Foresight

Chapter XXI

"Cut the damn ribbon man. Don't delay anymore with your useless dramatics" Tarun pesters Rajesh, who is insisting that all three, cut the ribbon at the same time.

"Yeah dude. I already got a deal for us. We got some real work to do on it" Neeraj is howling from the back. Succumbing to their pestering, Rajesh cuts the ribbon with a shrug on his shoulder's, muttering gibberish. Neeraj and Tarun almost shove Rajesh to the ground as they race to their desks to start working on their first project.

"You have got the perfect partner's with you." Mr. Khuranna comments , as he places his hand over his son's shoulder.

"Yeah dad. They are really excited about this. Actually more than me" Rajesh contemplates as he watch's his friends hard at work from the first day. 'I made the right decision, making them my partners' flashes through Rajesh's mind as he escorts his parents, to the door.

"I should be home by eight or nine. But if is getting delayed, I will inform you guys" Rajesh informs his mother, as they are leaving. As soon he turns his back to the door, he finds Tarun lighting up a cigarette, scratching his head, portraying as if he has hit a speed-bump this early in the project. He heads over to the white board, where Neeraj is busy putting down the flow chart for their present project.

"Looks like pretty simple marketing project to me. We should be able to deliver within the deadline, may be ever before that" Rajesh consults with Neeraj. "Looks like that" Neeraj replies without even turning his head back, putting down some sample codes for selected targets in the flowchart.

"I don't think so guys." Tarun speaks up from his desk, getting up to join his friends at their planning desk, in the back. "The pictures given by the client are very rudimentary, we can't use those fancy codes Neeraj is putting down on the board." replies Tarun before his friends even ask their obvious question. These words are enough for Neeraj to stop putting down those codes and keep down the marker.

"Classic Neeraj. Stopping the moment he hits a minor speed-bump" mocks Tarun, which is replied by just the finger gesture by Neeraj.

"Elaborate Tarun. And tone down the mockery a bit." Rajesh asks, more like orders as he heads towards the planning desk with Neeraj, where Tarun has already plugged in his flash drive onto the main server and is trying to analyze the images.

"We can't use complex codes for inserting the images on the webpage dude. If we use them, we get two pictures where we need just one" Tarun explains as he demonstrates to his fellow comrades. "Maybe with this code, we will get the result" suggests Neeraj as he hands over the piece of paper with his suggestive code, though he is expecting that Tarun has already tried that code, for he is their coding wizard in their group.

"Nope man. I used this code first, because of its simplicity and less compiling time. Didn't work" Tarun explains, as he enters Neeraj's code, to demonstrate to the group of, of its failure to get the desired result.

"This is a real problem man. The images serve half the purpose of marketing the product. And not to forget, we cannot alter them or use different images too. Specific instructions from the client" Neeraj voices his concern, for he was the one to bag the project.

"Well it's not an insolvable problem for now. I will concentrate on the images for now and try to come up with a program for them. Meanwhile you two share my part of the project work, on top of your own shares." Tarun suggests, as he heads back to his desk to brainstorm through the speed-bump.

"Sounds fair enough" Neeraj speaks up as he and Rajesh head back to their desks.

"Yyeeesss" Tarun shouts as he leaps up from the main server desk. "About time dude. You have been at it for five hours. My stomach is growling. Have to head home for dinner" Rajesh speaks up as he heads to the main server, joining Neeraj and Tarun. "I had to use baby codes for this. Codes which I had already thrown out of mind, into the garbage" Tarun complains as he compiles his program for one more time to check for any final errors. To his dismay, he ends up getting a few errors which infuriate Tarun so much, that he gets up from the chair to light a cigarette and cool off. "Let me take over here. I think I know why there errors are turning up" Neeraj voices up as he occupies the chair and examines the program for any obvious typing errors.

"Here, take a bite" Rajesh offers his share of Kit-Kat to Tarun, who grabs the pack violently and shoves a whole chocolate bar inside his mouth.

"There we go. Tarun did amazing work with the codes. He just forgot to complete some commands." Neeraj announces and compiles the programs, with zero errors. He runs the program and to their relief it runs smoothly just the way the client would want.

"Great job guys" Rajesh congratulates his partners.

"Lets call it a day dudes. I m tired of coding for the day" Tarun suggests as he finishes off his cigarette and flicks the butt through the open window.

"Yeah man. I am hungry too. Plus its already eight. My mom will be worrying to the core." Neeraj adds as he saves the program and proceeds to shut down the server.

"I will pick you guys at eight in the morning from the tea shop." Tarun suggests, heading for the door. As they head down, Neeraj suggest that they should compress Tarun's program to some extent, for it is taking huge space. Rajesh takes the responsibility for that. 'Today was productive enough to my expectations' Rajesh thinks as they make their way through the traffic... to their respective homes.