The Unsung Psalm

Well, so it was a rather interesting day. I arrived at the office half an hour late, in tandem with how nature has made my mom and, consequently, me. Naturally, no one was bothered there. The Head of the IT dept. at the Media house promptly walked me to the room where the engineers work and dumped me in there.

I was introduced to the lone fellow sitting in at that time, and the Head left. I further introduced myself to the fellow (let’s call him A) who seemed a bit clueless about what exactly it was what I wanted from them. I told him how I’d come in expectation of a 21-day project, but could see that that was not happening, thus conveying to him that all I hoped for was an introduction of how things worked around there. All the while, I used crisp English, as I always do when introduced to strangers.

When I finished talking, he responded in broken sentences, hanging on for his life to whatever little English-Speaking skills he could muster. Such conversation ensued for a while, and I kept wondering when to let him know that I could understand and speak Hindi.

After a while, another fellow walked in, say B, to whom A introduced me to. Then A had to step out for a call, and I began to brief B about why I was there (which I was as clueless about as them). Naturally, I continued to speak in English with B as well, who looked a little more uncomfortable. Then, he responded in quite the similar manner and after a while, stopped abruptly and asked me, “Hindi bolte ho? (Do you speak Hindi?)”

I smiled and responded in affirmative (in Hindi). Then onwards, he seemed to be at comfort and conversation continued in Hindi. When I next spoke to A, I had switched over to Hindi, but the fellow seemed insistent on sticking to English, the poor soul.

Much later, a third fellow appeared. A very friendly guy as it turns out, this guy (say Nakul – and I mean it when I say it) was amazingly hot. Awesome hair, clean skin, nice nose, well dressed and converse shoes… almost fits the bill. As nature’s law of balance would command, his diction was reeking of a strong Punjabi accent, whether he spoke in Hindi or Punjabi. I don’t think he spoke English at all. He was also the only of the 3 to have done an Engineering course of which he was seemingly proud, the other two having done BSc-type courses.

One incident calls for special mention. As lunch hour approached, Nakul opened his lunchbox and invited all present in the room to share. I hastily (and forcefully) declined as I had no intentions of adding to the tally that was splitting a single serving of packed lunch. While they were eating, Nakul’s phone began to ring. His hands were drenched in oil (as were those of all his colleagues) and that prompted him to jump towards me. For a moment, I was confused. He then thrust his leg towards me. I eventually understood, and guardedly inserted my hand into his pocket to fish it out his blaring phone. The pocket, it turns out, was deeper than I had thought. I put down the book I was holding and pushed my hand deeper inside to reach the target object. (This is where Ramby comes up with a perverse comment)

Having withdrawn his phone, I pressed the Receive button and held it to his ear. He inclined his neck to grip it with his shoulder, though I would’ve gladly held it there for him! (Interesting anecdote ends here) I’m hoping this sort of thing happens everyday (and that the pockets get deeper).

On several occasions, I hinted to them that maybe I could return home and “continue my learning through textbooks” and “not waste their precious time”. Each time, A insisted that I stay and watch them work, picking up tips. After 2 hours in the office when they decided to head out to lunch, I declined their invitation and instead said I’d head home, suggesting that I work on simulation tools at home to learn more. Again, A approved but insisted that I drop in for 2-3 hours everyday to get an idea of how things worked.

Unfortunately, I had already gotten a rather good idea of how things work in there. They get the occasional call about faulty equipment; they ring up technicians to ask them to fix it, and then return to their Gtalk chats or Orkut profiles and so on!

Anyhow, I shall be carrying my laptop from tomorrow and running the simulation tools so that I don’t have to sit and stare at their faces all the time!

The main reason I left when I did was because Maddy told me he’d meet me at a nearby cafe for a while (after having cancelled yesterday). Thus, I proceeded to the cafe (arriving a little early), found a loo that I’d been wanting to go to for hours but had daren’t set out to find in the HUGE office (for reasons that would take up an entire post) and started browsing books in a nearby bookshop while waiting for him. Soon, he messaged saying he had reached and was waiting, and I returned to the cafe where he was waiting at a table.
As always, the initial moments were quite awkward, but I think I’m getting used to this entire business, as I didn’t feel as odd as the last 2 times. It may have helped to know that there was no sexless-equivalent-of-sexual-tension (or any sort of tension for that matter, at least on my side), just the regular uneasiness of meeting someone for the first time. Soon enough, I settled down but he didn’t seem to. He kept looking out of the window, or down at his drink or everywhere-but-at-me even as he spoke to me, a manner in which I had behaved when I went on my first extremely-uncomfortable date. With the exception that the person he was sitting opposite was far more attractive than the one I had went out with then, and I know because I’d seen myself in the mirror moments before and my hair and everything else looked fabulous Also, we weren’t even on a date, just catching coffee, so I couldn’t figure him out for my life. Maybe he’s dull like that all the time (I’m only saying that because he reads this blog too. Okay, maybe not. Maybe he is really like that!)

Most of the rendezvous proceeded in a somewhat uncomfortable manner. He hardly said anything, so I had to struggle to fill up the recurring gaps in conversation. Much of what I said was sort of peculiar and mostly unnecessary, but as I said, it wasn’t as if he was helping. I asked him 2-3 times if he had to return to work anytime soon, giving him a scapegoat to scuttle away if he wanted to, but he responded in negative.
Later, we were browsing books. While transiting from one shelf to another, he passed me in a sweeping motion saying “You blab as much in person as you do on your blog, don’t you?” and had vanished before he could observe the expression of sheer incredulity on my face! Some nerve he had, accusing me of trying to make the environment a bit less…quiet! When 2 people sit opposite each other over coffee, what are they expected to do? Chat, right? And that includes both parties making equivalent amounts of conversation and avoiding monosyllabic responses? How was I to know that what he had really invited me for was to meditate with him?!

Anyhow, we parted ways soon after, and I came home. Tomorrow, I must return to that miniature office at 10 am! When I asked A the time they usually come into office, he got the impression that I wanted to arrive as early in the day as possible. I had no way of conveying the contrary to him.

I don’t think I’m going to enjoy the routine! But well, life has a little bit of activity again, does it not! I’m also thinking of ways to fish a certificate out of the entire affair.

If you’re reading this sentence, I admire your patience!