Jindal Diary: Bilaspur to New Delhi

Why do they have a board saying “Foot Over Bridge” on the Foot Over Bridge itself? As if I was somehow going to miss the tiny bridge with stairs and wonder how to cross to the next platform. Or worse still, a person comes to the FOB and realizes “Oh my God! How do I use this thing, I don’t even know what to call it!” What would have made sense is a board placed some distance prior to the FOB telling the person to expect a FOB so that he does rams into the tiny FOB.

Have you ever faced a problem because of abundance of facilities? It so happened, that to catch a connecting train I had to wait on the platform for nearly 6 hours. The platform where I was supposed to wait had in fact too many facilities available for my comfort? Yes! You heard me right, the station and platforms are so well equipped that it is creating a nuisance for you. The intellectuals in you might argue, why I didn’t use the waiting room.

I have a basic problem with the waiting rooms. Somehow I don’t like the look and feel of waiting rooms. I hate waiting. And waiting rooms are especially made for waiting. So as I enter a waiting hall, it reminds me that I am waiting for something. It does not suit me. Hence I prefer to choose a quite little corner on a platform, sit there. Once seated properly I either watch some series or complete that novel I was reading last time.

Now in this particular platform, I went from end to end and there were lots of corners with very little commutation of people. There was one little problem though!

The platform has so many appropriately distanced loud speakers, that it was impossible for me, to find a place where I won’t be hearing the constant announcements of coming trains. Apart from the sound, it irritated me as it sort of teased me, “look buddy, here comes the next train, when is yours coming?”

I will cross one speaker and start moving away from it, feeling really happy as the sound will start diminishing and then suddenly I would enter into the zone of the next speaker. It was really difficult.

Talk of extremes and I have it all. During one of my journeys I travelled a whole 6 hours standing on one foot in the general compartment that was so cramped that even a Raju Shrivastav joke won’t do justice to it. And here I am, sitting in a 3^rd AC coach, occupying one seat and having reservation for two seats.

Haha! Twists of life, they amaze me. Some might ask why I book two seats if I was travelling alone. Well the scene is that it was not always like this. You make plans with someone and they agree upon it, you get the tickets booked only to face despair and disappointment.

Sitting in front of me are two Punjs aunties. Now why do I hate (don’t like) people who give away their ethnicity just by the way they dress. I have nothing against Punjs. Even it was two Marwari, a sect to where I belong; I would not have liked it. To top it all they are talking in the regional language. Now I realize that I was living in a myth. I was under the impression that I like Punjabi language but that was Gurdas Mann playing tricks with me.

Jindal Diary: Jo dikhta hai wo hamesha sach nahi hota

I would like to make two statements.

1.      Am i not entitled some peace of mind? I will come back to this statement in a while.

2.      Meanwhile, I just realized that my plant is BIG. And when I say, big, I mean really big.

So, today it so happened that ‘This Lazy A$$’ finally went to meet his supervisor. TLA$ calls up his supervisor.

Supervisor: Ok, second half mein milte hai hum log. Baithte hai ek sath fir.

TLA$: OK Sir! I will be there in the second half.

There is a small flaw here, but. What exactly does ‘second half’ mean? The second half is highly subjective. Do we divide the day into two equal halves at the two 12s? Or do we follow the company’s timeline and divide the day into pre lunch and post lunch period. The post lunch period will then become the second half.

The part of exact timing comes into the picture once we have made the extremely difficult decision of dividing the day in two halves. If someone is expecting me in the second half then shall I drop at his office at the dawn of second half? What if, I decide to meet him when the second half is coming to an end, say just 2 minutes before 12 midnight? Technically I will be meeting him in the second half and he can’t say that I am late. How can I be late? You asked me to meet in second half and here I am.

It is like the case when someone asks, “give me a call sometimes next week.” So am I eligible to call past 12 midnight on Saturday? What does it mean!

So I propose a motion to ban the usage of such ambiguous statements. 

I learnt one more important lesson today.

Jo diktha hai wo hamesha sach nahi hota.

04: 00 pm: To TLA$ chal pade apne Manager se milne. Hostel se nikal ke main road per aaye to samne dikhne laga Blast Furnance-2 or BF2. There was the option of calling a cab from garage, but why bother! BF2 to nazro ke saamne hai.

