The Reality Revealed: Layer by Layer

The Exterior:

Branded clothes,shining shoes,
Glib tongue, mannerisms so smooth!
With hurried steps and long strides,
Their walk has a streak of pride.

Ladies too delicate for bright sun,
Guys sturdy, with a stomach rather plump!
One common thing,they all loathe city bus..
"They are so full..who will bear the fuss".

So they say and take an auto by meter,
On getting down they exclaim:"Auto driver is a cheater"!
But mostly they will speed off on bikes so fancy,
Leaving poor pedestrians begging for mercy!

They are everywhere: in glitzy shops and malls,
In posh 3-D theatres and in cheap next door cinema halls!
They fill mushy restaurants,noisy bars and posh pubs,
With their activities,Hyderabad is abuzz.

They earn, they spend, they flash gadgets so funky,
Outsiders sigh and exclaim:"Ah! these guys are too lucky!"
There seems no worry, no trace of sorrow,
They seem to enjoy as if there is no tomorrow!!

The Middle layer:

Lets dig a little deeper and explore the reality,
Is their life really so carefree?
Do they really live a descent life
Or is there a grim reality beneath the plastic smile?

They beg for desecent house, their requests are not worth a dime,
"You are a bachalor and thats your biggest crime"!
Agents fleece them, their requests are spruned,
They finally settle for a dingy overpaid room.

So welcome to their abode, overpaid and small,
In a seedy locality,far cry from those malls!
Six-seven guys in a small flat, stuggling for privacy,
Where clean drinking water for free is a wild fantasy.

They will not sit in bus,for its below dignity,
But hanging beside driver in a shared auto is a part of their destiny!
They will not walk a small distance..they say its pathetic,
As if travelling in the stuffed boot of comapany cab is fantastic!!

They falunt their IDs, its a matter of pride,
Ah! that fails to save them even from an undeserved chide.
They move around their office with a proud air of home,
Knowing pretty well that nothing is their own!

So when their lives we gradually explore,
We see a face thats so different from before.
The bubble of hypocrisy slowly bloats,
Until it can bear no more and finally explodes.

The Reality:

So here is the engineer in true form,
In the office he is like a paid worm.
Available at the beck and call of paymasters,
Are they any better than well-paid labourers?

Doing work that "suits the business interests",
(An euphemism for tasks that fail to impress),
They waste their knowledge, their ability,their calibre,
Day and night they work like labourers.

Some take heart :come on we are well paid,
We enjoy life, so what if this happiness is fake?
Others can't take it, they cry out with hate,
Vengefully they prepare for CAT, GRE or GATE.

Some hop jobs for greener pastures elsewhere,
To their horror they discover, its same everywhere!
No doubt they earn and flashy fadgets they do own,
But one substantial investment and they are neck deep in loan!!

Still others dream of going onsite,
For H1 visa they pray day and night!
And finally there are some who choose a spouse,
"No longer bachalor, now I can at least get a descent house"!

Life goes on,its the routine monotonous churn,
Where went lofty goals and those high ambitions?
There seem no targets, nothing to achieve,
Corporate world maze indeed gives no reprieve!

Thats bitter truth, thats a grim reality,
The external facade has now vanished in infinity.
Stripped of its gloss, we encounter facts so true,
Life of "Hi-Tech" engineer is really so blue!!

Good Morning Mr. Engineer.

The screeching morning alarm goes off,
It jolts me up, I get up with a scoff.
With bleary eyes I look around,Leaving scattered papers and cloths in his wake, my first flat mate is already gone.

The fan above me is a noisy beast,
I switch off "All Out",the fan stops with screech.
I utter a curse and rub my eyes,
The sun is already up in the sky.

Yawning and groggy I come out of my room,
I look for newspaper and my eyes zoom,
Ah! "The Hindu", its never promising,
Full of dry politics and naxalite uprising!!

I move towards sink and my feet falter,
"Where are u going mister, there is no water!!",
I hear my second room mate and turn around,
He is slurping cornflakes, sweet and warm.

He is all dressed up for office and sports a smile,
"Early bird gets water",he dares to sermonize!
I sneer,pick my brush and a mug of stored, dirty water,
From a bucket that is filled up to a quarter.

So a quarter full bucket and thats all I have,
To brush and bathe..ah..my morning is bad!
I remember six-sigma and its million discourses,
"Thou shalt effectively manage limited resources"!!

I have my brush and enter into the toilet,
I bathe and skip the intermediate step!
Thanks to office..we'll do it there,
We engineers, after all, have little to care!

The bucket is empty but I am still not done,
Wiping soap suds on body with a towel is no fun!
Water is over and my heart is bleeding,
For my dear third flatmate, who is blissfully sleeping!!

Amid sweltering heat, I switch on the fan,
When I spot the empty Bibo can.
I tumble it over a glass for at least one drop,
Nothing turns out, I look like a thirsty, late coming gauche.

Hoping against hope, I move towards fridge,
When I see inside, my lips quiver and my hands turn rigid.
Seven bottles on rack inside, yes, their number is plenty,
But the catch is that, they all are empty!

I grumble, mumble and mutter curses,
Alas there is none to listen my sweet verses!
My second flat mate has left long ago,
Third fellow is still on bed,now embracing his pillow.

I come down the building and further grieve,
When my maid smiles and tells me:"Sahab today I will be on leave".
Now,sitting beside driver in a shared auto,
I go philosophical and analyse my life's motto...

Away from home, among land lords who snare,
We live among people who really dont care.
Everything so costly,even basic amenities are rare..
Is the attitude really fair??

I jolt out of reflections, auto comes to a halt,
Before me stands "cyber Tower", elegant and tall...
"Mr. Engineer now stop the stupid talk"...
I hear my hearts voice and start my walk.

