing in the same boat...er, cab. Actually its much the same what with the roads being what they are and the driver driving the way he does.

A grand suffering later, again dropping the endless people in Noida and at all odd places on the way, you find yourself back on terra firma. Never mind, if you look like a slightly dishevelled genie, who has met a storm on the way. But the minute you step into your room with the fond hope of a leisurely aromatic bath, followed by reading that book you have been planning for ages now, with a chilled glass of juice, some crunchies and a cigarette, the electricity goes off.

NOW THAT YOU CERTAINLY MIND!