2011- We seem to have landed into a crowded compartment of a train. A brown, thin, moustached man is crouched on a seat sleeping, his head bobbing every which way, completely oblivious of the bright, cheery Connecticut morning scenery outside the window. He will wake up only when the conductor announces his destination station, for he is so used to that daily commute between New York City, where he resides, and South Norwalk, where he works.
2008 – We zoom into this nerdy-looking not-so-oldster stomping away to glory on snow-covered streets of Troy, NY. He is walking with his winter jackets and snow boots on, towards the Pittsburg building of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for a lecture, part of his MS at RPI.
2007 – We see a conference room at Infosys Technologies, Mahindra City, Chennai where a bunch of youngsters listen intently (or so it seems, for we can never say for sure what the youngsters of these days actually do) to, presumably, their lead, who is the same not-so-oldster donning a different attire, complete with a necktie, explaining some .NET concepts while writing indecipherable text on the whiteboard.
2006 – As we zoom fully on to the white of the board, we see view changing to a cubicle at the Verizon office at Irving, TX where this fellow clad in jeans and a round-neck t-shirt is trying out american accent on a hands-free headset talking in a conference call. We see him dodging his way through potential landmines set by interacting (read rival) teams, simultaneously setting up mousetraps for other unassuming people.
2005 – Irving, Texas fades out into that 50-storeyed building called Bell Atlantic Towers at Philadelphia, PA where our man is seen explaining his code for a set of multi-threaded web service calls to his peers and managers.
2005 – Our young man is looking at the book titled “America Poganuma” which has been pulled out of a freshly printed stock of books. A short and stout person with glasses and a moustache on smiles at him and says “atleast now. Now, don’t stop here. There is still a lot more work to do”.
2004 – The short and stout person scowls at the youngster with a stern face for not showing enough seriousness on the work at hand. “Writing is a gift. There are people who crave for it their whole lives. You seem to have it but you are wasting it away. Has NRN promised you 50% share in Infosys?”, he asks, silently watched by another person with a casual t-shirt and shorts, as this youngster hangs his head down in shame.
2003 – A thin, moustached youngster gapes at the huge letters ‘Infosys’ at the Sholinganallur DC in Chennai, as he enters the campus for the first time.
2001 – We look at a gallery in Anna University, Guindy campus where three guys and three girls are engrossed in some group study for their MCA coursework (a closer look reveals that they just have the books open, but are actually into some fun conversation)
1999 – We see a Physics class where the professor has given a set of 10 apparantly tough IIT problems to be solved. A wiry guy is trying hard to work on problem no. 2 when he hears the other bespectacled student announce that he has completed all the 10 problems. As this man looks up in horror, the professor tells him, “I think Physics is not exactly your cup of tea. You are a hardworking student. I suggest you think about computers as your career where you can shine and realize your potential”.
1998 – We see the curious young man standing in front of the professor asking him which field in Physics to choose to apply for the summer fellowship at the IISc. He hears the term ‘theoritical physics’ for the first time from the professor’s mouth. He decides to learn more about quantum theory.
1997 – A wiry, shy fellow steps into room number 6 at the Vivekananda College hostel at Chennai. The room is damp and dark and the prospect of studying 3 years of B. Sc from this dingy room scares the hell out of him.
More images pile on. They are duller and duller now. We see the guy painting a flagpost silver at the Santhome school grounds. We see the kid proudly holding a cup at the P. S. High School annual day. We see the little fellow orate in a gathering, falter in the last round of a science quiz, bowl left hand, monitor the class, get a skin disease…
More images will be captured; more stories will unfold. A definitive ‘about’ page can only be written posthumously. If it does serve a purpose even then, then a life has been lived well. Till then, things would be uncertain, as always. Hail Heisenberg!