Akkarai Seemai Azhaginile.....

Saturday Kaalaila ChristChurch-lerndhu Queenstown-ku flight..and anikum seems our Lord of Sodhanais didnt want to forsake us. When we landed in Queenstown, we checked for our agent's mails for vouchers. Andha Mahaan correct-a hotel reservation-lam pannar right, but car-a deal-la vittutar :( SO when we went to the car hire counter, the guy flatly said he cant give us the car because there was no communication from the agent. We had the cruise at Milford Sound at 3:00, and it was 10:15 AM, parvalla, konjam negotiate panni car eduthuttom-na we can still make it to that place-nu nianaichu we were talking and he finally agreed on a smaller car. But car ellam fix aanapuram, andha vedhaalam thirumba murungai marathula erittan, he kept calling his manager to tell her the same thing - "These folks dont have the voucher". 'Dei AKM, adhai ethanai thadava solluva, tape recorder muzhungittaya enna???'

Finally by 11:00, we got the car from him and started our drive towards Milford Sound. Oru chinna background - the movie Lord of the Rings was taken at ChristChurch, Te Anau and Milford Sound - so I was all hyped about about the place. Innum 4 mani neram iruke, poi serndhudalam-nu jolly-a padam eduthutte poitrundhom..hayooo enna azhagu New Zealand, it was a scenic drive and everything on the way was so damn awesome!!! We crossed Te-Anau, inga nanga stay panni iruka vendiyadhu if not for Emirates (grrrr), and when it was around 1:30, we had 119 kms. Idhellam dhoosu-ntu we proceeded and kept driving. Nijamma solren, if someone needs a quiet retired life, they have to come to NewZealand..avalo azhagu indha idam! God's own country-na it translates to NewZealand..those mountains and lakes and the trees that dot the outline of the mountains..the sheep that graze and the cows that walk on those farms...Just WOW! Ippadi partha Aaha, appadi partha Adadada - andha range-ku irundhadhu the drive.

Ippadiye poitrundhoma, oru 2:30 achu, and we still had 32 kms to go..hang on, Chennai vaazh puligalukellam idhu matter-e kidayadhu-nu thonum, aana oru 3.5 hrs drive pantu kadaisi nimishathula oru tunnel dug through a mountain-um, adhoda end-la hairpin bends-oda downhill-um vandha enna aagum? Nera oru curve-la car-a straight-a uttu direct-a foothill reach pantu appadiye kailasa malai top-ku short-cutla poga thonum, which is what we did too :)) But fortunately we escaped, and I decided that even if we dont make it to Milford Sound cruise it is fine, after all we still could manage the scenic drive. It was 2:40 now, and we were getting tensed with anticipation if we could make it to the cruise or not...

2:50, and we still hadnt seen a board saying Milford Sound...
2:55-Wow, here is a board saying Milford Sound!! But where the heck is the cruise point??
2:56 - We found a parking lot opposite a cafe, we decided to park the car and find the place since it should be somewhere nearby
2:57 - We park the car and get out and go to the cafe opposite to check the directions
2:58 - Oops, passport not in hand, without the voucher we need something to prove our identity! SO I ran back to the car to get the stuff needed, got the stuff, gave it to Ravi and asked him to go ahead, findthe place and see if the cruise can wait for a couple more minutes. He ran ahead of me while I tried to run behind him just to lose track of him soon.
2:59 - Where is Ravi? I ran along a pathway shouting his name and I dont find any place that says Cruise or whatever, but I just keep running
3:00 - I reached the end to find a huge visitor's center, with Ravi waving at me from the building.

I approached him and he said "We lost it, its gone"..I was totally disappointed that although we came on time, we lost it..but parvalla, namma neramdhan nethulerndhe super-a iruke-nu when I was consoling myself, he said "C'mon, we got it, let's go!!" I was completely taken aback with joy and then I found the cruise standing on the waters...and we boarded the cruise.

The cruise started - Ithanai neram parthadhellam onnume kidayadhu to what I saw ahead of me. It was beautiful, splendid, awesome and what not...munnadi rendu pakkamum malai flanking the waters on which we are cruising, just imagine!! I was transported to Lord of the Rings movie..where there was this water and the mountains..avalo attagasama irundhudhu indha place!! Waterfalls and seals and pani moodiya uchimalai..YABBA!!!..sema scintillating scene!! It was a 1 hr cruise, but the cruise of the life! I dont think I'd ever get this again anywhere else! The cruise got over, but I still couldnt get the scene out of my mind.

We reluctantly drove back to Queenstown, thought we could manage it before the New Year cracks open, but we had to wish each other a Happy New Year only in the car by 12:00 :))

NewZealand suthi parka porom!!!

Friday we were all set to travel to NewZealand, aaha oru pudhu country parka porom-nu sema enthu-oda kilambina..varisaya sodhanais..

Mudhalla we went to the Airport to board the Emirates flight, the flight was supposed to be by 8:30, and we were supposed to board a flight in ChristChurch in conjunction with this flight. Ulla porom..flight delayed-ntanga! Ada pavigala, anga iruka flight kilambi poidume-nu sema tension..I had to call up my Manager and Ms. Cashew to inform that I am not coming in. Mudhal coin potten Ms. Cashew-ku, and since I didnt want to say that I am going on a trip to NZ when our phase was nearing, I started:

"Hey am visiting the dentist to extract my tooth..so I won't be coming in"

"Oh ok"

(Voice overhead: The Flight No xxxxx will be departing shortly blah blah)

'Kashtam!!' "Hey, I will call our manager and tell him, meanwhile just take care of the pending tasks"

"Sure"

(Another voice overhead: Passengers are requested to blah blah)

'Gaalidi Usha nee' "Ok Bye"

"Bye"

Then I called up my manager praying no announcements should come, and fortunately none came until I was done. Then I called up Ms. Cashew to ask for some information and some announcement boomed again from above, kashtam da iraiva!

I hung up, and sometime later, came back and called her to tell her the truth coz I felt bad about the whole thing. Anyways, appuram flight kilambi ChristChurch reach aagumpodhu the Quantas flight had only 5 mins to take-off. Appo-nu parthu oru manga kitta mattintom immigration-la..she had a hell lot of questions on the passport, the occupation and stuff that we eventually missed the flight. Enga dhan pidikarangalo indha madhiri jeevans-a!

Seridhan, vera options parkalam-nu Emirates kitta help ketta, "adhu enga poruppu illa, we had just committed to drop you at ChristChurch"-nranga, seridhan-nu Quantas-a ketta, "you had opted our competitor's flight, so why would we help you?"-nranga..ada paavingala, passengers nilamai ellam ippadidhan poliruku!!

