Prologue: Drop of Life is a category of blogs which carry small Anecdotes or very short story that carries the reflection of life in every drop.
"I want this day to get over soon" Sameer thought. He was in a very irritated state. What a day it has been. The clients were having some problem with the software Sameer and his team has been developing. It was a show stopper for the clients and it needed to be fixed immediately. It was one of those usual issues which were not replicable in the development environment. Sameer was looking into the issue. He called up Vishal who had been developing that particular code to know when he would be coming in. But Vishal sounded too low, he was running a high temperature and said he would not be able to come in. Sameer asked him to take care of himself and started looking into the issue on his own.
Sameer’s business unit head has already called into find what was the status of the issue. He kept calling every hour to find out the progress of the issue. It was a serious issue that was a threat for business. So every possible eye was closely tracking its progress. But this darn thing Sameer was still unsuccessful in replicating it. He started to doubt his capability. He was one of the star performers in the organization however this time he was feeling like a loser. The fix has to reach the client today. It was already 4pm in the evening and no luck yet.
Sameer was already too tired and frustrated on the issue. No useful traces and logs were available from the clients. He had already had four coffees for the day but still was feeling tired. Don’t know when he had last got up from his place and took his eyes off the monitor. He tried all possible paths and still not successful. He thought "I want this day to get over soon".
It was 8pm in the night and Sameer had just found a possibility of the issue and not yet figured out the solution. His wife Neha called him in his phone and said that their one year old daughter Shruti was cranky all through the day and asked him when he would be coming home. Sameer knew that Shruti does not sleep till he returned home. Shruti was a one year old kid who has not yet begun speaking. But today his mind was not working he did not even remember what he answered Neha. He continued on the issue. The client has already called into find out what has been the status. Neha was also software professional. She decided to take a break one year ago to make sure that Shruthi is taken care very well. She understood the nature of the job Sameer had and was very cooperative of his unplanned schedules.
Sameer now had to take assumptions and do a fix. He started working on it. He did not realize that he was the only person left in the office working still. It was 10 pm. Neha had called up twice to inquire about him. Sameer was still frustrated, his eyes were red. He was now testing the code which he had fixed and packaged the whole thing and sent to the client at 11 pm. Then he had to make a series of calls to all those stake holders who were tracking this issue closed. He was so tired to even feel relaxed. There was no voice to comfort him until the issue had been closed by the client.
He drove back home and reached by 11:30 pm. The lights were still on. He thought "Oh poor Shruti she is still awake!". Neha opened the door for him and served some dinner. Sameer was in no mood for eating dinner. He just had a glass of milk. Shruti was still active. Sameer was very tired and sleepy. Neha said, “You should sleep now”. Sameer looked into her eyes and said "Look at Shruti, she would be disappointed. I will sit with her for sometime and then sleep." Sameer took Shruti on his lap and sat on the couch. He switched on the TV but did not realize what channel was playing for he was tired. Shruti was playing with the rattle she had. Neha sat near Sameer lying on his left shoulder. Sameer was feeling sleepy and tired. His eyes were drowsy and everything started to dim.
Just then something happened, it was like a flash of light, sound of happiness. He heard the word "P a p a!" His eyes opened in surprise. He couldn’t believe what he heard. He turned to Neha and found she had the same expression as he had. They looked at Shruti. Shruti was looking into Sameer and was laughing with those two small teeth trying to grow. Again she uttered those magical words "P a p a!" Sameer was frozen for a moment. Then Shruti bent down and kissed on his cheek. The first words from her daughter and the first kiss of her daughter, Both Sameer’s and Neha’s eyes filled with tears. They kissed Shruti.
Just about the last few minutes remaining in the day…Sameer’s day was made. With Shruti sleeping on his right shoulder and Neha on his left shoulder Sameer thought "I want to live this day completely till the last second of it….I don’t want this day to get over soon!"
Raja Saravanan 