The Indian Software Industry Annual Appraisal method

There was a contest in a company to write a
fictional story for 500 words max which would start
with the line "On* a dark and foggy night, a small
figure lay huddled on the railway tracks leading to
the Bangalore station *"



This is what one professional wrote for the
contest....... surprisingly, it was adjudged the
*best short story* ;;))



On a dark and foggy night, a small figure lay
huddled on the railway tracks leading to the
Bangalore station. At once I was held back to see
someone in that position during midnight with no one
around. With curiosity taking the front seat, I went
near the body and tried to investigate it. There was
blood all over the body which was lying face down. It
seemed that a ruthless blow by the last train could
have caused the end of this body which seemed
to be that of a guy of around my age. Amidst the
gory blood flow, I could see a folded white envelope
which was fluttering in the midnight wind.
Carefully I took the blood stained envelope and was
surprised to see the phrase "appraisal letter" on it.
With curiosity rising every moment, I
wasted no time in opening the envelope to see if I
can find some details about the dead guy. The tag
around the body's neck and the jazzy appraisal
cover gave me the hint that he might be a software
engineer. I opened the envelope to find a shining
paper on which the appraisal details where typed
in flying colors. Thunders broke into my ears and
lightening struck my heart when I saw the appraisal
amount of the dead guy!!!!! My God, it was not
even, as much as the cost of the letter on which the
appraisal details were printed.... My heart poured
out for the guy and huge calls were heard inside
my mind saying "no wonder, this guy died such a
miserable death"... As a fellow worker in the same
industry, I thought I should mourn for him for the
sake of respect and stood there with a heavy heart
thinking of the shock that he would have experienced
when his manager had placed the appraisal
letter in his hand. I am sure his heart would have
stopped and eyes would have gone blank for few
seconds looking at the near to nothing increment in
his salary.



While I mourned for him, for a second my hands froze
to see the employee's name in the appraisal letter...
hey, what a strange co-incidence, this guy's
name is same as mine, including the initials. This
was interesting. With some mental strength, I turned
the body upside down and found myself fainted
for a second. The guy not only had my name, but also
looked exactly like me. Same looks, same built, same
name.... it was me who was dead there!!!!!!!!
While I was lost in that shock, I felt someone
patting on my shoulders. My heart stopped completely,
I could not breathe and sprung in fear to see who was behind.........
splash!!! Went the glass of water on my laptop screen as I came out of
my wild dream to see my manager standing behind my chair patting on my
shoulder saying, "wake up man? Come to meeting room number two. I have
your appraisal letter ready"

Recd from Rashmi on Sat, 18 Mar 2006 04:27:32 -0800 (PST)