2011, January 1st, “Happy New Year”, she wished me at midnight as I was welcoming year 2011, hoping this New Year will bring in some joy; sadly I couldn’t talk to her much due to network problems. “This idiot network is *BEEP* bad” I screamed, “I wish I could do something”. On January 20th, - Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh launched nation-wide MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY (MNP) that allows users to switch operators/service providers without losing or changing their phone numbers, thank you Mr. Economist.
With the end of January, our party mood was gone and my life became sober again. Giving some ray of hope to my boring life, ICC world cup began on February 18th; Sehwag made his best score in ODI’s to give a memorable win over Bangladesh in the inaugural match. To carry on the energy this win brought, we guys planned a Goa trip in second week of March. On March 11th, as we were enjoying the waves of Arabian Sea in Goa, a ferocious tsunami hit Japan’s eastern coast, nuclear reactors were also damaged in the quake triggering widespread panic across the globe. As the world was busy worrying about this, a new revolution was taking its roots in India, something that was spreading faster than any virus, led by an Old man.
On April 2nd, MSD hit the ball over the top of the bowler, “ITS A MAXIMUM”, shouts Ravi Shastri, Hurray! India wins World Cup after 28 years. I was celebrating so was the whole nation, except one village, Ralegaon Siddi in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. The villagers were waiting for the old man to speak, as he was sitting at village panchayat along with his team, a former IPS officer and an IITan presently a social activist. “This is not a time to celebrate; nation is in dire need of your support to save it from selfish politicians. We need to fight for the nation; it’s the time for SECOND STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE”. As he said that, all the men and women raised their hand in support and said in unison “Hum aap ke saath hai Anna (we are with you Anna).” It was just the beginning. Anna began his indefinite fast on 5th April at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, to press for the demand to draft a strong LOKPAL bill. On 8th April the Government of India accepted all demands of the movement so on 9th April Anna ended his fast.
In last week of May, she rang me to share her woes of life, “There’s some problem with all men in this country, they are so chauvinistic, never allow a women to prove her talent, always try to put us under your thumbs”, now that’s called a predicament. I can’t argue with her now as she is very sad but if I don’t it means I agree that all men are chauvinistic, pity me. :-( I was listening to her and watching TV(in mute) in parallel, I could see a lady in a saree waving her hand in air to her supporters and the scrolling below read,” Mamta Benerjee took over as the first woman Chief minister of West Bengal today after her party Trinamool Congress in alliance with Indian National Congress secured absolute majority and ended the 34 year rule of mighty Left Front.”
Albeit the nation struck in several problems from east to west, I was not bothered. We in S/W industry are habituated of worrying more about a recession in US but not about any political dramas in our own country, but sometimes you can’t escape some. On 13th July, my buddy from Hyderabad rang me, “Dude, are u in Pune or Mumbai?” what an idiot he is, always forgets where I’m staying now, “I’m in Pune, why?” I asked
“Thank God! Didn’t see the news? Serial blast in Mumbai again..” he said.
Should I also be thankful to Him and forget about it or is it a time to contemplate on why things are always going wrong here. On 15th August, PM Manmohan Singh addressed the nation on 65th Independence Day, and said “Terrorism is the biggest threat this country is facing“, if I had been given a chance I’d have asked him to mention clearly was it Internal or External he is talking about.
On 5th October, my iPod suddenly stopped to play music for 2 minutes, whole world was mourning; I could see posters “I-DIED, I-CRIED” all over Pune, - Steve Jobs, iconic cofounder of Apple, passed away.
November just started, it was around 10PM when I reached home, “what’s wrong with u, why are staying for so long hours in office?” asked my mom. “It’s just some Prod issues, you won’t understand mom. I’m feeling hungry, let’s have dinner first”. She said “You’ll have dinner alone, I’m fasting today.” I asked “Can u explain why the hell people do fast?” she curtly replied “You won’t understand”. Yes, she’s right, I’ll never understand. On November 3rd, Irom Sharmila completed 11 years of her indefinite fast (it’s not a joke), against Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Manipur. She’s the one whom, not just people like me but whole nation, even media never cared to know about, who cares, my life goes on..
Some more incidents were happening which were hitting front page in newspapers but not in my life. CBI Court charged Raja, Kanimozhi, 15 others with criminal breach of trust in 2G scam, trying to prove that politicians are not an exemption from court of law. In first week of November, Former telecom minister Sukhram was awarded five years imprisonment by a Delhi court after being convicted of taking Rs.3 lakhs as bribe and outside court he was slapped by a youth named Harvinder Singh. This news was of no concern to me that day but I didn’t know this young man will have his effect on my life.
On 24th November, “Let’s Rock tonight” said my team mate; we had a party planned that night in a pub. Party was to start at 7PM and around 5PM we see news in internet, “A youth identified as Harvinder Singh attacked agriculture minister Sharad Pawar in New Delhi. Singh slapped Pawar.” That was not so hurting news but the next few lines were for sure, “After this incident, violence erupts in Pune as Pawar’s supporters go onto streets burning effigies and blocking traffic, police is in action to prevent any untoward incidents.” This news raised fears among us, “This guy could have slapped him tomorrow na, unnecessarily spoiling our party”, we all thought. Luckily the effect was not as dangerous as we expected, but party started with a delay of 90 mins.
When Anna was told about the slapping incident, he asked reporters, “Slapped just once?”
On December 6th, it was a cool morning, I met her in office. “So how’s life going on?” she asked.
”It’s pretty cool, not much work as its Christmas and New year time for the client, so just having fun” I said.
“Great. So what are your plans for New Year this time?” she asked.
“As usual: partying with friends. Just hoping this New Year will bring in some joy“.
