DATE-ed 21st February 2011

Ananya.N.Reddy - “It’s been 10 years now since I tied the knot with him. He was quite a nerd types you know, never been very romantic. What I liked in him was his pure heart and firmness. But human mind always wants more. Every time I hear about men being very romantic I feel short of something in life, being good isn’t everything I felt!”
Ananya -Remember those crazy things you used to do before marriage Nikhil? You always tried hard to impress me. All those outings were so nice. Looks like we have dried out of those things now. 
Nikhil- Come on ‘An’ we are past that age now! We have a kid now and have to concentrate on his future. What kind of childish questions you ask ?
Ananya and Nikhil were married for 10 years working in the IT industry. Their marriage was the much adored inter-state love marriage, bringing in the spices of Andhra and bangra of Punjab together! Hardcore coders and very hard working both of them were. They had scaled great heights in their career. But they had very less time to spend with each other. Their 10 years was actually only 6 years. The rest four years they spent alone as either one of them had to travel. They were blessed with a beautiful baby girl, ‘diya’ a couple of years ago. Yes it took them 8 years to have a baby! Ananya was a stubborn lady. She had targets in her mind. She said “my baby will be born in my house”. She had bought a house 3 years ago with the money she alone had earned (excluding Nikhil’s that is), hence the babyJ.  
“What a life!” one would think. Good career, own house to live, lot of short travels, a baby (future) to look forward to, a loving husband and understanding in-laws. Coupled with it her in-laws take very good care of diya. What else could one want? 
Ananya still missed something in her life. She felt too alone despite having so much around her. She never much cared about it though! Where did she have the time for it? She had moved into a new organization so that she can take care of diya. So it was like two kids. The budding project at her office and diya at home kept her busy 24*7. In fact her parents often complained that they get to hear from her very less these days.
14^th February was a special day for Ananya, not just because it was the day she had proposed Nikhil also because it was the day she tied the knot with him. But unfortunately either one would be on a business visit every year on that day. The jinx continued this year too. It was second consecutive year now that Nikhil made a video conference from Paris to wish her for their wedding anniversary. Nikhil now headed Asia and Europe operations of his company, frequently travelled to France and central Europe. Proud of her husband achievements although sad that they couldn’t make it out this year too, she consoled herself saying that “we are doing well in life now, that’s more important. My priority is Diya now. Stupid ‘An’ get back to work (mocking her husband)” 
Nikhil returned that weekend with a lot of gifts (as usual) for all and especially for her. All of them went out to dine that evening. Come Monday, back to hectic routine Ananya thought and said to herself “make the most of these moments An”. That night Nikhil came up with one of the craziest ideas!
Nikhil- ”Tomorrow lets go out for a date!”
Ananya – “Whaaaaaaaat?”
Nikhil – “Lets go out for a date, like old times… I am taking off!!”
Ananya (shocked!) – “Are you serious?”(Now there are good reasons for her reaction. The last time she knew Nikhil took off from work was for their marriage. That also was just a day. All vacations/honeymoon or whatever else happened only during Christmas off!)
Nikhil –“Ya I am. It’s been long since we had a good time. Let’s freak out tomorrow”
Ananya (Reluctant) - “Ok, but what about uncle and aunt what will they think?”
Nikhil (with a grin) – “I have a plan for that!”
So the plan was to leave home as if they left to office and later meet up for their “Date”. Now, Ananya doesn’t drive so she employed a driver for her car. Nikhil does self driving thou.
Monday morning(21^st February 2011): 
Ananya left home early. Ananya’s driver dropped her at office and returned back home. Then she waited outside her office gate. Nikhil came after 30 minutes. Ananya was furious by now! She got into the car and screamed “Why were you so late? It’s so embarrassing to stand in the road that long! ”. 
Nikhil (in romantic tone) – “Sorry dear, it took me long to choose the best bouquet for you. (Giving her the bouquet) 
Ananya – “Nikhil, is that you? Or did I get into the wrong car?”
Nikhil – “At your service today Mam. Direct me please.”
Ananya – “Citi Centre please”
Nikhil – “No honey! That’s too close to home. What if Nana (Dad) comes for shopping.”
Ananya-“Come on, Uncle never goes there. Also, you drive so much every day; take a break at least today! ”
Nikhil – “Ok let’s go!”
They went into citi centre and they were behaving like a proper pair. Not much crowd there either. It was a Monday morning after all.  She started asking him to buy almost everything she sees and he was obliging every one of her wish. She thought “His visits to Paris has made him romantic!” They had a sumptuous lunch at KFC. Right after lunch Nikhil asked – “What next?”Ananya replied “Movie of course”.
Nikhil was very choosy about the movies he watches. So he went to the counter and said “King’s Speech?”
Ananya – “Anything is ok with me! Just want to be beside you that’s all”
Person @ Ticket counter – “King’s Speech is at 4pm Sir.”
Ananya- “We can’t go for that then. It’s at 4 and it’s a 2 hr movie. I will have to be at office at 5.45. Ramu (driver) will be there by 6! So no way”
Nikhil (Disappointed) –“Ok! What’s starting in a while?”
 Person @ Ticket counter –“There’s “Disney’s Tangled!” at 2 pm and “Tanu wed Manu” starting in 10 mins”
Ananya – “Tannu weds Mannu”
Nikhil – “No way! That’s a Dubba (dumb) movie”
Ananya – “You said the day was mine!”
Nikhil (Dejected) – “Ok!”
They go into the theatre and see there just about nobody there! And guess what, the guy at the ticket counter actually gave them a corner seat. Ananya was feeling embarrassed! She said”He probably thought that we were you know…. ” Nikhil (laughing)”Ya……………..”
The movie was ordinary masala comedy with too much senti in the end. Nikhil was snoring by the time the movie was over. Ananya sat through the movie thou! She just loved every minute of it.  It was not the movie but the occasion that was special for her. To freak out like this after a long time in life made her ecstatic really! 
It’s good to be systematic in life but when we do too much of it, it just goes over our head really, as in the case of Ananya and Nikhil. They never had such a day after marriage. It was about responsibility, building career, creating wealth! Good great, they did all that fine! But they forgot that life’s about balancing just about everything, including romance! 
Ananya – “Nikhil, you gave me a splendid day! I felt so alive every minute. Sweet heart! This is one of the best days of my life! ”
Nikhil – “We should do such things often I feel. But that’s in the future, let’s live out every minute” Pulls out his digi-cam, pointing to them. He hugs her and says “Say Cheese!!!”…..