Well, we had booked hotels, car etc based on this plan, and now that it has bombed, enna panradhu-nu yosichintrundhom. Finally, we made a call to the travel agent, got things postponed but we still needed a hotel to stay for the night. We did manage to get one to stay at last.

Evening Gondola ride-nu onuthuku ponom, it offers a 360 degree view of Christchurch...semaya irundhadhu! I had always wanted to travel in a gondola from my childhood having watched old Hindi movies :)), a dream come true :)

Sodhanai mel sodhanai...

Oru 4 days leave inga, and this week our phase was supposed to start. Naan appove sonnen ennoda manga manager kitta that it is better off starting next week coz there are various bottlenecks, aana andha manushan kekkala. When I called him up on Tuesday, he said we can start on Wednesday, seri vidhi yaarai vittudhu-nu I agreed to it.

Wednesday ellarum leave mudinji cooli velai-ku vandhoma, mudhalla data census edhuthom..first heart-attack - Weekend-la yaro oru paramathma data copyover panren pervazhi-nu oru empty database-a thooki innoru database-la copy pantan, all the data that we had created got lost! Erkaneve pending data count was in lakhs, and lost data was in half-a-lakh. Sooper da machi-nu I was looking for backups when a team offered that they had a backup for their application, but that it will take a day to configure their application for the restored backup.

Parvalla, naama pending data required for another application load panvom-nu plan panninen. My script is fine for a couple of thousand records, but indha madhiri 50000 ellam load panradhuku d(h)e(i)v(ams) dhan approach pannanum-nu I sat with them for options. Namma DEO dheivam oru code koduthudhu, koduthadhoda he offered to run one set of transaction worth 10000 records for me, and naan sandoshama avanai vazhthitte en desk-ku vandhu I modified that code to suit my records and ran it. It was parsing 30 records at a time, and idhai naan sonnadhuku, andha dheivam "you must have done something"-ntu poitan..'Ada paavi, un code, unga database, idhula naan ennada panven?' Oru couple of hours andha script was running to load 50000 records, and it was well into the evening. when the DEO guy came and asked me,

"Usha, what are you running?"
I said, "The code you gave me.."
"But, there are absolutely no records being created in the database, you better stop it"
Ada paavi makka, ippo vandhu solriye, drogi! "What?!!!"
"Yeah! and the transaction I ran also has inserted only 1280 records"
Ayyo, light-a nenju valikudhe.."god! So what on earth am I supposed to do for the records?"
"Don't worry, I'll sit with for all that data creation" Aaha, kalukkul eeram idhana?
It was almost 6 when we started that operation..it went until 8 to complete 75% of what we were attempting with snide remarks at each other. I went home with satisfaction that I am almost done.

Iniku kalaila vandhu partha oru mail from the first team, these are the records found-nu. Adhula suthama naan create pannirundha records-e kanom! Ketta, that was the backup taken on the 16th-nranga! Evanavadhu backup madhiyam edupana, kena kirukkas..I managed to find another backup that has, or so I assume, all the records I inserted and told that team to have that imported. Erkaneve ivalo mess-up, idhula rendu PMs enakedhira pesikaranga "She is finding innovative ways of keeping everyone occupied"-nu..ellam en neram! Now that is going to take till the end of today..

And now I am creating the remaining 25% of data, ennada idhu nalla problem-e illama pogudhu-nu sandosha p..a..t..t..e..n, perfect-a nadandhudhu andha mistake..I was trying to type a 5 to a query, and I instead pressed F5 and that executed all the queries in the window including a delete query! Govinda!!! Ellam pochu, now restart..anegame by eod, azha poren ninaikaren...but indha week is almost coming to an end, idhula enga execution arambikardhu-nu enaku sathiyama therila :(

Oru 9 hrs kazhichu am continuing this now...am still at work and still doing the same work! Guess what, evening almost ellam mudinju oru 50000 records vera application-ku podanumnra podhu, pudhu missile vittanga, this particular field should be only 8 characters long..and I had inserted 9 character long values!! Sema kadupu..after a bit of thinking I decided we'd rather trim a character in the existing fields-nu..and after that cropped up a new problem, the application just wasnt taking in data..after 2 hrs of discussion among those folks, I figured out the problem and told them, and that worked!! Aana innum ingayedhan iruken :( and it is 9:30 PM now, trying to complete the job...

Govinda Govinda!!

Oh, andha Team building plans kadaiseela eppadi mudinjadhu-nu naan sollave illaye...

The Saturday that we had planned for the outing and cancelled ended up as a beautiful day (kali kaalam, forecast kooda ozhunga poda mattenranunga). The following Monday, oru Maduraikara colleague came and excalaimed "Ennanga, ippadi ayiduchu, oru nalla day waste pantome-nu sema varutham-nga" (Thank you sonna adhe nakkal party dhan, I could see the smirk in his eyes) "Enna nakkal-a, ennamo neenga ellam appadiye sema enthu-va plan panna madhiri pesareenga?" "Chi chi, naama vena next week Sydney-la iruka murugan koviluku gumbala poi puliyodarai saptu thirumbi varalamanga?"..Grrrr, nakkal da unaku!

Naanum yosichen, indha resource manager-nra oru jeevan-ku, andha Friday mattum perusa "let's do it next week"-nu Lord madhiri mail pannome, next week follow panvom-nu edhavadhu thonicha? Correct-a oru masam kazhichu oru mail anuparar, adhuvum eppadi "team building"-nu subject-oda. Subject-la ippadi poturuke, edhavadhu plan panirukar-nu partha, body-la nakkal "we had an ambitious plan of team building, which turned out to be a damp squib (appadiye follow-up panni keechiteenga, kindal vera!) let's meet at Govinda's restaurant"-nu. Nalla poruthamana idamdhan, anga poi Team Building-ku Govinda potralam-nu naanum invitation accept panninten.

The date was last Wednesday, ellarum Wynyard Station-la meet pantu King's cross ponom, and went to this ISKCON's subsidiary hotel..saapadu was ok, and we were all talking when one of the girls started talking about one of the guys' Secret Santa name, how he contorted his face on seeing it, and what he bought as a present. I remarked and also prayed that I shouldnt be the person he got in his slip of paper, but vidhi yarai vittudhu, adhu kadaiseela naanedhan! (Avanuku enna pavam panen therila) Anyways, so andha saapadu saptutu, oorla iruka athanai PJ-vum kettutu the so-called Team Building ended with Banana splits and Chocolate Mousses and non-alcoholic wine. Ippadi oru team + ippadi oru manager indha naatuku thevaiya?

Aadi paaru Mangatha!!

