Yesterday, the page of the calendar on my desk showed to thefollowing quote:
“Progress in life, business, or any project comes throughtaking initiative and continuing to press on with new strategies, concepts andplans. The original momentum isn’t enough to keep you moving forward. Yourprogress will grind to a halt unless you refill your engine of inspiration withthe fuel of fresh ideas.”
My desk calendar shows me the right quotes on days just whenI need someone to tell me what I want to hear. It is akin to having a miniconversation: my thoughts pose a question and the calendar answers.
I took to the calendar as it sat on the desk of a dearfriend. Whenever I stopped by her desk to chat, I could not keep myself fromflipping its pages and reading the quotes on its different pages. The quotesforced me into contemplating their meaning and I found treasure in the wisdomthey had to offer. The accompanying pictures were a treat. There came a daywhen I could not let go of my inanimate friend and I thought nothing of pickingit up and carrying it over to my desk. Perhaps it is an understanding I sharewith my friend, because she never asked for it back. Or maybe, she and thecalendar didn’t share the same friendship that I found in it.
It has been months now, and I knew reading from the calendarhad brought about change in me. I had found a companion, an advisor. I hear thecalendar saying, “I will answer your questions. You need advice, flip throughme day after day. I will show you beautiful pictures of the gardens, birds,flowers, snow, hills, waterfalls, fruits.” And I lose myself in it.
I look to my calendar for a high-five when I figure out theright solution to a problem. And insituations I that leave me irritated, my calendar says “Be calm, don’t loseyour mind!”
Writing code and programmes leaves me drained, figuring thebugs in them sucks the daylight out of me. And then I look to the calendar, myfriend, whose face today is lit up with a pretty flower and I am comforted.
Sonali Khande is a senior software developer in Bangalore
