The other side of the gate...

“Excuse me madam…hello..” It took me a moment to realize someone was calling me. It was the same old question, the direction to SDF IV or V or whatever. SDF stands for Standard Development Factory. Replace the Standard with Software and it makes perfect sense. What are these but factories that churn out tons of codes each day with the mechanical Cntrl X-Cntrl V from apna Google zindabad! I wonder sometimes, if open source is as much a boon as we deem it to be, considering the “full stop to thinking” danger it entails? Given today’s scenario, data entry operators should make better software developers than computer science grads. But before I take off on a trip to how and why of everything, I had to answer the expectant-soon-turning-to-irritant-eyes, staring me in the face.
“Which company?”
“Xyntel!”
I raised an eye brow and recollected, “Oh! It is the one next to Yntel or maybe Zyntel, whatever, just a 5 min walk, turn left and you should see the place.”
The eyes seemed unconvinced.
“Come for an interview?”, I pried.
Nod.
“All the best.”
A meek thanks with a sorry attempt at smiling was the reply I got. No qualms. I know what the first interview means. Nervousness, expectations, pride, desperation, hopes – the list is endless; the moment has a mix of more emotions than the most flavored mixed vegetable dish at the road-side dhaba. Few years down the line, all these emotions boil down to 8 hours routine, time sheets, status reports, con calls – the list is endless again; only this time even the taste of the bland soup at the most exquisite restaurant in town overshadows it. I sneered. I could see one more ingredient on its way, ready to blend with the tasteless soup of routine corporate life. Am I the only one who sees the individual fading in India Shining?
I remember I had a million thoughts on the first day, as I eagerly awaited my gate pass to enter the then seemingly celestial SEZ. My thoughts seemed to run as if vying to win a marathon. Fingers crossed, I wished to be a part of the prestigious world on the other side of the gate. The challenge seemed even more adventurous as I was an Art graduate going to be interviewed by the brainy whiz kids – the software engineers and management gurus who are God’s choicest blessings to middle-class parents, who fall short of only selling themselves to buy the most coveted degrees available in rising India! Little did I know then, that answering these whiz kids is easier than clicking the Next-Next-Finish buttons on an installation wizard. I waited with a warrior’s spirit ready to take on the conquest. I wish I knew then, one step in and I would be another rat in the quest of my turbid cheese.
On that day, it felt jubilant to scramble out from the claws of security, but today, like most snobs I throw the permanent gate-pass and ID card in the security’s face, forgetting the fact that it is one of the measures to ensure my own security. That day I walked out thrilled and beaming with confidence holding an offer letter which spelt victory of Art over Technology. Today I walk out listless, exhausted with desperation carrying the burden of technology, the laptop. The appraisal letters have killed the joy of the offer letter, the monotony has suppressed creativity, and the handful stars have buried the solid ground underneath. The only thing that remains unchanged between then and now is, I still yearn to be on the other side of the gate, albeit, without a gate pass.

-Monica