Phonecall

I had a lot of work in the office today which is a shocker since IT companies are nice and boring places. There is nothing worth doing in an Indian IT company. In fact, it’s high time Oxford and Merriam Webster add another meaning to the word “bench” in their dictionaries. You must be thinking, “Look at this loser, he doesn’t like his job, he doesn’t want to quit his job and he blames the whole fucking IT service industry because he doesn’t have anything to do!” Well don’t be too quick to judge, people! I have my reasons and one day there’ll come a post named “Adios”. You’ll hear from me then! ;)

It was almost 7 o’clock and I was about to have my daily stroll through the park. I was walking pretty quickly for unknown reasons. Every day when I’m about to enter the park, I focus all energy on my observation skills to the point that I can even observe myself more clearly than I would otherwise. Bag safely tucked on my left shoulder, I’m listening to Some Nights by fun. and I’m still thinking about that mysterious girl I wrote about a week back. Just as I took a small left turn to enter into the park, I received a phone call. I was surprised that it was from a friend. In today’s world of Facebook and WhatsApp, friends don’t call until it’s absolutely necessary.

It was Jappan (Japan Vora). Talks with this guy are like napalm spread over ice at absolute zero temperature — inspires all kinds of creative possibilities! So I hit the green button and I heard, “Baldha, I’m at ADIT. Just visited my department; met all the professors and it feels great.” And I was like, “Why is he telling me about his department visit? I’m a software geek and he’s a mech nut. We have nothing in common.” Maybe he was just too nostalgic to notice the difference between me and the other mech nuts in his cellphone contacts or perhaps he just wanted to reminisce with a friend.

But that conclusion proved to be wrong because he just went on and on about his mechanical department and college. It was something he could have told anyone, so why did he call me? After five minutes, he finally arrived at the crux of this strange call and told me about his visit to a professor whom I knew, “Do you remember that Ma’m who used to teach you Maths?” Well, that proved my earlier judgment of our departments not having anything in common totally wrong, didn’t it? Mathematics is of course at the center of everything! I replied with a Yes! He then told me that she didn’t teach them but he went there anyways and asked her, “Well, you do not know me but you must know a certain student called Ronak Baldha.”

He told me that he asked her but that didn’t sound like an interrogative statement at all. He didn’t ask her if she remembered me, he just told her as if she was supposed to remember me. The above statement would have been a disaster and a mega-troll on my reputation had she said No. It would have been a slap on my face received by Jappan! :D

But luckily this was how she responded, “Oh yes I remember him — the one with a very good hand-writing and an excellent approach at Maths.” And this is the sort of moment that makes you feel proud. This is the real report card, not the one with ink and paper! I feel sad that I don’t get to use my pen and pencil much these days; typing has overtaken writing. If I trust my memory, I always had a good hand-writing; all I remember is people praising and appreciating it. There’s only one person that comes to mind who has criticized it a lot but it doesn’t matter really because he’s the stupidest person I know :P ;)

Throughout the call, I kept wondering, “Why has he called me? What does he want?” As it turns out, the call wasn’t about what he wanted but it was definitely what I needed. Just as I pressed the red button and ended the call, I made a promise to myself that I’ll keep doing what I’m good at even if that is no longer a part of my work, even if that doesn’t earn me money!