My Painful Separation - Part 2(Final)

I had written in Part 1 how things had gone in Siruseri office... Here is the continuation....
Anyone who resigns from TCS in Chennai has to get his/her relieving order from TCS Lloyds Road office, which is near Mount Road. So from the Siruseri office I had to cross the entire South Chennai to get my R.L(Relieving letter).

As I was covering the 30 km distance between the 2 offices, the emotions of embarassment had gone down and I tried to make sense of the events that happened.Actually the security guy was doing his job, only the manner in which it was done was questionable. The admin ppl should have given me a temporary id card, which I could be handed over the security guarding the campus gate. It's over now anyway!! I hoped that the clearance process would be all ok so I can relax there for sometime.

I found the Lloyds Road office with much difficulty and reached there by 2:45 PM. The campus was very small with cars crammed into the small parking area that was available inside. I parked my bike outside the office(I remembered what happened in Siruseri) . I got a visitor pass and went inside. Some people had gotten there already and were sitting in the waiting area. For 2 hours I was waiting and waiting, trying to enjoy the 'ambience'.
I jumped with excitement when my name was called, but the joy was short-lived as I was put on a call with the separation officer. "Siva, your admin clearance is not done, where did you submit your id card?" my stomach churned as I heard those words. "Sir, I handed it over at Siruseri Admin", I blurted out. I was told to follow up with Siruseri Admin and get the clearance.
I remembered that I had surrendered my id-card at 12:30 PM, but the TCS admin had not cleared my request even after 4 hours. But the same TCS security system cannot tolerate an associate without id-card even for 4 mins. I couldn't make any sense of this process.
I dialled the no. of the admin guy from the reception, his phone kept ringing but there was no answer. I dialled 2 more times, but no answer at all. By then the people in that small reception had token note of me frantically trying to speak to someone. In order to avoid the symphathetic looks, (particularly from the pretty lady who was sitting near the phone), I note down the number in my mobile phone and got out of the reception. I called up the TCS siruseri reception and verified that the no. I am dialling is the correct no for admin. For the next 45 minutes, I kept calling that no, but there was no answer. The separation officer called me again and asked me in a accusing tone why the clerance was not done yet. "What can I do if that admin fellow did not give clearance?", I wanted to shout. "I am trying to reach him sir, he is not reachable", I humbly replied.
I had almost lost all my hope, when the admin guy answered the call, around 6 PM. He told me that he will check and give the clearance asap. Finally, I was called at 6:30 PM to get the relieving order. I was expecting some documents and certificates, but they asked me to fill out some forms for withdrawing the PF money. After some 10 or 15 minutes, what I got was a single sheet of paper, which is my relieving order. It said that TCS is accepting my resignation and I have been relieved from job as of 18th June 2010. And my final settlements and the pf money will be deposited oin my bank account. Phew!!! So much for this single sheet of paper!!!!! "Anyways all the processes are over, Hurrah!!! I am free now", I thought and I walked out.
I was shocked when my bike was not in the place where I had parked it. When I looked around, my bike was standing on the pedestrian footpath. It did not make any sense for someone to lift the bike off the road and park it there.. and I realised that my helmet was missing too. I inquired the tea-staller nearby about the bike, who told me that the police had taken away my helmet as I had violated traffic norms. "Oh no, enough of misery in one day", I thought as my head rolled.
I approached the 2 police-women standing opposite to that shop. I put on my best possible innocent looks and told them that the splendor which was parked in the opposite side was mine. One of them told me rudely that an officer had taken a note of the Regn no and I have to get the bike from the station only. She walked away non-chalantly, but the other lady was looking at me symphathetically. "You had parked your bike in Chief Minister's route. The convoy was about to come so we put your bike on the pedestrian walk", the lady told me.
"Ohh.. I never knew that the CM lives near this place!!!", I exclaimed. As if I had landed in Chennai for the first time, I swore that I had no idea about this place and would have never parked here if I knew that this is CM's route. With some more pleading the lady gave me my helmet and I thanked her profusely.
With the help of the tea staller I got the bike down from the foot path and dashed away from the scene..
What a way to say Good Bye to TCS!!!

My Painful Separation - Part 1

Its all over... 3 years and 11 months of relationship is now a thing of the past.... And the separation was very painful.... Here is how all it happened.....

Hello ppl I am not talking about separation with a girl but with my ex-employer...

I was really looking forward to this day as it was my last day in TCS. I just had to handover my id card to the Admin ppl in SNR branch and get the final settlement in another branch. I met my HR this morning at 10:30, he handed me the 'exit interview' forms and asked me to meet him by 11 AM. He told me that I have to hand-over my id card to Admin in Siruseri branch and not to SNR admin as I thought. This office is another 8 km away from the city. The questions in the exit-forms were pretty impressive(The Q's and my A's were 'confidential' ). So i tried my best to answer them judiciously and waited for the 11 AM appointment.

