1977 was just another year. Emergency had ended and so had my VIII standard exams at St. Paul's in Udaipur. My school had switched to CBSE advocated 10+2 pattern and the idea of spending an extra year in school was like a joy of getting better than expected golf handicap. Our school always announced the annual results on 6th May. We will pack our bags to go to Jodhpur to spend the rest of the summer vacation with our bickering cousins the very next day. Trembling hands unfolded the mark sheet searching for "Promoted to class IX" and the joy of finding it right in the middle of page 3, promptly signed by Reverend Father Coutinho, was an answer to the long prayers the night before. I quickly rushed to class V to check how did it go for Girish my younger brother. We were all set for our annual voyage to the Thar Desert.
I couldn't fulfill all my dad's wishes and get my photo published in CSR, but let me tell you that here is no reward greater than fulfilling even half of our parent’s dreams. Parents live their dreams through their children. Mother's love is unconditional it provides the strength but it is daddy who provides with all the challenges and raises the bar.
"The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred Lord Tennyson.Cannon to right of them,
Canon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the ten thousand.
‘Forward, the Light Brigade!’
Was there a man dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Some one had blunder’d:
Their’s not to make reply,
Their’s not to reason why,
Their’s but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the ten thousand.
The poet refers to "cannon" to right to the right wing politicians who have decided to keep mum on the subject of impending layoff at Satyam. The poet also refers to "canon" to the left (please note the missing 'n' in cannon) are the media persons who have already declared an"end" of the light brigade on their headlines. The cannons in the front are the customers who are calling the shots by cancelling contracts, with each shot killing chances of revival of hopes.
The poet has carefully captured the "mounting" tension of the "benches" by depicting them as the riding horsemen whose voices seem to be gagged in their attire and drowned in the noise of shareholders who have taken forward calls on the falling soldiers marked by 3 straight upper-circuits on the national stock exchanges. You see every dead soldier is now worth more to the company than alive. "Into the mouth of hell" is the asset value of an employee. It is a sarcastic remark on the state of IT companies who once swore by the bench strength to win more business and hired like crazy in their pursuits to please the same shareholders.
The command "Forward the light Brigade" asking the question was there a man dismayed? The question begging to be answered to unveil any doubts in the minds of decision makers. Probably no one, the erstwhile board and the new board are unanimous that the only solution in these tough times to send their men to the gallows. Lord Tennyson leaves the question unanswered on the "Someone had blundered" since the case is still under SFIO investigation and it will be premature for him to pass the judgment.
The rest of the poem is offering no help to employee as they go past the cheering crowds into the wilderness of unemployment statistics. More than 300 thousand such soldiers have their jobs in the hands of top 5 IT top decision makers; one can only hope that they make right choices.
The poet seem apologetic on the state of affairs and rather sad about the foregone outcome of battle in the times of innovation and employment being its incidental outcome.
Facebook/Lalit S Chowdhary
