Breaking the head. Then and Now.

It was rough seas last week at office. Came home late almost all days of the week and clocked more than 60 hours. It is no big deal back in offshore but at client site, it is very pronounced. Especially because the office is deserted at 5 pm and you are all alone breaking your head. The lights are sensor operated and if there is no human movement in the room or the hallway, it will automatically switch off. So if you are sitting continuously at your desk for quite an amount of time, the lights too desert you and you are too occupied – or is it too lazy?! - to stand up and walk around to get the lights back on.

My thoughts compared this life to the life a decade ago when I was in college. Then too I was breaking my head in the computer lab, but I wasn’t alone. There was the whole batch breaking their heads in a brightly lit lab during day time and it was time limited. Either we got the program right or we didn’t in the stipulated time. It was all over either way in 3 hours. So you are liberated and you are either happy or sad in 3 hours, once the exam is over. You move on.

But that isn’t the case here. We have a task and its got to be solved or resolved as soon as possible. Sooner the better. But it is not time bound. Its result bound. So you have to be at it till it’s solved. Day in and day out. If it isn’t solved today, you go home thinking about it and breaking your head at house too. And you dread going to office the next day because it’s the same nasty thing to meddle about. And there are people above you asking how it’s going and checking if there are any results.

And then there are groups that are waiting for you to resolve so that they can continue from where you have left off. It’s like a relay game. You need to reach a point in the track where you can pass the stick - or whatever they call that thing you carry in your hand in the relay game - to the other member of the team who will then start running. So if you don’t reach that point sooner, the other members in the team are left idle and people ought not to be left idle in office, especially when they are being paid to work, right?!

So, then. That’s an example of how life gets complicated in a decade.

:-)