The Bottle Of Signature

Meeting New people
I knew Fonzie since the school days when i was in my third or the fourth grade. We used to go for the same tuitions at Mrs. D'Souza's place. Fonzie had always been mischievious as far as i remember. We kind of jelled along well when we were in the tuitions, however i lost touch with him as we shifted from Sector 16 to a new place at sector-14. Although we were in same school, we were in different grades and moreover we had different friend circles. I still remember Fozie getting the maximum number of spankings from our tuition teacher Mrs. Nancy D'Souza for the havoc he used to create in the class and for all the low Percentages in his marksheet. I met him after a long time in this company and we recognized each other , the guy has grown huge of about 6.2 ft Tall and Hefty( well not really considering his Size lengthwise). However , so once we were at the terrace leaning towards the boundary, and we see the same gang entering the terrace and watching us smoking, the same guy with stubble and long hairs walks towards towards us again in search of a light. "How are you man" Fonzie asked him, " well doing OK" came the reply. He grabbed the cigerette from Fonzie and he lit his Classic Milds". Oh another fellow smoking Classic Milds, i already had a friend who used to smoke the same brand and we had a fight some time back , oh that is a long story, will write about it some other time. Oh so they knew each other. "Oh the training is getting Hectic, You guys have a lot of fun on the shop floor, Listening to music , playing games and wandering around the floor, We have to sit at one place either processing or sitting at the training room listening to all that jazzzz" Said the guy , to which Fonzie replied " You dint even watch the one percent of the kind of work that we had done when we were in a different proces. wait till the January and u will see the number of calls and the kind of call that we all will get. even the food from the canteen is brought inside the floor." The boy smiled and quitely left us in order to join his gang. So I asked Fonzie " Was this guy in Fr. Agnels by any chance" , Well we have studied in Fr. Agnels. To my question Fonze replied with a nod or affirmation, " I thought i have seen him somewhere.What is His Name?"I asked " Simba" replied Fonzie.That is the reason why i used to always feel i have seen him somewhere, good a reunioun or a kind of an Agnel Community is forming here in this company, i was pleased. The other day on a weekend that was when the shift got over at 3.30 AM in the morning i saw this boy Simba getting into his Vehichle an old model of Maruti Esteem with another friend of his. He sits on the same Shop Floor where i sit, at the other end though. but we keep bumping into each other as he sits very close to the Shop Floor entrance and i being one hefty guy keep dashing his chair as the kind of space provided to us is not enough for my kind of size.
There was already enough of an excitement on the floor with the New Back Office people shifting in. Some New faces, especially Gurrrlllzzz!!!. Well many from the contact Center were not happy unlike me. It had always been a complete Contact Center floor since the day we had joined here. Specially for people like me who were in this company for Two Long years. When I tell my Dad , It has been two long years , he says Long??? i have worked as a Civil Engineer in Larsen and Toubro All my Life for about 32 yrs now, but i still feel that is less. Thanks to the Call Center Mentality , " You Have Been in this Company for Six Monthssss??? and you are still an Associate???? That is Bad." Well Many of you will call me An Old Fashioned Orthodox Ass. But I feel , When you Get Name, Fame and success early , you dont value it. The success that comes with a bit of waiting and struggles holds a lot of value. That does not mean we have to stop Focussing, but we can stop getting frustrated watching all these young guys around climbing up the ladder without learning the basics. Anyways, comming back to where I was. So Sudeep and i were really excited to watch some new babes around. Sudeep was one hell of a guy. He is also from my school and a grade junior to me, He and fonze were from the same Batch, and that is why i had mentioned that we are sort of forming an Agnel community out here. Sudeep and me were in a process that hardly has any work to do. We hardly get 5 calls in a day nad the rest of the time we spend surfing the net, Listening to music from Sudeep's Newly bought I-Pod (30 GB)., or watching movies when all the managers left the floor after 2.30 AM. Well now we had another addition as a Time pass and that is Bird Watching. A small part of the Gang were sitting besides us but, unfortunately it did not have the so called " Babes" in that group , but the guys were friendly. We had a couple of friends in this new gang Sudeep and I were quite friendly with Sarika as she was an Old employeee and she was a part of the team that had been to US for the Transition of the Process. So we got along with each other pretty well. For her the floor was new as she was not used to sitting with the contact Center people. She new only a few of the contact Center guys including Sudeep and me. We made her feel comfortable, and through her we got to know the name of the new girls on the floor. Harmeen , Sushama, Anita. We also Nicknamed them so that no one comes to know whom we are talking about. Like we Called Sushama by the Name "Sushi" and Gurmeen by the Name "Gappi". And Sarika , Sudeep and Me had a great time together , Cracking PJs , Laughing Loud and watching the New 'Chicks ' On the floor and making fun of them.