 04:10 pm: TLA$ is still walking and yes BF2 is visible and very near.

04:25 pm: BF2 is still visible and now the board inviting you to BF2 is also visible. TLA$ is still walking.

04:40 pm: TLA$ reaches BF2 office, only to realize his manager has gone to some audit meeting and in all probability won’t be coming back to the office.

Awww! That was the exact expression on TLA$’s face.

It is now the time to discuss the second statement. Yaar, ye India chup chap ek match kyu nahi jeet sakti.

Bhai 7 balls, 4 runs. This is the age of twenty-20 cricket. Matches are won from much more precarious situations. And they manage to lose this one. A loss, it is for me, not a draw. And I am very unhappy.  

Jindal Diary- Some random incidents

JPL is organizing a 5-day event, from October 2, 2011 to October 6, 2011 on the eve of Durga Puja. It is really great for people like me, who belong to the eastern part of India and for whom DP is a really big affair. In the school days, I would look forward to DP holidays as it will mean the onset of a number of festivals including, Diwali, Govardhan Puja, Bhai Duj and finally culminating in Chath.

The mega-festival week as it is called in JPL has one event or the other every day. Last night it was Garbha performance by a group of students whose lead is an attractive girl from IIT Delhi. Supposedly she was also a participant in ‘Voice of India’. Now that is something I really admire- following your passion.

But the next day some really funny conversation happened. Actually it can be thought provoking for someone, depending upon how much intellectually challenged they are. As I belong to the highest breed so it was only funny for me and nothing else. Again the incident involved our own Alter. Mr. Alter also works with the CSR department of the company apart from threatening government employees like railway TT and GRP. The CSR team has another employee called Mr. Dhakkan. A mention of his qualification is really necessary here for the argument that follows. Mr. Dhakkan is some Masters in some degree and he is planning to pursue an MBA.

Dhakkan to Alter: Arey Sir, kal ka Grabha program dekhe bada maja aaya

Alter: arey haan, maine bhi suna, but I was not able to go, had some work (actually lazing around was his work)

Dhakkan: aur bahar se nachne wali ladkiya bhi bulayi thi company ne

Alter: ya, I know. Actually they are from IIT Delhi

D (slightly puzzled): IIT! Kya keh rhe hai sir, IIT walo ko ye sab karne ki kya jarurat hai?

A: %%%&&&$$$****@@ !!! ??? (Speechless and totally confused as to how to respond)

D: sir wo nachne wali kyu ban gyi, kya hua unhe.

A: (regaining some of his sanity), arey wo nachne wali nahi hai, they perform on stage, because it is her... (He thought of mentioning the word ‘passion’ but then decided it is best not to mention such useless terms in this highly inspirational talk)

D: Sir, job nahi lagi thi kya IIT se, so naach gaa ke paise kamane padte hai?

A: (losing his wits now)- arey Dhakkan jee, main to aapko padha likha samajhta tha, aapse aisi umeed nahi thi

D: (not to give away that easily, replies with a fairly straight face), Sir, humein bhi IIT walo se aisi umeed nahi thi...

--- END of DISCUSSION—

Actually how can you counter such well laid argument!

Incident No 2

It happened on that historic train trip from Raigarh to Ranchi. We are standing near the gate. The toilet is nearby and I observed that people coming out from one bathroom are going to the next bathroom slightly troubled. After a few moments I realized that the tank has no water.

Hahaha...!!! How are they managing...? (You know what I mean to say)

I saw a dude standing outside the bathroom. And as you Mr. Alter by now, he starts a conversation with him. The Dude is working in Chennai in textile industry and has come to Ranchi for his DP holidays. During conversation Dude reveals that he is waiting to use the restroom. Being a Good Samaritan, our Alter is, he informs the dude that the facility has no water. Alter then goes inside the boggy to arrange for some seat. In the meanwhile a bathroom gate opens and dude can’t control it enough, so he decides to use the facility anyways. I am still standing outside.

After a few moments, the gate opens, dude holding his trousers from falling down, says in a slightly irritated tone- “Paani aa to raha hai jee.”

And I thought, look at the charitable instinct of the dude, even in this hour of urgency he is thinking of the world around him. He comes out of his rest period to inform the world at large that the water has been filled in the tank.

Long live such unselfish souls.

RESPECT!

And I have become too emotional to write any further for now.