Fate and I

Have you ever tried to solve a problem that you don’t understand?
Try it.This will freak you out totally. I nearly feel like being pushed from a cliff from a deathly height of 8848 metre, with a cushion on the earth. And my dead body lands with a thud on the bed of sponge!

How can I solve a cobol error when I don’t know the C of the cobol. I am big time bulshitting myself here. Feel like a ISO certified moron.

Did some one ask me why was I doing it??

It all began this morning, when a certain cobol job was not updating a value in a sql table. The job owner says the table does not exist and sends a mail with this conclusion to everyone with a copy to their dogs also. It scared the day lights out of me. Not the fact that it was CCed to half the world, but because if the table did not exist then we are doomed and there is no place even at the bottom of the dead sea for us. I had a good mind to tell him, “You retard, why do you conclude such incongruous impossibilities ”.

As far as I am concerned, diplomacy is not exactly saying what you want to say.. Keeping this in mind, I asked my C-coleagues regarding the problem. Collected the information, well.. for me, it is data. I needed to communicate this problem to the right person and also sound “intelligent” in the process. I mean No.. ahhh’s… errrr’s allowed!! I felt like kicking myself in the posterior, and keep a straight face while doing this as well.. !@#$ %^&$..

I dialled the number of the DBA. All the 3 DBAs have the same name. It was immaterial who answered the call. After the initial formalities, I slided straight down into my grave. After what seemed like an exchange of nothingness, I hung up. I am not into mainframes to understand his questions. Felt like a dunce. I had no clue. But after 3 such chances which I had given to make a fool of myself, I managed to convey to him what the problem was. I could feel him precariously balancing at the edge of his patience limit, during each of these conversations. I dont know if the problem is solved. I do not what happened later.

This interaction added weight to my belief, "Fate never throws something at you which you cannot handle". Though you make a fool of yourself in the process, you gain enough.. Whenever I thought, I was on the verge of drowing, I felt my inherent boyancy pushing me up to the surface. This was one such. We are never prepared for anything, but fate does not toss it at you if you are not inherently fabricated with the potential to handle it. Well, I made a fool of myself in the course, but when I retrospect, I cannot but smile at my conversation with the DBA.