The tale of the “office boys”

I have never gotten used to the idea of drinking coffee and leaving the cup lying around all over the office – at desks, on counter tops in the hallway, in conference rooms, etc. But that’s what exactly happens here. Why? Because the “office boys” are expect to pick up after you.

We have nearly half a dozen office boys (or maybe more) in my office. Their chores range from washing dishes by hand (plates, cups, cutlery that gets used during the work day), wiping them dry and stacking them off neatly, maintaining the coffee machine, scrubbing the floors of the dining and kitchen areas, setting up lunch when it arrives, serving snacks in the evening, doing some handy man work around the office, etc.

It took me a while to get warmed up to this concept, but it seems like the order of the day. I guess it is creating jobs and a means of providing for these kids. I haven’t gotten into guessing their ages yet. Maybe they fall in the 16-20 range. And I won’t even get into guess how much they are paid and if it really provides a livelihood for them, etc. It is very disheartening to see them running around doing these chores.

So, a couple of days ago, I had a business visitor in the office and I was in the lobby going about my work. One of the boys walked up to me, the office phone book in his hand and he held it in front of my face. I looked him in the eye and asked what he wanted of me. Turns out, he was trying to reach someone inside the office and he couldn’t look up the number next to the name himself. That is when it struck me, like a hard blow that he could neither read nor write. All chocked up, I read out the extension for him. He smiled shyly, snatched the book from my hands and off he ran. I noticed he dialed the number correctly, so I guess he knows the numbers.

I have been seriously considering launching a program, say for a few hours a week when we can rope these guys in and teach them to read and write. At least, get them started on it. I am yet to talk that out with HR and some colleagues. We’ll see how that goes.

How I learned to stop worrying about the traffic and love the books (again)

Yeah, that Peter Seller’s movie is funny. But there is nothing funny about the traffic in Bangalore. Okay, maybe you’ll be amused for a day or two and then it starts getting on your nerves. D, the more grown up between the two of us always tells me that I should stop worrying about things that are out of my control. You know what, that is the right attitude, but it is hard when you rush out of home and you are running late for a meeting or a call or something and you have to battle the uncountable wheels and people and bad roads. And it is close to impossible to dial in to these darned meetings too. Thank you noise!

Anyhoo, let’s move on already. I guess the title of this post summarizes it all. I started (rather got back to) reading during these long commutes (I don’t drive here yet!). It helps me take my mind off the traffic and the noise and worrying about the commute times and wondering how things will improve, if at all. By the way, I guess you guys must have read about the release of the 1 lakh rupee tata nano toy car. How, just how, I wonder these roads will be able to take more traffic, and four wheelers at that. We’ll see. But I digress. I was telling you about my book. So, I am reading this book called “The Inheritance of Loss” by Kiran Desai. It won the booker prize in 2006 and I came across it, quite by accident. Or I should say, I was left with very few choices and I happened to pick this up. I had a list of books that I have wanted to read for a while now. So one afternoon, after lunch, a colleague and I walked across the street to the book store, which they claim, by the way that they are one of the most reputed book sellers in the city. They look posh, no doubt (what with being in the Leela Galleria and all) but their collection sucks. I picked the name of the books, one at a time from my list and asked the dude at the desk to help me find them. Nope, I found none! So, I decided to give Ms. Desai a shot. It hasn’t been bad so far. I’ll post my review after I am done reading it.

Oh, and this one other rant I have to write about. The ring tones on cell phones. Whatever happened to the concept of just having your phone ring, as simply as possible to tell you to answer the damn call. No. Everyone needs entertainment with each call or message they get these days. And, it also looks like your personality is judged (or assessed, or whatever) by the kind of jazzy ring tone on your cell phone. Hmph! Kids.

I think I will end this random going-nowhere post here. See you all soon.

Post number two, at last!

Thank you, dear readers for your comments. Encouraging? Oh yeah! And I want to write, more than ever before, for a few reasons:

a) I absolutely need an outlet to talk about my funny observations and random thoughts, without which I think they would just get lost in this bigger, chaotic world

b) I have had many questions ("queries", like people here in India say) from a lot of friends about “how going back feels,” and I want to use this blog as a platform to talk about that, just in case it might help someone! Wait, I guess that was the reason I started this blog in the first place. So this might be a moot point :)

c) And because I have not been writing on my cooking blog Kitchen Aromas and I feel oh-so-shut! I have not had a chance to write because I have not been cooking, thanks to the super hectic lifestyle in Bangalore. What makes it hectic you ask? Of a long list of things, here is one word for you: traffic. Yeah, that one word wonder makes your life super messy and hard pressed for time to do anything else. And work, of course. A post about that will follow soon

d) And lastly, as funny as it sounds, I have lost too many posts already. Nope, my laptop did not crash (Praise The Lord!). All those were composed in my head, during my commute to and from work. A whopping one hour each way to cover some 7 miles. Umm, Yeah. One hour. 7 miles. One word. Traffic!

More later!