Iniku client place-la luncheon + Secret Santa gift deliveries..in which I wasnt really interested. The reason being that I had learnt on Wednesday that the person who had got my name had sort of grunted when he saw my name in his slip of paper, and I also knew what he had purchased. So perusa enaku onnum expectations ellam illa. But ofcourse, naan yaaruku Secret Santa-vo avanukum anegama naandhan-nu therinjirukum ninaikaren; konja naal munnadi he had taken the envelope containing the names around, and when he came to me avankitta sonnen:

"I dont want to take your name" (Naan illa, en kutti sathan..enakudhan ippadilam pesa theriyadhe)

"But why, I am a very good guy, why wouldn't you want to take my name?"

"Just like that!"

And, by the so-called Murphy's Law, I took the slip and it, well, contained his name. And when he moved from my cube, I told this to my cube-mates and everyone laughed..appo avan parthan naanga ellam sirikardha, so I presume that he must have guessed it. (murpagal seyyin pirpagal vilayum-nradhuku indha Secret Santa nalla padam enaku) Moreover, after I had placed the gift under the Christmas tree, avan en cube pakkam vandhu mathavanga kitta sollitirundhan that his Secret Santa has given him some nicely wrapped gift-nu..chamathu payyan pavam.

Friday erkaneve yarukum mood varadhu velai panradhuku, Christmas season-na kekkanuma? I was restless with no mood to work (choo, matha naalellam work panniya-nu kekka koodadhu!), so suthindhen office-laye..then I discovered that one of my colleagues had got playing cards as gift. "Cool," I told the others "let's play a game of Rummy by 4" and came back to my desk. 4 mani achu, and we all gathered to play..kadavule, 1008 rules, disagreements adhu idhu-nu we hardly played a complete game. We had played just 2 games when a girl suddenly came and messed the deck up. Avlodhan, ennoda Secret Santa recepient-ku tension vandhu kathittan "Nee enna 5 vayasu kuzhandhaya"-nu, I could see that the girl was getting tensed up and she retorted a bit and left the room. Konja neram vilayadirupom when this guy remembered her and asked where she is. Enga ellarukume therinju pochu, ponnu azha dhan poyirupa-nu, so I went in search of her and found her in the pantry with two other girls crying over this. Seri, samadhana paduthalam-nu kitta ponen:

"Hey, ennama idhukellam azhara?"

"Illa Usha, en appa kooda ennai thittinadhilla, ivan ennai thittitan.." (Aaha, idhu nalla iruke, inimel ellarum oru board-oda work-ku vanga, ennoda Appa thittinadhilla, so vera yarum ennai thitta koodadhu-nu, mathavangalukellam useful-a irukum)

"Avan thitinan-na nee angaye sollanum that you didnt like him talking like that, inga vandhu azhudha enna punniyam?"

"Illa Usha, I dont want to tell him too" (Enna nalla manasu, vandharai vazha vaippom-nra madhiri vaidharai vittu vaipom policy poliruku)

Kadaiseela I managed to make her smile by talking more, ofcourse at the cost of many colleagues' manams, but who cares, ippo ivalaidhane manage pannanum, infact avaloda teamlead-aye shameless-nu sonnen ava sirikanum-nu. Appuram avane vandhan, vandhu sorry kettan and all is well that ends well kadhaidhan.

Then we resumed our game, everyone at the height of their tempers (en-nu therila) that again we had a lot of arguments about the rule of Rummy (kashtam, idhukellam discussion engalukulla) and we managed another couple of games, well, it was time for Cinderella to leave, so naan kilambitten. Aama, Rummy-la drop panna 25 points and middle drop panna 50 points dhane?

Aduvom Paduvom Kondaduvom...

Yesterday was the client's Christmas party day at Park Hyatt Hotel, so naanga ellam gear up pannitirundhom for the party..gear-up na work ellam on time mudikardhu etc etc. The party was starting by 7:00, so some of us girls had come home to change into casual wears. Naan perfect on the dot 7:00 ready ayitten (evalo punctual naan) but when I went to the other girls' place (enna enaku vazhi suthama theriyadhu to the hotel) yarume ready-a illa!! adi pavigala, party 7:00 manikache-na, enna panradhu..innum rendu per varanume office-lerndhu-nranga!! Kizhinjudhu Krishnagiri-nu nondhutte I settled myself..7:15..7:30..7:40..7:50 oru madam entry koduthanga

"Girls, it is too late, we cant go there 1.5 hrs late!!" (Aama, appadiye time-ku correct-a vandhu keechita, idhellam mattum correct-a sollidu!)

Innoru madam vandhanga, and started analyzing slippers.."Well, if we go 1.5 hrs late..." -idhu naan, immediately "Oh yeah, I got the point, am going!!" and she went in to change (appada, oru conscientious ponnu da!)

So finally we left by 8:00, and when we came out, the two latecomers realized that one hadn't brought something for the other, and off they went to the former's apartment!

Anyways, naanga station poi ticket vangitu wait pannindhom indha rendu mahatmas-kaga and they came around 5 minutes later and we boarded the train to Circular Quay.

Anga iranginappurama none of us knew the route to the hotel (naandhan absent minded-na ellaruma??) So we called up a colleague and asked for directions and finally landed there..the time was 8:30.

I was bored as soon as I landed there, infact I havent liked parties since my first experience in a party, so suthi suthi thiru thiru-nu parthundhen. Appo oruthar vandhar - "What would you girls like?" Each of us gave our choices, but we didnt expect him to bring them to us! He brought them and stood to talk..naandhane eppovume mattipen, so ingayum adhan nadandhadhu, he was talking to me while I watched helplessly as the other girls moved to some other place. He went on talking and talking ('Enya ennai paduthara, niraya per irukangala, povendiyadhudhane :(') He excused himself for another glass - 'Appada, tholainjan' - and I was standing there wondering what next to do when some of my colleagues called me. And I went and spoke to them for 2 minutes, when another client guy came near me and introduced himself..

"Hi, I am Ra_(sathiyama enaku andha per puriyala)"
"Hey, Am Usha"
"What is it again?"
"Usha"
"Can you spell it for me?"
"U-S-H-A" (dei, idhu romba simple per da, idhu kooda unaku vaila nuzhayadha?)
"Your name starts with a 'U'?") (en, U-la start panna adhellam per kidayadha?)
"Yeah"
"Your name starts with the letter U?" (oru thadavai sonna puriyadha unaku?)
"Yeah...(grrrr)"
Meanwhile another guy, the one who admired Rangoli during Diwali preps, came and told this one, "Usha was the one who made Diwali here" (Aama, Diwali oru sweet, naan adhai pannen)
R% : "When was that?"
Rangoli Guy(RG): "I think that was 2 months ago, wasnt it?"
Me : "Yeah.."
R% : "I missed it by 1 month, damn! (parvalla, Diwali-ku valichirukadhu) Will you be here for the next Diwali"
Me : "No"
R% : "You might be here..you never know"
Me : "(Nee irundha naan inike odi poiduven) he he, probably"
R% : "So you are called Usha and it starts with a U??? (Ayyyooooo, arambichuttane!!! idhu enna ulaga adhisayama enna? Ahaa, oruvelai kudichirukana ivan? Usha..appeet!)"
Me : "Why, doesnt Uruguay start with a U? (and so does Uganda!)"

