WriteTribe Festival of Words Day 3- Free Write and Some Cathartic Writing

 Day 3 Prompt- Free Write

Today is Day 3 of Write Tribe Festival ofWords and today's prompt is Free Write. To be honest I had no idea what Free Write is but fortunately Corrine  included a link where Suzy Que had kindly explained the meaning of Free Write(you can look it up here) and it looked intriguing. So this is my 15 minutes of free write-

It’s 9.19 AM and I’m alone in my deserted office beginning another dreary day in my tiny cubicle. Some days I have to actually drag myself to office and most Mondays the first thought that I have, as soon as I get up, is that I have to go to office and that thought itself is enough to make me pull the duvet over my head and sleep for eternity.

I have been working in IT since 2006 but of late there’s a growing sense of discontentment and a feeling of being trapped inside my office that refuses to leave my side. I have tried all means of self-motivation but the feeling just returns to haunt me after some days. A few weeks back, I was so depressed that I blurted out the truth to my husband and we knew that it was serious. It was then that I decided to either quit IT altogether or just have a change of job.

With the kind of financial commitments lurking around us, I’m sure that I cannot sit at home but I’m thinking of taking up another field of profession. I felt terrible for being in early 30s and having thoughts of changing my line of work completely. But after reading few articles on the net, I felt relieved knowing that there are lot of people who have the same thoughts in their 30s.

It does amaze me, when I care to ponder over it, that something I had loved in the beginning and felt that this was what I had always wanted to do, is creating this gnawing discontent within me. In the first 5 years of IT, I was so enthused; I remember that I used to work on Saturdays and sometimes even Sundays. I used to swipe my ID card at 9.15 AM in the morning every day and I used to never leave office before 8.45 PM. Of course that was before my marriage and my kid. But I wanted to work; I wanted to excel at what I was doing.

And now I just consider this my job, something that I get paid for. I guess our feelings change, just like people change over the years. But I know this for sure, as I sit in my cramped cubicle, typing out the words flowing hastily from my mind, a job that does not make you cringe the first thing you get up in the morning, a job that does not make you pull your hairs out in frustration, a job that does not get you depressed by evening, is a job for keeps.

But then again do such jobs exist?

It’s only in the evenings that I can relax when I usually think of fun ways to end the day. Like yesterday, my husband and I were returning home and we saw ‘99 varieties of dosa’ in a roadside stall. Despite my initial reluctance to eat from a roadside stall, I tasted a Gobi-Paneer-Butter Masala Dosa and I have to admit it was scrumptious.

Can you decipher my expression, what I'm trying to say when eating the dosa

Hungry Kya?

We had Baking/Sweets/Dessert contest in our office today and there were so many different varieties of sweets, cakes and pastries that employees brought, my mouth was watering uncontrollably. Take a look and let me know if you are also hankering after something sweet after looking at these delicious, sweet, sweet sins :)

And here’s what my friend had prepared and I had helped him in decorating the dishes :)

I Don't Need A Reason To Work!

My phone was ringing incessantly as I decided if I should pick the call. It was from my boss. After few seconds of pondering, I took the call and spoke in a low voice, “Hello”.

“Hello Prasanna, I’ll be at office in few minutes. Meanwhile can you start smoke testing the test environment and send the results in a mail. Do call me if you face any problems. How much time do you need to complete smoke test?”, blurted out my boss almost in a single breath.

I looked at my watch. It was just 11AM and I had sauntered into office 5 minutes back. I needed my vital cup of coffee. 

“Sure Deepa, I can complete it in two hours”, I replied confidently.

As soon as I disconnected the call, I walked over to the pantry to make myself a cup of strong brewing coffee. On the way I met some of my friends and, I had to stop to make some pleasant conversations with them. Our company stressed about the importance of networking and for us networking meant talking about each other’s dress/accessories, the latest movies we watched and sometimes when no one is around in the vicinity, gossiping about who is dating whom in the office.