Many years passed by and many more will, the world is changing with every year, so is my nation and my life. What remained unchanged for years is my HOPE..
“Your story and the world’s history was written by the same hand”
-The Alchemist(novel) by Paul Coelho
Note: This is a work of fiction.
With the end of January, our party mood was gone and my life became sober again. Giving some ray of hope to my boring life, ICC world cup began on February 18th; Sehwag made his best score in ODI’s to give a memorable win over Bangladesh in the inaugural match. To carry on the energy this win brought, we guys planned a Goa trip in second week of March. On March 11th, as we were enjoying the waves of Arabian Sea in Goa, a ferocious tsunami hit Japan’s eastern coast, nuclear reactors were also damaged in the quake triggering widespread panic across the globe. As the world was busy worrying about this, a new revolution was taking its roots in India, something that was spreading faster than any virus, led by an Old man.
On April 2nd, MSD hit the ball over the top of the bowler, “ITS A MAXIMUM”, shouts Ravi Shastri, Hurray! India wins World Cup after 28 years. I was celebrating so was the whole nation, except one village, Ralegaon Siddi in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. The villagers were waiting for the old man to speak, as he was sitting at village panchayat along with his team, a former IPS officer and an IITan presently a social activist. “This is not a time to celebrate; nation is in dire need of your support to save it from selfish politicians. We need to fight for the nation; it’s the time for SECOND STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE”. As he said that, all the men and women raised their hand in support and said in unison “Hum aap ke saath hai Anna (we are with you Anna).” It was just the beginning. Anna began his indefinite fast on 5th April at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, to press for the demand to draft a strong LOKPAL bill. On 8th April the Government of India accepted all demands of the movement so on 9th April Anna ended his fast.
In last week of May, she rang me to share her woes of life, “There’s some problem with all men in this country, they are so chauvinistic, never allow a women to prove her talent, always try to put us under your thumbs”, now that’s called a predicament. I can’t argue with her now as she is very sad but if I don’t it means I agree that all men are chauvinistic, pity me. :-( I was listening to her and watching TV(in mute) in parallel, I could see a lady in a saree waving her hand in air to her supporters and the scrolling below read,” Mamta Benerjee took over as the first woman Chief minister of West Bengal today after her party Trinamool Congress in alliance with Indian National Congress secured absolute majority and ended the 34 year rule of mighty Left Front.”
Albeit the nation struck in several problems from east to west, I was not bothered. We in S/W industry are habituated of worrying more about a recession in US but not about any political dramas in our own country, but sometimes you can’t escape some. On 13th July, my buddy from Hyderabad rang me, “Dude, are u in Pune or Mumbai?” what an idiot he is, always forgets where I’m staying now, “I’m in Pune, why?” I asked
“Thank God! Didn’t see the news? Serial blast in Mumbai again..” he said.
Should I also be thankful to Him and forget about it or is it a time to contemplate on why things are always going wrong here. On 15th August, PM Manmohan Singh addressed the nation on 65th Independence Day, and said “Terrorism is the biggest threat this country is facing“, if I had been given a chance I’d have asked him to mention clearly was it Internal or External he is talking about.
On 5th October, my iPod suddenly stopped to play music for 2 minutes, whole world was mourning; I could see posters “I-DIED, I-CRIED” all over Pune, - Steve Jobs, iconic cofounder of Apple, passed away.
November just started, it was around 10PM when I reached home, “what’s wrong with u, why are staying for so long hours in office?” asked my mom. “It’s just some Prod issues, you won’t understand mom. I’m feeling hungry, let’s have dinner first”. She said “You’ll have dinner alone, I’m fasting today.” I asked “Can u explain why the hell people do fast?” she curtly replied “You won’t understand”. Yes, she’s right, I’ll never understand. On November 3rd, Irom Sharmila completed 11 years of her indefinite fast (it’s not a joke), against Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Manipur. She’s the one whom, not just people like me but whole nation, even media never cared to know about, who cares, my life goes on..
Some more incidents were happening which were hitting front page in newspapers but not in my life. CBI Court charged Raja, Kanimozhi, 15 others with criminal breach of trust in 2G scam, trying to prove that politicians are not an exemption from court of law. In first week of November, Former telecom minister Sukhram was awarded five years imprisonment by a Delhi court after being convicted of taking Rs.3 lakhs as bribe and outside court he was slapped by a youth named Harvinder Singh. This news was of no concern to me that day but I didn’t know this young man will have his effect on my life.
On 24th November, “Let’s Rock tonight” said my team mate; we had a party planned that night in a pub. Party was to start at 7PM and around 5PM we see news in internet, “A youth identified as Harvinder Singh attacked agriculture minister Sharad Pawar in New Delhi. Singh slapped Pawar.” That was not so hurting news but the next few lines were for sure, “After this incident, violence erupts in Pune as Pawar’s supporters go onto streets burning effigies and blocking traffic, police is in action to prevent any untoward incidents.” This news raised fears among us, “This guy could have slapped him tomorrow na, unnecessarily spoiling our party”, we all thought. Luckily the effect was not as dangerous as we expected, but party started with a delay of 90 mins.
When Anna was told about the slapping incident, he asked reporters, “Slapped just once?”
On December 6th, it was a cool morning, I met her in office. “So how’s life going on?” she asked.
”It’s pretty cool, not much work as its Christmas and New year time for the client, so just having fun” I said.
“Great. So what are your plans for New Year this time?” she asked.
“As usual: partying with friends. Just hoping this New Year will bring in some joy“.
Many years passed by and many more will, the world is changing with every year, so is my nation and my life. What remained unchanged for years is my HOPE..
“Your story and the world’s history was written by the same hand”
-The Alchemist(novel) by Paul Coelho
Note: This is a work of fiction.
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