The chilled wind pinches the ears. The temperature dips day by day and the heavy rains compound the misery. For the past three days heavy rains lash this area. I am shivering. I am shivering not only because of biting cold but also because of a circular from the boss. Boss wants us to work from 7 to 6 everyday including Fridays. Anyway we have no right to question boss’s wisdom. Let me become a boss, I shall show who I am. I will instruct all my subordinate to work from 7 to 7.
There is a common grouse among the Indian expats, especially the Mallus that they have not many well wishers back home. I too fully agree with them in this matter. Near and dear ones do not bother to even pick the phone and inquire the well being of an expat at least once in a blue moon. In fact many of these expats are here only to look after the well being of the very people who ignore them. While it takes more than INR 25 to make a call to India from the Gulf countries, it is just 9 to call from there. Thanks to the advent of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) babus of the desert could manage to call to India at a very low rate. Still a large section of the mass does not have any access to this technology. They have to depend on costlier means of communication still.
How many of us receive call from our relatives and friends frequently? People do not have time to think of others. No one bothers to spend hundreds at a Mc Donalds ,KFC or a shopping mall along with the nuclear family just for a dinner or buying something that is least necessary. But they find it too expensive to make a call. It is hard to believe that thoughts of friends and relatives never come to mind at any point of time. Devil may care. Perhaps this is the modern way of thinking. A fat purse and a lovable spouse make the life less dependable on others. Then bonds of relations become a burden.
There is a US embargo against Syria. US allege that Syria is involved in terrorist activities in Iraq. Syria has been blamed for the latest massacre in Iraq in which hundreds were killed and maimed. So, Syrians in turn are deprived of Microsoft products including the flagship Windows. So, they are forced to use free Opeating Systems that will not support many programs like internet explorer, adobe or any thing that is offered by Microsoft. Windows that is available on anyone’s PC here is a pirated one and there is no dearth of it here.
In sharp contrast, every MS product is available in China. They make all brands of computers including the latest models of laptops. I bought a China make mobile phone for around INR 4000 when I was in China two years back. It had all the latest features in it. You name it, it did have. But sadly, its citizens can not make use of these technologies to their benefit due to government control. Orkut, youtube ,picasa webalbums or any other community portal is banned in China. The government fears even an accidental contact with the outer world by their citizens may seriously hamper the business of autocratic rule. Government will decide what the citizens need. No one has any business to question the government decision. Look, how difficult is it to safeguard a nose that may burst in asneeze!
Everything we see in Syria is made in China. If we have to buy a tooth brush, it will have the proclamation that it is made in China. Buy a flash drive, a lap top or an air conditioner. Everything will have the Chinese connection. China has no objection with the Syrians. Then why their bosom friends US are Syrian’s adversaries? It is purely politics and there might be valid reasons behind US’ approach towards Syria.
Syrians at last did turn their clock back. They could not resist doing it. The clock has been adjusted to an hour behind. Now the time difference between India and Syria became 3 ½ Hours. And also, we are forced to go to the mess at 6 in the evening for our dinner. Dinner at 6 looks very odd, but we are here to do some odd things per se.
Look at the commissioning guys in the project. They think they are the odd ones out in the pack. In every project, these commissioning guys appear in the scene as the project nears completion. By the time the construction team completes the work almost 80%, these people show up, as if they have been just dropped from heavens. The places where the construction team toiled to their wits end are barricaded briskly and big sign boards appear- No unauthorized entry, High Voltage-keep away and so on.
They just look down upon the construction guys as if they are strangers from the next village – morons who know nothing about complications of circuits and machines. . They perhaps wonder what these guys got business in their territory. Tests and interlocks are checked with the help of complicated schematic diagrams. And at last, the system, one by one is switched on. Each time a system is charged or test run, the leader of the commissioning team immediately calls the boss and announces the latest achievement. He wastes no time after that to rush to the office and type a few lines about the feat and mail to all the bosses all around the world. What follows is a barrage of congratulatory mails from the receiving ends. These are the intricacies of any construction site.
Construction team is nothing less when it comes to blowing trumpets. After each erection, be it a vessel or transformer or a column, these guys immediately rush to the roof top and shout at the maximum possible voice. They too need boss’s attention. Boss must remember them when he sits up for deciding the bonus and promotions. No harm in stooping to conquer. Selling the pride is not a big thing. If we can manage to earn money, prestige and pride come on its own. In fact construction team is the trail blazer for the commissioning team in this respect.
The black goggled construction engineer still wanders around in the site as if it is his fait accompli. The soul along with the body departs for another site -when the boss decides to demobilize him - with no emotions in the heart. After all this is not the first time they come across such situations in their career. They build the next pr at a different location and wait for the commissioning guys to come and bundle out them so unceremoniously –yet again. The cycle continues….This is it.
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