To propose a girl, you can’t be funny. If she doesn’t like your fun, you are screwed.

But you can be crazy. Here is an example.

Lena told me last day about the latest proposal she has received. A guy, who she knew from long back, holds all the credit to be mentioned here as he has not only proposed to her, but also has set high standards to his male counterparts!

He proposed her on phone. The summary of the conversation is here.

Dear Lena.. I know you from past so many years and you know me too. But do we know each other the way we really wanted to? So I just thought of calling you up. In case if you had any romantic feelings towards me, you can tell me right now! Otherwise tomorrow, if I get engaged with some other girl, you should not feel that I have been ignoring you!

Good way to deal right?

Any way, I really don’t care what happened next as this girl has nothing much to do with me. She would have possibly accepted it as this guy was handsome and from healthy backgrounds!

Dealing with techies is more of diplomacy than technical. If you don’t have the knack, they could probably squeeze your brain to spill out your good moods and all aspirations to survive around them. You will think of the worst possible ways of murdering yourself, licking a power cable (than licking their feet) or jumping off the tallest building with an anvil-stone tied on your neck (than them throwing stones at you) or something more worse your would opt for.

It’s about those software engineers in IT companies that I’m talking about. If you are fated to become a touch-point with the techies in your organization, you would agree with me with your hands up. They have the notorious traditions of behaving badly to their non-techie colleagues when it comes to work. If you say “Yes”, they will say “No”, you say “No” they will certainly say “Yes” for no reasons. This happens mostly in medium-sized organizations, where everyone connects with everyone.

I have experienced this crisis once upon a time while working for a company named Enable Mobile Technologies. Posted between techies and other departments in the organization, I have found red in each and every moment of my professional life. Though they were good friends outside the office, what was domineering was this out-on-your-face behavior, which was sometimes above what I could bear with. Though none of my gimmicks changed them, I did change, from bossy to angry and arrogant to funny!

One day, something they said was very unprofessional though I had no option but to get the work done. I begged for their cooperation, which I had found absent even in then slightest thoughts. They nodded heads with NO written on their face.

I came back to my table, hanged my head down on my hands. I fancied of getting this work done without any hassles. Suddenly one idea struck me. I opened my e-mail and started writing a new mail to my CEO.

“Dear Atul,

You have placed me here not to fail as a Project Coordinator, but to get the work done under any contrasting circumstances.

I have met with failure in getting done my latest project, and I thought I should let you know about this without you asking me about the same.

Absence of cooperation from the tech team has resulted in this unfriendly situation, and I wouldn’t like to name anyone at this time.

I wouldn’t like to work with them anymore and please accept this as my formal resignation letter.

Yours Faithfully,

Santosh G Wilson"

I sent a copy of this mail to the above mentioned guys also. The moment they received this, they got skewed and came up to me.

‘Why did you do this?” One of them asked.

‘I have my prestige.. love it or leave it, that’s what I believe in’ I retorted.

‘But we didn’t tell you we wouldn’t do it.. we were just telling you some technical improbabilities..’ he said in a calming voice.

‘But I sent the mail already’

‘But.. we.., it wasn’t fine man.. you shouldn’t have done this.. Now what will our plight be?’

‘That’s fine guys… You got enough time to do it... Please do it and let’s see if things can go vice-versa.’ I said artfully.

They went back expressively. Later, they sat together with me and drilled down the pros and cons of the project that was stuck. They took every effort to save the project and save our jobs. Ultimately, the project came out successfully.

On the eve of the project launch, I have shared the same e-mail with my tech friends. They did not understand why I was so inclined to the mail once again.

‘This mail got our work done’ I said.

‘Yes, we agree’

‘But our CEO still doesn’t know about this mail!!!’

‘What??’

‘Yes, look at the mail once again.. look at whom did I sent it to..’

‘But... we can see that you sent it to the CEO… then what are you coming into??’

I showed them how I manipulated the email by writing the CEO’s email id in a misspelled manner. Instead of atulzaveri@enablem.com, it was written atulzaveri@enablen.com.

All of us laughed.

Later on, we never had any problems in getting any works done. Together, we marched along! See, you always need a trick to track the techies!

If you scuff your memories on my older posts, you may reach my ancestral village Edamon once again. You may meet up our old maid named Panikkathi as well.

Panikkathi used to tell us stories of ghosts and fiends. Today I thrust them aside as superstitions and falsehood, though once I lived in the tip of fear listening to her stories. This is one such story of a ghost, whom Panikkathi had encountered during her creditable journeys into the woods.

There was this mountainous woods lying close to my ancestral house, beside the meter gauge railway track that separated the house and connected the Punalur to Sengottai. The woods had given the entire village a dusky overlay. With sky-high trees filled the land, light hardly entered into the woods. Shadows rarely escorted the bodies as darkness ruled the days than light. Life was numb and emotions were stuck in the womb of fear. Every moment there asked for courage.

Panikkathi used to go to the woods alone. With a sickle fixed tightly on to her waist cloth, she would walk into and fade out in the darkness, singing songs for a favorable setting. The dead and grounded leaves would grumble her steps with craggy noises but she wouldn’t bother. Trees would stand still, watching her passing them one by one.

One day, it was late when Panikkathi set out to the woods. The Sun was at the end of its trail and darkness spread sooner than usual.

Panikkathi made her moves quicker. The earlier she could cut the grass, the earlier she could return to her home. She went past the silent woods and cribbing crickets. Owls looked down at her audacity. She kept on walking as she could not find grass enough to cut. At the end she had reached the peak of the mountain. She found lots and lots of grass to cut.

As it was the topmost place, the land looked brighter. As Panikkathi bent to cut the grass, she heard the clanging noise of bangles. She looked around. To her surprise, she found a young girl sitting a few meters away from her. Facing the Sun setting, she was sitting on a rock bed. Clothed in red, she looked blood-stained, and her luxurious hair had flowed down her back. Panikkathi was not sure of approaching her. From behind, Panikkathi made her wavering steps towards the lonely girl. In a hand’s distance, she stopped. Tenderly she asked, “Dear girl, what are you doing here alone?”

The girl looked back at her. The very moment, the hair that covered her back had moved to her side, and what was seen was horrible. She had no skin at the back!! Her bones were visible similar to viewing a skeleton. She had no eyes. Two dark holes were left.

Tenderly she replied to Panikkathi, “Go home... This is not a good place to stay"

Panikkathi did not think twive. She ran back! She ran down the valley like a horse running away from hounds. Somehow she reached home. She was said to be unwell for a week or more. Later she shared her experience with others.

“Could be an unlucky girl cheated by some men…. Thank God, she spared me!!” she was telling me.
Love or fear, from then, she started lighting a special lamp for the young girl's sake.