Then came the dancers and started dancing, and the Rangoli guy got so happy and started commenting hot babes and chicks etc..and I tried moving out of the corner under the pretext that I want to see the dance. Eppadiyo mattikaren ovvoruthar kanlayum, that this time I decided that I will go to a safe zone - 'Aaha! adho irukanga the missing girls, po Usha po' - and I went near the girls. These dancers, once they were done, called out two pairs from the group and taught them some gross steps which they had to dance in front of others..konjam kevalama irundhadhu, but again, I didnt know if it is a cross-cultural problem that i am feeling bad.

After the dances, there was nothing much and my ennui was overwhelming me, when they played some music. Naan konjam light-a thalai ellam asaikaradha parthutu, one of the girls called me to dance in the floor..so chumma poi edho thathu pithu-nu pannindhen. Thideernu partha that R% guy had come!!! Avanum edhira adaran!! Ayyayo appadi-nu I turned to some other side and danced and then he realized he wasn't welcome and moved aside..aana sema bore dancing..oru group sema enthu-va circle katti ninnu aaditirundhanga, and our Indian guys, half drunk, were showing their talents :) Anyways, time up, I stopped, decided to leave and left.

Illapa illa..50 50!!

Nethu oru mixed-mode day..padhi naan kadupanen - meedhi mathavanga kadupananga. We were given holiday for the two days following Christmas coz it falls on a weekend by our manager but on a condition that the compensatory workday would be a Saturday. Naanum sandoshama othunten mentioning that it should not be the New year weekend coz I had plans for it. Ennoda aruyir manager, nakkal andha aalku: "Oh! you dont want to work on New Year Eve?! I was thinking of that"-nu anuparan! My kuttisathan took over and sent a mail "We would love to work if you are going to work with us during New year eve"..appuram badhile illa he he he..

Thideernu oru gnanodayam, ayyayo, naama appo work pannalana New Year kitta schedule move aayidume, appuram namma plans enna agardhu-ntu. I called Ms Cashew and asked her if she is fine with working during Christmas hols, ammanidhan hyperactive soul ache, yeah-ntanga..pakkathulaye dev manager nindhu muraichundhar. I told him I didnt want to delay the project completion, so I am planning for the Christmas hols - he immediately flared up and said "C'mon yaar, the system needs to be set up for you folks, how will you do anything?", and I the optimist said, "Why, wont your folks get it done by Friday, anyways our phase was supposed to start on Monday!" "No, UAT is going on, and we wont come during the hols, we will do our preps for you only by Wednesday which would probably end Thursday!" ('Ada paavi, idhukudhan nethu karisanama "neengalam hols-la work panna venda, naan Program Manager kitta pesaran adhai pathi"-nu sonnaya...emandhuttaye Usha, polladha ulagamda samiii)

Che, vidhi da-nu work pannitirundhen, having lost some of my enthu, appo oruthan vandhan coffee cup-oda. 'Ivan ennada ivan, daily vandhu madhiyam uyirai vangaran, daily-a pesitte iruka mudiyum, enakenna velaiye illaya?' "Hey, so what's up?"

"I am going to be here until this coffee cup is empty" ('Ada kokka makka, vara vara coffee cup ellam schedule decider-a mariduchu, kali kaalam da saami!')

"Oh!" ('Enna pannalam, pesavum enkitta topic illa, kadupu vera etharane ivan..') "Ok, shall I ask you a puzzle which might occupy your time for coffee?" ('Say yes, say yes")

"Ok, tell me"

('Maatnan da') So I told him a puzzle about Newton and Einstein which incidentally interested the person sitting next to me, and they took more than 5 minutes to give up..('Appada, coffee quarter cup vandhachu') "So you want to give up?"

"yeah"

I told them the answer - ofcourse ennai adika koodadhu-nu soltudhan - rendu per mugathaiyum parkanume..ada ada ada, kutti sathan-ku sema satisfaction!

So quarter cup dhan achu, 2nd puzzle solli theerthudalam-nu oru conductor puzzle sonnen...but kandu pidichuttan, but who cares, the coffee was emptied and he left the place..tra la la...

Evening vandhadhu, sivane-nu veetuku kilambitrundha ennai COO-vum Program Manager-um kooptanga..ennada matter, edhavadhu problem-anu partha...this COO had offered the other girls here to take them to Blue Mountains, adhai pathi pesardhukam..Grrrr..

COO : "I was talking to PM about the trip to Blue Maauntains" (endhan own, oun indha syllables ellam indha izhu izhukarangalo therila)

PM : "Usha, we need to arrange a rental car, will you be coming?"

Me: "actually no, what do you want me to do?"

PM : "Tell the girls that one of them has to take the lead" (Idhuku ennai koopidanuma? Rental cars ellam periyavanga neenga arrange pannanum..adhunga paavam license kooda illa, evan tharuvan car?)

Me: "They dont have the licenses, I'll talk to them"

COO: I'll talk to the Facilities manager here to enquire about all that (Excellent idea, thappicha Usha)

PM: It's very nice, my parents liked it..it's awesome..blah,..blah (repeat the same statements 5 times, adhan pannar)

Me: Yeah ok, will try to come..he he..I'll leave now, bye

Vitta podhum-nu odi vanten, partha veetuku pogumpodhum PM kitta mattinten, (indha manushan eppo keezha vandar?) andha caves pathiye pesi kazhutharuthu..yov, nee pesama Australian Tourism Department-la serndhuko, en ennoda uyirai vangara?!!!!

Un kannai unnai ematrinal...

Ennoda tortoise coil took this long to take my flashback to April 1st..appo I was in another company. The company was showing losses in the financial results (ennai ellam vachikitta vera enna agum) and the HQ at Dallas decided to bring in a new CEO. Indha CEO vandhadhu vandhar, Texas-lerndhu varisaiya lay-off letters-a Hiroshima mela atom bomb kanakka avalo per mela veesi thallinar..(ofcourse, megalomaniac-nu ninaikaravangalukellam he showed justifications like cost-cutting, overhead etc). This is one end of the cord.

