What it is to be in the line of fire !

What it is to be in the line of fire ! Read on....

Vivek Pradhan wasn't a happy man. Even the plush comfort of the First Class air-conditioned compartment of the Shatabdi Express couldn't cool his frayed nerves. He was the Project Manager and still not entitled to air travel. It was not the prestige he sought, he had tried to reason with the admin guy, it was the savings in time. APM had so many things to do!

He opened his case and took out the laptop, determined to put the time to some good use.

"Are you from the software industry sir," the man beside him was staring appreciatively at the laptop.

Vivek glanced briefly and mumbled in affirmation, handling the laptop now with exaggerated care and importance as if it were an expensive car.

"You people have brought so much advancement to the country sir. Today everything is getting computerized. "

'Thanks," smiled Vivek, turning around to give the man a detailed look.

He always found it difficult to resist appreciation. The man was young and stocky like a sportsman. He looked simple and strangely out of place in that little lap of luxury like a small town boy in a prep school. He probably was a Railway sportsman making the most of his free traveling
pass.

"You people always amaze me," the man continued, "You sit in an office and write something on a computer and it does so many big things outside."

Vivek smiled deprecatingly. Naivety demanded reasoning not anger.

"It is not as simple as that my friend. It is not just a question of writing a few lines. There is a lot of process that goes behind it." For a
moment he was tempted to explain the entire Software Development Lifecycle but restrained himself to a single statement. "It is complex, very
complex."

"It has to be. No wonder you people are so highly paid," came the reply. This was not turning out as Vivek had thought. A hint of belligerence came into his so far affable, persuasive tone.

"Everyone just sees the money. No one sees the amount of hard work we have to put in." "Hard work!" "Indians have such a narrow concept of hard work.
Just because we sit in an air-conditioned office doesn't mean our brows don't sweat. You exercise the muscle; we exercise the mind and believe me that is no less taxing."

He had the man where he wanted him and it was time to drive home the point.
"Let me give you an example. Take this train. The entire railway reservation system is computerized. You can book a train ticket between any
two stations from any of the hundreds of computerized booking centers across the country. Thousands of transactions accessing a single database at a given time; concurrency, data integrity, locking, data security. Do you understand the complexity in designing and coding such a system?"

The man was stuck with amazement, like a child at a planetarium. This was something big and beyond his imagination.

"You design and code such things."

"I used to," Vivek paused for effect, "But now I am the project manager,"

"Oh!" sighed the man, as if the storm had passed over, "so your life is easy now."

It was like being told the fire was better than the frying pan. The man had to be given a feel of the heat.

"Oh come on, does life ever get easy as you go up the ladder.
Responsibility only brings more work. Design and coding! That is the easier part. Now I don't do it, but I am responsible for it and believe me, that
is far more stressful. My job is to get the work done in time and with the highest quality. And to tell you about the pressures!
There is the customer at one end always changing his requirements, the user wanting something else and your boss always expecting you to have finished it yesterday."

Vivek paused in his diatribe, his belligerence fading with self-realisation. What he had said was not merely the outburst of a wronged
man, it was the truth. And one need not get angry while defending the truth."My friend," he concluded triumphantly, "you don't know what it is to be in the line of fire."

The man sat back in his chair, his eyes closed as if in realization. When he spoke after sometime, it was with a calm certainty that surprised
Vivek."I know sir, I know what it is to be in the line of fire," He was staring blankly as if no passenger, no train existed, just a vast expanse
of time. "There were 30 of us when we were ordered to capture Point 4875 in the cover of the night. The enemy was firing from the top. There was no knowing where the next bullet was going to come from and for whom. In the morning when we finally hoisted the tricolor at the top only 4 of us were alive."

"You are a..."

"I am Subedar Sushant from the 13 J&K Rifles on duty at Peak 4875 in Kargil. They tell me I have completed my term and can opt for a land
assignment. But tell me sir, can one give up duty just because it makes life easier. On the dawn of that capture one of my colleagues lay injured
in the snow, open to enemy fire while we were hiding behind a bunker. It was my job to go and fetch that soldier to safety. But my captain refused me permission and went ahead himself. He said that the first pledge he had taken as a Gentleman Cadet was to put the safety and welfare of the nation foremost followed by the safety and welfare of the men he commanded. His own personal safety came last, always and every time. He was killed as he shielded that soldier into the bunker. Every morning now as I stand guard I can see him taking all those bullets, which were actually meant for me. I know sir, I know what it is to be in the line of fire."

