Chapter 13- The Phone Call
Raul, never had many friends. He kept only a very few, a handful literally. The colleagues at his work place, mostly never made it into his friends list. In the world of information technology, it is not a joke when some one says, they barely know the person sitting next to them in a cubicle. It is a hard reality, an occupational hazard. Everyone are tasked to squeeze the double into every passing second. It is not just a race against time what a professional does inside the maze of cubicles, but spinning faster in their spots, than the planet earth itself.
For Raul, who was heading two departments, he was on warp speed trying to stick with his schedules.
When he goes home after work, he lie down on a comfortable couch reading books With news on TV in the background, no communication with friends or others. Loneliness brings life into another realm. In the quietness, there is a new beginning for humankind, to think more and think from themselves. For Raul, loneliness and solitude were different things; yet if loneliness is an utter blackness, solitude is being alone in a beautiful garden. Solitude is when the pain remains, but one learns to let the joy of moment to flood in, that natural love that belongs to us all. It's when we release ourselves to love and are reborn.
He is used to this. Ever since childhood loneliness is his constant companion, taking and cracking jokes to his conscience, even making funny scripts and conversations in imaginary scenes and acting it out with his conscience inside his head in all color. He has this elaborate conversation and debates with himself. Some of these conversations were extremely funny and intrinsically creative that he used to publish these on his personal blog or in some forum.
Raul may seem alone to the outside world, but he ran a fun circus inside his brain entertaining him, at times turning it into pure circus of horrors and nightmares.
..
..
It was the middle of a Piter August( August in Saint Petersburg). It was the initial days of his parallel life, doing assignments for Mr. Wilson. A late afternoon, he was just back from his lunch when the phone kept on the desk started blinking. He scooped it up and looked at the screen. It was Fabrice who was the marketing director for BTS which was one of the major telecom operator in Russia.
He hesitated for a moment before he pushed the answer button
"Hello"
"Hello Raul, Are you busy?"
"Hi,no...not now.."
"See..I wont take much of your time Raul; There is a family in Omsk who need some help."
"Okay.."Raul responded to that with an audible uneasy pause. "What kind of help?..Medical?" asked Raul
"No, not medical. The family comprise of a mother,father and 2 grown up girls, The eldest of the girl, has recently passed out of college and needs a job, the youngest girl needs an admission in college..her grades are not that good and she is trying to get into college. The family has some pressing financial needs... they are in dire straits"
"Let me think about it." said Raul
"And..."continued Fabrice, "See..I will be in Piter tomorrow, do you think we can meet?"
"Evening..probably yes" responded Raul.
"Okay, good day"
"Good day.." and they hung up
Raul got back to his tasks at hand. Mr.Wilson had send him a list of documents and information he wants from his competitors who could be his allies or subordinates in the future. In another weeks time he has to prepare his tools and make plans for its targeted deployment to gather intelligence for the "UK Project" Mr.Wilson has requested for.
Previous week, Mr. Wilson had taken Raul to a meeting related to the same project from U.K. Mr.Wilson introduced him to the room as the guy from the training department who is handling the documentation for the project. That was his cover for now. It was the most boring meeting he has ever been. The lawyers from both sides sat across the table discussing and negotiating their terms for the project. A lot of deception at play. From time to time, Mr.Wilson asked for some or the other file from his briefcase and Raul hand it over to him; such an exercise kept him awake.
The plasma screen sat in the corner, like an unwelcome mirror. Raul tried not to look, but with it switched off, reflected the sheer boredom in the room so much worse than the real thing.
On his computer Raul has perfected a small script that could be remotely controlled to access another computer and it seemed to work perfectly, at least in the sandbox he has set up for this. Now, he has to try and bundle it with an ordinary application. In the next three days, he will try and develop at least three or four versions of the same tool for different methods of deployment. He knew too much about this game and the chance window of opportunity it could offer. He was not going to miss any.- "Chance favors the prepared mind..".
The excitement of his new assignment, gave him a fire, a passion that went from spark to bonfire within.
The movies has glorified the world of operatives. In the real world it was not really about fast car chases, snappy suits, lethal gadgets or dodging bullets. It was more like a chess game played in the real world at the mental level, making short potent moves against the adversaries, capturing information instead of the chess pieces. This is all done very subtly and as silently as possible. In this game of chess, the win is never decided by how many pieces you capture, but the quality of pieces you captured and how you captured it. Unlike in real chess, you don't take the pieces away from the board, but instead you keep the adversary engaged in this game and let him play with his pieces, which you have already captured.
In business, every company is in a constant war with its adversaries for its survival and from within itself. These businesses are not surviving for themselves, but for many different lives and dreams that are nurtured by it- a dream house, a child's dream to be an astronaut, caring for a sick family member; from the lowest paying worker of the company like the gardener or the employees from the cleaning crew, to the army of white and blue color of employees working at various levels, to the stake holders, all their dreams, ambitions and hopes are placed on the good health of this business entity. Unlike how humans evolve today, the evolution in business world was purely Darwinian, survival of the most fittest.
