How I grew up with this Nature -15 ( Somwehere )
- I am a responsible man now...you heard me! -

By Devaraj Takhellambam *

Apparently, (after going through the content) this series was written a few years back but was never published..

Rupees value is depreciating! Oil prices are shooting high. Gold prices almost skyrocketed…What the heck is going on? Well, I am still here, surviving and breathing the same air –thick and thin. How have you been guys?

Winter has just set in again with tender chill winds bringing back the old memories of childhood – how you blow your mouth in the open air and enjoy the magical shapes of puffy fogs. Oh!, those were the days! With this winter, the swine's and the flu's are back again. I have been dying to feel the warmth of the Sun for many days now but the clouds above has been playing hide and seek all these days…whatever it is, I am here still listening to you!!! Tell me my friend, what excites you the most this winter!

I have been battling with this cold bug every day and night since the last couple of days. Let's see who wins the battle. Been using multiple weapons of mass destruction - sinarest, crocin , strepsin etc but he still seems to be hanging on!!. My eyes turn red in despair and anger sometimes, the nose will throw you tantrums…Ah, honestly, I don't like this feeling at all but unfortunately, I am fighting with it…

Brothers and sisters, let me remind you that –prevention is better than cure. Do anything to prevent the bug before it attacks you…he loves winter and gets an extra dose of energy from this weather, cloudy sky and temperamental wind blow. So take care of your health, respect them and pay attention to every minute details. Stay beautiful.

Every single day is a struggle my dear friends. And to enjoy every bit of that struggle is what fulfils you. The problems will never end and might come one after another. Solve them. That is life. Problems at the workplace, at home, on this earth are just another test of life. I hear you say- yes I can handle it. Yes and yes!

With that spirit, let's move on ....

Ah, I really don't know what I am writing today. I haven't thought about anything in particular but I am still writing and my mind keeps wondering... The sounds of the Diwali crackers are slowly vanishing.. Christmas is just around the corner and I can already hear the jingle bells, the chime of the lovely music. Jingle bell jingle bell.. jingle on the way – the year is almost ending. Ah, this is the last quarter of the year. Time really flies, doesn't it? It was just yesterday, you and I were sharing the jokes about college and used to laugh...Oh my, such a twinkle!!

I can already see stains of white colour in my beard too. They say it's a sign of getting matured. Hell, yeah, I am grown up man. This is an era of social networking sites: Facebook for example... Guess what, I was quite addicted to it initially but the craze has slowly buried with time and I am sure many of you would also reciprocate the same feeling. It was such an addiction that the first thing after you wake up in the morning is to start your laptop and sign in to FB.

It's more like scanning the news of what's going on around and who is doing what. Some makes you smile, some makes you laugh and some make you think....Mix emotions! Some talks about politics, some talks about cars, videos, songs, pictures and family and what not...I took a silent moment and thought about myself. Oh yeah, I am moving on. Hell yeah! What a stupidity way to kill a bright morning that way!.

Got up in the morning...turned on the geyser for a warm morning shower...With sloppy eyes, I went out to the balcony to water my only plant which is almost decaying in its sweet vessel. Took a walk around the house and looking outside in the balcony and suddenly – I felt back to those days of "on your first job"...Oh yeah!

Wearing a local made formal trouser and shirt, neatly tugged in and a boot, hiding half of its body inside my trouser, gave the appearance of wearing a formal shoe – That saved me some cash coz I never had a formal shoe. You can feel the adrenaline of the excitement that runs through your spine when you have been assigned a desk with a PC ad a phone...still not sure, what you will be doing. I like taking pictures with the phone sitting in front of my desk holding the phone acting near to the eat as if I am conversing with someone. The lunch time was just astonishing with varieties of dishes and chapattis and what not...It was just incomparable with what you eat at the hostel mess or college cafeteria.

What a feeling brother..? Just wow! The beauties of the office walking around...around the campus in their attractive attires. Man, I felt myself like a hero! The first teleconference with the clients in the US were a mix of both excitement and fear...I was like – what is this guy talking about, I couldn't understand a bit...All I had to say was – "sounds good", "that's correct", "sure thing", " works well" and these words helped me to survive the calls.

Slowly and eventually, I was able to understand and converse with them well and that was a big milestone for me. It was an awesome experience working with them, and at the same time, understanding their cultures, behaviours and things like that...I remember, I started watching more Hollywood movies and trying to understand every bit of the conversation jut to train myself...It was a wonderful experience. The sweet glance that girl sitting far across your desk was like a feeling a tender wind on a hot sunny day. You forget everything and just got dissolve into some interesting thoughts...oh yeah.

Suddenly, the fire alarms started ringing while I was hooking up with a software bug and trying to fix it –a PowerBuilder code. Everyone rushed to the EXIT points super calmly...I was so tense and confused to see why people were so calm when there is a fire in the building...Slowly, I became more cooler after seeing the babes walk down the stairs and acted like a brave man, trying to save some souls in the building... ...What a fool, I thought to myself when I learnt that it was a normal exercise! Damn me... it was just a Fire drill.

Coming to work in your bike hanging your bag in your shoulder and the ID tag hanging around your neck was one proudest feeling. I was really working in an IT firm as a professional software developer. It sounded so cool to hear someone say but later I realized the work I was doing, basically fixing some bugs, writing some small codes, running some test, I didn't feel justified to be called as a software developer. I always thought, all the developers are the people who do real software architect, design, write algorithms, codes, interfaces and what not...But as it always turns out – I wasn't alone and they were just cool about it... They said – why the heck you care when you get a pay check at the end of the month. I think they were damn right.

The last working day of the month – need I say more? I can already see you smiling...Pay time, I used to open my salary account like 20 times just to check if the salary has been credited or not. The smile that you get when you see your salary credited is the most pleasurable smile and most thrilling moment of the entire month. And when the last working day falls on a Friday – you sure know where you will get landed! Either in a pub, breaking some ice with whiskey or sipping a pine moving your head left and right and munching some peanut masala or sitting at home, with some Haldiram mixture and grill chicken, with the music playing: Why Georgia by John Mayers. What an awesome feeling....Old monk with coke, potatoes chips and Kingfisher beer, some rolling on the floor, someone hiding in the balcony and talking to their girlfriends, some talking about the economic situation of the country, and finally all of us would be talking about the hotties at office...That ends the topic of the conversation...You heard me boy!

A cigarette in your month and when you puff, you can feel the adrenaline rushing through your spine giving you an instant jerk – that's what you love about, isn't it? The drink was never enough always....Going out, riding your bike like you are the only one in the road and looking for a liquor shop in the middle of the night was just enticingly enjoyable. It was just crazy...oh crazy baby!

You end of drinking throughout the night and you can suddenly feel your body when you take the first pinch of dinner...straight to the bathroom and I don't know what happens afterwards – you tell me!. The next thing was I find myself somewhere on the bed and extremely thirsty... Drinking a glass of water was like a cure shot drink to your already damaged body!...And the next morning, your body aches, the bloods still carrying some alcohol, you decide not to drink again....No to drink!...I announce that I quit drinking! No more alcohol! You worship yourself to be good until the next weekend when someone pops up with a drinking plan...You just can't deny it, can you?

With that, I will leave the rest for you to go back to your past and enjoy those blissful days...just thinking about it. I have to rush and get some groceries for the week...I am a responsible man now...you heard me!

Until then – rock on!

( to be continued....)