Stranger than Fiction?

Well it amazes me to see how many things in this world never cease to amaze me.

Just one tiny example. I received an email from Schlumberger HR asking me to make a dossier of 20-odd certificates which I will be required to carry during my induction program in Abu Dhabi. It included probably every certificate that I'd have obtained since class 10 (except for the birth certificate, which would be way before that) and the birth certificates of your parents, spouse and children, wherever applicable. I would like to presume I was born only after my parents were born, and how does it really matter what their dates of birth are or whatever else they are trying to gauge from those certificates.

The topper, though, was to carry a marriage certificate or a concubine certificate, if and whichever applicable.

Now, I've seen and heard of a very many things over the past few years, most more enlightening than not, but I really never imagined I'd hear of a concubine certificate! Do such things as these exist? Why would one want to be a certified concubine? Prostitutes, I can imagine, but then they wouldn't really be working in Schlumberger, or wouldn't be prostituting of they were earning in excess of $50,000 per annum. This is, of course, going with the prejudice that this is a profession borne out of necessity/depravity/force or various other such undignified reasons, and not out of choice. Even so, I can live with that certificate from countries where prostitution is legal.

The only sane explanation I can come up with is that SLB is a global company with a strong focus on the Middle East where the Islamic customs dominate, and it is allowed to keep multiple wives. The second and third and fourth wives would probably be the concubines with an official concubine status as opposed to married, though if they are wives, why so? I can't really think of anything else.

Views?

Off To The Past

The new session at IITK begins in a week. I've been out of the place for nearly three months now, and it still feels strange that I won't be going back to it. I already miss the energy, the excitement of the new academic year, the expectant faces of the newly admitted students, the assured walk of the seniors, the smiles at meeting friends after three long months, the chaos, the noises, the warm hugs, the formal handshakes, new hostels every year, classes, new courses, the plans of starting fresh and studying this time around - I miss all of it.

I gave four very important years of my life to IITK, and although initially I was unhappy and dissatisfied, I came to learn to like it, and now, IITK defines a major part of my identity. It has given me more than I could have imagined, or hoped for and for that, I shall be eternally indebted to the institute. I wish to go back there, for the freedom that it provided me, to pursue any and everything that I liked. I want to roam around on the impeccable campus roads in the evening when the faculty kids come out to play, past midnight when it is all quiet and breezy, in the sultry afternoons when the walk became more purposeful.

Yet, going back would mean giving up on a lot of new things that await me. More importantly, it doesn't seem worth it to go back to a campus devoid of the people who made it worth every moment. No friends to go to, to talk with, to crib to or fight with - how intertwined is the sould of the institute with the people that reside in it. I feel I have lost something if I go to the campus but there are no friends. I feel equally cheated if I go to Mumbai where all my friends are but the campusis far, far away. I have always lived in the past. It is what I am still doing. I want the time in my campus back, the way it was, with the people that were there, when they were there, the way they were there.