Vivek looked at him in disbelief not sure of his reply. Abruptly he switched off the laptop. It seemed trivial, even insulting to edit a word
document in the presence of a man for whom valor and duty was a daily part of life; a valor and sense of duty which he had so far attributed only to epical heroes.

The train slowed down as it pulled into the station and Subedar Sushant picked up his bags to alight.

"It was nice meeting you sir."

Vivek fumbled with the handshake. This was the hand that had climbed mountains, pressed the trigger and hoisted the tricolor.

Suddenly as if by impulse he stood at attention, and his right hand went up in an impromptu salute.

It was the least he felt he could do for the country.

PS: The incident he narrates during the capture of Peak 4875 is a true life incident during the Kargil war. Major Batra sacrificed his life while
trying to save one of the men he commanded, as victory was within sight. For this and his various other acts of bravery he was awarded the Param Vir Chakra - the nation's highest military award.

Live humbly, there are great people around us, let us learn!

The Club 99

Once upon a time, there lived a King who, despite his luxurious lifestyle, was neither happy nor content.

One day, the King came upon a servant who was singing happily while he worked. This fascinated the King; why was he, the Supreme Ruler of the Land, unhappy and gloomy, while a lowly servant had so much joy.

The King asked the servant "Why are you so happy?"

The man replied

"Your Majesty, I am nothing but a servant, but my family and I don't need too much - just a roof over our heads and warm food to fill our tummies."

The king was not satisfied with that reply. Later in the day, he sought the advice of his most trusted advisor.

After hearing the King's woes and the servant's story, the advisor said" Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not been made part of The 99 Club."

"The 99 Club? And what exactly is that?" the King inquired.

The advisor replied,

"Your Majesty, to truly know what The 99 Club is, place 99 Gold coins in a bag and leave it at this servant's doorstep ."

DONE

When the servant saw the bag, he took it into his house.When he opened the bag, he let out a great shout of joy...So many gold coins!He began to count them.After several counts, he was at last convinced that there were only 99 coins.He wondered "What could've happened to that last gold coin?Surely, no one would leave 99 coins! "

He looked everywhere he could, but that final coin was elusive.Finally, exhausted, he decided that he was going to have to work harder than ever to earn that gold coin and complete his collection.

From that day, the servant's life was changed.He was overworked, horribly grumpy, and castigated his family for not helping him make that 100th gold coin.He stopped singing while he worked.Witnessing this drastic transformation, the King was puzzled.

When he sought his advisor's help, the advisor said
"Your Majesty, the servant has now officially joined The 99 Club."He continued" The 99 Club is a name given to those people who have enough to be happy but are never contented, because they're always yearning and striving for that extra 1 telling to themselves:"Let me get that one final thing and then I will be happy for life ."

We can be happy, even with very little in our lives, but the minute we're given something bigger and better, we want even more! We lose our sleep, our happiness, we hurt the people around us; all these as a price for our growing needs and desires. That's what joining The 99 Club is all about."

"HOPE WE WILL NEVER JOIN THIS "99" CLUB."

Karunai Villa

Sometimes, we might see people who are disabled or helpless and we do get a feeling "why God is sometimes crazy?" But that's really not the case. First and foremost thing that you should keep in your mind is that the same God who created people with such disabilities created you. And you should thank God for making you fit enough.

Never think God is crazy for making you see people like them, it is actually a message to you from God that you are fit enough to help people who are really in need.

Around 2 years back, one of my close friend Siva Prakash introduced me to a great person Ravee (actually his colleague). We wonder sometimes whether humanity exists, and my answer would be "yes" because there are people like Ravee. I along with Ravee and Siva went to Porur in Chennai to "Karunai Villa - A home for poor, disabled, mentally challenged and handicapped"

The home had many mentally challenged people rather than old aged people. We gave some biscuits and food items that we bought. That day, someone donated lunch to share his birthday (one more instance to prove humanity existed). We stayed there for some more time, I didn't feel like talking at all, I was out of words.

