The Shadow on the Wall, Page 2
Manoj Nair
Chapter Two
It had been a month since his appointment at indigo Soft. The HR round had been a formality. The technical rounds were the deciders and in those, Hari had scored well. Of the fifty people who had turned up for the interview, only five had cleared. The interview was on a Friday and he was told he could join on the following Monday. “Welcome to Indigo”, the lady from HR had said, “you will get your joining letter on Monday once you come in. Office hours are from nine to five”
“Thanks”, Hari said.
Hari was stunned. He had not expected to get through on his first attempt and had booked his return tickets as well. He had reached on a Friday, the interview was the next day, and the return ticket had been booked for Sunday.
“I don’t have a place to stay here,” Hari said to the lady from HR.
“ Well, that can be a problem, in Mumbai, “ she said. “By the way where are you staying at present ?”
“ At the dormitory in the railway station. I have a return ticket for Sunday”.
She stated laughing.
“Why, weren’t you expecting to get through in the interviews?” she asked.
“I have never given an interview in a big company before, and was not sure what to expect”.
“Well the company does provides temporary guest room facilities. We do have a number of employees who come from other states and need temporary accommodations. Your problem is that this facility would be available to you for two weeks only. By then you would have to find some other accommodation. By the way, my name is Shipra Rai, and I lead the HR team in this office. We handle onboarding of new employees.”
As Hari was leaving the building, the receptionist got up, looked at him, smiled and said,” Welcome to Indigo, Sir,”
‘I may be from a village, but I am no fool,’ thought Hari, smirked and went out.
As he stepped out of the building, he realized that he would have to change his plans, now that he had the job. First, he had to go to the railway station to cancel the return ticket, next he had to get his luggage out of the locker, then take a rickshaw and go to the company lodge and finally get a room there. First off, though he had to call up his father and give him the good news.
“You got the job?” his father asked.
“Yes appa, I have to join on Monday”, Hari said, “The starting salary is twenty five thousand rupees per month”.
“25,000?” V.N.K asked.
“Yes appa, twenty five thousand - per month.” There was a pause at the other end of the line.
“That is more than what I got when I was in the army. I am proud of you my son,” V.N.K said. “I am very proud of you.”
It was only later that night as he settled back on the bed in the lodge, that the importance of what he had achieved that day sank in. He – Hari Kumar had landed a job at one of the top software development firms in the country. A salary of 25,000 meant he could start making a sizable contribution to the family expenses. As an employee with Indigo, he got facilities that he had never had before. He got an account with a major bank, which came along with ATM and credit card facilities. At the office, he had a desk with a high end PC for development and a desk phone. He was still getting used to these improvements in his life when he ran up against the first problem in his new job.
The company lodge facility was free for the initial two weeks, after that any extension required approval from senior management. The additional stay was charged. The charges were a stiff 5000 rupees per week, deducted directly from the employee’s salary. Hari started the search for a house and soon realized why Mumbai was one of the costliest cities in the world. It was not that there were no flats available for rent; the problem was that the rent was more than what he was earning in a month. All the others in his team lived with their parents and did not have this problem. Finally, one of his colleagues suggested he move to a chawl. Chawls were individual rooms in buildings that could be three or four stories tall. The tenants shared common bathroom and toilets. The rent for these single rooms could be anywhere between a thousand to five thousand rupees per month. Hari did not think twice and grabbed the offer.
Shifting was easy; all that he had, fitted easily in the single suitcase which he had brought from Devipuram. An auto rickshaw deposited him at the chawl and he himself carried the box to his room, which was on the third floor. It took him a few days to get used to the chawl routines. Years of living with V.N.K had taught him a few things and the most important of them all was a love for a disciplined and regulated life. He started getting up at five in the morning. After brushing his teeth, he would go for a morning jog.
Hari had been a good athlete in school. His health had taken a hit while in college, where his focus had been more on his studies. He planned to set that right now that he had the opportunity. He set himself a target of five kilometers a day. There was a road right outside the chawl. In one direction, it lead towards the railway station while in the other, it took one to the outer suburbs of Mumbai. The road towards the railway station was always busy, so he preferred to run in the opposite direction. Besides the road on this route had trees on both sides and the air was relatively clean.
“So how many miles do you run every day?” Vijay asked. Vijay was Hari’s friend and colleague in the same project. The project, Hari was allocated on was the same one for which he had been interviewed. Gopalakrishnan Reddy, or Gopal who had interviewed Hari, was the Project Manager. The development team consisted of two tech leads, four module leads, and eight developers. Hari was one of the eight and Vijay was one of the first friends he had made in this team.
