As the cold winter breeze brushed past me, there I was
descending the stairs. As soon as my saw my bike, I stopped abruptly and
climbed the stairs with a sigh! I forgot
my jacket again! There is a certain unspoken rule about it with men. A man’s
gotta wear his jacket on a nice winter morning like this right?
As I drove, I saw the familiar faces of the owner’s daughter
opening the door for a door-knock on any of the houses in the street, milkman
in his lungi rushing into every other house as always, and the general stores
solo slave giving a vibe as if today the world is going to end and the dosa-chef
of the tiffin stall by the road as
cheerful as always. Perhaps it is because dosa stalls these days earn more than
most software engineers. It’s true, isn’t it? Gone are the days when software
guys are held in awe. Today, just every other guy works in a software company.
So what? I love my job! Not because, I earn a lot of money…actually
I don’t really earn that much. And it is just a tad bit depressing to see how
much I have saved in this one year I started working as a software engineer. Oh
well! When has saving money been my
strongest point? It isn’t even because I am the most valued employee in my
project either. It’s just that, this has always been my dream and living a
dream for once in my life feels good.
I started to my office after my daily dose of dosa and
stopped at the red signal. It is funny that most people instead of looking at
the signal, look at the traffic police and as soon as he turns his gaze, they
speed as if they were lightning. Why bother? Don’t get me wrong. Jumping the
signals is something that I do too but only when I can’t afford even a second.
But just how many people could be in such kind of situations every day? And why
the hell would a government bus have that kind of urgency? All for what? For an
interesting story to tell when you are hospitalized? Ughh! I should just stop
thinking about such things.
The parking space has barely any vehicles as usual. Even
though software guys are said to have an 8 to 5 schedule in almost all movies,
the real schedule is 11 to who knows when? Although that’s how it is with me
too, I still like to come by 9 during good weather just so I can enjoy the
morning breeze in my favourite spot. How many people get to climb a forest
covered mountain like structure and sit on a rock on top and just gaze at the
sky lazily every day? It was love-at-first-sight for me. I might not have lived
on a hill station with amazing view but I sure as hell long for something like
this from time to time. It just feels like freedom maybe? It’s stupid I know,
so what? I like it!
What is this job to me, you ask? To me, it’s about living on
my own terms, meeting interesting and likeminded people, making friends, help
others wherever I can no matter how small and at the end of the day to be
satisfied that I am not just another useless being on this vast face of earth.