The bottle Of Signature

' The first Impression'
For Every Bengali Durga Pooja is a Grand festival and is celebrated with full Zest during Navratri In the Month of October.Durga is one of the angry and aggressive aspects of the goddess Shakti, whose role in Hindu mythology was to fight and conquer demons and also personify the Sakti or female aspect of any male deity . So Ideally this festival was started by lord Rama and that was around 10000 years ago.In West Bengal, Durga Puja is five days of festivity.Ma Durga, with her children, Ganesh and Kartick, and with her two 'sakhis' - Jaya and Bijaya, comes to visit her parent's home each year during the season of 'Sharat' or autumn when Durga Puja is celebrated. It hinges around Mahalaya day, a week before the actual celebrations begin. It was on this day that Durga was assigned the task of eliminating evil. So the familiar pose of Durga unleashing her wrath on an out powered assura (demon). Legend goes that Ram wanted to invoke the blessings of Durga before his great war with Ravan the ten-headed demon king of Sri Lanka who had abducted Seeta, wife of Lord Rama.. He performed the Durga Puja despite the time of year not being right. That is why the puja is also known as Akal Bodhon, or untimely invocation. Those five days are the best days of my year. Like every Bengali I eagerly wait for this festival for a year. And when it is only a week away we start with all the shopping, a lot of shopping, for mom, for Dad, Cousins and for myself. During those five days we Fast during the day time and break our Fast only after ‘Pushpanjali’ a ritual where we offer flower with ‘bail’ leaves after repeating those divine hymns recited by the Pundit/ Pujari . For Lunch we have the ‘Khichuri Bhog’ Dal And rice Cooked together with some spices along with ‘Aloo sabzi’ sweet tomato chutney and ‘Rosogollar Payesh’ Rice, Milk and Rasgualla cooked together ,condensing the Milk along with Jaggery made of dates. In the afternoon spend time with friends Chatting and in the evening ‘Pandal’ Hopping with family. Being a Foodie this my favourite of all festivals as in the evening I get to have those amazing Bengali Cuisines made of Prawns, And Mutton . I am very particular about taking my leaves during the festival. Even when I was in school, be it the Final exams I made sure that I celebrate this festival to its fullest. And when it is ‘Dussera’ the final day of the puja and the day when we bid adieu to our beloved Mother Godess , it is a sad day, left with another year of waiting.
