First Things

One, two, three….fifty – I managed to walk backwards fifty steps in the park today.  I saw somebody doing that, so I thought I will also give a try. It was refreshing. I was walking backwards consciously for the first time. Is it not true that if we do something or if something happens for the first time in our life, that becomes memorable?

Like anybody else, I also had lots of things for the first time in my life, almost all of them memorable ones. Some were pleasant some were not so pleasant. I had my first trousers – 40 inch bell bottom, I had my first salary – four figure one 1800 rupees, I had my first marriage – the only one ! – I had my first child – grossly underweight, I  had my first car – 77 model premier padmini, I had my first own house – 3 bed duplex with no water and proper approach road, the list goes on.

I have many experiences which I can not detail in this forum. Let me narrate a few possible interesting ones.

My first job assignment was to go with my supervisor and find out how much time a cook would take to cut 1 KG of onions! I was posted in Industrial Engineering department of the company. This department is responsible for assigning norms for time required for each task by the workers. If a worker is able to complete the task in a time less than the norm, then he is eligible for an incentive. That day was to revisit the norms for the canteen workers. I thoroughly enjoyed that activity, first time me with a stop watch standing in front of a cook while he skillfully cuts onions after onions. Luckily, the GM of that unit agreed to my request for a transfer. I was transferred within 2 months that too to computers division. That was a big turning point in my life and career.

I was too proud when I bought my first motor bike. 100 CC geared,  TVS Suzuki that too silver grey in color with registration number 6630. I had to shell out half of the monthly salary as EMI towards this. My friend brought the vehicle home and I did a few rounds in the nearby park. Next day morning was my first venture into tar road. My friend Moidu was at the back. I was entering into old airport road through one of the side lanes. I heard Moidu screaming “brake, brake, brake”. There was an auto rickshaw approaching from the other side. I was holding the left brake tight ( as in the case of bicycle which I was used to so far ) without realizing that it was the clutch. I just hit the auto rickshaw and it toppled and Moidu and I fell on the other side. I saw the auto rickshaw driver shouting and more loudly the passenger, who would miss his flight! All those shouts went into my deaf ears as I was watching the silencer (tail pipe) of my bike turned into a perfect V shape with 30 degrees acute angle. I had to spend remaining half of that month’s salary towards auto and my bike repair!

I had witnessed many first experiences of my friends as well, why should I leave them just like that!  My friend Hari landed in Singapore morning at 10 and came straight to office. His first abroad trip. Some of us were camping there for some time. We were happy to see another gentleman sharing while eating those authentic Chinese and Malay lunches in those crowded eating places. But that day was different. It was one of the customer manager's birthday party and we all went to some posh Chinese restaurant, of course Hari joined us with all enthusiasm. Some 10 unknown items were served one after another, locals claimed that these dishes contained seafood, chicken, rare veggies, more importantly some exotic herbs and spices. No wonder I don’t remember names of those dishes ! We all ate well without knowing what it was and returned to office. Hari wanted to take some rest as he was tired of traveling and went to the hotel. Half an hour later, we got a call from Hari. “I am feeling a bit tired, can someone come to the hotel?”  Two of us went to see Hari. We could not recognize him. His face was swollen, cheeks were swollen, full rashes on his face. His eyes became too small as if he adapted to Chinese culture and looks very quickly! We took him to doctor, it was case of some food allergy probably of sea food or herbs. He became alright in a day.  Hari survived on French fries and coke for the entire tenure there.

Michelle was with us in our Bangalore office for couple of months. She was our project lead from the US. As usual, some enthusiasts in the team decided that coming Friday would be ethnic day. All should come to office in ethnic dress. Michelle didn’t want to be left behind. She decided to come dressed in a conventional silk saree, first time in her life. On Thursday evening with couple of ladies in the team, she did that job, bought an expensive silk saree from Cauvery Emporium at MG road. Friday morning came. We were all awaiting the arrival of Michelle in that gorgeous saree. I know you guys are also not able to control your eagerness. Michelle disappointed us. She was in the same usual Jeans and Top. We wanted to know what had happened. In fact Michelle was more disappointed than us. Those dumb ladies did not tell her that she needed to wear a blouse along with the saree. She did not have one when she attempted to wear the saree in the morning !!!!

Almost all of us would have printed “Hello World” when we wrote our first program, be it in FORTRAN/PASCAL/COBOL/C/C++/JAVA/VB. How proud we were to see when that message was displayed on the screen once our first program got complied and executed? It was a declaration from one more programmer that he/she arrived to the world to write many programs with all possible bugs, which could give employment to another 5 programmers to fix those bugs!

As one grows older, the chances of getting that first experience reduce considerably. One can’t have a first child any more, one can’t have first job any more, one can’t have first car any more. A few would still be there like first retirement, first pension, first trip to Kedarnath/Badrinath, first grand child etc till one meets the first death. One has to be really innovative and outgoing to do many more first things, they will stop happening as routine in life.

In interim what one can do is to try to make each activity as different as possible from the previous instance. One can write a piece of code more efficient than the previous time. One can take Residency road, Shule circle, Hosur road approach rather than Sony world, Koramangala approach to office once in a while, though traffic would be the same, at least the number of humps would be different. One can try to add some flavor or make minor changes to the routine tasks. By doing so, one need not say every day “first” thing in the morning “Oh man, I am bored of this life!”

Cheers ! (Instead of a usual boring “Have a good day”)