Last Day at ZS!

This is a small poem which I dedicated to my workplace, ZS Associates, New Delhi on my last day of work. 
Most of the jokes here are ZS internal, but I can provide a little context (starred) as we go along. 2.5 exciting years of my life have been spent here and ZS has been my first impression for a lot of corporate jargons, management techniques and consulting jingles, if you know what I mean. (Makes sense, ahan!) 

Just to offset the fact that I have cribbed in discomfort, revolted in anger, fought in frustration, cried in helplessness over ZS and its experiences, I would like to add that I have also met AWESOME people, made friends for life, gained faith in my abilities and overall had one helluva experience! And as I set out to newer, crazier experiences, I will really miss my partners in crime :)

And I thought they’ll never go

Those starry ZS days

The grand entries in client calls

Accents, deliverables, delays

And I thought I’ll never miss,

That sudden adhoc request*

That rep on leave, the DM’s pet-peeve**

Why normal distribution works best 

And I thought - it is the end

But I still got partners in crime

For excellence is really getting it right

First time, every time.***

* Sudden, panic analysis which generally comes with a strict deadline
** Project specific, IC joke
*** Connotes fresh wave of formalized process excellence at ZS, where all efforts must be got right, first time and every time

Team 0101 NY2922: You'll be missed!

Clockwise from left: Siddharth, Umesh, Buddhi, Prateek, Me, Kunal, Vinay, Deepam, Shivam, Anurag, Chanpreet, Vinay, Nitisha, Anand, Anu, Deeksha

Not in the picture: Ankur, Rajiv, Praveen, Vaibhav, Mayuri, Amit, Karishma, Tania
We missed you Manoj!

L-R: Sonali, Me, Swati, Saloni

Team 0793 PH 2767: (L-R) Sonali, Me, Rohit, Saloni, Ankit, Nitin

PS. We missed you Chan-dan!

... Because Every Dog Has Its Day!

(Click on each image to expand)

Starbucks, ahan!

                                                 Sip.                                               Lick.

 Mmmm.

Happy Mother's Day Ma!

Three little difficult daughters old,
And you're still going strong
I'd think you have some special skills
For you made it all along

Three different shades of crazy
Three different worlds to tame
Each one wanted 'meri muh'*
And worse, we looked the same!

We want to thank you Mama,
For the terrible pees and poos,
and screams and shouts and tantrums,
We were tough, stubborn, obtuse

We applaud you Mama, for still
Lookin' thro' a rose colored lens,
For letting us explore all possible options
to maybe upgrade your dressing sense

And though you'd think I'm quite confused
About what I'd like to do
A journo, aimless MBA, and maybe PhD too
The truth for sure is Mama, I'd like to be just like you.

* Nah, that's a secret.

Truth be told.

I'd always placed you on a pedestal. I enjoyed smiling up to you. Up, the keyword here.
And, sometimes, when you'd look out of the window, with a faraway look on your face, I'd poke you and you'd look away. That scared me, it wasn't easy to bare myself in front of you in the first place and I really didn't know what I'd do without.
So in those uncomfortable moments of pinching disorientation, I accused myself of hallucinating again. Making up problems for myself, because they made life so much more interesting. Didn't they make life feel like one big struggle? And overcoming them made my otherwise uneventful life heroic. Like all those accomplished quotes I loved reading. I have to stop doing that, I'd tell myself.

Smiling of course, as I looked up at you.

You couldn't be wrong and I knew that.
Because when you did look, you looked straight into my eyes, poring into my head, reading all my dirty thoughts and staring right there, smiling a knowing grin even as my eyes paced around the room, fidgety yet longing to look back. I hankered quickly cover up as much as possible. I didn't want to trust too much. As always, I was scared. But, not cynical no.

Not until you walked out on me. Just walked out. Without a second thought. Without a backward glance. Without as much as parting word.
Leaving me scared, confused and searching. Searching for an explanation. Searching for what'd gone wrong. Searching for my bare self, and all that I'd lost to you. Searching for that moment, that brought me closer to you.

Truth be told, dear Trust, you broke my faith.

***********************************************

In the memory of my trust, in people, processes and intentions, which died a slow and painful death. I bow to your inexplicable power, but I'd like to keep my distance now. Thank you very much.

Love, Actually - The Story Starts Now.

Story coming up. Read extract here ;)

Love, Actually: My entry for the Get Published Contest

About: 
Love, Actually is a tale of two hearts, young at heart and free in spirit. The two protagonists of the story are the school-going-kids-next-door. Watch them grapple with issues of love and friendship, love versus friendship and much more.. They will sway you with their intensity and tickle you with their innocence. Will he or won’t she? Will love keep up? Read on to know more.

Excerpt:
“Wake me UP WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS…oooOOO”

Snuggling cozily in her quilt, she stealthily inched out two fingers from under the covers - just enough to reach the alarm as it continued to get louder, cross new decibel limits with every oncoming chorus. Darn, where does this goddamn thing get turned off?

Then she remembered, it was 1st of October. Haha, she chuckled at the rather cocky choice of alarm tone - smiled slowly and drifted back into the warmth of her quilt and the convenience of her dreams.

She loved dreams.

She dreamt of Paris, the ever higher Eiffel Tower, of love haven and unfettered freedom, of the misty haze and the snowy Alps..her reddish cheeks in the winter chill, her picky nose in the piercing winds..

She also dreamt of Harvard Law and corporate cases, of heady success and a great career.. and all the good things that money could and couldn’t buy.

And then, she dreamt of love.. His genuine smile and scruffy stubble, his soft whispers and sturdy arms.. wrapped loosely on her waist. Oh, why wouldn’t he say it, should she? Doesn’t he know he’s awesome?

“Urrgghhh, snooze will go to hell for sure”, she murmured as the rubbed her eyes into the ticklish sunlight. Wait a minute, sunlight?

She jumped out of bed with the determined ferocity of a starving lion, hurling abuses at the clock, her stupid best friend and well, all things that did or did not come in her way as she hankered for clothes, shoes and what not – frenzied, prancing and obviously late for school.

 ***********************

“And you know, her hair smells sooo good”, he smiled, sheepish, almost guilty at his revelation.

“So have you asked her out?”

“Noooo, not yet. She’s my best friend and you know how girls are, right? I think she just sees me as a friend and I would just spoil our friendship too.”

“But don’t you like her?”

“I do, I can take her no, but I can’t stop talking to her. Crap, why does she have to be so perfect.. How do I tell her.. this is just so crazy. We talk about everything but this – and I’ve practiced it about a 100 times, just can’t get myself to say it”, he mumbled, his incoherent thoughts rambling randomly out of his rather troubled mind.

As they entered the classroom and took their chairs, he quickly ‘reserved’ the seat on his right, smiling helplessly to himself. She’d be late and he loved that.

***********************

This is my entry for the HarperCollins-IndiBlogger Get Published Contest, which is run with inputs fromYashodhara Lal and HarperCollins India.

If you like it enough and would like to read more, please do shower your love here: http://www.indiblogger.in/getpublished/idea/544/

Parched.

I just hope you're happy now,

And all your deeds are done,

For I don't want no arid 

drops, burnt sooty by the sun.