I move slowly,no trees,I am in the open,
Just 10AM and sky is like a huge oven.
I gather my courage and onwards I hurl..
Until I reach the gates of Cyber Pearl.

Welcome to glass n concrete jungle,thats your destiny,
Life seems to be one dreary monotonous journey.
Thus coming to office, thirsty and without a proper bath,
I bear the travails of a "Hi-Tech-bachelor-Engineer" at Hyderabad!

The Experience!

Some experiences leave a deep imprint on mind, never to be forgotten. I had this experience yesterday. It was nothing sudden, a group of students from class VIII and IX at Devnar School for Blinds was coming to our facility for presenting some models. This was a programme organized in sequel with the other programmes organized under "Engineers week". We knew of this fixture well in advance through the mail circulated by our manager. Of course a technical presentation by students of class 8th and 9th really didnt hold any great promises as far as knowledge enhancement was concerned. What with the week full of "Tech talks" and the like, I was least interested in another bout of technical jargon that would reel above head leaving me agape like a gauche in its wake. A welcome relief to interact with children and may be test their knowledge, I thought. I agree that nostalgia of my own school days also pulled me towards the "Board Room" where this programme was scheduled.

So there I was,post lunch,standing in the conference room where the group of children was seated. What I saw there froze my feet and locked my tongue. Gone were those idyllic thoughts of interacting with a vibrant childhood..it was as if I had moved into another world. There were 10 of them in all,seated on chairs around the huge conference table. The room had an eerie silence while the children shoved on their places, perhaps forming a mental picture of their surroundings.The silence was punctated by the elderly principal of the school who asked them to introduce themselves to us. One by one they stood,telling their name and class. They spoke fluent english. The principal told us that while God had deprived them of their vision, they had a keen sense of perception and sharp reflexes.

I was too dazed to speak. They were children and like other children they had their dreams, their aspirations, the desire to see the world, the keen wish to come out of dark into light and see the beautiful world by themselves. Simple things that we take for granted were such great dream for them! I wanted to talk with them but I was at a loss of words. What could I have told them? That there is a lake nearby? That the area around them is full of precariously balanced rocks and beautiful landscape? Or that we work on a PC and they could come and try their hands on net? My train of thoughts was interrupted by a voice.."Sir..Sir", a boy called me. I turned around. His face was an epitome of innocence and he looked at me keenly : "Sir is there a window in this room?" I could not understand how to answer the question. The principal understood my delimma. He replied ; "They sense from the warmth that there must be a window nearby". I found my voice and explained him in detail the entire ambience. I wanted to go on and tell them more, as if from my words they could see what was around them..but I knew that its useless. How constrained we find ourselves before the vagaries of God!..and to imagine that I had falsely boasted at a recent mba college interview that I had participated in an educational project for visually impaired. I loathed myself.

They told us that they play chess. In graphic details they described the board structure, at times they seemed to know more than their principal himself! We set up their models around the room and seated each child before the model he had to explain. The models were of human anatomy : blood flow, brain, heart, ear and ironically, the eye. Besides there was a project pertaining to "rain water harvesting" and another one pertaining to chemistry.

We begun with chemistry model, the respective boy deftly handling pipette and flasks. With confidence he explained us the principle and objective of his experiment and with great poise he conducted the experiment. The Ph indicator changed its colour, but he kept blowing into it until interrupted by his teacher. He was greeted with a loud round of applause.

The most painful part was the explaination of an "eye" model by a girl. It was difficult for her to speak. She groped for each protusion on the model, recognized it and explained it. Finally she broke down, the teacher completed the expaination: "And hence the lens forms the image on the retina, enabling us to see". She mumbled something for the sake of repeting this. Yes, I could understand her pain. I saluted her for this calibre.

One after another they came and explained their models, assisted by their principal. At times fumbling, at times groping for the correct point on the protusions made on the models for the sake of their understanding. Yes they did fumble and their presentation was no doubt amature, but this was really not important. The important thing was the way they could face the world despite the darkness around them. The childish enthusiasm was somewhat marred by the pain of eternal darkness around them, but it somehow did not seem to deter them. They had chosen life, and a life of dignity. They had moved bit by bit, stretched their patience to extreme and finally were on their way to vanquish darkness with the light of knowledge. Each presentation was greated by a loud round of applause and this ovation was not sham. It came straight from the heart, for those brave soldiers who has chosen to challenge their destiny through sheer mental grit and determination. We the engineers, appeared dwarfed before them who had mustered courage to challege none other than their fate itself!

Presentations over, the children demonstrated their skill at Braille. They could write and read the complex text told to them and speak flunet english. Overwhelmed by our encouragement one boy excalimed: " We had lost all our hopes until Devnar came to give us the light of knowledge. Now I feel much more confident". These words might appear too precocious from a boy in class 8, but not so when I considered their circumstances. Life had forced them to come to terms with its harsh realities a bit too early. No doubt, their wisdom was deeper than their counterparts who have little to worry except homework!

Thus overwhelmed by the new world I saw, I returned back to my desk.Somehow the world seemed to be more brighter and everything I used to take for granted seemed to be such a brilliant gift! I understood an important lesson: differntly abled children dont need our sympathy,but they do need our understanding. They dont need our charity, but they do need our support, as the chess champion among them put it: " Sir we were really looking forward towards this visit, we will remember it throughout our lives".

I may not become a volenteer at Devnar school, I may not even donate charity. But yes, from now on I will always remember to respect and help those who have decided to eradicate the netherworld around them with the lamp of knowledge. I will remain indebted to this group of 10 children for teaching me this wonderful lesson of life.