(3^rd Cross Road, Indira Nagar, Bangalore)

Bangalore. The moment you read the first word, some of you might have thought why the author is still referring to the city as Bangalore even though it was changed to Bengaluru. Yes, you are right. It’s no more referred as Bangalore now. It has got a brand new name called Bengaluru marking its place in the list of cities like Beijing which was once Peking, Tokyo which was once Edo and the latest Tollywood’s most visited place Istanbul which was once Constantinople. Now you may have another question popped up in your mind, why the change was initiated. Well, I cannot answer this, you have to ask Jnanapith award winner UR. Anantha Murthy who first mooted the change way back in 2005 during the litterateurs meet at the state’s golden jubilee Suvarna Karnataka celebrations. The one reason that was spread across is that it is to mark the culture of Karnataka state. Let me not dig deeper well.

Bengaluru, which stands 3rd in the most populated cities list of India, takes its place in 18th position in the World’s most populated cities. It is well known for its most pleasant climate all over the year despite of the rise in average temperature. This city, which was once ruled by the Western Gangas, the Cholas during 1537 CE, is now being ruled by the Western culture and the corporate world.

IT, which is the dominating sector in the corporate world, makes Bangalore stand in 4th place in the world as the largest technology cluster after Silicon Valley, Boston and London with 80% of global IT companies having their Indian operations and R&D centers based here. Bangalore is all known as the Silicon Valley of India. It employs about 350,000 employees among the 1 million techies of India. One of the character from our story, Ishanth is one among those busy IT guys who works for one of India’s top 10 IT companies.

(08:17 AM, Ishanth’s Flat)

Even though cool climate covers the city during the nights, the Sun marks its bright presence during the day time giving a warm touch. The bigger needle just crossed the quarter pass of the clock keeping the shorter once at 08 making it 08:17 AM on a bright Monday morning. Ishanth woke up and is getting ready for office. He is almost done and just wearing his shoes. In the meantime, Ishanth’s friend and room mate Ramu came out from his room yawning.

“Good morning.”

“A very good morning Ram ji (Ishant calls him Ram ji).”

When Ramu heard Ishanth’s voice, he felt a little bit surprised and started rubbing his eyes faster.

“Ishanth, is that you?”

“Yes Mr. Ram ji.”

“What is the time now?”

Ramu looked at the clock. Before Ishanth replied, he said “Ishanth, it’s barely 08:20 and where are you going this early morning?”

“I am going to office” said Ishanth working on with the polish brush trying to get his shoes look more promising. It is a very special day to him. The day may not only change his life but may also touch on some of his colleague’s life at the office.

“Office? So early…” replied Ramu rubbing his eyes as he is still not able to believe that Ishanth is leaving very soon to office.

“Early?”

“Early I mean, you will not even get up from bed until 10:00. But today you got ready to office before 08:30 and so. Okay. Tell me. What’s the reason?”

“There is a reason Ram ji. Today is a big day at office.”

“Big day? What do you mean?”

“Today is the day for which people wait so eagerly. Today is the day lot of things change. Today is the day where people take serious decisions.”

“Okay Okay stop it. Can you just tell me in one word?”

“Promotions.”

“Promotions? Can you be little elaborative?”

“This is what the problem with you. When I started explaining you said make it short. And when I made it short, you are asking me to elaborate.”

“Hayyo. Ishanth. Don’t get me mad. Please tell me.”

“Today is the day where Promotions list will be out from the HR team.”

“Oh. Wow. All the best Ishanth. You dint even tell me all these days.”

“Thank you so much Ram ji. I just want to save it as a surprise for all of you. Okay. I am leaving. Put the lock in the safe place.”

“Okay Ishanth. Don’t forget to call or message once you hear the good news.”

“Sure Ram ji. Have a nice day.”

Ishanth left the room, walked down to the cellar and reached his bike. Until then, he dint give a thought on his bike keys. He started checking his pockets for the bike key only after reaching there. When he figured out that he left them in the flat, instead of taking the steps to reach back to the 7th floor, he made a call to Ramu’s mobile.

“Tring… Tring…”

(Ramu’s mobile started ringing.)

When he saw Ishanth’s name on the screen, “he just left a few minutes back and why is his calling” he said to himself.

“Hello Ishanth. What happened?”

“Hey Ramu I forgot the key in my shelf. Can you please throw it down.”

“This is what happens when a guy who leaves the bed at 10:00 AM decides to leave for office at 08:30 AM”

“Come on Ramu. Just give me the keys. It’s a big day and I cannot be late on this much awaiting day.”

(Electronic City, Hosur Road, Bangalore)

After 30 mins of drive on the roadway filled with heavy traffic in the lanes, brand showrooms on either side and large green trees here and there as like the nuts on ice cream. Ishanth reached his office. He parked his bike, had breakfast and began walking to his block from the cafeteria building.

Along his way, he saw his colleague Monisha who is on her way to the cafeteria. They both exchanged good morning wishes. As it is a big day for every employee, most of the conversations from the last few days between any two employees were about promotions. The same phenomenon was applied even to their conversation.

“Any good news?” Monisha asked Ishanth.

“What do you mean?”

“I meant promotion.”

“Not yet Monisha. I suppose the list may be out at around 10:00 AM. Waiting for it.”

“Okay Ish. All the best. Don’t forget to ping me once you heard the news.”

“Sure Mony.”

After the conversation, Ishanth left from there to reach his bay. On his way back, Ishanth is thinking regarding promotions and started speaking to himself.

“Will I make it through this time? Even though our work, achievements and all internal awards speak about our confidence and commitment, we can never believe until it is officially announced. Anyway lets me wait and see what materializes. In the next one hour, the list will be out answering all my questions.”

Ishanth reached his desk and got settled down. He just turned on his system and started going through the mails he received. As he was going through the mail one by one, he saw a mail from HR with subject “Fingers Crossed? You grow along with us. The official announcement of Full Year promotions will be out at 10:00 AM.” Even though he is bit tensed whether he will make it through or not this time, he covered it up with a curved smile on his face.

@Big Day

Guess the story: Will Ishanth be listed in the promotion list?

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