The “Duck”er Diary

My neck and hips are aching! 20 minutes of this exercise is taking a toll on my body. Luckily the soul(or remnants of it after the years of survival) is intact!  I am practicing the art of ducking! With the approaching appraisal season, I have become restless and apprehensive.

In Dec 2008, an Iraqi journalist threw a shoe at President Bush.

In Feb 2009, someone in the audience threw a shoe at Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

In April 2009, an Indian journalist threw a shoe at Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram.

There is news about shoe throwing at eminent personalities every two months! I wonder how these shoe throwers walk out of the hall wearing only one shoe! Isn’t that uncomfortable? Be that as it may, this is becoming a popular way to protest (and also humiliate). So, with the appraisal season round the corner, my blood pressure is climbing.

I’m not worried about the outcome of my appraisal exercise! I’m more worried about the dozen plus people who will sit across the table and will be appraised by me! And I’m not leaving anything to chance. I’m practicing on how to duck in front of an imaginary shoe as this mode of protest seem to be the flavor of the season!

First, I tried the neck method. You move your neck (very similar to the kathakali dancers) while the body remains static. After several attempts, I realized this is neither effective nor efficient.

Now, I’m trying the body method. You move downwards and sideward resulting in an angled position. As a result, my entire body is paining now!In this pain, a conversation with a friend comes to my mind. Corporate houses have announced penalty for not submitting appraisal on time! He quips, “Earlier, if you don’t submit your appraisal on time, they don’t give you a raise. Now, if you don’t submit your appraisal on time, they take away your salary!”

Time to get back to ducking…

Tags: Musings,Duck,Shoe,Diary,Appraisal,President Bush,Wen Jiabao,P Chidambaram