The week that ended with a bang!

3rd April 2011.... A week long work… Alongside cricket matches, the code fixes got really BUGGing! Come Wednesday, I witnessed one of the greatest ever cricket clash of arch rivals India V Pakistan. Thanks to Cognizant, I was able to watch the match live while in office. As for Code fixes that day – God bless the Onsite :p. The team lived up the expectations. Now Team Pakistan has to wait at least 4 more years to retrieve their glory! But it wasn’t finished yet for the Indians.

This time it was more than a Cricket world cup really! It was about a team trying to get a Man who deserves the glory! A man who toiled hard for 20 long years, and entertained the whole country with the bat and at time with the ball; almost single handedly he won so many matches for his team. A man much adored by his country. But he felt short of something. Indeed it was this one moment he had waited for. The rest in the team were young men who grew up watching him win games for his country. Almost the whole team had him as their role model. They started off the journey to win the cup for this man. The wounds of 2007 were still at the back of the senior pro’s in the team. All of them fought hard. “One more good day” they said to themselves and their life’s all worth it.  But their opponents are the toughest you can ask. It was the battle of equals. All the ‘Odds’ meters including the one in Doosra (Cognizant's Internal portal similar to super selector) said it was a 50%-50% chance on either side.  

                The day started off with a lot of hope for me. Almost everyone  I spoke to were having a unanimous thought. Let’s pray for our men they said. A comment in Cricbuzz website read – “Madad Karo Santhoshi Maatha. In Sikhadaron ko shakthi do aur hume Jeeth ki kushi”(Help us O’ Mighty Mother Give these warriors the strength and give us the happiness of victory). All eyes on TV, (Back off my mind I was thinking; how much money would these TV Channel guys have made? Never Mind this is bigger than the money I said to myself.) Was ready to watch em even before the toss! Toss by itself turned out to be chaotic! Moving on - looking at all stardom (from all Industries) to watch this glorious match, I reiterated to myself, this is not a just a game; It’s a Religion!

                A Splendind Innings from Jayawardena, coupled with early loss of openers by the magic of Malinga made me switch off the Box. But I was still on with Cricbuzz watching the score. Gambir and Kohli batted their hearts out to bring us to a decent situation. But once Kohli was gone (for the most spectacular and almost the most important catch of the tournament by Dilshan), I was damn surprised to see Dhoni in. I was like, did this guy get booked up by bookies or somethin! What the hell is doing? Where is Yuvi? BUT Come the hour Cometh the man! What a knock by a captain, under pressure. He is the truly un-paralled the greatest of all captains. He had now won it all, the T20, the ODI, the Test Match cricket, IPL and Champions League. He is truly one of a kind.

                All this grandeur apart, there was something that struck me like a bolt! There were about 15 – 20 middle aged men, including the great – “Little Master” himself in the middle of the cricket ground shedding tears like babies. It showed how much it meant to them. It showed the amount of effort that went on to this. We the normal people, who complain so much about everything and end up achieving things that are almost insignificant in the broader context; complain, demotivate and even pelt stones at these men’s houses when things don’t go as we expect. But the tenacity these men showed; the resilience to not give up on themselves. To come back and be the MEN who are most talked about in the country right now from what they were four years ago really requires a write; hence this post. Victory and Defeat are just two aspects in life. Two end points. What matters more is the ‘Journey’! What matters really is the Justice we do the Journey called Life!

                Unlike the stereotypic weekends, this was one special weekend for me personally. Not only because my Team ended up in the winning side, but also because I had so much to learn from the ‘Men in Blue’. Thank you Team India, you guys were splendid!