Despite the Odds!

Today my office PC finally joined the revolution. It has suffered for long and today he simply broke down. Despite my best attempts, it refused to boot. Whenever I switched it on, the SMPS made a roaring sound as if a small desert cooler was running. The operating system did not load and the monitor remained black. I had some very important work to complete by EOD. So I rang up the IT guys in my office. These guys are called IDM in TCS. IDM told me to log a ticket and then revert back with the ticket number. I called them back and gave them the ticket no. The guy told me that it will be attended on a priority basis. Some Mr Kalidasan will attend to the issue shortly. It was 3.15pm at that time. I waited for around 15-20 minutes. It was a welcome break. I read the Hindustan Times paper and chatted with Saurav. My friend Saurav is hell bent for going onsite. India sucks! He desperately wants to go to the US and is constantly scanning the internal job postings. All I can do is to wish him all the best! Half an hour went by! No trace of Mr Kalidasan or any other IDM guy. I called them up again. No response. I called on alternate numbers. No response. Soon it was 4pm. I started losing my patience. Soon it was 4.30 pm, still no trace of IDM. I again called. This time I got lucky and caught one of the gang members on the other side. This guy was a polite one, not the typical Delhi type. He politely told me all the IDM guys were in a meeting. I asked him politely “When there is urgency what you guys do”. He had no reply. I asked him for Mr Kalidasan’s cell no. He did not provide it. Instead he tried to conference me with Kalidasan and his cell was not available. I was impressed. This was called bonding. Everyone has to cover the other person’s ass. This is the way battles are fought. United we stand, divided we fall. I asked him when the meeting is likely to end. He was not sure but emphasized that the meeting was on some critical issue. An associate cannot access his system for the last one and a half hour. This is critical. I tried to convince him but he told me politely that there is no one to attend as meeting is on. I kept the phone down. Saurav told terrorists have attacked India. They are capturing India running from pillar to post and the Army was busy in the strategy meeting. No doubt he compared the IDM with the army. TCS aspires to be a global top 10 company by 2010. Not sure how it will achieve this target with this kind of an army. At 5.30 pm I got lucky. The honorable IDM guy walked in with a big grin in his face. He opened the system and after doing some R&D he told me that there is some hardware issue. The service engineer will come tomorrow and my machine should work shortly. I thought he was the engineer. It was already getting late as my office bus leaves at 6 pm sharp. So I told him “please try your best” and I left for the day.

How is TCS doing so well despite having this worthless IDM brigade? Then I realized people achieve despite all odds. TCS is also achieving despite all the odds. I will have two options tomorrow. First option is not to work as I will be having no system officially. Second option is that I manage a system somehow and do my work despite all odds. I chose the second one. I think this second option is the reason millions of people are getting success despite all odds. My bus started running towards my home. Home! Sweet Home!