Last few minutes from the life of Mr.. what’s his name?

He was getting ready for his much awaited travel abroad. He knew that this is a long term onsite assignment unless something bad happens in production. He was quite happy with what ever happened in the recent past. It was not easy for him to get this far. Many of his project mates were also expecting this onsite, but all the others failed during the interviews and tests. Even the client didn’t want so many of them there. “So, it’s just me”, he thought, “I’m traveling tonight, for a life abroad. I’m really lucky; my friends might be envying me now. They got reasons too!” Just then he saw something, somebody is looking for him. “Why anyone would be doing that now?” he couldn’t think of any possible answers!

Then he heard the manager shouting, “How did you miss that bug, after all these tests? Ask the development team to fix it now!”

The testers were busy assigning a name, a sequence number, to the bug and assigning the bug to a developer.

"I will never travel onsite", thought the shattered bug, "funny that these people assign us names just before they actually kill us!"

A Dog's Life!

This is one story that i wrote - when i got really bored! Probably my intention was - 'c, m getting all bored here - y shld u b any different? read this and join the club!' :)

Nadeem was ecstatic after watching the Indian win over Pakistan in the twenty20 world cup finals and was celebrating all night yesterday. He decided that he will proceed with the ‘mind travel’ today. He had enough fun reading the minds of Adam Gilchrist and Collingwood during the matches. They both were wondering how to get Yuvraj out. How they wished to see the back of Yuvraj! He also listened to the silent prayers of Shoaib malik - asking Allah to protect them and their families from crazy fans.

Nadeem had this ability to read minds from birth, though he couldn’t exactly differentiate between ‘people thinking’ and ‘people talking’. During his childhood he tried telling his parents that he could read minds, but nobody bothered to even listen to him. From then on he kept the secret to himself and started using it mostly for his advantage. Then he started reading minds when ever he got bored. He knew how much the servant disliked her husband, but always said, ‘Darling, I am so lucky to get you as my husband’. He also tried reading the minds of many politicians and wondered where they will end up if he ever joined the police force.

Today he was planning to try his ability on animals. He saw the dog of his wealthy neighbor, while looking out of his balcony. The German shepherd was named Jack and had all the freedom within the house. He was then looking at a street dog, Kallu, across the street. He tried reading his mind and yes, he was able to do it.

Jack thought, “Though he doesn’t spend most of his time in AC, or live in extremely posh apartments, he is living his life, enjoying it. There are no rules by which he has to live. He can eat where ever he wants and needn’t always eat the same packaged/fast food that he gets. How I wish my master ate the same food as I did. Kallu has all his freedom. Look at me. I am locked up within these walls most of the time. And I never get to enjoy life the way every other dog does. I can only still dream of the life away with my own family. I was brought here when i was a year old and from then on I was never allowed to go home. How I miss my family. Kallu doesn’t need to be awake all night to do his work of guarding the house. He gets to roam around with the girls of his choice. Didn't i count them? Was it 10 or 11? oh.. does it really matter? How many girls did I date so far? How can i date one if i cant even go out? I have even heard that a Master often kills his dog when a dog is old. May be I should escape from this place! But then how will i survive? I dont know how to find my food. I never had to fight or hunt for my food. Where will I stay? If I leave this place for a life of my choice then will the other dogs envy me the way they do now? I have often heard the silent murmers, filled with jealousy, of other dogs when I walked past them. May be I should stay here. Where else will i get the comfort that I get here? Where else can I keep my self clean and eat clean food? The rule of life is that i should sacrifice something to gain something else? What am I sacrificing here? My own life? My freedom? God.. help me.. What should I do here? Please help me decide. "

Nadeem wondered how much of the dog's thoughts really differed from that of his friend's who works as a Software Engineer in a big Firm.

The Initial Days!

Even this was written for the same competition - but this time, nothing's borrowed - had this in mind 4 sometime - twisted it a bit to accomodate the dialogue ;) and this was the output. This still is my favorite! - though i've not written many!

Patience is a virtue and u mite need plenty of it to read the entire thing! :), so...here goes...

He just completed his work for the sixth day in a row and decided to rest the next day. He looked around and felt happy with the work. It was tough to complete the task. Creating something from scratch requires lots of thinking. Analyzing the impact if something goes wrong, and redesigning to make it work according to the initial plan, ate up the king’s portion of the time he allocated.

He decided to take rest as most of the work was done. He just has to do the maintenance from now on. And he smiled happily at the prospect.

He decided to take a stroll, the next afternoon, and walked down the garden to meet the man. They sat down by the river that ran through the centre of the vast garden that he maintained. The land around them was an epitome of beauty. They really liked talking to each other, and talked about everything under the sky!

Days went by and everything was going smooth in their lives and he felt that nothing can go wrong in the future too. He thought about the man and felt happy to have him near by. He was so innocent and child like. He had no bad intentions and evil thoughts in him.

The man lived in a small hut, which he built, with his wife. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen and was head over heals in love with her. She loved him a lot too and was happy with the life that they led. She loved walking around the place during the day and collected the vegetables she could cook from the garden and also the fresh fruits that they could have after dinner. They had nothing to worry about and were the happiest couple alive.

Then the day came when everything went out of kilter. The happy family suddenly felt insecure. So many things started running in their mind. They started thinking of tomorrow and worried about what future had in store for them. They were not used to all this. And this was the reason for their sudden feeling of insecurity too. He started blaming her for everything and she was not quite sure what to tell him.

They were forced to vacate their place and they had no where to go. They moved out of the hut and went far down south. They settled by a river.

They left their old place empty handed and had to work real hard to make ends meet. They made a house using the remains of a fallen tree. They found it easier to build a house now and remembered that they struggled a lot to build their old hut, and constantly were in need of advice. They made a vegetable garden near by and produced what they needed for food. They loved each other a lot more now and found solace in her love when ever his thoughts disturbed him.

Days moved at its usual pace and months and years went by. They now had a bigger family. They had two sons now and she was busy looking after them. The husband and the wife worked for most of their day. They had a farm near the house, and also cattle and sheep. They also wore better clothes now.

He went to the river one evening and sat by the river side watching his wife bathing their sons. He got lost in his thoughts looking at them. He still worried a lot about his future. He knew that all of mankind will have this thought at the back of their mind till their last breath.

"I'm happy. I know you aren't. Such things do happen in life. I know I will have to accept your decision, and I do." The man recognized the voice instantly. Why wouldn’t he recognize it? How will he ever forget the times they spent together by the riverside at Eden? Adam was happy to see him here and the lump on his throat reminded him of his decision which he took in his quest for wisdom. God was smiling now, looking at the paradise that Adam made on earth.