Then we went to Alwarthirunagar where the office was situated. I had the opportunity to meet the great Ms. Lizamma Mathews, the founder of Karunai Villa. She shared with us, her experiences, hurdles that she had all these years and the difficulties they are facing now in running the home.

I shared my experience with some of my friends and colleagues, now it stands as a big group in helping the home. Thanks to all the kind hearts....

Ravee somehow struggled to bring a portal live for Karunai Villa to let people know about the home. The URL is http://www.karunaivilla.com/

If any of you feel, that you are right now capable of supporting this home, do let me know. The help that we render might be very minimal, but it really does create a lot of difference in the lives of such people and of course a great difference in this society.

My first Ski experience

I was deep asleep @ around 1:45 PM when Mani came and woke me up.... asking me to get ready for skiing. I wasn't aware of the plan but was little bit excited because I haven't tried skiing before. We got ready, packed extra dress, gloves, monkey caps, and camera and we started to Wachusett Mountains (Pranesh, Sasi P & I in Pranesh's car and Mani, Prabhu & Shri in Shri's car).

We reached there in about 45 mins, took the shuttle to the entrance. It was too cold out there. We got our tickets and Pranesh, Mani & I got extra gloves as the one I had didn't resist that bitter cold. Then we took our ski and we entered the snow filled trail.

Pranesh was cherishing their previous year's experience (I missed that opportunity as I had to work on that day). Sasi gave us a quick lesson on how to fit the ski to our shoes and how to actually ski....

We were in the beginners' trail and we took the lift and reached the summit of the trail. I was both excited & afraid to go down. First Sasi, then Shri, then Pranesh, then Mani, then Prabhu and now it was me.... I just started to slide down and I fell down :)) Sasi came to rescue me.... Then I some how got up and then started again and again I went down. I fell down thrice before I reached the base. I then took the lift and gave it another try and I was successful without falling down even once. I tried again and it was a grand success....

Then Prabhu and I took some photos. We saw Sasi coming down the intermediate trail. Now Prabhu, Sasi & I decided to take the intermediate trail, where Pranesh and Mani where trying their luck ;)

I just started and down I went not on the trail but on the ground :)). I really don't remember how many times I fell down, in what manner I fell down, but somehow managed to reach half the trail. It was paining all over but I didn't want to give up. I again got up but managed to slide only a few feet when I fell down. This time I was hurt real hard, one of the ski came of my shoe and I fell on the ski.

I really didn't want to get up, because I have to ski again. Then I removed the other ski too and was just standing there. It was not only me falling down but there were many beginners who came to the intermediate trail out of enthu and were paying the price for it.

I was surprised to see the little ones' skiing without any problem following their parents.... "இளம் கன்று பயம் அறியாது" this was what I thought. I lost hope of reaching the ground with the skies, so I stared walking.

A son and a father came skiing down. That little boy stopped by my side and asked "are you alright?" and I said "yes" but I felt really bad. His father taught me a quick lesson to ski. I was in a dilemma whether to ski or not. I then decided to continue skiing, whatever may happen. Then I was fixing my ski to the shoes when Sasi came down and stopped by during his third round (what a man I thought !!). I then started skiing and I fell down for 4 times, the fourth time was worst, me again falling on the ski.

The trail was too icy and they were asking people to go down so that they can groom the trail. One person who was asking people to go down was kind enough to carry my ski down I walked the rest of the trail. Sasi was waiting for me down and we all went to the restaurant. We had pizza, soup, fries and tea to make ourselves strong enough for the next try :))

We then decided to take another intermediate trail. We prepared to board the lift and fate started it's play right at the beginning for me. One of the ski came off my shoe when I got into the lift and I was going up the hill with one ski. I somehow managed to get down and one guy brought me the ski up the hill. I was thinking that I would be better now, but I was wrong. I walked this time too half the trail to reach the beginners' trail.

Pranesh & Mani taught me some quick lessons and I managed to reach down. I then decided to stop because the amount of damage was too high.... Then we took some photos and we returned the skis' and returned home....

We have a plan to go for skiing again early February to a place near by Worcester. Although it was tough to ski without any practice, it was a nice experience and it was a total fun. I can never forget this debut.