Nick

Nick Langmaid is my colleague from work at Australia Post. I worked with him last year for over 3 months in 2014. A pretty busy and challenging project - we managed to get it over the line. Of course, there were plenty others working on it. We were just doing our bit.

That was my first project with Post. Nick had been a long timer at Post. He was literally the knowledge bank of all things financial systems. Any questions people had about payments and accounting entries - he had the answer. He knew every system, literally off the back of his palm. While working with Nick, he made sure that I got a strong understanding of how it all connected together. During that time, we also got to discuss about our passion for staying healthy by cycling to work.

In late October 2014, I moved to another project, another office. A few months later, my previous project manager at Post met me in the office and mentioned to me that Nick had a minor heart attack and he was in surgery or something. A month before that another manager in our project had also gone on medical leave to have a bypass done. I was actually joking to my manager that it was because of the stress he created on our project that people were having heart trouble. I told myself that someday in the future, I should go and say hello to Nick and just check about his health. After all, we did work together.

I guess you know by now where this is going. Today, I received an email from my manager that Nick passed away on his way to work in the morning. I was completely shocked. I just blurted out so many abusive words at work that people around me were wondering what was happening. I couldn't take it. I was pissed off with myself that I never took time to go and meet him. At one side I was angry and on another, I was depressed. I was almost in tears and I couldn't speak. I told myself that you can never predict what could go wrong with the heart. I decided to go and meet my manager who gave me the news.

I reached the other office and met him. He and his colleagues were shocked too. In fact, it was all of us together in that one previous project. In that conversation, my manager mentioned to me that it was a cycling related accident and not a heart attack. I immediately realised that I had read about a similar event in the morning. A cyclist was  knocked down by a truck in a place called Keilor East. No name was provided but the cyclist did not live. Now, I was even more stressed. 

Honestly, I did not expect Nick to leave the world this way. I am at a loss of words but this is cruel. I told myself - Only if I had taken that extra effort to say hello and enquire about his health.... I didn't. 

Its such a mad world and in many instances, we are just doing things that have no meaning in our life. Be it work that provides us salary to pay our bills or the monotonous activities to keep our life going, we are caught up in that ever engulfing web that makes us forget and only repent.

Today, I repent that I didn't meet Nick. I just didn't take the time out of my life. I could have easily done it and I should have but I never did. What would stay with me now is my remembrance of a Sean Connery look that Nick had and a deep voice.

I am a victim of my crime called life.

Leaving Maximum City

So, all of this happened way back in January and I was really lazy to write about this.

Towards the end of December, I decided that it was time to leave. I may have stayed around for maximum another year. Dont think I could have managed beyond that. But life had to take a different track.

Quitting was actually not easy. This was not the first time but it was very tough this time. And for the first time - Totally unplanned.

On a not so fine morning (which I realized a little later), I entered the office. As usual, I was one of the few people to get in that early. I opened my inbox and I saw an email from my boss. He had written to find out what I was working on and wanted to have a status update. I was totally shocked when I read that email. I had already planned to quit sometime in December but this email put me in a spot. I had to take a quick decision. If I were to meet him as if nothing was going to happen, started something to work on and then later told him (in less than a week), he would be really furious as to why I didn't bring that up during my earlier meeting with him. It was quite natural. So, the only option that was left was to quit that very moment. I took some time and waited for my friend, had a chat with him and then composed the email. This time, I almost started shivering. I still can't explain why, but yes I did shiver. Maybe because I was not sure what my boss would tell me or rather how he would react. Nevertheless, I wrote that email and stepped out to have a cup of tea.

I got a call from an another person who works for my boss and asked me to meet with the CIO. It was my first meeting with him and also my last meeting. Over a cup of coffee, I gave him my reasons to leave. He was very understanding and he told me that he will do his best to get me relieved.

I tried to meet my boss that day. He told me that he was busy and he will call me. I waited for 2 days. No response. I tried to meet him again. Same answer. Then I decided to write an email to keep things on record. I got a response that something will be decided in a few days time. A few days passed. Suddenly, one fine morning, I got an email from the HR that it was my last day and I had to pay up the notice period if I wanted to leave. No discussion nothing at all. Decision taken without consent. I was partially bankrupt and had no option but to tell them that I was prepared to serve the full notice period instead of paying the shortfall. Now, this went into another discussion. My boss was probably irritated with all this and he asked me to move desk to somewhere close to his cabin. I moved and he was out of office the next few days, busy with meetings. As usual, I kept calling HR frantically trying to find out what was happening. Meanwhile, the guys who were responsible to get me relieved from the company were never aware of these happenings. They already started processing everything based on my previously mentioned last day. I had to tell them to take a break.

