That's Life - 8

That’s Life – 8 A Date With Mr. Gates

Two days old on the company email system, I had already clocked about forty hours on Lotus CC:Mail. It was a divine experience. I couldn’t stop talking about this great tool which could get me a next-to-instant reply from my cousin in Seattle, Washington.

However, it was not that instant reply but the mail that came right after it…

I fainted.

Then I recovered partially with my heart beating like a jungle drum. It was a dream-come-true for me. I didn’t know how to react. I wanted to scream and shout. I wanted to celebrate it quietly. I wanted to do many things at once.

Of all those things, I decided to do something I was really good at.

I ran – This time to the Bhubaneshwar DC head, Bhaskar.

“Bhaskar!” I screamed.

He was about to munch a chicken sandwich and this startling entry of mine caused him to throw the chicken pieces all over himself.

“Who the hell are you?” He barked.

I was taken aback. Who the hell am I? Only a week ago I met him in the pantry room and I even had a wonderful conversation with him then. I think I asked him “Howdy?”He replied with a warm smile on his face – “I am good. How are you?”

How could he forget me so easily? These senior managers…

I decided to remind him – “Bhaskar, I am Venu. Remember? We met the other day in the pantry room and I asked you Howdy! And you replied –‘I am good. How are you?’. I then said…”

“Venu” Bhaskar did not let me go any further.

“Yes Bhaskar”

“Cut the crap. Tell me NOW. What do you want?”

I took a deep breath and remained calm. I just wanted to overwhelm him. His eyes would bulge, his mouth would open, he would stand up with scant regards to the chicken pieces on his body and say – “Oh Venu, take a seat. We need to talk. I think you deserve fifty thousand rupees per month. You are a great guy.”

“VENU…” Bhaskar’s stone cold voice woke me up.

“I got a mail.” I told him trying to be as expressionless as possible.

“What mail?” he was impatient.

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is the name of the sender.”

“Who is it?”

“Bill Gates” I told him.

“WHAT?”

“Yes. Bill Gates. He offered me a free copy of Microsoft Windows 98 if I could just forward his email to twenty colleagues or friends.”

There was silence; utmost silence; pin drop silence; for a few moments. Then there was a commotion. Quite a few things happened in that instant and most of it did not get registered in my brain. I found myself at the end of all these – in the corridor outside Bhaskar’s room. The door was shut right on my face.

I was confused. Who the hell did he think he was dealing with? Bill Gates selected me personally! I would rather resign this job and go to Microsoft. Mr. Gates would offer me a great job there.

Furious I was; I took a white paper, scribbled my resignation and knocked on Bhaskar’s door again.

He opened it and shouted, "Now what?"

"Here is my resignation Bhaskar."

"What?"

"Yep I am quitting."

He read aloud my resignation letter,

"Even though I've been chosen personally by the Chairman of Microsoft, Mr. William Gates III Junior, SoftSol has failed to recognize my worth and treated me like dirt. I would like to quit my job here as a software engineer trainee and join Microsoft where I would get a red carpet welcome."

He looked at me with complete disbelief in his eyes. I was stern and was least interested in analyzing his expressions this time.

He picked up the phone and called CCD. Vaishali appeared in no time. She was concerned.

Bhaskar tore my resignation letter. “Explain about the Bill Gates Win 98 email!”

Well, what followed next was quite inconsequential and easily guessable. Vaishail laughed; laughed and laughed.. And whenever she saw me in the office, she would burst out laughing. I couldn't show my face to anybody. I didn't come out of my cubicle for a long time.

Then one day Bhaskar came to my seat and told me that it was all right. Only three people knew about this episode and I shouldn't sacrifice my social life because of that.

I almost fell on his feet. He looked like Sri Venkateswara Swamy. He blessed me and disappeared from there as quickly as possible to avoid more sentimental scenes.

To be continued…