Chapter 9 : Birthday Surprises

21st July 2018

As soon as time changed from 11:59 PM to 12:00 AM, I got a call from my friend Manoj who is my colleague, Test analyst like my profile, but is good in automation. He had moved to Chennai for switching the company but was unable to find any job for the past one year.

He wished me, “Happy Birthday John, I am damn sure that no one (especially girls) would have called you before or after the call. We both won’t get two things in our life. One is girlfriend and other one is Onsite. Change the company soon”.

I laughed and thanked him. Few of my friends wished me through FB and WhatsApp. The moment I thought I am 32 years old now, time for me to switch the company which never happened in the past 8 plus years. My eyes were shut down around 12:30 am. It opened by hearing the beep sound from mobile alarm app at 6:20 am. Around 7:00 am, I received mobile calls from my parents, sister, friends and relatives. They wished me. I thanked them back. If anyone asked for the treat, my answer would be “soon”.

I received a lot of messages to my office email id. I thanked each one of them. Some of my friends came to my seat and wished me with a handshake. My team members asked me to come in between the bay. Everyone started singing the birthday song for me and presented a gift with a shining green colored wrapper.

I unwrapped the gift, it was a photo frame containing one of my photos in which I was holding a gun. I thanked them. I sat on my seat and unlocked my desktop. I heard a sound “Happy birthday” behind me. I turned back and got stunned.

One can’t predict three things in Kerala. First one is Hartal – You never know when hartal (strike) could happen. Second One is Rain – No can predict when would rain come and go. Third one is my H1B visa.

This is the fourth one, I never predicted the girl whom I had met a year before in bus would be working in my company.

I thanked her with excitement. Ricky introduced her, “Her name is Angel. She will be working in our team from today onwards”.

She interrupted Ricky with a smile while he tried introducing me infront of her. She told Ricky, “I know him well. Happy to work with him.”

Ricky left with a smile. I gave a firm handshake to her. She sat near to my seat. The distance between our seat was around 30cm. Before giving the overview of the project, I asked are

“Is your name Angel or Meena?”.

She laughed and smiled “You still remember that name. My name is Angel and my pet name is Meena. Only my parents call me as “Meena.”

“Oh, ok. Are you from Kannur district in Kerala?”

“Yes, we are settled in Trivandrum now.”

A year back, when I tried to search her in Facebook, I was

unable to find since I searched her with her name as “Meena”. I started giving an overview of the project.

I got stuck when my eyes met her eyes for a couple of sec. She asked, “Is everything fine?”

I somehow managed the situation with a lie “I am just thinking whether I missed anything to say about the project. Please go through the document and feel free to contact me if you have any doubts or clarifications.”

She waved her hand to say bye for leaving the office. I wanted to offer her a lift to her home.

“How are you planning to go?”

“I will go in my scooter.”

I left office after an hour, reached my flat. First time in years, I saw my stomach in front of the mirror while removing the shirt. My flat stomach was covered by the thick layers of fat, a thin layer of fat was hanging down my chin. Now it’s my time to start doing exercise to impress her. I set an alarm at 5am in mobile for early morning exercise.