When I reached my work station, I saw that a good half an hour had passed. I hurriedly logged onto my system and opened our application. 

Instead of waiting for the application to load, I opened my Facebook and blogger account. It was very important to multi-task in our jobs. 

My friend had uploaded some photos of her vacation in Maldives. With slight envious eyes, I skimmed through the images, commenting on how beautiful she looked and how she and her husband made a handsome couple.

Then I checked my blogger account. I had received quite a few comments for my previous post. I started reading them and giving each of them a detailed reply. After all, I couldn’t simply ignore my few limited blog readers. 

When I finished, it was almost 1 and my stomach growled, reminding me that it was lunch hour. 

That’s when I remembered the smoke test that my boss had called about. I quickly did a smoke test for 5 minutes and composed my mail in another 15 minutes, emphasizing the extensive testing that I had completed in the last couple of hours.

I went to lunch with my friends and spent the next hour, having a sumptuous lunch leisurely, gossiping and chattering away with colleagues. After lunch we went for a walk around our campus. We had a sprawling campus with a well maintained garden and a strolling path. We found many of our male colleagues sitting on the benches and ogling the young new lady employees strolling in the garden like us.

When I reached back my desk it was already 3. I quickly sat at my desk and checked my mails. There were quite a few organizational mails that I felt required my undue attention as I sat and read word by word of the mails.

Finally I settled back and decided to write some test scenarios. But suddenly I felt an irrepressible urge to go to the restroom. I locked my system and went to relieve myself. There I met my friend who insisted that I accompany her for coffee. The poor girl had no other company, so I agreed to help her out in the dire situation. After all, I too felt coffee-deprived.

When I returned from my extended coffee break (it was hard to resist the mouth-watering samosas in canteen), it was already 30 minutes past 5. I had half an hour before my cab started from office.

I sat down determinedly to write those damned test scenarios. Few minutes into my work and I was feeling all geared up and in my elements. I saw that my close buddy was messaging me on Facebook.

What? I keep my Facebook open at all times on my laptop, one of my friends may feel the dire need to talk to someone and if I’m not there for them, what kind of a friend I would be?

I talked to her for a few minutes before I realized that it was time for my cab. I quickly sent my status report about the activities that I had performed for the day and I headed towards the exit.

I stretched my arms and legs, I felt so tired working all day long. God, these IT jobs, they can be so strenuous and demanding. But I was a dedicated employee; no reason would be strong enough to keep me away from my work.

P.S: This post is entirely a figment of my imagination. If you are my boss and if you happen to read this, I actually accomplish to finish all my tasks (in between checking FB and blogger)

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda

Working Women -A choice or need of the hour

A women is know for multitasking abilities. She can cook, talk over the mobile phone, work on her laptop and feed her child all at the same time. But is she really being tough on herself trying to be perfect at everything she does? Has it become obligatory for a woman to venture out and work or should the choice be left to the woman herself?

Read my debut post at Indusladies.

Working Women

The Pink Slip

A young executive was nervously biting her nails. Today was the day the final list would be out, Raghav had said to her. Raghav was her colleague and her good friend in office. There were rumors that the company was giving the pink slip to many of its employees due to the global recession.

Meera prayed fervently, hoping that her name was not included in the list of layoffs. She needed the job desperately to support her family and it was tough to find a new job during recession.

“Meera”, called Raghav. “The boss wants to see you in his cabin”.

Meera jumped from her seat and walked to Subodh’s cabin. Subodh, her boss was a demanding and daunting manager. She did not like him much as he was also known to be a womanizer. 

When Meera entered Subodh’s cabin her heart almost stopped beating as he had an envelope in hand which looked similar to one’s that employees who had been laid off were receiving. Was she also being fired?

Meera sat nervously in the chair opposite to Subodh. 

“Hi Meera”, started Subodh in a voice that was coated with unnecessary saccharine. He was never known to be polite with employees who were below him in grade.

“Hi Subodh”, said Meera with her eyes still on the envelope in Subodh’s hand.

