Once In A while I Fall Sick

Last week I was at my home town. I had went there to enjoy my holidays but to me and my family despair, typhoid caught me on the first day and didn't leave me till the holidays were over. I had to attend one of my senior's marriage but couldn't go in that also. My chance of meeting with friends and having fun were also lost.
After 3 days of fever I was taken to the nearest doctor. After examination his very first question was if I've been outside my hometown in the last fifteen days. The obvious answer was yes, I live in Bangalore and have come here just three days back. Hearing this he opened his Pandora's box diseases starting from malaria, typhoid and reaching "I don't know what" disease and added precautions he takes from patients from Pune and Bangalore after the swine flu stint. He was looking for his mask but couldn't find it. He did his best to create panic in my mind. He gave a huge list of tests to be done. My father was familiar with this doctor so he just asked which of these are essentials and which are good to have ones. He indicated appropriately. I went to the pathologist and gave him the blood sample.
Then the waiting period for result started. It has been years since I've waited for any result restlessly. This added small excitement (creepy me). Finally at 9:30pm I was declared to be suffering from typhoid. I had this fever once in my matriculation days and it was very bad period with upset stomach and lots of vomiting.
But this time no pukes yet. I anticipated that it is bound to come in a day or two. I didn't have to wait for long. The next night itself I had several rounds of puking. I don't know whether it was my anxiety or the foul taste of medicines that brought it so soon and in numerous amount. It was like yuck.
The next day in the morning itself I was taken to the same doctor. The vomiting action had left me very week. I was not able to sit on the bike's back also. But I was trying hard not to show my weakness. After reaching doctor's clinic my blood pressure was checked. The doctor declared that its too low. Blood pressure constitutes one of the principal vital signs of life as written in medicine books. So it meant I was low on life. He came into action as a fire-fighter, with his team of apprentices, made me lie on the bed, gave one injection in my butt, pierced and left the syringe in my veins near the hand and forearm joint. From that time I was continuously given saline water through that hole till the evening.
I wake up only once on that day to use the loo. My father was holding the saline water bottle and I went inside to relieve myself. But in the midway itself everything blackened out and I became unconscious. When I became conscious I came to know that my uncle had to accompany my father to lift me up and put me on bed. Really a horrible time. Finally I was released in evening and came back home.
The saline water is kind of a magic. It treats you instantly. The next day itself I was feeling a lot better. This was the reception day of the marriage I was to attend. But today also I was not in a condition to go on my own. So I dropped the plan. The day after I felt confidence, thought at least I'll go meet the bride and groom and come back. But I soon as I came out, sat on my bike, the scorching sun broke all my confidence. It seems Bangalore's too good climate has made me weak. But with my stubborn nature I continued. I reached halfway to his house and was unable to continue. Luckily my Phuaji's house was there I went there took rest and dropped the plan. Next day I flew back to Bangalore.
Sorry, Sirjee couldn't meet with anyone of you.

PS: This might be pretty shabby as I'm scribbling after a long time. So apologies.

Next to Bangalore

I don't remember what choice I had filled for preferred job location after training, but when the print out was put on the bulletin board it showed "Gurgaon". Had I been a far sighted person I would have been very elated with this allocation the reason being the proximity to my hometown. But, I've have always followed others through out my life how could this be an exception. So, I followed my smart friends who had been allotted "Bangalore" as per thier choice. I asked the HR department to change the location and it was done. The reason for coming to Bangalore - it had greater oppurtunities (job openings in other companies) for not working in Aricent.
After coming here I realized I'm not made for living far off from my home. I kept on cursing myself for making this decision. Because of recession the so called oppurtunities were also absent. At this time my college friends and the project assigned at office gave some respite.
Now something about the project.It was really a good one where there was extensive use of object orient concept and the best part was analysis which I loved to do. It gave me instant popularity among my team mates and reporting manager. Soon I was a recognised team member. The first time my manager patted my back, it felt like heaven. I really started enjoying the work and importance.
The other part of the story, the compensation I recieved seemed to be very small to me. Although it was sufficient for many others but for me not enough. The reason might be my family commitments, life style etc. I felt very bad when my friends used to pay for my drinks. The so called oppurtunities also started coming up and my Aricent friends switched to some other companies drawing hefty packages. This made my compensation look even smaller. I also followed the suit and switched my employer just for the compensation thinking that they would ask me to do something challenging where my grey cells would be thoroughly teseted. But this assumption appeared to be false.