At one point, everyone was okay with me serving the notice period. I tried to meet my boss again. There were many failed attempts and one day I got through to him. He told me that he was going to speak to the HR. I told him that I could wait. Meanwhile, it was already New Years. Everyone in my friends circle at the office was eager to find out what was happening. Things were not moving. That's all.

Finally, the surprise came. The HR discussion was done and they decided to relieve me. Again, this was told to me all of a sudden. I had like few hours left in the day to pack up and leave. I finished all the formalities in quite a jiffy and left.

I can still remember those 2-3 weeks after I submitted my resignation. I was literally wasting time in the office. Everyone who came up to talk to me would ask me the same question - when is your last date? and I would say "nice question, but simply no answer"

Camp 3 to Summit

We reached Camp 3 and there was some surprise for sure.

The environmentalist did not need aspirin. He actually needed the inhaler, but he managed to borrow one from some other team who decided to help (this happened on its own and was not part of the simulation).

The photographer and environmentalist were at critical health. Everyone else was at weak health. Satellite communication went for a toss. All weather predictions had to be done manually. Every team member had been given a set of data that could be used to calculate the weather range, windchill factor and windspeed. Based on this information, the team could decide whether to move to Camp 4 or stay put for another day.

The team got into action. All data was collected and using traditional temperature formulae and windchill tables, the weather forecasting was done. We found out that we risk a frost-bite within 5 minutes of ascent. That was the last thing we wanted.

The biggest decision was made. To stay back, stay alive and stay healthy.

The decision helped us. It was the 4th day and the sherpas delivered the oxygen cannisters. Our next job was to divide the oxygen cannisters among the team members. Health status has improved and everyone was good to climb. Weather was fantastic and there was no point in waiting. Again, everyone had relevant information on the oxygen cannisters. The number of cannisters were to be decided based on the hours taken to summit and back, from Camp 4, and the rate at which oxygen was being consumed by each person.

We did some calculations and then split the cannisters. As we were doing that, we also figured out that there was a cost associated to with the cannisters. So we were quite careful about allocating extra. We were also mindful about the weight that it would add to the backpack. This was a big mistake on our part.

None of us needed medicines. We put our footsteps forward. Camp 4 seemed to be a tough place. Icy winds and troubling temperatures. Health had come down. The environmentalist was not very sure now. He had an incentive to stay here and collect some browny points. So, he started suggesting us to think about leaving him at Camp 4. The leader was not too keen on doing that. The other question was to decide whether we need to administer medicine or not.

After prolonged discussions, we decided that if we were going to leave the environmentalist behind, then we will not give any medicine to him. Our other option was to give him the medicine and move to summit. The photographer was also weak and he needed aspirin too. We administered the medicine and decided to Summit.

The worst happened. The marathoner, environmentalist and physician could not summit and they were rescued.

Camp 1 and 2

After the brief was sent out, I had a break for close to 10 days. Our first meeting happened after I was back. Some groups had already finished the simulation by the time I was back.

Our first meeting was quite a breeze. We were at Base Camp. We sat through and introduced ourselves, stating what we look forward to during this simulation. As everyone was in great health, we decided to proceed to Camp 1. We reached the camp without any problem at all.

The next decision was to move to Camp 2. The photographer had some issues because he had an incentive to stay at Camp 1 for one extra day. None of the others had any motivation. There was a restriction to have only one rest day during the six day trip. The environmentalist wanted to spend an extra day at Camp 4. The leader wanted everyone to stick together. Seeing all this happening, the photographer decided to move to Camp 2. He thought that if things did not go well, he could stay in Camp 2 for an extra day and then get back to Camp 1; basically not summit at all.

Everyone ascended to Camp 2. This place was first sight of how things could go awry. Everyone's health had come down. The environmentalist was critical. Anyone could contract asthma or AMS. The physician did have the medical equipment (inhaler, aspirin, blood pressure monitor) to administer to one of the team members at a time. The important decision was to know what medicine to give and see how we can progress.

The photographer was in a fix. Now he had to decide. He was the only one who had a different motive - "Stay back". The discussion began. The leader was quite clear. He didnt want to keep anyone back. The overall team objectives were at stake. The photographer decided to take a call. If he didnt stay back, he would lose only 25% from his overall goals; but the team as a whole would achieve more, perhaps more than 30%. He decided to let go of his personal interest.

