Dawn to Dusk...

Early bird catches the worm - Unknown wise men long time ago

Sounds like none of these wise men had foresight of the sleep routines of this generation...

My tweety-weety eyes hardly can see the light out of my bedroom window...with great difficulty 7:00 AM on my mobile which is generally next to me the whole night. I convince myself to lie-down for exactly 5 min to start my bright new day...I check my mobile once again to see  if I have a min left...

OMG!!!!!!!!!!! The mobile displayed 7:30 AM. I have exactly 45 min to get to my bus which includes a 10 min walk from home. I jump out of my bed...quickly turn on my TV, browsed to find Channel [V]...increase the volume and its 7:35 AM already....

From blowing my nose to picking up my ID, I have exactly half an hour. Well did I forget the news paper, couple of stretches to flex my muscles and a look at my tummy to make sure it has not grown a little more...I open my door to fetch a bunch out of the grill.

For some reason every house hold in Chennai have a grill in front of the door...something to do with ‘security'...I wonder which thief has the guts to rob my house. Not that I will shewww him off...but my house has got nothing worthwhile to steal. If the thieves had a few metric to measure their performance...I am sure ‘robbing my house' will fall under ‘non-productive hours'.

Coming back to my day...7:45 AM, I have got 20 min to leave home and rush to the bus stop. I move around my house like a zombie... and finally rest my butt on the ‘cane chair' to put on my shoes. Right opposite...the wall clock reads 8:05 AM. I quickly tie my shoe lace; tuck in my shirt; put on my belt...grab my wristwatch, pen, wallet, keys and ID.

I just about lock my house and that's when I realize that I have not turned off the TV...I rush in again to switch off the TV and quickly glance to make sure the Iron box switch is turned off...I have 4 min. I shove the wallet into my back pocket, strap on my watch to my wrist, pen in pocket and ID yo-yo to one of the loops in my trousers...all on the move and I dash towards the apartment gate.

Silent but frustrating cry to the Lord All Mighty...

"Oh Lord, please... please... make sure the driver is late".

Right then I see a ‘Kinetic Activa' approaching me...my friend and local guardian has just dropped her kid in the school bus and is coming back home. She offers me a drop and a very hesitant "emmm...Yes" from me [right now...it's become her job ;) ].  I am just on time to board the bus as the last person.

Well, bus journey has not changed much in the last 1 year except the bus is longer and...Surprisingly these days I have a face that smiles at me.

Last to get off the bus...I walk towards the cafeteria and look around for my team mates.

I find them in one of the tables...all of them have read the news paper unlike me who glanced at it. Topics keep flowing from politics to business deals. I wanted to tell them "an inclusive topic please" so that I can have a say as well. But on second thoughts...food in front of me is a much better option, so I wisely decide to use my tongue to taste the food. Hot topics to brainstorming over the breakfast table...sums the breakfast session and all of us head towards the bay for the day's work.

The team

    A brisk jumping walk with a back bag...I see one of my managers walking towards his cabin.

    An almost upright walk except the head tilting 10 degrees towards the ground...a laptop back in the right-hand, looks at me raises his eyebrows and waves his hand once to mean "hi"...I smile at him and say "hi"...when I just thought that he is done with the greeting..I hear "Good Morning". That is another manager walking towards his cabin.

    All of a sudden I see someone walking very fast with a heavy back bag as if to catch a flight in the last minute...a quick raise of the eyebrows which is supposed to be a greeting. I hardly have any reaction time...but he has reached his cabin. I sometimes feel like stopping him and let him know that his cabin will not take off anytime now. That is another manager.   

    As for the bottom half of the pyramid...Arun sits just behind me... Shiv right opposite me (now shifted to Bengaluru) , Sathya and Arunaa a couple of seats away.

In office

For some reason Arunaa, Shiv and Sathya have gathered around Arun, I vaguely remember seeing an email from Arun which I am yet to read. 

"The background of me sending the email to you is for me to get some expert comments from you and I would appreciate if I receive it" said Arun

"What the hell does that mean...?" I turn back to ask Arun.

Well an introduction to Arun...

