An impending marriage, crashing servers, absconding maids... peace

Been a long long time since I wrote something here. Anyway, had all the reasons in the world to actually just go off on a trip to nowhere. Got engaged, to a Tamil Iyengar Brahmin who refuses to accept an MCP for a husband and smiles indulgently at my many faults. I shudder to imagine what evangelistic thoughts race through her mind whenever I am in the middle of describing a night with the bottle. It is a bit funny though, she used to find the things i said in my druken stupor endearing when i was a college guy in dirty jeans. Maybe thats acceptable for a guy who is broke most of the times... not one who is supposed to be on the verge of becoming a family man.
Talking about family, i am reminded of my workplace. Seeeeeeeee !!!! 6 months into a job and the phrase family connects to the office of all places. Generally, its a fairly routine place to be (my office)........ but sometimes it can be a lot of fun. Like today, when we are having a ball because the clients' server crashed.

In fact, crashing systems make a lot of business sense for the company as well. I present my case hence forth:

1) Crashing servers lead to project delays, in a time & material project this translates into the client being billed for one more working day per person. That gives you a whopping incremental amount for your revenure at no extra cost.

2) The company gets to show off its disaster recovery system to perfection to the client. Otherwise it only remains a lifeless piece of information on paper waiting for a tropical storm to destroy all buildings in the developed world... or maybe a neuclear holocaust or two.

3) The employee morale gets a major boost. trust me , no-one is happier than an IT guy when servers are crashing on the client's end.

4) The case study to be prepared for the given contract becomes a lot more interesting to read. Anecdotes can actually be even more priceless than the end product itself... "The Area Sales Manager for XYZ accessed his system on the D-Day to find all his data erased !!! However, we (The Company) took just an hour to restore the system. the needed data was delivered and the meeting was saved!!! Yet another moment of client-company bon homie; Yippeeeee!!!

Yeah, i guess sometimes my derision with IT shows through. Anyway, staying alone can actually result in some unforseen problems all around. My maid refuses to to cope with the odd hours i keep and threatens to quit every second day. The dhobi takes my clothes and conviniently forgets about my very existance till the next weekend. I guess that is more troublesome to the people around me... who wants to sit next to a guy wearing the same set of clothes for the entire week!!

Had been on a trip to delhi for Diwali. Had an interesting journey. Had been travelling in a second class sleeper coach... AP Express. The train was supposed to start from Hyd at 6:30 in the morning... that meant I had to wake up at the unearthly hour of 5:00 AM. It also happened to be one of those painfully rare mornings when i saw the sunrise at Hyd.
Once i reached the Secunderabad Railway station, triumphant and proud of my early arrival, my enthu was dampened somewhat by the annoucement sayig that the AP Express was delayed by 30 minutes!! They say, "Punctuality is at best a lonely pleasure', and i So totally agree with them.
Anyway, the train was full of the regular culprits one finds presnt in train compartments in any part of the country. My immediate neighbour was a middle aged lady from Kerela... Elizabeth Kurien. "Call me Mona, that is my pen name' She charmingly introduced herself while i did the yournger-polite-guy-sorts duty of pushing her bags (Three) and a bedroll (One) under the berths. "Pen-name" ?? I said. So i had a man of letters with me (Or should that be a 'woman' never heard of that phrase). Unfortunately i made the mistake of vocing my doubt... the next thing i knew . Mona was handing me a bunch of small booklets; ... "Its a long journey, you can enjoy my shers on the way!! And there i was, stuck in the middle of some sentimental trash feauturing heaving bosoms and unshed tears... and a chase maternal woman offering to share her food with me... alonwith all her unread repertoire. Mona came across as a failry lonely soul. A rich businessman for a husband who by her own accounts is hardly ever at home.. and a married son settled abroad. i have a her phone number with me, and a promise to call her up once i return to Hyderbad. Guess neither matters.