The team took a call to administer the aspirin to the environmentalist and move to Camp 3. The marathoner played the very important role of gauging the temperature at every stage. We were at Camp 3 now.

The way they work

My boss here is quite a big guy. Atleast that's what I can figure out. We really don't have a place/site where we can see hierarchies of roles; hence I cannot make any conclusion. My previous company used to have defined roles and all that used to be visible on Outlook. Here, the whole outlook of Outlook is different.

Anyways, in between, I must also tell you that its Diwali season here and the whole office is in bright colors (of course I am not. I didnt wish to wear kurta and enter a suburban train). Diwali here is as big as Christmas in the United States. People take off for more than a week. Literally no one is working in the office today. Most of them are preparing for the festive evening get-together for their respective departments and let me not tell anything about Monday and Tuesday next week. Work is out of question as the office will just be having a few faces here and there.

My boss is a very technically sound person. He has great ideas. I dont know how he has the time to know a lot of things but he does. Also, he has a lot of people reporting to him. By a lot, I mean really a lot, like hundreds. I am sure all these hundred don't meet him everyday, but it does make things complicated. For example, if I need to meet him, I need to go and find out where he is first and then fix up a time to meet him. This is because he would always be in other meetings all day.

This brings me to another juncture. People hardly use meeting requests here. All my meetings have been confirmed on the phone. Whenever I ask anyone for a time to meet, they say ' come anytime today ', which is a very ridiculous answer according to me. Nevertheless, I haven't been requested by anyone for a meeting. If they did, then I'd ask them to send a meeting request for sure. I wonder if there is any meeting agenda that is circulated at all.

Also, when you are discussing with another person inside a meeting room, someone would knock. They would come in and start talking to that other person. Once they are done, your conversation would continue. Nor the person you were meeting with or the person knocking the door takes the decision to postpone the second conversation. Bottomline: 'different meetings happen in parallel'. And because there is a good chance that another party is waiting for a discussion in the same meeting room while yours is happening, they may give their free unwanted advice to you when they hear your conversation.

I think there is more to come on this. Most of this is rather very funny to witness.

The meeting

Let's get there by 11am was the latest message on Thursday night. I was not sure if I heard it right. Why get to a place by 11am for a 2.45pm meeting? But these guys never want to take chances when it comes to the Chairman.

We were at Makers on Nariman Point by quarter past 11 or so. Our team was sitting in a small conference room preparing for the afternoon meeting. My slides had pretty much nothing to say as I had spent the least time here - just about a month and my work started early this week.

The feeling had not sunk it until it was 2.30pm. I was going to meet the man behind the new Reliance. The son who made all of this happen. The person who is in the news almost everyday. I had not imagined that this would ever happen. Absolutely not.

As we were seated in the room, MDA comes in and meets everyone personally for a few seconds. Then our presentation begins. We present all our slides - few mins each. He asks a few questions to everyone to get a feel of whats happening.

The meeting in whole was quite interesting. I wouldn't say it was very empowering but there were some key messages. MDA expects this new bunch of people to take up good leadership roles within the company. He mentioned to us about the need visualize to the future and create the path to excellence.

There was a mention of the concept of Generational Peace. He kept talking about the fact that the older set of leaders needed to shed some of their key responsibilities and believe in the idea of young blood taking the reins. For this to happen, the new set needs to step up a little.

At the end, he told us to think about the end state and then work backwards. Overall, it was ok but there could the other side to this. And that will be my next post.

Sountrack

Finally, I get to do some work and its sounds very interesting. Although, I cant discuss what I will be doing; its definitely close to what I have been doing before - except that playing ultimate and working from home is not part of the job description now.

I happened to see this awful film called SOUNDTRACK. Its about this music obsessed hero who wants to make it big in Bollywood and first starts off being a DJ in a club. I didnt know that DJ's in India had so much perks - this guy gets to drink litres of alcohol, smokes up all kinds of stuff and also gets to bed the hottest women in the club. AND he gets paid to do all of that!!! Whatever, the movie had no sense of script and direction. It was a mess. Post interval, our man becomes completely deaf and goes into alternative therapy.

The websites are flooding with research articles about pancreatic cancer. The newspapers in India have also started publishing front page articles with stats about the p.cancer scene in India.