Finds it difficult to differentiate his formal and casual talk...BTW his previous sentence meant "Please reply to my email". His famous casual quotes are "Hey...How are (spelt as the letter R) you?", "I appreciate that", "Khull" (meaning cool) and the most resent "Oh BOY!!!" If he is extremely casual...conversations are in Hindi... "Abhi abhi may grow karraha hu...[pause] [pause]". Well he means "I am right now working towards my ambition"... "Jabe jabe bar" means "Whenever" and claims himself as "Half Hindi Pundit".

I took a few minutes off the conversation to read Arun's email. It was regarding a new initiative in the group and wanted to know what we felt about it.

"You see... again, I tell you...this will not work, I am telling from the doers' perspective", said Arunaa

    If Arun is the ‘thinker' then Arunaa is sure the ‘doer'. The most wanted in the team...very organized and gets things done when the rest of us are still figuring out on how to do it. But unfortunately the unsung hero, not that she is too bothered about it.

Well versed with all leaders from corporate heads to politicians...wonder how she remembers all these names including the last name and initial. Apart from this, she easily finds out what we guys are up to ...official and unofficial, most often than not it would be Sathya in the receiving end...

Basically, what we are doing is the same...actually what is different...let me say... what is different in what you have suggested?, that was Sathya.   

An innocent face and uncanny knack of convincing people that he is the ‘Chammathu' of group but never works out with Arunaa...invariably gets caught red handed for all his criminal activities especially bird watching. Whenever a babe moves up and down the corridor a head moves from left to right or right to left...it is none other than the Chammathu Sathya. One more specialty...even if he has to join a conversation half way thru...he always has something to say... very well knowing the consequence...    

Guys tea? Macha tea? Arunaa tea?... it is not selling tea in a railway platform... I am trying to pull people for a cup of tea to the adjacent pantry.

Breaks are something which is very easy to organize in our team...Arunaa and Arun are coffee lover especially ‘strong'. For some reason both of them like the tea in our pantry. For me...the tea hardly has any flavor in it...or may be coming from Nilgris, I hardly find it anywhere close to the tea I have had.

Tea breaks are another opportunity for discussion from dosa by the new vendor to Obama's speach...sometimes we go to extent of even...determining Obama's character with the speech he has just delivered.

But today, the new initiative took precedence...all of us kept arguing and for some odd reason,none of us wanted to agree to Arun's explanation. All of us were dead against it but deep down, I was convinced that it was a good suggestion but needed a few tweaking...I did not know if the rest of them felt the same.

My grey matter's concentration span is too less and the wavery mind quickly turned its attention towards the associates in the pantry. I am busy observing the associates... the frown, the smile, the walk and of course a little bit of beauty...

I have become an expert in finding if an associate is new comer to the company... new to the current location or old timer in the location, by the very activities they do.

By this time the argument had turned to a casual conversation.

"Eppadi Machi... only you possible"... that was Shiv.

Shiv does not throw away words and very selective in his activities. His one liner... ‘punch dialogue' will definitely bring a talkative person to an abrupt halt.

Back to our seats...all of us busy completing the to-do list for the day.

"Arun...it sounds good but, I am slightly concerned about the R&R...either we got to have an unbiased R&R or don't have one...if the new initiative is gona have the current R&R, I am not for it..." I said.

After a prolonged pause [thinking] Arun said "That is exactly what I said, there has to be a lot of polishing to be done." and continued "Anyway we have time...I will send out a mail to all of us to get the exact reason for not agreeing to this initiative"      

Oh no! There he goes...another email.

I hate emails especially when there is always an option of the sender taking a few steps to reach my desk...

...in this case a 90 degree tilt.

Well, I know none of us can help it...corporate world says, "Have everything on record".

For me it is simply miss use of technology...

Apart from the to-do list...lot of group related discussions, support for our respective business units and preparing decks for a presentation and reading contents related to Innovation comes up to us on an adhoc basis.

My day in office comes to a close depending on the deadline for the adhoc work and to-do list.

I rush down to board the shuttle back home...6:10 PM or 8:00 PM. The time is not only dependant on when I finish work...but also my friend... ;) 

Back in the shuttle...it is not as bad as it was a couple of months earlier. Things have changed...I have a few people who I can speak to...

Back home...fresh 'en up...dinner and hit the bed for another morning.