Innoru end-la we in India were thinking who next is going to be fired. Although my division was sure that no one would be fired, enga team-la irundha oru pudhu payyan aranduttan. Enkitta daily kettitirupan "Usha, we wont be affected, right?"-nu..Oru chinna background on this payyan, ivanoda work abilities mela enga team-ku nalla opinion kidayadhu coz this guy used to make up reasons for his faults at work and was passing remarks that most of us thought were out-of-bounds. Enkitta sambandhame illama Monday aniku "Man, I missed you a lot"-nuvan, adhavadhu ivar ennai Sat-Sun gap-la avalo miss panvaram..idhellam aniyayama therila?

Appodhan ennoda kuttisathan (yeah, the same kuttisathan) yosichudhu, ivanai en naama otta koodadhu-nu..

Date: April 1st
Venue: Office

I created a new mail-id using Yahoo having the display name as CEO's name (we had a convention of name/region/compname) and I sent a real nice mail saying that he had been fired and that he has to go talk to his manager and hoping that he understands the difficult phase the company is undergoing blah blah...and adhai avanuku anuppiten. Once I sent it, I went over to the area where he sits and sat next to him under the pretext of talking to another person. Meanwhile, the word had spread in that area and everyone was standing behind anxiously (indha manga adhai kooda gavanikkala)..I saw him opening his mailbox, there were four mails and mine was the 3rd. He slowly opened each mail and went through..1st..2nd and now the 3rd..We kept watching him and he was slowly going pale.

Ennaidhan ellathukum approach panvan, so he called me "Usha, look at this!!", naan romba porumaiya adhai parthuttu, "hey, its ok, go talk to the manager"-nu sonnen. He was like "Man! I am dead, I lost my job" adhu idhu-nu pethitu, he got up to go and talk to the manager. Me, anxious not to let him go, told him "Wait baba, the manager is not in yet, so relax yourself, we'll talk about this"..and he sat back with a blank expression..

I was standing next to him, people standing behind us, and everyone watching what was going on..this guy kept going paler and paler when I said "So, now you are completely tensed up?", he didnt realize the tone I said that and was just looking at me blankly when I said "I sent it" and smiled. He didnt believe his ears and said "What? Repeat it!" "I sent it" and bang, all his smiles re-appeared on his face and he held my hands in that moment of relief and tension blended in his whole mind "Usha, you saved me, man!!!"

'Ada paavi, logicallu nee enkitta kochikanum da, ivan enna thank panran???'

He hugged everyone around with a big relief written all over his face. The good thing here was that he didnt make a big issue out of this whereas this is really a sensitive issue. En luck-nudhan sollanum, but anyways, everyone had a good laugh..a few did say that I did a wrong thing, but i knew they enjoyed it too :)

So that was my kutti-sathan in action...tortoise back to its original time and date, ippo kutti sathan yosikudhu enna panlam indha DEO payyanai-nu..

kadavul padhi mirugam padhi..

Rework again!! Oru manushi ethanai thadavai rework panva? Threshold limit enkitterndhu dhan edukanum ninaikaren..this particular work has been done several times that ennoda kanavula kooda indha work dhan panren! Indha dev team keeps on making more and more changes, which in turn is delaying the schedule..adhu kooda parvalla (infact niraya per-ku oorku pogave ishtam illayam ippo), rework panradhudhan is more taxing.

Andha depressing day-ku next day kathuppom-nu resolution eduthome, adhai kappathuvom-nu daily kaalaila varen, but it tragically ends in doing a completely insane task instead! Adding fuel to this fire is this DEO guy (belonging to the same dev team) who keeps coming to me every morning to start making his day by addressing me "GoodMorning DEO", which he did today too.

'Vaada raasa vaa, unnai parkalanudhan wait pannindhen'

"Good Morning" (Grrrrrrrrrrrrr)

Ore kushi avanuku, naan pal kadikardhu kettuducham, he irritates me more by smirking at me. Appuram avan avanoda manager kitta pesindhan, while I got back to my "rework" and my music. Naan pattu kekkumpodhu hum panven, illa edhavadhu kaiya vachittu pannitrupen like tapping or snapping, en thalai ezhuthu, ivan irukumpodha pannanum? He resumed his "Everybody teases Usha" show and commented, "She has all kinds of actions that heroes do in movies", adhai kettu suthi irundhavanga sirichanga (enda ennai mattum target panra?) and he said "It's fun watching someone getting angry" (Aama, it is more fun getting thrashed up, wanna try?) and it went on..am not going to relate more than this, innum kadupaiduven!

Enakulla irundha kutti sathan mella muzhichudhu, erkaneve sema irate-a irundhena on the dev team, I decided I should do something. This reminded me of a prank (rather a sensitive prank) I played in my previous company..periya effect ellam illa, but many wouldn't like it...

Pacha kuzhandhayinnu paalooti valarthen...

Aniyayam! Akramam! Edho help kettane-nu oru thadavai help pannina, ivan ooruke help panna solran?! Adhaye muzhu nera thozhila vera aakitu poitane! Padhaga!

I had a good script which can enter data from an excel sheet (well, developers have a similar script too but as is the mindset of dev folks, they just randomly generate unintelligible numbers which no one but them can decipher or identify..naanga ellam rational normal makkal, adhanala as per Sense and Sensibility theory azhagana data dhan enter panvom :D) with which I was happily creating data for my team's sake in matter of seconds. Idhu andha padupavi functional payyanuku eppadiyo therinju pochu (engayo ulnatu sadhi) and he came over to me.

"Usha, I need some data to be created for my team, so can you please use your script to do so?"

Naanga altruistic-a nadandhukardha ninaichikitu told him I can do so and sent him my file format.. seri, colleagues dhane ellaroda victory dhan project victory-nu thathu pithu-nu ninaichutu generated the data too. That was the first time..

After a week or so, he came to me again and said he needs data to be created again. Engayo moolaila mani adichudhu, Usha, vera engayo pogudhu unnoda actual role inga-nu, but anyways me being me, I said "Yeah ok" and then came the bomb..

"Err..can you also help in data creation for UAT which is going to start in a couple of days?"

'Vaada en kokka makka, naan enna ooruke data create panradhuka inga vandhen???'

"Hey, that isn't fair, I cant be doing it for everyone!!"

"Please yaar, just this once.."

Naanum kenai madhiri othunten, although my mani was ringing continuously..

Appuram evano oruthan vandhan, vandhu enkitta doubt ellam kettutu "I'll send you the file you wanted" sollitu, file-um anuppinan, which was day-before yesterday. And unfortunately I just could not create the file due to various reasons, functional, technical..oorla iruka athanai problems-um vandhu, it took me almost 3/4th of the day to complete just 400 records! Aniku-nu parthu andha padupadhagan varala, comp-off!! Enakudhan tharanum ellarum comp-off inga!