I went to my HR's place at 11 AM sharp and was expecting a interview of some sort with the pleasantries to be exchanged when people bid farewell. Unfortunately that didn't happen.. He snatched my papers and offered me a 'hasty' handshake. Before I started to say something, he picked up the receiver and placed it in his ear. "All the best, I am busy" he said. I was wondering whether those words were for me or the person who was on call with him. I realised those were for me when he gave a "why are you still standing here???" look and continued talking over the phone. "Why?? I will get a better farewell in Siruseri office", I told myself when I kicked my Hero Honda splendor to life and started to Siruseri office....

I threw a dinner party yesterday night to my project-mates in Siruseri and I was bidding them farewell profusely as we thought we would not see each other again. All of them were surprised when they saw me again today, and almost everyone asked me "You told us Good-Bye yesterday, why are you here now??". I put on a sheepish grin and explained to them that I had to surrender my id card here. I chatted with my friends for sometime and I bid them one final good-bye. Then I went to the Admin section and surrendered my card there.

It felt different as I walking inside the campus without the id card dangling from my neck and I proceeded towards the basement where I had parked my bike. "Good Bye state of the art Siruseri buildings" I mumbled and reached the elevator. "ID CARD KAHAAN HAI"(Where's your id card?), demanded the security near the elevator and I was shaken off my dreamy walk .

"This is my last day in TCS, hence I surrendered my card to Admin" I told the guy, but he was looking at me like I was a thief. I realised that I spoke in Tamil and I repeated the words again in English. That made little sense to him, so he demanded that we meet his senior officer. The senior officer was a bit different. He had a walkie-talkie in his hand, had more badges on his shoulder and he was a bit taller than the earlier guy. But the response was no different.

I was losing my patience and I shouted at them in broken Hindi, "Mera aakhri dhin hai", "Gaadi nikhaalna hai", "Kaun hai aapka supervisor, usko main meet karoonga"(My last day, have to take vehicle out, who's your supervisor? I will meet him). My sudden burst of anger seemed to have given me security clearance and they decided they would allow me to take my bike out.

I turned and walked towards the basement and I relaised that the first security guy was following me. When I gave him a questioning look, he told that he will come with me to the basement to see which bike I am taking. (Holy mother of god!!! Do I look like a thief who would steal someone's bike or break into someone's car and run away???) I cursed my predicament and felt like kicking myself. I showed my keys and the my bike to the security and I kicked my splendor more harder than ever before and drove out. Near the exit, the taller security came running with a piece of paper and collected the details which were no longer relevant to me.. Employee no, Project name, Module name, etc.. Finally he told me :"Thank you for the co-operation". I gave him a fake smile and raced out of the office. I had to travel 30 kms through the city to reach this Lloyds road branch...

Guys.. my separation did not end here.. my next blog will contain the experience in TCS Lloyds Road Branch, where I had to collect my relieving letter....

OIl spill, Bhopal verdict, Gaza blockade

Hi All,

I am prompted to write after so much has been happening all over the world.

To start with the oil spill, it has caused enough damage already to consider it a ecological disaster, gallons and gallons of oil are still spewing out into the ocean.. Man's dominance has destroyed the ecological balance on the land and now he would not spare the water either... Hopefully the oil spill is stopped before it devastates the whole marine environment in that region..

The Bhopal gas verdict.. What a shame really... Warren Anderson should not be spared as he is responsible for the poor maintenance of the plant which eventually resulted in the gas leak.. Had he allocated more dollars for the maintenance, the tragedy could have been averted...

And look at the fiasco that is happening that is happening in Israel.. It murdered people on a humanitarian aid ship and still declares that it has its right to defend its territory...

And its friends who are behemoths of this world order are keeping mum over this.. If they can put sanctions on Iran which is trying to use uranium for peaceful civilian medical purposes, why can't they put sanctions on Israel??

My first blog

An attempt at blogging since writing diary everyday is becoming increasingly difficult and an opportunity to let other people know about my thoughts.

As I started creating this blogger account i was asked a title to be posted on my account. In search of the title, my mind started to ponder about various things and couldn't really come up with a decent title.

Then I thought about the place I wish to have... no hunger deaths, no terrorism, no religious extremists, no greedy people, etc etc..... In short a world of tranquility... and hence the title.

I am hopeful that my writing will improve, my thinking will get more and more clear and I will be able to share what I learnt from this vast universe in this World Wide Web