“Workarounds” are not that bad…..

It was 8:15 pm on a Friday and entire floor was buzzing with youngsters who were eagerly looking to log off in next 30 minutes as they were looking forward to have a weekend finally after 5 hectic work days. Parties, movies were on their mind and last-minute mails were being sent out; calls being wrapped up.

At the same time, a worried and upset Abhimanyu was looking at his laptop’s screen for quite long but doing nothing except for checking his wrist watch every few seconds. While everyone was so excited as day was about to end, he was the only one who was asked by his Manager to stay back till 4 am for a client production support. Last minute leave by one of his team member led to this. A train ticket of 2 am to his hometown “Bhopal” was mocking at him while lying at the desk. He is supposed to attend wedding ceremony of his childhood & best friend. Initial plan was to reach Bhopal 3 days in advance and be part of all wedding rituals; party with friends all those days. But his leaves were not approved due to an important project deliverable, so he was left with no other option except for reaching on the wedding day itself.  He explained the situation to his Manager, but request was rejected by saying “If it’s that important, then you should try to reach Bhopal anyhow but after your shift ends at 4 am” with a smile. He was already pissed off and now being asked by Manager to stretch at the last moment made him insanely mad. This is one wedding he cannot afford to miss come what may,  otherwise he will be killed by Rohit (his friend getting married).

All of a sudden, there was sound of emergency siren on the floor, and security guards rushing on the floor asking everyone to evacuate as there was some emergency. Even before anyone could realize what’s happening, they started to rush out of floor by taking stairs quickly. Most of the people were not able to pick their stuff (laptops, bag etc) and gathered at the assembly area. It was still not clear why exactly they were asked to evacuate the building. About 2500 people from all companies working out of the campus were at ground and staring at the building, few trying to check with their respective Facility team what’s happening.

“There’s a bomb in the building. A call was made at about 8:20 pm” someone shouted and within few minutes every single soul present there was aware of this. Everyone was so excited “Oh wow, can’t believe this is happening with us!” and calling up their friends & families to share this.

Within next 30 minutes many police officials (including top officials) and the Bomb Disposal Squad reached the building. As everyone was asked to go out of the campus boundary, Abhimanyu was following all the action with a smile on his face and heart beating a bit faster. He got a call from one of his team member to reach around the tea stalls near exit gate, as their Manager is gathering the entire team there. On reaching there, his Manager asked “Abhimanyu, where’s your laptop?”.

“It’s at my desk Sir, couldn’t bring it down with me in that rush” said Abhimanyu.

“Oh God, now what happens to production support till 4 am? Police has sealed the building till 5 am in the morning to check each and every floor.” Manager said while dialing his phone. He asked one of the team member at Gurgaon location to drop a note to onshore team about all this and be available for production support till 4 am” While listening to his Manager’s conversation Abhimanyu’s eyes shone. He checked his watch, there’s still time to catch the train.

“Guys, those who take cab should reach at the Cab assembly area and take your respective cabs. Others can also leave as we can’t do anything here. Check your mails tomorrow in the morning for further instructions from Facility team.” said Manager and turned to leave. As he turned, he saw Abhimanyu carrying his travel bag and said “Now, from where the hell you got this bag of yours but missed picking your laptop?”

“Sir, how could I have missed carrying this bag? You only said that I should try to reach Bhopal anyhow” Abhimanyu said with wide smile and a wink in his eyes………..