And to add to my frustration, one of the dev guys started calling me DEO (Data Entry Operator), adhu kooda D.E.O-nu solradhilla, DEO(as someone says deoderant in the short form) appadinu! Enaku kaduppana kadupu..

And yesterday I told Mr. Padupadhagan that I am not doing anymore of this thing, and he said "C'mon Usha, you get to know more people and get more responsibilities.." and I retorted "I can as well call him for a cup of coffee and get to know him (u duffer!)" Nakkala vera sirichindhan ennai parthu. I thought it was all over until the guy who had given me the excel files came again with my manager to the same room where I was talking to Mr. PP and my manager told him "Usha can help you with the remaining data as well" !!!!! Idhu enna akramama iruku, ellarume enaku aapu vaikaranga?! Muraichitte irundhen PP-a, meanwhile the dev guy who calls me DEO comes to the same room (now this is the room where all ftnal people sit, and that is around 10) and broadcasts to them that I have been christened DEO! En vidhiya nondhutte I created that data as well after getting back to my desk. And the dev guy continued going all over the place and conveying everyone my new name much to the amusement of everybody.

Come today, and I find that the data I had created for myself had vanished!! Poi andha DEO payyanai pichi eduthen only to find that I had accidentally entered it in another environment :( Sodhanai, idhukudhan oorpatta envo-la data entry panna koodadhu-nradhu!! I started creating data when Mr. PP gave his entry again and said he wanted some data to be created for his team (I have forgotten now idhuvaraikum evalo thadavai panniten-nu)..ada paavi, innum evaloda naan pannuven?? But as it happens, I am doing it now :( with an information that I will do one more a few days later.

Inimel yaarkum help-e panna koodadhu, panninalum I think I should clearly state it is an one-time help and no more requests are entertained...probably put up an 'Access Denied' message. Oore ennai parthu sirikudhu inga, and that guy continues to call me DEO...

Ulagam pirandhadhu enakaga..

Nethu sema depressed-a irundhen, everything looked so gloomy and depressing. Ennada life idhu, onnum puriya maatengudhu-nu. Work vandha, everything appears so new and needs learning everyday, endha matter-ume vilanga mattengudhe-nu kaduppayitte irundhen.

Well, for one thing, this is the first project in this domain for me, as a result naan niraya kathuka vendi iruku, and things arent the same as what I am used to work on or excelled in. Ellame mudhallerndhu kathukanum-na enna vilayatta? Che, ippadi oru kevalamana jandhu-va irukome, makku, maramandai ellathoda muzhumudhal vilakkama irukome-nu sema depression..ennala yaruku enna prayojanam, paisa labam iruka nammala adhu idhu-nu bayangarama thought process. Ofcourse people have told me that I am doing good for a first-timer in this domain, aana that does not mean I am doing good, right? Enake ennai partha kevalama therinjudhu nethu full-a..naama eppadi munnera porom life-la, ippadilam muttala irundha..onnu vilangudha indha matti moolai-ku? Edhayavadhu urupadiya seyarena naan? Depression depression depression, engengu kaninum depression-ada appadinu padara range-ku poiten. Kanla thanni mattumdhan varala, but the whole of my heart was so heavy that the only thing I wanted was to explode with a biggggg blast!

Personal-avum yarkavadhu naama important-a irukoma, nammala yarkavadhu sandosham iruka...ippadi arpa manida piravi-ya irukene-nu adhu oru thani thread odudhu..so essentially my whole mind was running a full memory consuming process consisting of so many threads each with priority 5 vying for the CPU time. I was in my all-time lows last night that I just wanted to shut myself up in some 4x4 dark room. Yosichu yosichu day pass panni kadaiseela thoongavum thoongiten (ofcourse dinner ellam saptutudhan :D, ennadhan depression-nalum dinner marakaradha, chanceless!!)

Kaalaila ezhundhen with the same pressing thoughts, but the new light gave me some enthusiasm..idhellam ovvoru individual-kum vara feeling, I mean enthusiasm out of a new day, nothing cinematic about it - and I started humming "Ulagam pirandhadhu enakaga" and was thinking in the lines of "enna pudalanga domain, jujubi, namaku therila-na enna, kathukalam..kathukardhu enna pudhusa enna namaku? Adhan ovvoru naalum panrome"-nu oru pudhu thread arambichudhu..it soon came up to Priority 5 and demoted the other threads and took up the entire CPU, yeah, ofcourse micha thread-ellam oru kutti corner-la odittudhan iruku, but ok,hopefully I can kill them soon enough..

Padhala Bairavi!

Saturday aniku edho velai pannalam-nu (?!!) office pakkam vandhen. Partha floor polishing-nra per-la elevator-lam papparakka-nu thirandhu pottu clean pannindhanga. Ennangada idhu mela vida mattanga poliruke-nu, I went to the guy who looked like the supervisor and told him that I need to go to level 9. Avan innoruthanai kooptu (apparently this innoruthan was the lead of the cleaning team) 'This lady wants to go to level 9, can you direct her through the fire stairs?'-nu kettan.

Avan udane poruppa, avan keezha work panravanai kooptu (adadada, enna heirarchical delegation) edho chinese-la pesinan 'tha thoo thab tho bong..' (ippadidhan enaku kettudhu)

That fellow took me to the basement (level -2) let me into a door and said this is the stair in broken English and left. Naan 'ennada idhu sodhanai'-nu mela pona, there was one door after 2 floors which let me out to the side entrance of the same ground floor!!! And I didnt find any other open door in the route to upstairs, every door was locked.

Velila vantu, I headed back to the same guy and told him there was no route to level 9. Avan thirumba adhe adiyaalai kooptu adhaye sonnan, avanum vandhan. This time he came along with me and I showed him that there was only one exit. Adhai kettutu keezha vandhan, ella door-ayum parthan, mela ponan, velila poitan!! 'Dei, naan unkitta vazhi ketta, nee patuku mela poita?'

I was alone inside this place, ponavan thirumba keezha thirandhu mela vandhan ('makku, level 0 exit-a thatina, naan adhaye thirandhu vittutu poren, adhuku edhuku basement varaikum poitu vara?'), vandhuttu oru door-a thirandhu parthan, adhu level 0 office-ku entrance-nu clear pannintu thirumba poitan! ('Enna vilayadaraya enkitta? Paruda-na ,keezha vara, mela pora??')

