Having got nothing much to do apart from watching Shewag smash, wrote this story on the long weekend. No one needs to take it personally. Any similarity with a living person is highly possible. If you are the one, I don't know you .
Pandu- Senior Software Engineer
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Pandu, studied at decent college to get his degree at a place near Bangalore. His branch did not matter. The computer s/w industry was booming. Everyone was making money. Pandu followed suit. Even before he knew what he was doing, he was writing programs. He enjoyed doing it though. When the lab internals got tough, there were always backup of every program on the c:\windows folder to copy from.
Classes were rarely attended. Neither were many of his teachers good enough to make students learn. Getting good grades was easy. Four years in college few. Just after that, Pandu joined a MNC in the obvious city Bangalore, making his parents proud. He got a new business card for himself, a new bank account, a set of debit, credit cards for free. It was as if he was being pampered. Everything was new ; new cubicle, computer, phone, draw...no way he could be not proud.
Pandu's english started to refine. His office was a happening place. Just after a month of joining, a few sleepy training sessions later, he got his first bug to fix.
Meantime, he was made to learn how to eat, dress and talk "socially"; it was not that he had never ate in public, he was just not social-enough. Pandu, felt, he was finally learning some etiquettes. Those taught during his childhood looked old and silly. For him, work life was everything. He had to establish himself. The people who he worked with was his "public". And, he was appreciated.
Hikes and bonuses became common in course of time. Pandu started to compare himself with his friends and classmates working elsewhere. Though we was well-off, being among the top 5% of salaried class in India, he felt at a bit of loss. Software development seemed to become more and more routine. Bugs never seemed to end, adding to the frustration. He hated looking at code written by somebody else. It seemed to be a common problem among his peers. Coding was not as enjoyable as it used to be in his college, where he would sit for days mulling over programs and deriving great pleasure thus. But this was not to be expressed, he was earning enough.
In a year and half, he could not stand. He started complaining about his job to his manager. A few of his colleagues had moved jobs for higher salaries or had left to US. His manager could see it all. Pandu, was now to be sent to US too on a new project. All of Pandu's qualms were now laid to rest. He had always nurtured his affinity towards US, though not publicly expressed it. This was the time. He had heard and seen it on TV and he was now going to live it. Going to US, (with/without reason )was a statement of Pandu's competence.
In US, his new "friends" were his coleagues with whom he shared his apartment with. Two per room. Brought up in a orthodox family which was already stifling his neck, he began to experiment new things, true to the American culture. Experiments, became habits. Weekends were the only time when they boozed and were supposed to have fun.
Impressed by the american professionalism, he started wearing things which his new friends told him as "branded". Branded dressing became synonymous with neatness.
Pandu's love for experimentation and coding were not so important now. It was how he communicated with his peers, how he impressed his bosses, which mattered.
He was supposed to have fun with sports too. After planning over a hundred e-mails, buying lots of equipment, they played cricket. Pandu was now called Pandy, sounded something like a harmless bear. It was not unusual. Padmanabh became Paddy, Joshi became Jo, Satish became Satty. It was cool to be that way.
Six chilly months later, he was flown back to Bangalore, with a box of chocolates, among others. His mates in office were dissappointed to see the same chocolates that Shyam, Raghu and others had brought earlier too.
Pandu felt a feet taller back in his home. A magnetic force was repelling his contact with the ground below. His small stay had showed him how to "keep balance with work and personal lives", as if he never felt anything personal at his work. It had never occured to this poor soul earlier.
Pandu, the taller one, had now two freshers to look after, one of them a good-looking girl. He was now becoming a lead, his priorities implicit. His thirst to learn and experiment had almost died. Nor did it matter the concepts that were shown in his computer science books. Success now meant more responsibilities, more talk, better dressing. He was not afraid of bugs anymore. He had learnt how to talk them out to be non-issues.
When he talked to his american colleagues visiting his centre now, his accent would change. He had also gone through an accent reduction course. He never missed to teach the visitors a thing or two about cricket.
Having reached the other side of the globe, he now felt increasingly part of global community. International news mattered more. Bangalore had way too traffic and dirt. The garden city had become the pub capital of India. Buses were a clear no-no. Autos were costly and rude. Pandu, now bought a Hyundai Santro. He was the only traveller in the car for months, until his parents stepped in.
At work, Pandu now got involved in discussing functional specifications, along with a lot of other documents. He learnt to Microsoft Excel and Word better. Things were lot safe and in control. Promoted to 'Senior Software Engineer' and his business card updated, Pandu now started to get offers for marraiges. Pandu had arrived.
He could associate with most of the music western. Remixes were original for him. Indian music had not kept pace with the times for him. But he himself had not kept pace nor learnt the western way of challenging and building new things. He was safe. Mediocre, but appreciated. It was good enough.
Pandu could now eat fresh vegetables as lunch, noodles with sticks!. He would also rice with toothpicks had be been taught. Tea was always machine-made with calorie-free sugar. Pepsi/coke were common until they were charged with pesticide content. 10% tip was the norm. Whatever be his personal attitude, service at hotels, banks mattered most. He hesitated to talk in his mother-tongue which would not fit his professional style. Eating without spoon/fork was impossible.
He boasted of tasty pizzas to foreign visitors when in contrary, they were bored to see the same places here. They wanted to see the rich cultural heritage we had. It surprised Pandu! Being able to drive everyday, he also felt proud when they told him they would never be able to drive in Bangalore. He expected every visiting place to have parking. The city had not kept pace with him, let alone the rest of places. They did not exist until he discovered them in the weekend trips.
Things had happened too fast for Pandu, not even giving him the time to think. He had become blind under the bright lights of his own cubicle. He did not even know when his soul and mind were taken out of him. There were scores of people like Pandu. The software industry waits for its downfall standing on such souls. It was now set to boom though.