Golden 18 months Comes to an End

My association with Aricent has come to an end. It has left only sweet memories and sometimes I just wonder was it really to necessary to break this tie up. Let me just recall this glorious period and see what all I went through.
The start happened on 30'th June, 2009. In spite of the rumors of late joining, Aricent was second only to TCS in giving the joining date for our campus. This was a welcome respite for all of us who were to join as we were getting bored of doing nothing at home for the last 2 months. The three months training period was an extension of college life with two major exceptions. The guys were not that close as in college and the girls were not that far as in our college. There was healthy interaction.
The best part were the non technical sessions. It was great fun to participate in the activities scheduled for such sessions. In business acumen session the instructor gave us a psychometric test. Based on the score he gave his verdict that I was not for engineering but I was made for business. But the drama he created in saying these words was spell bounding. Acting as if he is greatly shocked to see the disparity between the score I got in his psychometric test and my academic background.
The technical sessions were cakewalk for any CS background engineer. It was all practical for the theoretical knowledged mugged up in the college. I wished this all should have been in the curricullum. Anyways since the work pressure was really absent so it gave a lot of time to me to enjoy the NCR. I used to goto malls and shopping complexes religiously almost every day. And the hot Delhi girls were icing on the cake. It was too much for a small town boy like me. But gradually I was getting used to it. Saturdays and Sundays were generally spent at few of my relatives' house. There were quite a few of them.
Finally the fun filled Delhi era was over. Next to Bangalore in subsequent posts.

Why Should one work in a Service Company

Finally I have reached the last week of my notice period. First I should define the notice period for people who might not be from private sector or who are still student. This is the period between the day you notify of your resignation to your current employer and the day you are actually leave the company. This is very crucial period for you and you get a chance to think and rethink your decision. And if by any chance you revert your decision then its a jackpot for your current employer. In this period you go through several meetings with your L1 manager, L2 manager, HR people and they all try to convince you that this is the best place for you to work and you should appreciate the fact that the company has really worked hard to build your career as well. These all persuasions are elements of this period. I also faced these things and during the course of this period I was made aware of the benefits of working in a service company and that brings me to the topic of the post.
In a service company you get a variety of fields projects to work upon. You have much more options available with you and you can actually try them out and see what suits you the best. You want to be a developer or a consultant or anything else. After working for a period in a project you can switch to other project and if you are not feeling comfortable in your current project. In case of my current employer this minimum period fixed was of eighteen months and there were many examples where people changed their projects according to their liking. A vast number of opportunities used be available there at intra net where I could browse and see the requirement, talk to the manager and apply to that project. In product company you don't get this flexibility. You are associated with a product and you survive with it. You will be working on release after release with a little bit of added functionality on the same product.
Second argument, in service company you are more of a team player and you lead a team much sooner than in a product company where you are more of a individual player. This is truth. One of my friend, who was in the team with the starting of the project, was a able to play a crucial role in hiring other team members and that also just with an experience of one year. He has got much more responsibility than any other of my classmates working with product companies. One year into my project, I'm also training freshers in my team. You get ample opportunities to display your leadership skills. There is something called "ambassador to your college" concept in my current employer. I'm one of them. So, I regularly interact with students of my college and tell them about the company and industry general and believe it really feels good to address a set of people.
Third argument, since this is a service company and your client can be in any part of the world so you get much more onsite opportunities than a product company. In product companies mostly marketting team keeps travelling round the world. But in this case testers, developers all for various reason, knowledge transfer or deployment, get chance to visit onsite locations.
These all were favourable points kept for service companies. Just wanted to share with you all ...

Finally, I cut the cake.

I'm on this earth for the last 24 years 5 months. But I didn't get a chance to cut a cake till last Friday. Last Friday there was target completion celebration for our team and my manager asked me to cut the cake. I was highly obliged be this gesture of my manager. He has always been so kind to me.

Blood Donation

First of all i would give sincere gratitude to my friends for their appreciation of my newly found addiction of blog writing activity. I find the same iginition in them also and hope they will also fell prey to this addiction.

This sunday my incessant desire to do some noble job took shape when i got the opportunity to donate blood. This always been my principle, since I'm not that affluent I can help others only through my body and ideas but not with nest egg of my family. It was a time rise from those small altruistic deeds.

Just with the thought of donating blood my ecstacy knew no bound. I was on seventh heaven when my freind informed me that I really have got a chance to proove myself. But at the same time I became dubious whether the guy genuiningly needs my blood. So the family members of the pateint had to face my silly questions. Hope they didn't irritate them much. I also asked them to show the patient. He was 27 year old guy, crouched in his green bed. The colour itself spells the condition of a patient. He had been operated in Mumbai and was suffering from extreme weakness and needed blood for three consecutive days. I was to be his saviour for one day.

I went to blood bank. After initial check up I was asked to lie down. Needle was pierced in to my viens and I was asked to pump out blood. The whole process just took two minutes. But it wasn't as comfortable as I had assumed. As soon as I left the bed, everything was completly dark. I was about to faint. So i had to lie down on that green bed once again. I realised that sleak, alender figure is not everything you desire. At times some weight is essential to fullfill your passion. I was allright after 10 mins.

This was my experience. The feeling of ecstacy overwhelmed me. I have also become life saviour. Its an achievement for me. This was to feed my inner conscience. You feel even greater when you find others jittery, jim-jamed even with this white knuckled thought of blood donation. This was indeed an arduous act at least considering the fact that I haven't done anything greater than this. I experienced a bit of pride and greatness which mothers must be feeling who are the reason for genesis of life. A sense of responsbility engulfs you. You stop those damaging activities that might affect the reciepant of your blood.

Its a life time experience and everyone must give it a try and have a feeling of a knight in shining armour.

Elwyn Broooks White

"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."