The best news I read today was about SIRI - the talking iphone app for 4S. I was stunned when I saw the video demonstration. It can reply to ur SMS, fix appointments on your phone, lookup restaurants near you and can even give you suggestions on life!!! Everytime I keep thinking what Apple can add to an already feature friendly exotic phone is when they come out with something that you can never imagine.

I started reading a book by name BOUNCE, written by Matthew Syed. The book is fantastic. I think I will be writing a post about the book very soon.

Almost a month

It will be a month in Bombay, one week from now. I still dont know how I am able to survive the 6 day week. Its a big drain on personal life when you know that Sunday is the only day left in your whole week. A mid-week holiday, whenever it comes by, although it rarely does; is definitely a boon.

Last week, we had presentations from different group companies. Each rep explained to us in detail about the businesses that they were in-charge of and the kind of markets they serve. It was quite interesting to see the diversity of products that is being handled by this single entity called Reliance. I mean, its just a few words to say that they backward integrated from textiles to oil and gas exploration - but what a TASK to get that executed and moreover the will to do things so massive! Thats unbelievable.

The presentation week concluded with our visit to the Jamnagar refinery. We took a corporate jet from the military base in Mumbai to Jamnagar.

Truly World Class. There is Jamnagar, which is a small town and then there is Reliance Jamnagar, which is a whole new world altogether. For the first time, I saw the Reliance Mart which is comparable to the Walmart SuperStore in the US. The WM Store is still bigger, but I guess in India; we are always in a struggle for space and if we need big spaces, we have to go out of the city atleast 35kms. The city population would never drive all the way there to buy the household stuff. If retailers built such huge establishments in the city, they end up paying a hefty rent and hardly beark-even with such stores.

So, Jamnagar was a construction marvel. 700 acres of guest house and residential land. Amazing recreational facilities including two huge football fields, just enough to play some wonderful ultimate everyday.

The refinery itself is a maze. Although I couldnt understand every technical explanation that was given, it was still mind-blowing to see how the whole place was running all day and all night without a glitch.

Reliance has also spent loads of money on developing a green belt, which has a million plus mango trees; the largest in Asia. I couldnt believe my eyes when I saw that. We were driving through kilometres of mango trees. Now I have to wait until May 2012 to taste some of that.

Twelfth Day

Its been twelve days now. Work has not started.  Over the last week or so, I met a lot of people who are in-charge of different departments within the information techology organization. Just the usual introductions and trying to understand what they are doing and how my future work will fit into the whole context etc etc

There is also a weird attendance policy in the company. You have to be in by 10.30 am and you can get out only by 6pm. If you came late or left early, you need to justify; else you lose your pay for the day. Stupidity I thought, only when I saw lines of people queuing up at 5.55pm; waiting to swipe their card out at 6pm and then rushing to catch the first shuttle to the station. I kinda get the feeling that a lot of people dont like this but I guess they cant help it.

Just like it happens in traditional Indian Companies, the Sir culture is present here as well. And being the north, rather west, they also add brother along with your name once in a while. Its becoming very difficult for me to switch to the respect format from a first name format. A friend of mine told me that eventually I will end up doing that - I mean start accepting the system and not questioning. Right now, its not like that. I definitely dont want to change; but lets see.

Evenings after office have been well spent. Vandhaan Vendraan and Mere Brother Ki Dulhan. I was glued to my seat watching Miss Kaif give that naughty wild smile - oooohhhh.. goose bumps and because she was playing a girl from London, she did all justice she could. Hopefully I will watch a Telugu movie during the weekend.

The Monday that was

I got into the office quite early. Two trains and then a small ride in the auto I reached the gate. The corporate office is spread over 500 acres (more than 2 times the size of ISB and 1.5 times BITS Pilani). People actually take shuttle buses to go from one building to another. The building numbers are also a little weird. Building 9 is still under construction(I heard) whereas 1-8 and 10-12 are already functional. This company has many businesses in the same place. There is Oil and Gas, Retail, Technology, Life Sciences, Solar, Food Testing Lab, Textiles and what not (I guess I missed a few). But there are hardly 20000 employees here. There is a lot of open space and some of that is being used to maintain the greenery of the place. There is a horticulture department that takes care of the same.