So as I do every year, this year I celebrated Durga Pooja, took a leave for 8 days from work , and I Joined back the day after ‘Dussera’ left with all the great memories in my mind. Back in to my old routines. It was a gloomy and manic Monday as always , but this was too gloomy for me as I was back to work after a week long vacation. So on my One hour Dinner Break ( As we work on a night shift) at around 10.45 pm I went upstairs, had my dinner, the usual chapatti and bhaji that my Mom cooked and packed it in a Tiffin. After having my dinner I went to the terrace for a smoke or two. As usual dining all alone, A lot of people around and I knew them all. It had been two years in this company, but my experience with people and their politics had kept me away from them. It is not that I am not friendly. Most of my friends have left the company in search of better prospects, and they were all doing well. They had all suggested me, “ it is time for you to leave too. How long will you stay here and rot yourself”. I was too lazy to do that. The kind of comfort level I am with the office close to my residence, as close as hop-skip and jump, with my daytime Interior Designing Classes, As I am aspiring to be an Interior designer or get into art direction in movies. Moreover, the Process I am working in has very little work, with hardly any Calls to attend. Thinking all this I am still sticking around with this company, though there is no scope of any professional growth out here. I lit my first cigarette after my dinner as I walked into the Terrace. Our Terrace is a huge one with every group finding a comfortable private corner, just having a Gala-Time making fun of all the people around thing they are the smartest one of all. I am Not Criticizing as I once belonged to one such gang not too long ago. We always gathered during our dinner break, coincidentally we all were from different departments and that made us comfortable in speaking to each other, and moreover we used to get some spice happening in other departments as well. We were the ones to bitch about all the people we hated . Right starting from Sachin Tendulkar’s Poor Form to a Team manager who liked scanning at all the girls wearing short skirts to those girls who were opportunists compromising with their self respect in order to get a promotion. But the Group existed no more as some of the key members from our gang had left the company in search of better prospects. Thinking of those good times I suddenly felt a burn on my fingers with which I was holding the cigarette, I applied a break to my thought process and lit another cigarette leaning against the Granite Platform on the Right side of the entrance to the terrace. Suddenly a bunch of people (Boys and girls) walked in carrying their dinner . All of them looked as if they were just out of college and were new joinees in the company. The last one to enter was a boy with silky hair covering the entire face. He turned around searching for a place to sit as the Platform on which i was resting was a comfortable place to sit as one can use the wall behind as a backrest. However the place was occupied by me , though it had enough of space to accomodate each one of them comfortable. They decided not to intrude my Privacy and specially since they are new in the company , they were a bit gittery speaking to all the senior employees, it was not they were unsmart .
The boy with long silky Hair's sight kind of grabbed my attention as his face was somehow very famiilliar, as if i have seen him an umpteen number of times or may be daily . He had a thick stubble on his face and his large brown eyes filled with mischief , would remind you of a boy in his early teenage, ready and eagerly waiting to explore the world. He like the other people in his gang had carried his Dish full of rice and Dal outside as the Canteen was full. They comfortably rested themselves on an unusual seating arrangement in our terrace , an elevated area panelled with polished granite and tiles , carved in the shape of a piano. They finished their dinner and the boy removed a cigerette from his pocket and again started scanning the entire Terrace , searching for a soul who can offer him a match to lite his cig. I was the last to fall into his attention , and i could see the pleasure on his face after he could see the lit cigerette in my hand. Slowly he walked towards me as if he is on a sight-seeing and in no hurry.

"The Bottle Of Signature"

Prologue 04/07/2006

"You are ok no Baba?" I asked , to which Simba replied " Try me out" in his usual way and Paddy burst out laughing. Simba and me had just finished the Quarter bottle of Whisky. Paddy was happy as It was after a long time since we had paid her a visit. 'we must be togother always, the way we are right now' i thought. It was a happy day for me too. almost perfect.
So i got up finally and slipped into my floaters and there I was ready to leave. Simba was still lounging around the mattress raising his hand towards me expecting me to pull him up , in order to help him stand upright, and so i did. he wore his shoes the same worn and torn, that he had been wearing since ages without even bothering to wash. " I like my old stuff" said Simba whenever he got sugestions to buy a new pair of shoes, "i can never throw them apart, I am just like my Dad". " Does he think the same way when it comes to friendship?" I wondered. What will happen when i turn an old friend of his?, and we know each other so much/well that we would never need to call each other every day in order to stay in touch? will he be the same Simba saying ' i like my old friends' the same way that he thinks about his old shoes? The thought process put me into scielence for moment. " What happened ? What are you thinking? " Asked Paddy. She reads my mind pretty well but most of the times she over-reads it. " Nothing" was my instant reply.
