Shifting Gears – Fourth and Final Episode

If you are visiting the blog for the first time I strongly recommend you to come back to this page after reading through the first three episodes.

Afterall, it doesn’t make sense to watch the climax first, even if the entry fee is waived 

July 2004

The White House was to get a new Man In charge in another two months, and the atmosphere across the country that was going two steps backward for every step that was taking forward was one of total resentment for Mr.George W Bush.

Mr Bush was more keen on giving the country men a physically secure world to live in rather than an economically or socially secure fraternity.

This was the perfect opportunity for the Democrats to cash in on the untapped yet important promise of economic security, and all opinion polls predicted a thumping victory for Mr Kerry for his strict “No No to outsourcing” stand.

The repercussions was felt across the BPO sector in India, and the customers were beginning to reduce the offshoring gradually to avoid a sudden ramp down, as this would not be practically feasible.

Though the ripple was felt across the BPO space, as usual, the small fries were the first ones targeted.

E-volve, had to skillfully go about the retrenchment, and so they gave impossible choices to its staff rather than hand them the pink slip straight away. The firm created a rumour that they were going to bring in a three year bond for its employees, and this automatically reduced the staff strength by 25%!

(However, like all good authors, I would not like to make the protagonists meet an
abrupt end, so this is the way the plot unfolds.)

Kushaal and Shruthi, having performed exceptionally in their first one year, were not being retrenched immediately, but the choice put forth to them was still a tough one to cope up with, in the current scenario.

Shobha Mehta,the shrewd TL who knew that the ground situation was not very positive, but, at the same time, since these two could not be released to the market for someone else to encash later, offered both a job for the same place but in the successive shifts.

This basically meant that the newly weds just had no common time to spend except in weekends.

This made the duo rethink the decisions that they took in the last one year and possibly their parents advice had real merit.

Kushaal, really learnt for the first time, what responsibility meant, as now, in the advent of any adversity, he would have to do all that he could to ensure bread for not only him, but also for a soul that is totally his.

He revisited the higher studies option, and with Shruthi giving her consent, Kushaal, resumed his preps for his MBA.

Halfway through the preparation for the exams, the White House got a surprising verdict. The Republicans retained power and in a month the Job Market bloomed yet again and the couple was caught in a fix again.

Shruthi, to whom the Power of Attorney was given, was more thoughtful, as she has gone through the bread or book phase in her life more than once, finally gave her thumbs up to her hubby to continue with his pursuit as the long term vision loomed large, and they didn’t want to get caught in the same mess once their family expands.

Kushaal, with more resolve than ever before cracked the GMAT with 760, and got himself placed in a “Top 20” Business School in US.

And the heroine continued her work and by the time Kushaal returned graduated to the Team lead profile.

So the hero and heroine went on to lie happily ever after irrespective of whether they were in the same place or not. After all, certain bonds last the distance between the sun and the earth twice over.