Monday 28 May 2007

Namaste London

No I am not talking about the Bollywood movie here … nah .. this is about my days in London and how I am surviving ‘On the run’ lifestyle !!

The tube trains, the buses, the sea of polished shoes on the zebra crossing, the intermittent beep of the green man at the crossings … this is how every morning is greeted in London.

My mornings start at 5:30 (never got up that early even during my engineering exam days) and the long day ends at 8:30 in the evening … and I still don’t know where the minutes, hours, days fly. Its never a hard long day … its just LIFE … the life in one of the costliest and busiest city in the world … LONDON …. The city which holds attraction not only for tourists but also our desi stars …. Whether it be Ekta Kapoor typecasts or the glittering stars of the silver screen …

It’s been a little over 2 months and yet the city manages to throw surprises at me – a new traffic rule or a new local joke/ jargon/ slang or the best - a new fashion statement … mind you the fashion keeps changing quite often here …. Called as ‘Fast Fashion’ in Marks & Spencer retail terminology … my place of work … and a learning hub …

I am glad to be one of the ‘Londoners’ …. Ever busy & ever running human machines … life always on the run and still we manage to smile at every person we meet on the street, lift, bus or tube …

AND here, I go again … On my marks … get … set … go …

Wednesday 23 May 2007

It’s 18th May !!

I enter my office at 7:40 … take the lift to the 6th floor … walk over to my desk to start my Friday … BUT … Hey ... where is my sombre looking desk ???

What I can see is a colourfully decorated chair, desktop and glittered desk … the new team where I am just 2 weeks old were celebrating my birthday …. The hugs and birthday wishes felt really warm … may be that’s what it means when we say warm wishes ;-)

Those colourful balloons and ribbons crowning my work chair made me feel like a princess that day … and also, made it loud and clear to everyone visiting our floor that it’s my birthday!!! Friday which is generally a day to wind up your weeks work, flew past in talking about the evening plans on the special day. There was a surprise cake waiting for me for lunch at the cafeteria (lets not get into cake details because my birthday went on for like 3 whole days with me cutting all possible varieties of cakes .. PHEW … I am off sweets for a few days).

Oh and how can I forget I was one colourful person myself wearing a mauve coloured salwar kameez to office …. People in UK are hell bent on only 3 colours in their life BLACK – to make them look thin
GREY – to tell people ‘Hey, I am reducing’
WHITE – Finally, I am a size smaller !!

So you can well imagine what it means to be floating around in an Indian dress :-o)

The day ended with my colleague Jenny literally pushing me out of office, well before the regular office timings …. “Its your birthday .. go home right now “ ha ha ha She is a sweetheart !!!

A big thanks to my team for making my day a real special and memorable one.