We all live in an IT company

(To be sung to the tune of The Beatles' Yellow Submarine. This is my first, and probably last attempt at a spoof. Inspired by my 12th standard days when we used to see droves of techies riding to office on their bikes and chant 'There go the IT boys!'.)

In the town where i was born
Lived a man, who cracked JEE
And he told us of his job
In an IT Company.

So we slogged our asses off
Till we made it to IIT
And we finally lived our dream
Of joining an IT Company.

Chorus:
We all live in an IT Company,
IT Company, IT Company
We all live in an IT Company,
IT Company, IT Company

'Twas our first day at Infy
A speech by Narayan Murty
Then a hundred PPTs
About our IT company.

[Repeat Chorus]

And our friends are all aboard
Many more of them, on the floor below
And they type, and surf away
Ta-ta-ta-tak-ta-tak-ta-tak-tak
(Synchronised punching of keys on the keyboards)

[Repeat Chorus]

So we sit, and code all day
And enjoy the free coffee,
Nine-to-five, then five-to-three
In our IT Company

[Repeat Chorus]

Then we're sent, to the USA
An onsite visit, all for free
We get homesick every day
But what the hell, we're IT!! (Shout out loud)

[Repeat Chorus]

As we work, and earn with ease
A social life is all we need
Pay hike, fat salary
It's great to be in this Company!

[Repeat Chorus, then fade out]

Flying Fatigue

Back in middle school, I had two obsessions: wildlife and air travel. Anything beyond your reach always fills you with intrigue, which partly explains my obsession. In the early 90s, flights were prohibitively expensive, and the nearest National Park, Nagarahole was taken over by Veerappan and co. It looked a dead certainty that I would never experience the delights of boarding a plane (train travel seemed boring and commonplace) or seeing a leopard in the wild, so I celebrated them in my own imaginative capacity. I used to think the hallmark of an Indian town or city was the presence of an airport. Similarly, when I used to pore through write-ups about wild sanctuaries over the country, the first piece of info I used to look for was their proximity to the closest airport!

Thirteen years down the line, I retain my fondness for the wild, in spite of (or because of) the fact that I haven't been to a national park of any significance. But, an overkill of flying through the week preceding my arrival in Bangalore (after completing a year's study in the states) has pretty much killed my appetite for the skies. A few years back, I would have laughed at the thought. Time brings about a strange cognizance however, and I can now fully understand why regular air travellers hate flying. The clamour in airports, checking in, waiting for long hours, luggage worries, claustrophobia, erratic food.....the cons outweigh the pros. I flew from Dallas to LA, and two days later I left on a Malaysian Airlies flight which stopped for an hour in Taipei and landed in Kuala Lumpur. Next came an eight hour wait for the connecting flight from KL. When I finally landed in Bangalore it was the closest I've come to feeling like a zombie. Rough work it must be, being a businessperson or a cricketer and living out of a suitcase all the time. For the moment I'm happy being a student. The silver lining was I got to see quite a bit of LA and KL which did make the whole exercise appear worth it. Especially noteworthy was the four hour trip around KL in a hired car.

It feels great to touch base in India after nine months. That period hasn't been especially life changing or anything, but I did come to realise a couple of things: 1) Travel light and don't try to stuff too much into your luggage. It just isn't possible to pack your entire life in a suitcase. 2) Networking (aka contact-buliding), much as I detest the word, is an essential skill. Don't stay home without it.