Things were going on in some sort of rhythm I didn't know
existed. I am to call my parents every day before I leave for work and once am
back at home. I am to visit them at least every alternate weekend. I am to make
an effort in finding a guy for me. I even have the carte blanche on finding on
my own.
Every morning I wake up, miss my mother's filter coffee and
make my own instant one. I have cereal for breakfast and head to office. I have
lunch there. I do dabble at dinner every other day but I have a standing
invitation at Naren's. Of the three of them Vivek is the best cook, so I make
sure am there when it is his turn. I have learnt to make few dishes like sambar
and basic curries. Rotis are still a nightmare, just too much work, I am
thinking of becoming a ricetarian. If all else fails, there is such a thing
called home delivery. I do miss mom's food. Well.
At office, I feel more energetic. Maybe it is the change.
Everything looks fresh and I seem to have developed some sort of interest in
things I do. I decided to be more involved in things to find what I like in my
work. I had a chat with a couple of people informing them I am ready for trying
out new stuff.
There is a new proposal coming up for a new client. I am
helping out our architect. Our architect, Sukanya, had asked specifically for
me. I am good at my work, I am a software developer. Not that good. So maybe I
have something to prove there. The thing is, once we are ready from our side,
Shan is going to have his own presentation on business models and we will have
to have a run through together. I am telling you, universe has no idea of ever
helping me on anything, ever. I do dream every single night of never seeing
Shan again and want it as fiercely as I am capable of, but nothing happens.
Paulo Coelho, legendary writer and liar. Shan hadn't exactly avoided me, as he
couldn't, but he had tried his best, which was easier as I wasn't comfortable
yet. I am still not sure whether I should pull him into a meeting room and
explain things to him or not, avoiding is easier.
In all my aboriginal fresh interest at work, Shan is one
thing that remains constant. He still smirk-smiles on the rare occasions we do
meet, given the latest experience with him, I am glad it hasn’t morphed into
something else. My big issue is not that though. I look at Shan and his
smirk-smile and also see a super-imposed image of the to-die-for brown eyes
with the blank stare belonging to a certain person we both knew. I am guilty
enough of the way I have handled things. I am also embarrassed because I catch
myself thinking about you-know-who. I am going to assume that the guilt is
making me think of him.
Sukanya and I are spending most of our time coming up with
power point presentations, excel sheets with lots of data and brain storming
for new ideas. I did not come up with anything new, but she keeps doing it, so
I must be enabling her at the very least.
'Priya, we have to come up with a domain model for this. I
got a mail asking for a solution for the client's architect to look at. We need
to talk to the experts we have here, I am going to talk to sales and find out
if something like this has been already done on a similar pitch. Can you start
on this?' – Sukanya had just come to my desk and said hi and rattled all of
this.
Sukanya is a very smartly dressed woman who appears to be in
her early thirties. She is always well dressed. She predominantly wears cotton
salwar-kameez and manages to look very proper and professional. I have seen her
couple of times with formal trousers and a suit jacket; very smart. She has a
lot of fans on the floor for her choice of style and fashion. She is very good
at her work, a minority in the sea of male architects. She is also a very hard
woman to say no to and does things her way, in other words, she is one scary
person.
'Sure Sukanya. I would need a couple of days to get this
done'
'A couple of days? Is that enough?'
I do not know. I did not understand all the complex words in
the group of sentences she had just uttered. I remember them. I can google later
to understand what a domain model is and why we need experts for doing it.
'You know what, give me a day and let me do a high level
analysis. I will let you know by EOD' which means end of day; that surprisingly
sounds as if I know what she spoke about and also understand how complex it is
but I am just not sure what to do at this particular instance, impressive.
'Sure Priya. That makes sense. Drop me a short note once you
finish your analysis. We will go over it once you have the first draft ready. See
you later then'. She leaves.
I begin to apply my extra ordinary skills on the art of
googling. Apparently domain model is one of the models which depict a solution
using a diagram. We need to identify all important elements or objects
associated with an industry or domain and relate them. Okay, so I know why we
need experts. Unfortunately, I have no idea how long it is going to take for me
to come up with one. We are doing a proposal for a telecom client. I google
domain models for telecom industry. I find a lot of models with contradicting
relationships and very many objects identified and claiming to be the very soul
of the industry, most of them not consistent across multiple diagrams.
I get lost in the world of telecom. I print out all sorts of
diagrams and figures and am in the process of understanding things. My desk is
filled with these print outs. I can't recollect ever printing anything out for
the sake of work before. Movie tickets, yes, never for research.
I feel a presence beside me. I hear a throat being cleared
and I know that if I look up, I will be looking at a smirk-smile. I look up anyways
and turn to my left; I did not have a choice.
Shan stands there with his attempted smirk-smile, not a
fully executed one as he was trying to hide surprise from his face. I am
already getting pissed. I know why he is surprised.
'Well, looks like you find this work interesting Priya'
'Oh, hi Shan', I say. What I am thinking is - I dare you
Shan. I dare you to say what you really are thinking.
He smirk-smiles, no attempt now.
'Sukanya asked me to introduce you to a couple of SMEs' –
which is acronym for Subject Matter Expert. 'I will set up a meeting; I came by
to ask when. I had mailed you, I came by to get a quick response'. He looked
pointedly at all the print outs.
'Sorry Shan, been busy. Can we do it now? I have some more
research to do and they might help speed things up.'
Shan nods and promptly arranges a meeting by calling them.
We walk over to a meeting room in total silence. Good.
I meet the three SMEs and the discussion starts. I let Shan
ask his questions. They seem surprisingly reasonable and intelligent. I guess I
never did like Shan and hence thought he was dumb. I can get judgmental. He
only gets unreasonable with me I guess, always asking me to do things ASAP and
keep him in the loop.
The discussion they had seems useful for me as well. I ask
them about domain models. They are not technical architects so they couldn't
help much other than answer few of my questions. They also like to argue among
themselves and not arrive at any conclusions. So the meeting went on.
I had asked one specific question on billing cycles and they
had such long passionate discussions that Shan and I share a look of
exasperation. Finally, after a long long time, the discussion is done.
'Wow, that was looooooooong'
What? Shan small talking to me? Since when? I look at him.
He actually yawns. Shan can yawn? You mean, he is normal?
'What do you mean normal?'
Oops, looks like I was sleepy too. One must not say what one
thinks about one's manager to said manager even by mistake. This is the eleventh
commandment and I broke it.
'No no, I meant, it was indeed longer than normal or you
know, expected….. Abnormally long meeting'
Shan laughs. He gives a full laugh with his head thrown back
a little. I never notice how Shan looks for the obvious reason. He is my
manager. He does have a decent laugh though.
'I think I got what you actually meant Priya', he
smirk-smiles.
Thank god for small favors. If I was fairer, he could have
seen me blush. My rather dusky complexion saves me. I just wave my hand as a
sign of and rush back. I have lots of work to do.
I have gone over all the links that google spat out
whichever seemed most relevant. I have looked at sites and referred manuals
that the SMEs recommended. I could only go halfway and I still had no clear
idea on how long I am going to take. So, I drop a note to Sukanya, saying I
need a week. Let's see if I can do it.
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