Jayeeta Majumdar Singhee

Is reading the newspaper in the bathroom considered Multi-Tasking? Well, what about eating while you watch TV? Or maybe…. talking on the mobile while driving? Well…if they are, then Sanjay (that’s my hubby) is definitely among the leading and finest Multi-taskers in the world.

You can never catch him doing just one thing at any given point in time. On any normal morning, he gets up with Ishaan in one hand and tea in the other. Well, after that…it would be the newspaper and bathroom, then the TV and breakfast, then the cell phone and driving. And somewhere between all this he even gets the time to converse with me (of course all the while keeping his eyes steadfastly on the road. Oh….if you thought that was for the driving, are you misguided or what? This is only, solely and exclusively for the Francis girls around :-d)

Oh, lest I forget…there are some more things on this list! He invites friends for dinner without informing me about it. He does not allow friends to leave the house even if it is 2:30 in the morning. He looks at the roti, and asks me “Were you working in the Jail before?” Looks at the freshly cooked dal and says very articulately, “Oh…this dal tasted wonderful five days back. I wonder if it still tastes as good! Hilarious haan? Well, try being the cook @^@($&^@$&*$^

But of course that said, I am not sure I could have managed without all the multitasking and his other nonsense. Every now and then, he has exactly 20 minutes after waking up…before he drops me to office. Needs to crack PJs at the rate of one per minute for twenty minutes…before he can get me back into a decent mood. Still shaves to take me out on a dinner date :-). Has to make Ishaan sleep in the night while watching a football match (Ishaan wont have it any other way)! And of course, every so often give up on some of his favourite serials to take care of Ishaan….I wonder what happens to the TRP ratings of these serials?

So what am I saying?I like the multitasking husband. Nooooooooooooooo, what are you saying. I don’t. Or maybe I do….no, no, I hate it. OK…well, maybe not so much........

I am writing this in response to what Praveen wrote to me today. The exact words..."I PROTEST!!! Adea’s name does not appear anywhere on the Blog. How can you forget the company that made you what you are today :-)."
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I must be crazy to be in a loony bin like this – Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

This is exactly how I felt when I first joined Adea! For one, I had just quit Pramati, and my “Pramati Hangover” was still on, I had no friends, and to top it all there no was no sign of any kind of work for me. Thankfully the feeling lasted fleetingly, and flew out of my mind just like it had flown in.

When it rains it pours! When the work started coming, it just would not stop, and I sure learnt a lot about business modules, the proposal building process and RFPs in general while at Adea. But they say that happiness at your workplace has less to do with work, and a lot to do with the people around you. This of course not just helps you keep your moral high, but also helps improve your work.

Well, Praveen proved to be all this and much more! In him, I have truly found a dear friend, and one that will last a lifetime. And even though we don’t meet often...he stays in Bangalore now, there must be hardly a day when I don’t hark back to the time when I was in Adea.

He would assiduously pick me up from a bus stop near my place, and also drop me back from office….and to top it all, I made him wait everyday :-p. When we went to Dallas, what had bothered me most was the profound sense of loneliness that seemed to loom overhead (I was recently married and traveling so far off without any friends). Not only did I have a great time there, we also got to meet and make a lot of friends there (all of them colleagues :)).

Click here to see us in Dallas! The one on my right is Praveen, and the one on my left is Praveen (the one I am talking about :-d)

I have been fortunate enough to make some truly wonderful friends in each and every place that I have worked - Pramati, Oracle, Adea. I'm a better writer because of Chandru's contribution in my life (he is my all time boss :-d). I'm a more successful and a shrewd pugilist because of Vijay's input ;). OK, OK…maybe pugilist is not the right word, VJ. I guess it should be "someone who always stands up for the right". Robinhood??? Bah!!!! :-d

And I sure hope I'm a better friend to others because of the love, kindness and magnanimity of the innumerable colleagues of mine with whom I have shared my cubicle and life….Thanks to Ramesh, Sachin, Rajeev, Asthana, Kiran, Challa, Priya, Sunita, Mutthu, Anil, Kamal, Gopal, Sharad, Rips, Aruna, Swathi, Lakshmy, Rajesh, Nalin, Abu, Indu, Surbhi, Nidhi,,,, …..These commas just wont stop. The list is endless!

The plan was actually made by ma and baba, along with Mary mashi (aunt) and kaku (uncle) last week. But ma has not been soo well, and was not sure whether to go or not. But I somehow persuaded her and baba to come along. With no Yadamma, I didn’t think it would be too easy, but since Sanjay made breakfast (fried magi :-d), and Bintu was there to help, it was pretty easy. Ishaan refused to have lunch though, so he was fed milk on the way to the zoo.