As an operative, Raul understood the nature and the importance of his assignments. It was of utmost importance for survival, to keep the business system thriving and growing. The responsibility he took on his shoulders were massive in nature. For business like in war- To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the adversary is provided by the adversary themselves.
Raul was busy sharpening his tools and preparing his ammunition for the skirmishes in the digital realm.
For Raul, who was heading two departments, he was on warp speed trying to stick with his schedules.
When he goes home after work, he lie down on a comfortable couch reading books With news on TV in the background, no communication with friends or others. Loneliness brings life into another realm. In the quietness, there is a new beginning for humankind, to think more and think from themselves. For Raul, loneliness and solitude were different things; yet if loneliness is an utter blackness, solitude is being alone in a beautiful garden. Solitude is when the pain remains, but one learns to let the joy of moment to flood in, that natural love that belongs to us all. It's when we release ourselves to love and are reborn.
He is used to this. Ever since childhood loneliness is his constant companion, taking and cracking jokes to his conscience, even making funny scripts and conversations in imaginary scenes and acting it out with his conscience inside his head in all color. He has this elaborate conversation and debates with himself. Some of these conversations were extremely funny and intrinsically creative that he used to publish these on his personal blog or in some forum.
Raul may seem alone to the outside world, but he ran a fun circus inside his brain entertaining him, at times turning it into pure circus of horrors and nightmares.
..
..
It was the middle of a Piter August( August in Saint Petersburg). It was the initial days of his parallel life, doing assignments for Mr. Wilson. A late afternoon, he was just back from his lunch when the phone kept on the desk started blinking. He scooped it up and looked at the screen. It was Fabrice who was the marketing director for BTS which was one of the major telecom operator in Russia.
He hesitated for a moment before he pushed the answer button
"Hello"
"Hello Raul, Are you busy?"
"Hi,no...not now.."
"See..I wont take much of your time Raul; There is a family in Omsk who need some help."
"Okay.."Raul responded to that with an audible uneasy pause. "What kind of help?..Medical?" asked Raul
"No, not medical. The family comprise of a mother,father and 2 grown up girls, The eldest of the girl, has recently passed out of college and needs a job, the youngest girl needs an admission in college..her grades are not that good and she is trying to get into college. The family has some pressing financial needs... they are in dire straits"
"Let me think about it." said Raul
"And..."continued Fabrice, "See..I will be in Piter tomorrow, do you think we can meet?"
"Evening..probably yes" responded Raul.
"Okay, good day"
"Good day.." and they hung up
Raul got back to his tasks at hand. Mr.Wilson had send him a list of documents and information he wants from his competitors who could be his allies or subordinates in the future. In another weeks time he has to prepare his tools and make plans for its targeted deployment to gather intelligence for the "UK Project" Mr.Wilson has requested for.
Previous week, Mr. Wilson had taken Raul to a meeting related to the same project from U.K. Mr.Wilson introduced him to the room as the guy from the training department who is handling the documentation for the project. That was his cover for now. It was the most boring meeting he has ever been. The lawyers from both sides sat across the table discussing and negotiating their terms for the project. A lot of deception at play. From time to time, Mr.Wilson asked for some or the other file from his briefcase and Raul hand it over to him; such an exercise kept him awake.
The plasma screen sat in the corner, like an unwelcome mirror. Raul tried not to look, but with it switched off, reflected the sheer boredom in the room so much worse than the real thing.
On his computer Raul has perfected a small script that could be remotely controlled to access another computer and it seemed to work perfectly, at least in the sandbox he has set up for this. Now, he has to try and bundle it with an ordinary application. In the next three days, he will try and develop at least three or four versions of the same tool for different methods of deployment. He knew too much about this game and the chance window of opportunity it could offer. He was not going to miss any.- "Chance favors the prepared mind..".
The excitement of his new assignment, gave him a fire, a passion that went from spark to bonfire within.
The movies has glorified the world of operatives. In the real world it was not really about fast car chases, snappy suits, lethal gadgets or dodging bullets. It was more like a chess game played in the real world at the mental level, making short potent moves against the adversaries, capturing information instead of the chess pieces. This is all done very subtly and as silently as possible. In this game of chess, the win is never decided by how many pieces you capture, but the quality of pieces you captured and how you captured it. Unlike in real chess, you don't take the pieces away from the board, but instead you keep the adversary engaged in this game and let him play with his pieces, which you have already captured.
In business, every company is in a constant war with its adversaries for its survival and from within itself. These businesses are not surviving for themselves, but for many different lives and dreams that are nurtured by it- a dream house, a child's dream to be an astronaut, caring for a sick family member; from the lowest paying worker of the company like the gardener or the employees from the cleaning crew, to the army of white and blue color of employees working at various levels, to the stake holders, all their dreams, ambitions and hopes are placed on the good health of this business entity. Unlike how humans evolve today, the evolution in business world was purely Darwinian, survival of the most fittest.
As an operative, Raul understood the nature and the importance of his assignments. It was of utmost importance for survival, to keep the business system thriving and growing. The responsibility he took on his shoulders were massive in nature. For business like in war- To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the adversary is provided by the adversary themselves.
Raul was busy sharpening his tools and preparing his ammunition for the skirmishes in the digital realm.
Comments
Post a Comment