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There is something that I have figured out in my long association with submitting reports to my seniors and getting them checked.
The aim of the study is to find the best time to get your reports checked.
For my study I have divided the day into three time zones -
1. Morning – Just in, raring to go, destructive mode
2. Afternoon – Just after Lunch, laid back mode
3. Evening – Stressed, eager to complete work and leave
And I have experienced all these time zones first hand!
Submitting a report in the morning, when your manager has just come in and is raring to go, is all pumped up and is in the I will achieve everything mode, is not a very good idea. invariably he will look at your report and tear it into pieces. He will want to change everything. The concept, the idea, the formatting, content everything. Not a very good time for report submission
Submitting a report in the Afternoon, just after lunch when your manager saunters in with that content feeling of had lunch, is satisfied. His/ her body is going into relax mode, he wants to now get a nap or two on his desk. He wants to take it easy, this is when you go and show him the report. There will be hardly any changes, he will be happy with it, might even congratulate you on a job well done.
Submitting a report in the Evening, when he is hassle, people are gnawing at him for his attention. He wants to complete that report that he has been working on for a while and wants to go home. There is just too much of stuff to do and then you come it with your report and he thinks of it as a Oh-God-Not-Now thing and so he either does a quick scan with minimal changes or takes out his frustration on you by tearing it into pieces.
This has been my experience so far.
I had forgotten the joy of travelling in a bus.
I used to detest public transport (past tense).
In the recent past I had chauffeur driven car and now i drive on my own and on rare occassions do miss the public busses
For the past one year i have had no opportunity to travel in the the delhi DTC busses, the low-lying ones of course, but yesterday I did!
And my god the public has increased there were of course the shoves and pushes and surprisingly more “excuse me’s”! that was a major surprise …. or maybe it was just me looking very corporate ….
And the icing on the cake was the weather, it was nice not the usual sweaty Delhi ki garmi… so i didnt mind standing in the bus for a good 20 mins while being thrown left and right depending on the rash turns that the bus took.
As i stood (u are lucky if you get a seat) i noticed two ladies who looked like they had just walked in from the heartlands of India. With their colourful sarees, bangles, bindi and that “I am from rural india and I am very comfortable with my body and I dont care if I have my feet up on the seat … cause really it is not big deal you urban maniacs … cause all you do is slog it out in the office and have no life” …. look and ” I am going to chatter in my heartland language and point fingure at you and smile and snicker while you try to figure out what is soooo absurdly amusing” look
So there I was standing and being snickered at but I didnt mind it in fact i was curious and happy! (?)…
Community travel is interesting … in a car you forget that joy of holding on to your dear life while the bus maneuvers at death speed and that crazy ticket guy who will take his own sweet filthy time to punch holes in your ticket while you stand there waiting for your majesty to give you that ticket which took you a good 8 minutes to get after a lot of shoving pushing and elbowing people.
You forget that there are people more similar to you only from different places with different languages …
You forget that yours and the rest of the 58 people in that bus unconsciously trust the driver a little too much … who is being reckless as hell with your lives
You forget that its okay if someone is snickering at you in an unknown language
And you forget that the bus tickets are still damn cheap! (though that will change soon)
It was around 6:30 in the morning, husband and me in the bed taking in the view from the window.
Sun just peeking in from behind the clouds, birds chirping and the slight winter chill in the morning that makes you want to snuggle in a bit more.
Yes i had a bus to catch, he had to drive to office and of course it was still mid week … with no escape.
He snuggled closer … I did too … warm embrace.. no inclination to leave … time ticked by …
That’s when husband jostled me out of my senses saying ” I love you” (the three words… oh god!! …)
… my right eye brow went up …. “Oh yeah? What did you say?”
The filmy guy that he is … he said … those three words that every girl wants to hear in the morning…
I thought for a moment … I asked did you just say … “You want coffee?” With as much as a straight face that I could muster…
Am i a complete party pooper or what?
Couldn’t help bursting out it giggles though ….
As the Satyam controversy takes a new turn and the blame game starts. There is a tension in the office air. A silence peppered with the keyboard clicks. The whooshing of coffee machines and the hush talks in the corners.
I feel a bit depressed with my phone ringing off the hook enquiring all is well? And my boss (oh he is so sweet!) rattles away on the phone -
Life must go on … until physically hanged … virtual hanging toh ho gayee hai …
I pop a disprin … mull over the media frenzy … 4th cup of coffee … (i wasn’t this tense at my wedding… i wonder)
I feel small … little … insignificant … a pawn in the bigger scheme of things … a small speck whose destiny has been decided … all that I can do is try to be happier or just throw a bitch fit!
Few office learnings, I value, I treasure and I am starting to follow – 
1. Walk slow and I mean really slooooow, especially when walking towards the office or walking to or from a place for any official work
2. Eat. Relish each bite. Slow eating is a good, healthy exercise.
Please chew your food and take few sips of that cola, spend 30 minutes on a meal and if pepered with a lively discussion stretch it to 60 minutes, especially when in office
3. Do not and I mean it DO Not tell the boss that you need more work. The outcome for this is ALWAYS and I seriously mean it ALWAYS is MORE CRAP WORK!
4. Do not be Happy and Smiling in Office, instead be the sulky, long faced employee. Honestly no one cares and the smiles will just lead to more conversation and more work and more WORK!!!
This gets me to the question – Am I overworked?
