Sunday, October 09, 2005

A Day in the Life of an American Desi Bachelor

  • Shut off three alarm clocks before finally opening my eyes. [No Mom waking you up with a cup of a hot beverage of your choice.]
  • Curse my stars while I make my bed. [No Mom again!]
  • Make the beverage of my choice. [Read above.]
  • Switch channels on my TV till I find traffic watch on one of the early morning news channels to see which freeways are clogged and what alternate routes to take, while drinking my beverage. [No reading the cartoons in the newspaper anymore. :(]
  • Ponder over what has to be eaten for breakfast - Bread and Peanut Butter/Jam or a Plain Toast or a Bagel or hit the nearest fast food joint to eat the same. [Damn, I miss those Idlis and Dosas and Rottis!]
  • Oh S***! It is 9AM already and I have a meeting at 10. Doh!!! [I miss your reminders mom.]
  • God Dammit...my clothes aren't pressed. [So nice to be in a typical Indian joint family where there are a lot of people to take care of all your needs and demands. Why did I move here??]
  • I hate this freeway. I should have taken the surface streets. It would have been faster. Maybe, I should move closer to the office. The rent is a little higher, but I won't have to go through all this. [Not quite a difference for Bangloreans or Mumbaiites.]
  • (Whispering) Sorry boss. The freeway was clogged. I should avoid this freeway from now on. Errr...I have one question. What is this meeting about? [I don't have a Blackberry to remind me of meetings from home. How can I remember what the agenda of a meeting is? It is the company's fault!]
  • Coffee Time! Dude, let's go to the 8th floor. The coffee machine is much better there.
  • It is 12PM already. I haven't even checked my mails. [Will there be any interesting mail in my inbox that will brighten the rest my day up? How much I miss the forwards that were being circulated almost everyday in college! Damn corporate security. What harm can a jpg or a 2MB movie file do?]
  • Why hasn't anyone sent me any mails? Have I been forgotten by all my buddies?
  • Lunch Time! Fast food joint next to the office or the Indian restaurant which is a 20 minute drive away? [Tough choice! Hehehe...]
  • Back to my e-mails.
  • I hate the time difference. All the guys will be sleeping. No one to talk to. :((
  • Yes Boss. Working on the bugs to be fixed. The Dev team will have them tonight. I will have a conf call with them and tell them to send us another build first thing tomorrow morning. [There goes my plans of having coffee with that cute BA.]
  • Forget the build. I want to have coffee with her. Saunter to the nearest Starbucks.
  • (On the phone) Dude, you will not believe where I am right now. Let me get back to the office and then I will give you the details. We will work on the bugs later.
  • I better get working on the bugs. It will be my a** this time. [Coffee was awesome. Maybe, I should ask her out to dinner sometime.]
  • Finally, a decent forward. Something nice in my inbox. [God bless you dude!]
  • Will the boss notice me if I head home now? It is 530PM already. Maybe, I will stay back for a while and go for the happy hour with the rest of the folks. [Why are there so many bugs? Looks like I will have to work late from home if I have to get the build tomorrow morning!]
  • Beer!
  • More beer!
  • Better drive slowly and carefully. [How much did I drink? How much will my BAC be? I think I am ok. I never worried about this back in India. How much I miss the binging at Peco's and Styx!]
  • Where did all the food I cooked go? I possibly couldn't have eaten so much in just two days. I don't want to cook now. [I never ate leftover food in India. I miss you mom! I wonder if she will fly down here for a few days? Hmmm...I will call up and find out.]
  • Oh S***! The conf call!!!!
  • Why do the developers ask so many questions? It is the middle of the night here. They should understand our situation here.
  • Let me hit the sack now. Tomorrow is going to be more hectic than today. [When should I ask that BA for dinner? This Friday maybe...]
P.S.: Most of these situations are fictitious. Don't make any assumptions as to which ones are not. I am pretty sure you will get it all wrong.

3 comments:

Anirudh said...

How the hell is it different from what you were doin here for 3 years?!! except of course, the cute BA would walk out of the bushes after lookin for her keys :)

Aparna said...

ha ha ha!! hilarious post!! :)) quite a contrast to the kinda comfy life u led here ha? he he! hange aga beku!! ninna yaru allige hogu antha helliddu?? :D no one to bug?? ya rite!! u ping me and everyone else on ur YM list atleast 20 times a day!! Baaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!

Dileep Vasthare said...

@anirudh: it is not exactly a mirror of my life...but somewhere close! but yeah, my life is no different now than it was 3 years ago...

and no one walks out of the bushes after looking for her keys in my life...:P

@aparna: yeah...isn't life all about compromises??? :)