So, off we were to the zoo - Ma, Baba, Sunita (Sanjay’s sister), Trisha (Sanjay’s niece), Mary Mashi, Kaku, Sanjay, Ishaan, Jyothi (Trisha’s ayya) and me. We took this new route from Mehdipatnam, and inquired our way to the zoo after umpteen queries on our road to paradise.

The first thing that we stopped for were the monkeys. So many varieties - Orangutan, Chimpanzee, golden monkeys and many many other types. Well, if I had thought that Ishaan would be extremely excited, I was proved wrong right at the induction, and our primates were part and parcel in this monkey business!!! The orangutan just refused to get up and walk around or anything. He just sat in one corner, lazing around on the grass, brushing his non-existent hair with a twig. Well, talk about lazing on a Sunday afternoon. Was I jealous or what???? Each time one of us shouted, he would just turn his head towards us and give us one of those really sullied and gloomy looks. Buzz Off! Was the only signal that we got.

Well, this was a no show as Ishaan didn’t comprehend much and kept gazing at the water and the hundreds of turtles in it. We met with the same fate in all the other ape enclosures as well. No monkey business this!!!

Next in line – the white tiger! This was good…At least the tiger was :-). He was wandering around the whole place and swimming every now and then. He definitely was the most lively and energetic species in the entire animal planet. Ishaan did try and carry out his act to get the tiger’s attention. He shoo shooed with his mouth, along with a frantic movement of his hand to replicate the effect - This is what he does to the Kabootars (pigeons) each morning :-d. The next few cats – tigers, jaguars, panthers….All lazing or Asleep :(.

Next destination – Safari. The elephant on the way, with his mahout got Ishaan excited for some time, but did not generate the same kind of reaction from Trisha. All she wanted was a tour on the train.

If you think the Safari would have been more exciting, are you wrong or what?? The Safari was the worst of them all. No tigers or lions on the road, no proper roads, terribly managed buses etc. etc. In fact the horribly managed roads inside the safari were the only things that made you feel as if you were inside a safari. We did not see a single tiger or lion anywhere. The few old and haggard ones that we got a glimpse of were the ones inside the cage (*&*****@&(*@$^^@$ - All in the name of Safari). The amount of space they have for the safari is massive. I really wish they would do something better out of it. I remember the safari being “top-class” when I was younger. I guess the authorities don’t really manage the whole thing so well any more.

Next in line – the crocodiles, reptiles, birds etc. Sunita, Sanjay and Trisha went for this one while Ishaan had his afternoon siesta – all of 20 minutes!!! When he got up, we took him to the birds nest. I think this is one thing he really freaked out on. The birds were up, close and he got really personal with themJ. He wanted to touch them, kept calling them and did everything possible to get their attention. When it was time to go back home, he just refused to go. Eureka! A triumphant ending to the expedition.

 

Well, that’s not all..I mean, I have not really completed my heading yet. It needs to be longer…..I think it should go something like “Caught Between Two Cricket Fans, One Bengali and the other Marwari, or lets just say non-bengali (will give you more dope on this later)!”

That’s long right! But that’s exactly how I feel everyday...listening to the incessant conversation that my father and husband have. One is pro-ganguly and the other is anti-ganguly. One is pro-everything-bengali and the other anti-everything-bengali. Joining these people in their heated squabble are my cousin (we call him Papi…that’s not his name though), my bihari uncle (we call him dada, he is just too young to be called uncle) and a host of others who feel as strongly about the subject as my family.

Each time, the topic comes up..and that is very very often, these men get agitated, start screaming with no one listening to the other, almost throwing things at each other and then end the whole thing by saying “We were just having fun”. Well, thank god for that! The women in this stage show are of course just props, telling their men to shut up, trying to quiten them down and threatening to walk out if they dont shut up. The men then just give their perennially condescending look to the women folk and continue with their discussion.

My husband, who typically never argues with anything my dad says (that’s upfront of course) had the courage to even show him how Ganguly dances(oops..plays) on the pitch ;). Well, I almost died of shame! And the others of laughter :-d. But I think he deserves an award for being the valiant hero that day. They (he and Rakesh da..our bihari babu) stood up to sooo many Bengalis out there that day. It must have been tough for sure :-d

OK…now the status is, each time someone in the team plays badly, my husband has to hear a few things (you know....how Ganguly could have changed things), and each time the team wins, my husband scores a run against my dad.

Well, one thing is for sure..am not sure how long they will continue with this, but its great fun to watch the offline match between these two from the pavilion....as long as it ends in a draw :-d