5. Quiting is NOT an Option. YOu WILL not quit and dreaming about that beach holiday while sitting under an AC duct (that works on full blast) is just going to lead to more misery
Thats all folks —- More later ……
I will confess beforehand that I haven’t read the book. Though I will buy it today itself and start reading. But the first thing that comes to my mind when I read the excerpts of the book is that it is India Bashing at its best.
What bothers me more than anything is the fact that in all the reviews the “the dark heart” of India aspect has been highlighted.
For years money has been made in art, literature and social work, by selling poor Indians and their hungry kids with their torn clothes, running noses and deprived eyes, running bare-feet on the roads, begging for alms and mercy.
There have been innumerous photographs, paintings that have sold the poverty of India at its best.
And literature pretty much takes the cake, starting with Amartya Sen, Salman Rushdie to name a few noted authors
A particular article in the Telegraph starts of with The White Tiger and then just goes on and on about the details of poverty in India.
Slums and Mumbai have become synonyms. Beggars on the streets of India are a must see for tourists. Hungry-Indian-Kids are words used together more often than not.
I can’t digest this a wee bit, why highlight a certain aspect of a country? And by doing so throw the dignity/ self respect of the people involved (the beggars, slum dwellers) down the drain
Mr. Adiga, to really drill in the poor aspect of India, I refuse to shell out Rs 400 for your book, instead I shall read the pirated version of your book (Rs 100)
Me a party pooper? …
Maybe
I like photographs.
I like the fact that for a span of three seconds, as soon as “Say Cheese” resounds people, forget their worries and freeze in time and space to get the perfect photograph. I like family pics for the same reason. The whole family all smiles!
I like smiling pictures, where people pause and smile and pretend this is the happiest moment in their life and it couldnt get better.
About my pictures I have noticed is that I am ALWAYS smiling, ofcourse if I am aware I am being clicked.Its just amazing how many smiley pics I have. Yes even the passport sized ones.
Say cheese signifies Smile, its that Switch On for a smile.
The word as such does not really require your lips to curl up while prouncing it as you can say cheese with a sullen face as well, but i guess it is the absurdity of the phrase that gets people to smile and then it just became a norm.
I am getting that feeling, the one that Kareena Kapoor got in Jab We Met ( I feel very filmy right now!) … that feeling that my train is going to leave and if i dont hurry right now, it will be too late.
Unfortunately the feeling that I am getting is an offshoot of the same, just a little more sadder …. mine is - that I have already missed by train and there is no way I can catch it…. no chance …. no Cute/ rich/ humrous/ adorable Sahid Kapoor … to rescue me in his all new Merc …. no no no
Misery Misery Misery
The train has gone and I am left stranded here, freezing under the AC shaft, wiping my running nose … drinking cups tea … shivering like a fool
Oh well… I think the end is near! …
Where is that dazzling smile that I am known for ??
Where is the fun fun!?
Where is the insane crazy abundance??
And where the hell is the wohhoooo yeyyyyyy feeling ???
I dont feel it anymore…
I want my train back. I couldnt have missed it.
Sign. . .
There is something about me that I now know for sure.
A reality that stares at me now, the word is Hypocrite
I am all talk, all high flying mighty talk!
and when it comes to doing, i do no harm. I bend, i am flexible, i adapt.
In my actions, there is none of that I WILL NOT BEND (cause i always do), I will NOT dither from my path (cause i always do) I WILL prevail (i never do)
Sob!
I feel miserable!!
Sob SOb
One the eve of Independence Day of our great country India I was all praise to the development and high growth rate. The way our country has surpassed colonial rule and come up with such vigor and glory is commendable.
14th of August was also the day our offices were shutting at 4:30, our buses were going to leave sharp at 4:30 and ferry us back to the comforts of our home.
Or so I thought.
The clock struck 4:30 and my colleagues and me … marched towards the bus, we unsuspecting souls…. Who knew at that point that the evening was going to go horribly wrong?
Well the bus was late (nothing new!) as whenever it rains in Gurgaon, the traffic goes kaput and water clogs as if we are in some shanty slum rather than the high flying DLF Cyber City area that houses the top of the class MNC’s the world has seen… EnY, WNS, Orange, Ericsson etc .. You name it they are there.
The traffic was crawling at the speed of .005 meters/ 20 minutes. Each car was bumper to bumper and everywhere you looked you could see cars, buses and more cars stuck, ofcourse …not moving.
There was an abundance of rain, flared tempers, honking and distress talks over the mobile phones.
Well we waited first in the pouring rain, huddled under an umbrella, with our shoes soaking in water 4:30 turned to 5. “Oh the bus is going to be here any minute” We searched in the lock jaw traffic, we searched in hope, in the anticipation of a miracle that this traffic is going to get better in a few minutes time.
5:30 Heated exchanges, 6:00 Blame game, 6:30 More rain, 7:00 No bus in sight.
Soaking to the bones, our patience run out, we headed towards the food court our spirits down looking for some relief in tea and bread pakoras.
Surprise surprise we managed to share a laugh or two. It’s a marvel how people connect in difficult situations. 7:40 is when we sat in the bus. The traffic crawled till Moti Bagh, 9:30 is when I reached India Gate and then home.
A total of 5 hours washed in the rains.
On the eve of 15th of August 2008, I made a few friends and marveled at my patience and ofcourse learnt a lesson – When it rains, it pours and when it pours don’t you dare come to Gurgaon.
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