I met the guy from the external consulting team who gave me an overview of the whole project. After that I spent some time reading old artifacts about the program. Then I met an old friend who had joined a similar team. We spent the next hour chatting up about our old job and what was happening here. It was quite a realization after I heard what he had to say. I am quite sure I will have enough opportunities to talk about the same and can add my experience as well. I met a few other people who had also joined the program in various other departments. A lot of people here speak Hindi right royally. A similar Tamil culture was evident in Cognizant as well. No wonder my friend once told me that its Chennai Technology Solutions and not Cognizant. I used to join a few lunch circles or gossip circles in Cognizant and yes, most of them spoke in Tamil. Matter of convenience I guess.

My first induction / training starts tomorrow. I checked out a few houses in Nerul. I decided that I need a furnished house as it did not make sense to buy all the electrical stuff here, because of the only fact that I dont know how many months I would last in this place (I will talk about that in my posts to come).

The Natural State

For the next 8 weeks, I will be stationed in the Natural State. I didnt know that this American state was called the Natural State. When you look around, you'll definitely feel so. Nothing much around other than lots of empty tracts of grassland. And then some buildings just to show that its not a forest reserve or something.

My flight to the US was quite exciting. The chennai to bombay flight took almost 3 hrs. After a point, I was wondering what the pilot was really doing. the next leg to frankfurt was sleeping time. in frankfurt, i met prof rakesh vohra - our ISB Eco prof from Kellogg. it was very nice to talk to him after almost 2 yrs. we were talking about consulting, ISB, the mohali school, the placement scenario, my new client and all sorts of stuff. i got into the flight to chicago and then figured out that my seat was also allocated to another german girl. knowing this, the air hostess gave me a business class seat. it was a pleasant shock. maharajah seats that turn into a bed at the touch of a button, all sorts of controls, special treatment from the staff, amazing food spread - i had a wonderful time.

then the wait in chicago was terrible. my next flight was only after 6 hrs. so i had to literally waste time. one thing i noticed at the domestic terminal 3 in chicago was there is only one payphone that allows you to use a credit card. for everything else, you need to put coins.

the next flight was for 1.5hrs. when the flight reached XNA (the airport in Arkansas), i was really tired. there were less than 20 ppl who came with me. my luggage had already arrived on a previous flight.

my hotel was like a 30mins drive from the airport. on my way, i figured out that walmart, jb hunt and tyson foods are the only big employers in this state. and in bentonville, where i was going to work, its was just walton's world. i noticed a delivery center that was as big as an international airport. there must have been a thousand trucks waiting to load goods.

office is very strange. everyone here comes to work at 7am!!! and then they leave only by 5pm. do they really have that much work to do? also, this place is a real factory. we've heard of factory model in IT, but here i saw it live. there are thousands of people around you working for the same company. everyone walks in a line. when they reach a junction (inside the office), they slow down to see oncoming traffic and then they proceed. especially during the lunch hours, if you tried to jump the line or go on the wrong side, you'll create chaos maybe. it feels as if you are in the middle of programmed employees. Like the ones in i-robot.

on friday, i got a car as well. when i entered the rental car office, they showed me PT Cruiser. I had no intention of taking that. Then they showed me a Chevy HHR which was an extended version of the Cruiser. I was definitely not taking that too. Then I noticed a Pontiac G6 in the garage and I asked them about it. Apparently it was available and they had no idea that it was there in the garage. I signed up and took the car.

so thats the travel update and i hope to write more about the natural state and maybe from the factory as well.

Swipe for lunch

From tomorrow, we have something different to look forward to, at the office. MEAL CARDS.

So, it used to be like this. We paid 15 rupees for lunch and the organization paid the same. Now that's not there anymore.

We got this new thing called a meal card. One more extra card. Amidst so many credit cards, debit cards, fuel cards, MTV card, dhaba express discount card, oh yeah, access card; now we have this card to used at the cafeteria.

Company will not pay that 15 rupees. They have brought this new scheme called Flexible Benefit Plan. I seriously don't know how flexible this is. If I end up paying more tax by July next year compared to this financial year, then I'll know about the inflexibility of this flexible plan. Company will top up a fixed amount every month on this card and then you can swipe this card for lunch.

Previously you just paid 15 rupees and it was the hassle for the accountants in the finance department and the guys from the access card department to figure out how many ate or how many swiped twice, whatever that maybe. Now all accounting headache has been shifted to the employee. Every time you swipe, you have to ensure that the person at the counter enters the right amount and if you need to track the account, then you need to keep the bills and later claim if you need to reconcile. There is also an online account tracker.

But you know what? Having been here for about a year, I am sure my company will tell me to scan the receipt and send it via email to a given email address and raise a query in a new system.