So we said goodbye to Paddy and we started climbing down the staircase as i checked the time in my wrist watch. It was 11.25 pm. " Close the Door" Shouted Simba and i hushed him. Simba was drunk after having a Can Of Beer 'Royal Challenge' and two pegs of Whisky 'Signature'. Somehow i could not agree to the fact that some one could get drunk in this much, It always irritated me as I have always been in a company of Voracious Boozers , Placing Bets on how many botttles of Beer can be finished at a time, and and how many pegs of Whisky can be drunk at a time and all "Bottoms Up", Simba was first of his kind, who liked to booze and at the same time used to get drunk at two cans of beer or two pegs of whisky. We walked outside the Society where Paddy resided and got into Simba's 'Wagon R' ('Chameli' I had nicknamed the Car), the sight of his car always brought a pleasent smile on my face. We have had some lovliest time together in that car , be it driving all the way from north Bombay to South Bombay and after that ,all the way from south Bombay to New Bombay and then to Lonavala in one single night, Or may it be Racing another Wagon R' on the Mumbai - Pune express highway, or be it walking out of the car at mini Sea-shore after a terrible argument, Or be it Simba Shouting at me inside the car when it was raining heavily outside after i sent him those disturbing messeges . All the moments just flashed into my mind at the mere sight of the lovely car. Though the Car didn't belong to me i have an emotional attachment to it.
" i think we need to stop at the public toilet, I need to empty my bladder " i told Simba, " so do I" replied back Simba agreeing to my opinion as the feelings were mutual . So he stopped the car near a garden . After we were done with our business, we got into the Car again and Simba put on the Radio. " dont you have your CD with ya?" I asked. He did not reply instead just made some sound " naaa", so i understood he is feeling lazy to remove them from the Folder. " Hey did u see that Cat crossing the road?" I shouted after i saw one crossing by , I am superstitious i know , but sometimes people should listen to me, he neglected the idea and said," The scooter was ahead of us so we are safe , they have crossed the imaginary (superstitious) line of restriction and bad omen drawn by the cat"
We drove through the Palm Beach Road at a speed of 120 per Km, the raindrops slapping my Face.I still kept the glasses rolled down and i popped my hand outside the window feeling the wind hitting on palms pushing it backwords. For a moment i thought of telling simba that he need not drop me all the way till home , as i could see he was drunk and how fast he was driving on the highway but i did not utter. A few days back i had walked out off his car , while he was insisting me to accompany him at Mini Sea-shore for a Smoke i had rejected the idea rudely. So ithought i would compensate for that.
So I Reached home in about Ten minutes , He Drove all the way from Juhinagar back to Koperkhairane Three Tanks in approximately Ten minutes, This is not surprising in case of Simba, We Are Used to his kind of driving, " You must always Trust the Driver " , Whenever i feel Simba Drives Rash, I always remember these words once said by a friend named Anand. How true after all we have an example of Arjuna Trusting Krishna his Charriot rider during the great war, and listening to all his sugestion and following all his advises blindly , that lead him to victory.
I finished my Dinner, Dal, Rice And Prawns curry that my mom Had cooked, and that is what i love the most when it comes to a Bengali Meal and had just lied down on my bed thinking about what a great day it was when i suddenly Received a call on my cell and i knew it was Simba by the ringing tone as it was a unique one that i had specially kept for this special friend of mine. I picked up thinking that he was sitting on the Net and downloading some movies and has called me to ask for a few sugestionms on the movies that he needs to download. I still remember those words clearly " Joy I met with a Small Accident Can you please come By. I am Standing Near Days Inn, Need Your Help To carry all my stuff back home" I was terrified , but the casual tone of Simba made me feel it was not a very serious accident so the instant reaction was a sarcastic laugh taunting my Dear friend for being on a situation like this .