Of emails and lappie

A fine day it was turning out to be, right till the wee hours of the evening and I was just about to escape the tingling (why in the whole world, tingling???) sensations of yet another day at office when out of a corner of my desktop, popped up an EMAIL. What a demon this can be, especially on days when you least expect it (well, also on days when you expect it the most and it fails to make an appearance) and out it comes in all its glory to give you a taste of reality. And so it turned out to be in my case, when the email confirmed what I had been dreading.

The production launch of my final project at Infosys was scheduled for Monday morning US time and so, I had no option but to cool my heels in the office till late hours in the night. I was supposed to provide support to my onsite coordinator and solve any technical glitches, if they came, during the launch process (God only knows what excuse I would have come up with for my inability to solve any glitches, technical or otherwise). What I actually did do turned out to be diametrically opposite (well, not really diametrically...even by my high standards, I did manage to get some work done, too…)

Ever since IIMK decided that it was going to commit the sin, the ultimate mistake of inviting me in to the resort party at Kozhikode, I have been thinking of buying a laptop. Like everyone else, I was willing to be led in the herd by some helpful senior herdsmen (or women, for that matter) and buy the lappie (registered copyright name for my would-be laptop...don't any of you dare to copy it.....copiers will be reprimanded, warned, threatened, and then prosecuted/eliminated) once I reach IIMK.

However, perhaps as a reward for my staying late in office, one of my colleagues told me that there is no import duty on laptops and I can get a very good deal in US if I am willing to get my lappie from there. Lo and behold, I was on phone with Gomathi, my onsite coordinator, cajoling her with promises of a good treat and warnings of a late and below par Return On Investment (look at this, seniors, I am already into the terminology). I, Gomathi and Sankar, my colleague here who had the audacity to suggest something (buying lappie from US) to me in the first place, started ravaging the internet for any and all information regarding laptops. I found a Toshiba model with a suitable configuration (P4, 512 RAM, 60 HDD, 4 USB ports, DVD/CD RW Combo, Wi-Fi enabled) and asked Gomathi to get more info on that and buy it if she feels it is good enough to be the lappie of the future manager (hee hee).

Another plus of the night out was the chance to chat with so many of my friends in US who are toiling their heads off in the pursuit of degrees like MS and PhD (man, after four years of engineering, am I scared of these acronyms!!). I told them about the plans for the Bangalore get together that we are planning for our Ceramics batch of '02. So many of us, after two years of work experience, are now going on different tracks that it will be very difficult to meet up again in such huge numbers (about 10 people are expected to attend the Bangalore meet this weekend and considering the total strength of our batch being 29, 10 is as good as it will ever get). Animesh might be going onsite for about two years, I will be going to IIMK, Dasa will be going to SP Jain (he will not be present in the meet, however). I have my tickets all booked and am really hoping for a nice time in Bangalore before saying a final adieu to all my dear friends…