“As you know that our company is reeling under the financial recession that has affected the whole of IT industry, so the management committee has decided to lay off some of its employees. And I am sad to inform you that, you have also been included in the list of employees who have been given the pink slip.” Subodh handed Meera the white envelope.

 Meera’s hands were shaking as she accepted the envelope. She had been working for more than 2 years in the same company and they had decided to send her back home with just 2 months of pay.

“But why me Subodh? I have been working really hard during the last release and the clients appreciated my hard work and dedication”, there were tears in Meera’s eyes as she spoke.

“Well, there is no particular reason, it’s just that some employees were critical and had to be retained and some were…” Subodh faltered unable to finish the sentence.

“Disposable, is that the word you were searching for? Can nothing be done now? I have my whole family to support, they are all financially dependent on me”, Meera was blabbering on unable to contain her grief.

Subodh looked at Meera. She was a pretty girl with average looks but she did have a good body. An idea was forming in his lecherous mind.

“Maybe I can help you, but for that you need to do me a favor”, replied Subodh softly.

A ray of hope shined bright in Meera’s eyes. “Please let me know what I can do. I need this job desperately”.

“We had to choose between you and Raghav for the layoff and the decision was mine. But since Raghav is critical to the project he’s working on, I had to let you go. But if you agree to spend some time with me then maybe I can alter my decision. Just for you”, said Subodh looking at Meera’s bosom.

There was a red alert going off in Meera’s mind but she wanted to confirm, “Spend some time with you?”

“Just a night would be enough and I assure you that this job would be yours.” said Subodh walking to Meera’s side and placing a hand on her shoulder.

Meera jumped up with a fright. She never imagined Subodh fall to such despicable measures. She always knew that he was loathsome man with no scruples, but would he really fall so low as to sexually harass her?

“There’s no urgency, let me know your decision by tomorrow and I’ll let the management know about my decision on the layoff”, said Subodh pressing Meera’s shoulders.

Meera bolted out of the room. She collected her things and went home. Raghav tired speaking to her but she was not in a condition to talk.

She really needed the job to support her family, her parents were jobless and she had a younger sister whose education was funded by Meera’s salary. She had to save her job, but did that mean she would consent to Subodh’s indecent proposal.

Meera was in a quandary. 

 But the next day she looked confident as she strode inside Subodh’s cabin. 

“Ah Meera, so have you decided? Will you sleep with me to save your job and your ass?” Subodh laughed at his own pitiful joke.

Meera slapped Subodh hard on his cheeks and shouted, “You bastard, how could you take advantage of me?”

Subodh was stunned but he recovered fast, “You bitch, how dare you? Your career in this company is over.”

Meera took a step towards Subodh and said in a low voice, “Listen you piece of filth, if anyone is leaving this company it’s you. I want you to send your resignation within an hour to the management. I don’t care for your notice period but I want you out of this company in an hour. And you want to know how?”

Meera took out her mobile and showed him a video; a video of Subodh asking Meera for a favor in return for her job. 

It was now Subodh’s turn to bite his fingernails. “And if I don’t see your ass out of this building in an hour, this video goes viral in our office. And I hope you provide a convincing argument on why Raghav and I are critical to our projects, else I’ll make sure that you don’t get a job anywhere in the IT field”, Meera walked out his cabin with a smile on her lips.

Raghav was waiting for her at her seat. “How did it go?” he asked her.

“Like a piece of cake. Thank you Raghav for saving my job.” Meera replied with gratitude. Raghav, who worked as a system admin, had been worried when Meera was summoned in Subodh’s cabin. He had checked the office surveillance camera in Subodh’s cabin and was shocked at Subodh’s behavior. He had recorded the whole incident and had meet Meera at her home. Together they formed a plan to save their careers from the hands of the wicked man.

In an hour Subodh’s resignation made news in the whole office and an official email was sent out to all employees that there would be no more layoffs for the next year.

 This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda