New York City

My work has started taking me across continents. Across cities. I like to believe that I am a traveler and enjoy every bit of it, however when one travels for work, it is different. Its not the same thing. But, given that work takes you around, you might as well see around for a bit. Not exactly a traveler and not exactly a tourist. This would be somewhere in between. 

During the last year and the current year, my work has sort of 'gifted' me with almost 4 visits to the US of A to the same place :-/. Not that one has a choice but then work is work and you got to make best use of your time, professionally and personally. 

Have been landing up time and again at Stamford, CT which is close to an hour away from New York City. Stamford being a small place, has a small downtown and couple of 'go to' places like a museum or the river front. The major attraction of this place is its proximity to New York City (NYC). Well, and when you do go to NYC, for the first time, you do end of doing the touristy stuff. We arrived at Grand Central Station via train. Its a beautiful train station. The ceiling has designs of constellations embedded in it and it has a very active market, eateries and even an Apple Store. I think it has atleast 4 levels to it. 

Couple of things which we covered over the weekend, with adequate energy levels along with sensible clothing and walking shoes are the Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Center, MET Museum, Central Park and Times Square towards late evening. For some cases, we decided to take the hip hop bus but once we were in the central business district we were mainly on foot.

Couple of pictures follows :-)

Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island

Rockefeller Center, popularly known as the "The Rock". The Christmas tree and its ice skating rink is seen in many a Hollywood movie

Remember? Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged??? Well, this is stationed at "The Rock"

View from the Top of the Rock!

Another view. Empire State Building from the Top of the Rock

The first ever Winnie the Pooh. Maintained at the New York Public Library. 

New York City, from the Central Park

Have visited most of these places with work colleagues. It was fun and good time spent. New York City has very similar vibes to that of Bombay a.k.a Mumbai. Gelled in instantly... as if I had know this place for quite sometime. The traffic, the commute and the sense of urgency... calmed down by the river / sea as the case may be. In the midst of all the hustle and the bustle, you do manage to find the quite and calmness. Would love to be back here :-). 

Peeking Colleague

You know, it really really really bugs me.... when somebody sneakily stands over my shoulder and stares into my computer. Especially when that someone is one of your colleagues with whom you get along just fine!!! Who is not the most loved colleague, avoided and given a chance mocking and insufferably rude!!!! 

I so totally detest this. Well, this happened today while I was going through some entertainment articles on the internet. This particular colleague sneaked in and just stood behind my chair for good 2 minutes. And mind you, this 'colleague' is at a damn good designation, has good amount of work experience plus a professional qualification. So much for the 'experience' and 'education'. 

Gave him my piece of mind on etiquette. Don't think its going to make much of a difference but got it off my chest. 

Office etiquette is not something which everyone is educated in. Be it in terms of writing email, conversations, dressing, code of conduct or just general behaviour. It pains me to see qualified CAs / MBAs just lacking in general etiquette and inadvertently creating a negative atmosphere. But I guess, its not something which can be taught but imbibed via good observation.  

Mahape to Andheri

During the past two months, my work place has shifted twice. Once from Bandra Kurla Complex to Mahape and then from Mahape to Andheri. Don't know which one is more painful. One is in a beautiful location, surrounded by hills and trees and absolutely no traffic while the other is an island of traffic. You can read more about that on Purvesh's blog dedicated to Sakinaka, a particular painful area in Andheri.

While one took 2.5 hours to reach office, the route scenic and beautiful and the other takes painful 1.5 hours to reach amidst the honking and the slow moving bumper to bumper traffic. The evenings - well, they are worse from both the places. If you don't leave office on time, you are stuck for another 3 hours unless and untill one has some productive work to do.

All the shifting to Mahape, going there and working there took its toll on my life. My day would begin at 5:45 a.m. and end at 11:00 p.m. I would just go through the entire week not really being a part of it. I remember only the time at office where the better part of the day was spent. No cooking, no cleaning, no entertainment, not even during the weekends...and to top it all, Munish was also spending busy time at work, so even he wouldn't come home before midnight. My hobbies went for a toss and well for that matter blogging.

There was a constant nagging at the back of my mind, that I am missing out on something, not blogging, no thinking, no writing. I missed blogging. Even now, the reason I am writing this post is to reconnect with my blog. I have not been doing a lot of things lately with my time on the world wide web  and I am missing that. So let  me just hope, that I get  back to my blog with a new zest and even more interesting things to post about.

Another Phone Call

The caller (a female voice) on my 'personal' mobile phone:

Caller  : Hello???

Me      : Yes....

Caller  : Is this Meghna Garg from ABC ltd.

Me      : Yes..... (hopes rising...:-))

Caller  : I am xyz calling from blah blah consultancy

Me      : Yes.....

             (Hopes rising again - its good to talk to placement consultants especially when your resume is up on the job portal)

Caller  : I wanted the number of your HR deparment......(pause)

Me      : ???!!!! (confused) what??? why??? (thinking all sorts of things)

Caller  : I wanted to ask about the empanellent of our consultancy at your company...

Me      : (Mustering up courage... faking a stern voice) How did you get my number xyz???

Caller   : From your resume on the job portal :-P :-) (perhaps grinning at her own smartness)

Me      : Here goes.....xxxxxxxxx (

             (chickened out from a smart cookie reply hoping someday she'd call me for the right reason ;-)

Me     : (Aloud to my fellow co workers) What a NERVE!!!!!

A Phone Call

This was a random call from a job seeker to the dealing room. The caller was calling for the 2nd time for a job opportunity. The first time he called, it was answered by a new joinee in the team who really didnt know how to respond. Then of course, the pro steps in ;-)

 

Caller  : Hello???

Me      : Hello. Who's this?

Caller  : Hello, is this Dhasti?

Me      : [He's got the name wrong, the name is Khyati], No- this is not Dhasti.

Caller  : Can I talk to Dhasti?

Me      : There is no one by the name of Dhasti over here. You've called a wrong number. [about to disconnect]

Caller  : No, no. I wanted to apply for the job of the trader.

Me      : Please contact the HR. They are responsible for vacancies in the company.

Caller  : No - no. My friend Ashish told me that there is a vacancy here.

Me      : Who am I talking to?

Caller  : Ashish.

Me      : Ashish from? [I meant the company]

Caller  : Ashish from Ghatkopar!!!!

Me      : :-P :-O [whaattttt] [ rejected already!!!!]

Me      : Ashish, please get in touch with the HR team. They will guide you.

Caller   : Give me the number?

Me      : [ Rejected again - didnt use the word "please" and yes - I am not the receptionist]

Me      : Its available on the company website.

Me      : Thanks [putting the receiver down]

Me      : [to myself] Phew!!!!!  The nerve of the guy!!!

 

All of us : Ha ha ha :-D

Office Comparisons

Ekta and me were comparing notes on our work places when we met in Hyderabad. She works in a rival general insurance company. Rival??? - I am not too sure about the "rival" bit but anyways.....

Ekta        : If there is a function in my family in Chennai, my boss asks me to leave early :-P

Me          : Well mine too. Atleast he has never said no.

Ekta        : We can use GTalk.

Me          : Me too :-P

Ekta        : :-P

Ekta        : We have had no offsites.

Me          : Me too :-P
Ekta        : :-P

Ekta        : No increment.

Me          : Me too :-P

Ekta        : :-X

Ekta       : I get leaves without much hassle.

Me         : Yeah!!! This one I am winning - I can take "SICK LEAVES" in ADVANCE  and well  accumulate them too :-O

Ekta       : You WIN *clap clap*

Me         : *Taking a bow*

P.S. I had to win this one ;-)

MIS reporting

Sales guy  to Sales Head: Sir, here is the weekly MIS

Sales Head : [Looking at the one page MIS] hmmmmm
                  : Sales Target has increased,
                  : Branches have increased....
                  : Increase the length of the MIS... make it 2 pages

Sales guy    : :-P (*eyes rolling*)

Change of scenario

Lots been happening in life....a change of job.... long visit to family and friends.... joining my new work place.... adjusting.... learning.... OBSERVING..... enjoying the new culture.... weekends.....new painting classes.... new colleagues.... new movies ;)))) yes and no..... a weekend away from the madding crowd.... amidst nature....

Lots been happening....:)

Left my good old AMC for a want of better job, a better life and better appreciation.....and of course better money.....
This setup is pretty different to the aggressive culture of IPru....its a PPP setup...USGI.... and funnily things get done faster over here.... people take their job more seriously....adhere to their timelines...appreciate other people’s time and of course their own as well..... work is definitely better.....and well – so is life....

Family visit was interesting.... had taken a 2 week break.... stayed for a week each with my in-laws as well as my parents....Delhi.....monsoons was arriving there yet.....even in August end.... met loads of relatives....bua, tayaji, taiji, sisters in law and their mother in law... brother in laws... their kids...screaming kids.....met my invalid grandparents... making one wonder what a pain it is get old...and be dependent on ur children... who definitely don’t have you on their priority list....

SO.... it was busy...kind of... different kind of busy....