Thirumba keezherndhu vandhan ('AArrrghhh') 'Sorry, wait'-nan, innum 2 door thirandhan, naanum parthen, suthi suthi parthuttu thirumba poitan.
(:((((((((((((((((((((((((()

Fourth time! He did the same thing, I was so exasperated that I decided I am going out when he goes, avanum adhaye sonnan, so I followed him to his lead, who scolded him and told me that there were others who took the fire stairs to level 9 (yaar andha budhisaalinga?)

Thirumbavum basement, this guy was instructed to find another fire door to let me in, and this guy happily lit a cigarette and went inside the garbage room (Enna panna try panran ivan?!) and called up his lead (I came to know of this later) and spoke the same 'Tha too bong' and gave the phone to me. 'Do you know where the manager's room is?', I said that I dont know after which I was asked to hand the phone back to the worker, a few more chinese words, and then the phone came back to me 'Please wait there for 10-15 mins, and I will come and take you to level 9', 'Aamada, erkaneve 30 minutes pochu, idhuku mela basementlaye innoru 10-15 minutes..sooper po' and this guy left me.

Appo-nu parthu some security fellow entered asking me if I had been there waiting for something. 'Aaha, ennada pudhu vambu idhu?' "Yeah, these guys want me to wait here for sometime to go to level 9"

"How did you try going to level 9, elevator?"

"No, I took the fire stairs but they led me to level 0"

"Oh, we had some fire alarm, so the manager sent me here"

"oops, that was me, because I was opening the fire door at level 0 to go out repeatedly, there was this blue light flickering above the door. It was my mistake, sorry"

"oh, that's ok, that wasnt your fault"

and off he went to call up the manager. Saridhan, sodhanai mel sodhanai-nu ninaichu I was just wandering..oru 5 mins kazhichu thirumba vandhan, vandhuttu sonnan "I am not able to reach the manager", "So are you going to stay here until then?" (aasai aasai) "I hope not, let me try again"

Soon he got a call from the manager saying that the elevators have been stopped (aama, theriyave theriyadhu idhu!) and that it would be set in 5 mins. Ivanum poruppa enkitta idhai soltu ponan velila.

Again after 5 mins, he came in and asked me "has that stopped your work?"- 'Che che illave illa, naan thoongardhuku ivalo dhooram vandhen'- "Yeah, I have wasted around 45 minutes"

"Oh, sorry about that, I am leaving now, all the best, bye" 'Nakkal?'

"Bye"

Another 5 minutes went by, and the same worker came in the elevator and told me the news "The elevators are working now"

Appada, after 45 minutes of suffocation and sweating out, am now heading towards level 9!!!

Ange tholaindhaval naane...

Tin katranga velai-la...enga poi edhai panna try pannalum nothing works out, concerned people-a kettalum they tell me they have other work to do (appo naan enna inga vettiyava suthitruken??) They can tell me that they have other work, but what on earth will I tell my manager?

Podha kuraiku en resource-ayum adutha team karan sudaran, ketta there are too many managers and less workers-nran, adhukaga irukara worker-ayum enkitterndhu edutha, naan enga poven?

Iniku romba romba romba kaduppa iruken, suicide pannikaren sonna ellarum window-ku vazhi katranga (one of the methods-am) Idhellam aniyayama therila?

Oorai therinjukitten...

Ada paavi, kavuthuttiye...manga!!!! Ennada meeting ellam attend panrome, edhaiyavadhu nyabagam vachippom (ofcourse, naane oru nyabaga maradhi case dhan, that's a different issue altogether) appadinu edhavadhu iruka? Maramandai!! Thadiya!! Seri, pakkathula eduthu tharale oruthi, appadiyavadhu nyabagam varudha, adhuvum kidayadhu..football madhiri nalla urundaiya valara mattum theriyudhula..

Ippadilam thittarene, adhu vera yarum illa, satshath ennoda manager dhan. Iniku client-oda oru meeting, and we were discussing about the designs and stuff. Appo oru parameter pathi question vandhadhu, my manager was asking if we are going to maintain that parameter in the designs. Appo oru periya balti adichanga client, indha parameter enga state aayiruku-nu. Indha kiruku thiru thiru-nu muzhichindadhu, I was trying to say that it was mentioned in the workshop we had with the client, infact document-la point kooda pannen, indha manga kitta, idhai discuss panrache avangale dhan sonnanga-nu. Idhu idhai kettutu complete-a ignore pannitu "We had assumed that this is the parameter"-ntu soltan!!!

Idhula enna kodumai-na, naane client-kitta thaniya oru discussion-la sandhegama adhai pathi ketten, "are you sure that this is the parameter"-nu, adhuku nalla mandaya mandaya attinanga, ippo where is it stated-nu super balti!

Padupavi, outright-a team-aye vittu koduthutan, how can someone assume about such a critical parameter and put it in a document especially for a design? Ofcourse designs-la assumptions irukum, aana there are certain critical parameters that are taken as inputs, adhai poi assume pannen-nu sonna endha client summa irupanga? Edho idhu oru manga client, vittutanga (enna ulla ninaichanga-nu therila)

Erkaneve padhi matter sariya nadakka mattengudhu (as is normal in projects), idhula appapo design mathu, mannangatti-a mathu-na enga pova Usha?

kaakaikum than kutti..

Ingadhan oru ariya periya jeevanai , thannoda department-aye protective-a parthukara oru mahatma-va parthen. Ennamo thannoda group dhan ulagathula work panra ore group madhiriyum naanga ellam edho work-na kilo enna vilai-nu kekkara madhiriyum oru scene vittan parunga...

We had a problem with this Mahatma's division application, so we wanted to get that solved with his offshore-team's help (vera vazhi? mullai mullaladhan edukanum) and Mahatma was quite not willing to let me mail his team or share the contacts with me. Ivarukudhan naan mail pannanumam, avar adhai pass panvaram (Pona jenmathula pura-va irundhiruparo?). Seri parvalla, as long as we get the work done, it is fine-nu I sent him mails for which he got the responses and then came a time when we needed a call (ofcourse avare manasu vandhu suggest pannadhudhan)..he gave us a lot of advice before the call:

"See, they are very busy folks, you should be as precise as possible (illa, naanga Ramayanam kadhai dhan solvom)"

"This our problem " (Yov, ivlodhanya keppom, romba bandha pannadha)

"Maybe they wont know this if you ask them" (nee enna mutrum arindha nyani-a?)

"Maybe they know, coz they have been doing this, but why dont we just try?" (dhayavu senju let this call go thru!!)

"Yeah, ok, you can try"(yabbaaa)

Then we made the call, (pannumpodhe enaku warning, he is a senior guy-nu, en senior-na answer panna mattara?) and this guy introduced me and Cashew to the other person. We started putting forth our questions, and that guy was giving us pointers. He said something and Ms. Cashew went off to check that, appodhan andha manusham oru bomb pottan, "I have given the KT to her team earlier on this.."

