Recuperation

Forgot to tell you. Seemingly Silent came back. I did not go to the airport to pick him up. He came on his own. Spent a fortune on the taxi too.
 
Seemingly Silent started relating his Canada experiences. At 4:30 in the morning. I finally did end up losing my sleep. And the very day he arrived, I was diagnosed with jaundice.
 
After 3 weeks, the worst of it is over now. My affliction as well as his fiction.

The Software Mogul

Great White Hope has a software company. Rather had one. He had started one sometime back. It was going well for a while. The Guitar-craze put an end to it. Well, someone has to take rock music forward !!

Recently, I heard from his friend and secretary that he has suddenly regained interest in software building business and has started recruiting people. "Good for him", I said.

More recently, we all got a mail from him, asking to check out his latest rock recordings. Now what should I say ? Anyway check out http://www.calliphonia.com. Mind you, the site may be down most of the time.

Jaundice

Robot went to Taiwan for a few days' trip. Official, of course. He came back, complained of viral fever, and went home for a few days rest. Bike-Push, his room-mate, too started having dizzy spells. Turned out they were both suffering from jaundice. Then the rush started. One by one, District Committee, Bride Seeker and Fear Factor too went home complaining of jaundice. The last one to get infected was yours truly. Wait, that's what everybody thought.

One day, I called up Lazy Lozenge from my home, to enquire about his well being. He started screaming at me. Poor chap. He too contracted the disease, and was admitted in a good but cut-throat hospital. Mind you, in Allopathy, there is no cure for Jaundice. The only prescribed medication is 'complete rest'. It is heart-breaking to think of the bill presented to Lazy Lozenge from the hospital. And that too, just for using their bed for a couple of days.

Sadly, Wild Man from Borneo somehow escaped the Jaundice epidemic.

Once upon a time in Bombay...

In February I was in Bombay on an Official visit. Went for 2 days and came back after a month. You know clients. They can be pushy. Well, they were in a jam and we had the moral responsibility to help them out. Especially since they got into the jam because of us. Wait a minute, that is not my point. The point is I met a few old friends there. I met the software engineer who quit software engineering to become a film-maker (Last I heard of him was he was thinking of joining the Industry back). A good friend. He can kill panthers with his bare hands (So he claims). I also met the software engineer who quit software engineering to become an NGO activist. He was desperately trying to get out of the NGO business.

The lesson learned : Do not quit software engineering.

Flashback

Did I tell you that all of us were batchmates in college ?? Well.. Yes. Nice old days. Enjoyed 4 years. And then we ended up in this city. Many others did well in their lives since. We.. well, we too did well. The hotellers did prosper once we came to this city. An obscure mechanic, with a small two-wheeler workshop by the highway, also prospered.

Many other car workshops also prospered. Take the case of our Lazy Lozenge's car. Once he was trying to park his car in the basement of his apartment. There was a pillar by the side. As he was backing up, suddenly this pillar just jumped out and moved 2 feet towards the car. Believe me, for no reason, the concrete pillar moved. Poor Lozenge, 5000 rupees down the drain for the scratched door, broken glass etc. That Lozenge is no expert driver is quite another matter. Tell me what could he do, if concrete pillars start behaving like this ? They are supposed to know their place.

The Marriage Trip

The Wild man from Borneo has a car. We go places in that. The latest trip was to attend a friend's marriage. A dear old chap, who would have been heart-broken, if we hadn't attended.

The first time the issue was discussed was when the Patriot came back after a 3 month stay in his "homeland". He threw a party, as usual, in our house. The party was well attended, again, as usual. The Wild Man, the Patriot (of course), the Bike-Push, the Perpetual Whiner, District Committee, Fear Factor, all attended. The Bike-Push argued with great effort, the futility of attending friends' marriages (in general). The reason laid down was, the married guys no longer come to our bachelor dens etc. Seemed like a lame reason to me. Dunno. The arguments got heated and finally I requested a vote. Everybody except Bike-Push voted an emphatic "Yes, I will attend the marriage".

The day fast approaching, Perpetual Whiner, telephoned me saying he will not be able to attend. Same was the case with Distict Committee. To cut a long story short, the final head count came down to 4. Fear Factor, Patriot, Wild Man and I. Wild Man suggested travelling by his car and we agreed.

The day dawned and the Patriot who had made such big noises against Bike-push on the day of the argument started balking. The reason : (Brace yourself) His girlfriend told him not to go.

Heart-broken at the fact that our dear friend, ditched us for a girl and more heart-broken at the fact that, we didn't have a girlfriend like that (so that we could have ditched him some time in the future), the three of us, Wild Man, Fear Factor and I, set off to see the last bachelor day of a dear friend.