By the way, this card can be used in other retail outlets within the city as well. Other than the big names, I really don't know where else you can use the card.

One of the names I saw on the list of outlets in Chennai said "PADMA STORES" and that's it. That was effin crazy!!! I guess there are enough surprises like this.

Office Conversations

So every office has N number of systems passing data here and there. Half the time we dont even know why there are so many systems, why do they follow redundant processes and why can't things be simplified.

But, with an ever expanding office, these questions sometimes just go unheard of. While I was caught amidst the demands of these painful systems to input the information that it required, a funny incident happened.

I had to add a location by the name Luxembourg into a peoplesoft system because one member from my team was travelling. Since that location was not available in the list of places, I had to place a request. I wonder why they have some strange policies for adding a location onto a system. They asked me too many questions - most of which was unwanted.



Anyway, so I dropped an email to the helpdesk guys to add the location. A day later I got a call back from the helpdesk guy(H).

H: Which project? (And I give him the project details)

H: Let me get into the project details screen.

Me: Ok (thinking that this guy knows what he is doing)

H: Ok, so what is the service order?

Me: (i got confused now. why did he need the service order? this was nowhere connected to that? but then i still decided to give him the answer) Let me tell you where it is (and i walked him through a few screens and brought him to the service order screen)

Me: Can you see the number 1215078? That is the service order.

H: Oh yeah I see it now.

(There is some silence now. Still wondering why this number connected to the problem I reported, I thought he was thinking about the solution. Maybe something innovative.)

H:(suddenly) But this service order is attached to a resource called Praveen and not Luxembourg

Me: (totally shocked, I didn't know what this guy meant. After a few seconds, I realized that this guy had actually thought that Luxembourg was the name of a resource within the company. Controlling my laughter burst, I decided to explain the problem to him)
See, thats not the problem. Let me tell you what needs to be done
(and I showed him the right place to fix the problem)

H: Oh, you mean this one! For this, you have to ask the Database Team in Calcutta. This is not controlled by us.

Me: (Oh yeah, when Luxembourg becomes a employee name for you, I am quite sure you wouldn't have any clue) THANKS, please forward my request to them.

(By the way, Luxembourg has still not been added into the system. Those guys have contacted the European Head to get some approvals. God only knows!!!)

The preparation

This story is about office stuff. Certain parts might look a bit exaggerated for the reader, but it truly isnt like that.

Introducing the main character - so, I have a friend in the office who works with another project team. By nature, she is a very innocent and sweet person. Its her first job and she is all energized to do anything and everything - the go-getter kinds.

But you know about big organizations, right? At times, they have a strange influence of the government. Things happen a bit slowly. People sit around a bit, taking their own sweet time.

Our lady was very annoyed with what was happening. In her team, she was the youngest and she wasnt getting the "state-of-the-art work" and any travel. If there was any travel, then arranging for a visa took most of the time. Dont get me started about the visa desk. That's another post. Anyway, past is past.

Then she got into a very good project with a bank. She worked really hard, put a lot of effort into contributing to the project, along with her manager who was working with the client.

Travel dates got fixed. It was decided that she'll be at the client's office for more than a week. The excitement began. She got herself new clothes - the kit allowance was used effectively. Tickets were getting blocked.

Meanwhile, she gets an email/call telling her that she should have a "preparation call". More excitement. She quickly straightens out the presentation deck and then also gets ready an elevator pitch, just to create the right impression - sends it out to the people concerned. Running in her mind are thoughts - ok, we'll be discussing our game plan for the next week, what our presentations are going to focus on, who are the people we are going to meet, what kind of future work can we pitch,... a host of things like that.

The preparation call begins. Questions are coming from the other side - Have you got your tickets? Has peoplesoft been updated? Did you find a good hotel? Also, make that coconut oil bottle a 500ml one, instead of 250ml. By the way, you are coming only for 10 days, which means less clothes to carry, so can you get more stuff - like sweets, sambhar powder etc?

In her mind ("oh my god! is this preparation"?)....

Poem: The intruder

you flew into my life
right in front of my eyes
taking a journey
perhaps of no return

the cold environment, noises from keystrokes
around me
never did matter
to you and your existence

circles of joy
inside my workplace
were your pastime
for you - my bay was more than an adventure trail

monotonous sounds you made
or maybe even a dialog
in incomprehensible languages
were definitely not
music to my ears

irritated and tired
i struck you hard
and said - "Rest in Peace!
You silly Mosquito"