“I run about five kilometers every day,” Hari said.
“How do you know, it is five kilometers. Do you carry along a pedometer?”
“ Why would I need a pedometer? There is a bus stop right outside my building. From there the next bus stop is roughly two and a half kilometers away. That would make it five kilometers both ways.”
“ Very smart! You didn’t tell me the time you take to complete your run”
“Around forty five minutes at a normal pace”
“Is that good or bad?”
“ I do not know. All that I know is that I am comfortable at that speed”
“Hmm that is the correct answer. By the way, how is your life at the chawl coming along? Any pretty girls there?”
“ Why, why do you want to know about the girls?”
“ Well if there are any, just let me know and I will take it up from there”
“Ha.. ha.. ha … very funny. Well there are a few old aunties and some girls but they are too young for you… most are still in school or nursery”
Someone’s phone started ringing and the sound filled up the ODC. The ODC or the offshore development center was the walled in area where the development team sat. Depending on the importance of the project, some development teams sat in ODC’s while others sat in the normal work areas. It all depended on the client and the type of project that they were working on. Usually projects belonging to financial institutions had ODC’s. Gopal’s project had some of the strictest access rules. There were three CCTV’s outside the ODC entrance and three inside. The door had a biometric lock and there were security people at the door to ensure compliance.
“Whose cell phone is that?” Gopi asked. “How many times have I got to tell you guys not to bring your cell phones to your desk.”
“ Sorry, it is my new iPhone”, it was Sunil one of the developers.
“Any idea how much that phone costs?” whispered Vijay to Hari.
“How much?”
“Cheapest would be around 45000”
“45000 for a mobile. That is almost twice my salary,” Hari said. His voice carried to Sunil, who turned back and said, “Actually it is around 50,000, but you know, it is worth it”
“My Nokia cost 5500,” Vijay replied, “tell me what happens when someone calls you on a 50000 rupee cellphone. Do you get to see the person on the other side – or do you get to touch them. How does it work?”
The ODC erupted in laughter, Vijay was the comedian in the group, and even Gopi smiled at that.
“IPhone or not, you have to deposit it at the security desk, Sunil. No camera phones allowed at your desk. Please do not repeat this, ” Gopi said.
“ Shit man,” Sunil said as he walked towards the security desk with his phone.
“And also the phones need to be on mute”, Gopi continued.
“Sunil, you have never been to the US, so where did you get the American accent from?” Vijay asked.
There were sniggers from different parts of the room. Sunil pretended not to have heard that.
“How can he afford to spend so much for a cell phone?” Hari asked Vijay.
“You think he bought it with his salary. His father is a rich businessman and sponsors him. Do you know how much he paid for the seat in the engineering college? The amount had eight zeros”.
Hari’s was amazed. He could not imagine anyone spending an amount like that just to get a seat in a college. All that his father had to pay for him was his college fees and that too at times had been difficult.
“So when are you planning on buying a mobile phone?” Vijay asked.
“I want to save money. Can’t afford to spend it all on a cell phone”
“I am also saving money. One day I am planning on buying a Rolls Royce”
“On this salary, I think you will need a couple of lifetimes to save that much!” replied Hari and both the friends laughed.
“If both of you jokers are done laughing, maybe we can get some work done”, it was Mohan one of the tech-leads.
“Mohan, Hari and I are planning to start a union. Software Developer Workers Union - SDWU. I will be the pre
sident, naturally, and Hari the General Secretary”.
The look on Mohan’s face clearly spelt that he was not in the mood for jokes.
“Come here both of you and bring your notepads with you,” Mohan said.
“The first issue on which we would agitate once we have our union would be to allow thirty minutes in a day for jokes,” Vijay whispered to Hari as the two walked towards Mohan’s desk.
That night Hari began writing on a piece of paper.
Total income: 25000
In hand: 23000
Rent: 3500
Food: 3000
Miscellaneous Expenses: 2500
Travel: 2300
Total: 11300
Balance: 11000
He did not like what he wrote down. The balance should have been more. The expenditure on food and travel was really hitting him. He had his food at the office cafeteria. The travel was by state transport buses and unavoidable. Somewhere he had to cut down on the expenses.
‘I would have to do something about it,’ he thought.
.