Avalodhan, our Mahatma started rattling off "Oh that's awesome, that's beautiful ( and all those likes) So she can go and ask her team, that's a very valid information you have given, good man (repeating this to n to the power of 10000 times)" Ada paavi manusha, un team engaluku help pannina enna unga code size-la jasthiyava poidum??

Infact that guy was offering to help (vazhga un thondu) saying that he'd be available through the day and that we can call him anytime, and this guy keeps telling me to contact my folks offshore!

Anyways, the same day we managed to solve it by mailing one more question to that person (adhukavadhu othundar indha Mahatma)..vaaya vaa, enikavadhu en team-kitta unga team help kekkamaya poidum, appo vachukkaren naan...

Kettum pattanam poi ser-enru...

Naamalum Australia-oda capital city parkalam-nu idea vandhadhu. Seri-nu, oru car eduthundu kilambinom, the lady at the rental directed us to take the road towards Wallangong and from there go to Canberra. Seri-nu chamatha andha Wollongong (engerndhu pidichanga indha pera?) road-aye eduthutu pona, there were absolutely no directions to Canberra!! Akramam, oru capital city-ku route podala, aana Melbourne-ku mattum anganga directions!
So eventually route mathi poi, yarkittayo ketta, avan solran it would take another 2.5 hrs (appo time 1:00). Seri ok, McDonalds poitu decide panikalam-ntu, poi nalla French Fries (my favo :D) adichuttu Canberra-ve vendam, Hunter Valley polam-ntu decide pantu petrol station pona, anga solranga

"You can as well go to Canberra, coz it only takes 2 hrs(time 1:30) and Hunter Valley would take more"-tu.

They also gave the directions, andha direction-layum Canberra route suthama ledhu! Seri, pakkathu car thatha-va keppom-nu avarai ketten. He said

"Go till the end of the road, take right and go to Macquarie pass"

..and we went off to find the end of the road, porom porom porm, absolutely no end!! And finally there was a point where the road forked, and there was no right turn!! (Idhu eppadi iruku?) Macquarie-um kanom oru mannangatti-um kanom! Seri-nu andha road-aye pidichutu pona there was a mountain that we had to climb and descend, appovum no Canberra...and what do we find? a route to kangaroo valley! Allright, lets go to this Valley-nu car eduthutu pona 3:15 varaikum road nera poiteee iruku! Finally there was a huge entrance saying Kangaroo Valley, but get into it, there was only a museum and a restaurant..and I expected to see kangaroos! Edhavadhu sapidalam-nu andha restaurant-la nuzhainju juice + wedges adichappuram andha restaurant lady solra, it will take another 2 hrs to go to Canberra ('Enna Vilayadareengala enkitta? Indha Canberra enna 7 kadal thandi malai thandiya iruku?') so we decided to head back to Sydney, idhuku mela Canberra poi enna panradhu? (Wedges sapdaradhuku oru trip for almost 4 hrs!)

Ottite vandhu Sydney serndhom, vandhadhudhan vandhom, lets get to the HQ for some work-ntu North Sydney poitu, we headed towards the city. Harbor Bridge-la toll pay panlam-na wallet-la absolutely no cash! So we just gave the car number and headed forth. Seri vandi engayavadhu park panlam-nu suthi suthi Darling Harbor pakkam vandha, anga enga park panradhu therila. So I went off to ask someone in a place to park. Park panna mudiyadhu soltan avan, but he offered to give directions to my apartments, and he called a girl, who was very busy talking over the phone, so she didnt help. Then he went in and called another guy and said "Give directions to go to the harbor Parking to this beautiful lady" (?!! Innangada, weekend weekend verupethanum-nu mudive panteengala? Illa pora vara ponnungalellam parthu ippadi solrdhu unga culture-a? Grrr) And andha innoruthan padu heavy accent-la ennamo sonnan. So we took the car, and thinking we have to take some right, headed straight up the Harbor Bridge and went to North Sydney again!!! Thalai ezhuthu, route theriyama N. Sydney poi, thirumba vandhu Sussex St ellam suthi, when we figured out and came to the apartments, it was 11:00 PM!

Adhoda mudiyala kadhai, the next day, when we returned the car, the car had a new dent, eppadi vandhadhu-ne therila :( and my credit card is at stake now :(((

Oru malai ilaveyil neram...

Idhu sathiyama romantic post kidayadu, if at all the subject suggests that. Padu kaduppula iruken, this is Friday evening, and I am still at work without any work. Indha madhiri kodumai ellam enaku dhan nadakum. Velila nalla ilaveyil kaayudhu, yeah inga it is a long day during summers, although it is around 8:00 PM, and ulla naan mandai kaayaren!! I am not going to get into the reasons, but this is maddening!!

Ellarum office-la Harry Potter padam poranga :( Nethu was a Christmas party at the headoffice here in Sydney, rendukume naan illa. Podha kuraiku avavanga vandhu soltu poranga nethu enna nadandhadhu-nu..nalla dance aadinangalam...saptangalam... kudichangalam (idhellam enkitta vandhu solli erkaneve heat aana head-a lava heat-ku kondu varanuma???)

Seri office-la irukome, nimmadhiya naalu per kitta pesalam-na, appo-nu parthu 3 jandhus came with my favorite cream coffee..porache ennai kooptutu pona coffee quantity kurainja poidum? Nalla enaku edhiraye adhai mokkitu ponanga. Pasikudhu vera...romba polambaren, but that is the effect of my hunger + mandai kaichal!

Seriously speaking, what kinda aliens work on a Friday evening? Ippodhan parkaren, 2-3 developers, indha dev vargathuku entertainment-na bytes enna vilai-nu keppanga pola! They have something or the other to keep fixing (adhukellam mudhallaye code ozhunga ezhudhanum, illana idhan agum) but managers are the cool lot, they get to stay only on the last few days or 1 or 2 days during the course. And these dev guys, they just cant help thinking about their codes wherever or however they are..ippo oru dev enkitta pesindhan, avanuku kooda pesumpodhu avan codedhan nyabagam varudhu! Ennada pesarome, appovavadhu mind-a relieved-a vachipom..mmhm, andha funda-ve kidayadhu. Now my back is paining..

Ah cool, I am leaving now!! FinallY!

I am back :( it is raining outside, did I tell you that it is ilaveyil neram? Sorry I was wrong..indha office-nra oru nalu suvathukulla irundhu naan veli ulagame theriyama vazharen. Enna pozhapuda idhu?! This Sydney weather is so erratic that even during summer you get rains or cold winds, last 2 weeks it was damn cold!

Ok, mazhai stopped, me leaving..hopefully this time!