Visit Later

"It has been a while since I got time to sit back and recollect the green chapters of my life. Shahrukh's fan club bunking classes for his first day first show, chitchat with Leena by the college compound, lastbenchers' gossips..."Listen, you got to concentrate. You have to complete the code review by End Of the Day”, heard Hamsa saying to herself.

"The team has spent on him sending him to many trainings in and outside the company. He has got no better. He thinks he can write bit-banging code. But only he can understand, not even the compiler which has to optimize it." retorted Hamsa a little louder this time that she heard it hitting her own ears; that’s when she realized she was indeed loud.

Masters, PhD, marriage, kids, and career got in way. Moving in pursuit of her dreams, Hamsa had lost track of the path that had led her to who she was today. If at all a time machine were to be employed to track the rush hour performance of her busy life, it would start emoting like a human and cry to death.

Heeding to her mind's voice Hamsa got immersed in her review work till she came across a comment by the author in the code. "Naveen: Visit this function later. But do visit. It is important to fix this". She sternly added a review comment to the developer saying, this function is left unattended. "Visit later" just means it isn’t immediate, but you need to close such remarks before you come to the reviewer. Hamsa, though was a good techie, was never so strong in her words. Today her mind was elsewhere, it was pre-occupied.

Though the line dint mean a deal for her in the code, it took her back by years.
Her memories traveled back, back by 7-8 years and landed on the wooden bench of a corner dark room of her college. Hamsa used to spend more time at college than home. A popular student in her small college, Hamsa was acing her courses well. Having lost her father early in life, she had the best influence and protection of one of her lecturers which kept her strong and spirited. Mr. Rathore was a lecturer of a class. Though the subject he handled was Computer Architecture, he taught more on life than on the subject. He often urged students to discuss life and was sure each had a good bit to share. Some of his colleagues passed snide comments on Mr. Rathore, but he never was troubled as long as the students were him with. Hamsa had not come across a lecturer of his kind till then and never later, in her Post Graduate and Doctoral courses. If she were a successful person academically and in her career today, it was partly due to her commitment and majorly due to Mr. Rathore's shade. He would push for students to study more, not for a job or for the money, but for knowledge. His thirst for knowledge was insatiable. Though Hamsa was a grade A student, her inclination towards Rathore's subject would get her a grade above A in it if there was one. Rathore was passionate about what he taught and he passed on the same to his students. Hamsa wished to do her higher studies under Rathore and specialize in his subject.

Hamsa graduated in flying colors and her merit fetched her admissions in distant graded Universities. But she insisted on continuing in the small college under her much preferred lecturer Rathore. He tries his part to convince her to embrace bigger and better opportunities. Hamsa doesn’t easily get swayed. He then says something that makes Hamsa agree, though diffidently, "Leave now, visit later, but do visit. This college and I shall be happy to welcome you as our professor.”

Hamsa comes back in time. This time she lands inside a sleek, modern, architectural glass structure, sitting on a sophisticated computer chair with the world's slimmest and top brand laptop in front of her, doing the code review. It’s difficult to say no to fancy life, big money. But Hamsa decides to trail back the path which led her here. She convinces her partner and children to go back to the little corner town and lead a simple yet meaningful life.

She finally returns to her village just to hear from Mr. Rathore "Thanks for the comeback. I knew this would happen before my retiring from the college and you marked my retirement day. You shall handle my subject here forth".