I am finally off work for the next seven days!!!!!
Did you hear that? SEVEN whole days off work, without telephone calls (well, that’s hoping a bit too much), no client escalation emails – Wow! Its going to be a treat for my tired eyes.
All I plan to do during these days is to eat, sleep, catch up on my blogger friends and put in a bit or writing myself.
And watch out, for a contest coming soon to celebrate my 100th blog post. So, stay tuned and keep reading.
Nowadays I am so tired from work, that I hardly know when or where to start blogging. All I want to do when I get home is to sleep, sleep and sleep.
And tough luck, I am supposed to be working this weekend as well. We have a release planned for this weekend and I and a couple of colleagues are supposed to be testing it for any defects.
All I want is a very relaxed week where I can just put my legs up and do whatever I feel like – sleep, read, browse, blog – anything at all, with no interruptions by anyone.
A week in a secluded cottage with internet connectivity, plenty of food, a cool climate, and complete seclusion would be perfect bliss.
Everyday on my way to work, I see a little family staying on the roadside pavement. It consists of a Papa, Mama and 3 kids – a girl, a boy and a baby (I think thats a girl too). They have a small lean-to made from a flex poster of the Congress party and some plastic sacks.
In the morning when I walk that way, the kids are busy performing their morning ablutions around 100 m away from their home, while the Mama is busy stirring a pot over a fire, always with the baby lying across her lap.There are coconut husks and shells strewn at another corner, and it is like the whole pavement belongs to them.
The Papa is sometimes there helping with the cooking, but more often not. Continue reading
Now that I am into the 4th week ( can you believe that? 4 weeks have passed since I arrived at the Garden City), maybe I can tell you a bit about the Office.
The office is located in a prime area dotted with restaurants, colleges, shopping malls – all at walking distance. The famed Forum Mall is just a stone’s throw from here, though I haven’t visited it yet.
Now let us go inside the office – the reception is manned by three – 2 security guards and one receptionist. The Receptionist is an all-in-all – he takes care of the office switchboard, connecting calls, stationery requests, finding accommodation for newcomers and is a veritable directory for the best eateries in the area.
The ground floor has the HR, Finance and Systems people together. I guess they have been banded together being the Support functions of the organisation.
Then comes the Mezzanine floor, where the Center Head and head of various departments are seated. It also holds a huge Conference Room.
Levels 1-3 house the different projects and its members. Yours truly is seated at the 3rd floor. And the pantry covers all of the 4th floor, with some part allocated to a Gym and a library.
The Lift is an abominable thing – tiny and cramped and always 3 floors away from where I am stationed. So, I usually use the stairs to walk down and the lift to go up.
Since there are just 320 people here in office, everyone is very helpful and friendly. That does not mean that in places where there are more that 320, everyone is very frigid. But, the smaller group makes for more closeness among the employees.
There are 8 people in the room where I am seated – all techies – along with their Project Manager. The PM keeps them on their toes with frequent admonishment, and she reminds me of how a Mother keeps an eye on her kids:-)
Right in front of the office, there is an Adyar Ananda Bhavan which serves piping hot dosas, idlis and vadas, as well as a good variety of sweets.
At Home, the mornings and nights are chilly and we cuddle up in a great big blanket to keep warm at night. However, Baby is an extraordinary creature – he seems to thrive in the cold. The moment one places a blanket on him, he has arms and legs shooting out to get it off him (even in his sleep 
)
Last Friday I got a taste of authentic Chinese food at a nearby restaurant, where I stuffed myself so much with the starters, that I had no space left for the main course!! In retrospect, maybe I should have been a bit more discreet about my gastronomic tendencies, especially since I was out with my new colleagues.
More on my food adventures in upcoming posts…..signing off for now.
Today I made my first successful bus ride in the Garden City. Alone! Hooray for me!
Being in a place where the language is alien and getting directions from passersby is equally hopeless, being able to traverse by city bus is a useful an important accomplishment. My cousin dropped me off at the bus stop and waited around till I caught the bus. Then it was smooth sailing from there.
My seat highlighted in red
The bus was a Volvo and air-conditioned, therefore relatively dust-free. Though crowded when I got on, I managed to secure a seat of sorts before reaching the next stop. I say ’of sorts’ because it wasn’t really a seat. Continue reading
