“Amal, sweetheart, at least have this tea or by afternoon you will be drained.”
“Mom, you know I feel like vomiting when I drink at one stretch. I am going to have this biscuit.”
“Oh, no Mom, my bus came. See you at night Mom. Love you.”
This was my daily marathon. I am Amal, a trainee software engineer.
“One ticket to Kakkanad please.” It’s been a lengthy trip. Although it took one hour to reach the place, this bus was secure.
I placed the earphones on and tuned to my favorite channel.
“Hai, Good Morning everyone. This is Shaan, “Kochi Ki Jaan.”
Wow! What a beautiful voice he had. I was a die-hard fan of Club FM and Shaan. Hats off to all the RJ’s. I value their pace of jargon and their ability to maintain their listeners enthralled.
“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, loving someone deeply gives you courage. Love, love and always love.”
“With this lovely Lao Tzu lines, I wish all the ongoing lovers and lovers to be a Happy Valentine’s Day.”
“Today we have many dedications. The first song is from the movie Bachelor’s Party. Enjoy and stay tuned to Club FM.”
It’s been my favorite song. I enjoy all the romantic, melodious songs. I was deeply passionate about learning the lyrics of the songs that touched my heart.
And today was February 14th, the day of Valentines. Don’t ever misunderstand me, that I would be going to wait for my “Prince Charm” to come and propose me over our office’s window. But during our college days, we did this.
It was the first day in college for Valentines. We went during the break and took over the places near veranda on the third floor. I was able to see him from there, my Valentine.
I have heard this day our Valentine would look more lovely than ever. The “Gulmohar tree” that was immersed in the morning fog was my Valentine. The red flowers tingled across the sky like red patches. On my way to college, only these trees captured my gaze.
We began singing our song for the day. That was fun. I used to enjoy all the love comments given and taken. But never tried to give and take. I believed that this day was a day to enjoy and love all the wonderful things around. Yes, I was madly in love with my “Gulmohar tree.”
“Hope you enjoyed the song. Our inbox overflowed with dedications.”
When “Kochi Ki Jaan” started his talks enthusiastically, I got back from the thoughts I still cherish. I miss my first love’s red tints.
I reached the office. I saw a red box in front of the reception desk when I swiped the access card. I took my seat with confused thoughts.
The literary association team sponsored today’s celebration. They scheduled all with a lot of suspense. So today, there was no work and task sheets. We switched our minds from work mode to game mode.
“Game 1: Treasure Hunt.” Rejin, one of the volunteers of today’s program announced.
He continued, “You will be on your project team. The first activity is to fix the puzzles in the yellow chit that you have been provided with.”
We read the questions. It has been fairly simple. But the villain was the time. It was almost solved by other teams. We began googling the questions. (There was no rule that we should not google.)
Within five minutes, we solved them. Then we rushed for the next chit. It was the clue that read, “Life is Good” for the treasure hunt.
“What is it?” We stared confusingly at each other. I typed the line in the search bar and hit enter. The results came from which “LG” electronics were mentioned. It was LG’s tagline or motto.
So, our treasure could be hidden somewhere there is an LG product. I tried to recall LG’s electronic devices in the office. The first choice, I had in mind was the air conditioner. But our office was a centralized one. Suddenly there triggered an idea.
The conference room. It had two split ACs of LG. I called Mathew and went to the conference room. I checked the first and he checked the second one. Finally, he got a dark red rose flower from it’s back. And that, we have won.
I gave the pack of chocolates, that we got as a prize to the team and took the rose flower with me.
“Red rose is a must for the day”, I winked at it and smiled.
“Next contest is love letter writing. Either you do it anonymously or you could mention your name. Put it in the red box before lunch break.” Rejin announced again.
I wanted to part in it. But to whom I was supposed to write. Pretending to be someone and writing a romantic letter to a person whom we don’t love, how is it feasible? That was not Amal’s line.
I thought deeply. Why don’t I take a different approach? I took my pen and started writing.
Hello, My World!
Happy Valentine’s day my love.
You know it is very hard to write a letter without my usual breaks, continue, return, loops and also my semicolons. But it has only been two hours since the last test, and I have already missed you.
I love you because of the extra care you are giving me. You don’t allow the slightest bug to enter my body.
But when you split me between your team, to maintain and develop my features, I felt torn apart. I feel excited when I get fixed together and get close to you, my dear.
When I see how much stress you face, I feel depressed. I feel so amazing when I am updating with cool features.
I have heard that project managers believe that they are the master and commander of everything. But I am so happy you are not that way.
Please, dear, try to extend the release date and persuade the client about it. So, I could remain with you a bit longer. I hate the release period and I have got to wait until I get back.
Be happy my love and don’t lose your patience.
Love you always Project X2
I placed the letter in the box, feeling so delighted.
After the lunch break, we gathered in the conference room for the “Love Letter Opening Ceremony.” They started to take each letter and read it loudly.
My heart bounced when my letter came out. I could hear the laughter of my colleagues and, our PM’s face blushed with a smile.
“Who wrote it?”
They all turned and screamed “Amallllllllllll”.
“Was it so obvious?” I thought.
The day ended by laughing, enjoying, teasing each other with the letters they got and sharing their Valentine’s experiences.
As programmers, we have learned that Quality is a complicated concept. But every day when it comes to Life, it is just as complicated. We have altered our complex day with the rarest of the rarest moments. Ultimately, we could say that “Life is Good” and not complex!!
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