Sunshine!

I see sunlight!

And it happened, one fine day. After days of waiting, I finally get to know that I have to make my shift from the windy city to the icebox of the country. That's right, I am now in Minneapolis. The temperature around here used to be -40 last week. But, its getting better ever since I came down here. Ok, time to back track. I am going too fast.

Before I continue on the exploits here, let me deviate to another leaf in my not so leafy personal life of interactions with members of the opposite gender. It was another quiet day. One of my room mates had just returned from office, while I had again spent all day at home, wondering about my days ahead. I was listening to some music, and was strolling thru the living room and back into my room. Another stroll to the living room, and I distinctly heard something that resembled a knock on the door. I went to check at the door and looked through the peep hole of the front door. And, there was a young lady of a stranger, waiting for the door to be opened. My initial thoughts were "What the...?!" Obviously, I had to open the door. She introduced herself and said that she was our new neighbour, stays alone in her apartment and had just come up to make some friends. Ah, the stuff that dreams are made of, something that you see only in the movies. The proverbial girl next door. Anyway, she was looking to make some friends, and as I knew I would be moving out in some days, I told her about a lady in the next building, who she can spend some time with. In the last 2 days that I spent in Chicago, I introduced them to each other. Another good deed done, and forgotten. Neki kar, dariya mein daal.

Now, about the new assignment. I came to know about it while I was at Navin's place for his birthday celebrations. After a few Sachin and Amitabh impersonations to entertain the little crowd that had gathered at his place, I got a call from the big boss. He told me that something turned up in Minneapolis because of which I had to go there quickly, as soon as possible. Well, thats how it always happens. When it does, it is just so sudden. But, I knew that meant I could take my own sweet time of 2 days.

I thought about taking a rental car to make the six hour trip. But, it was snowing so badly, that it changed my mind pretty soon. Otherwise, I was arguing with my brother about taking some risks for an adventurous trip. So, finally, I arranged for the travel, and asked the manager there to do something about my accomodation as well. I just had one more comparitively sunny day left. So, in the evening, when my room mate came back, I asked him a favor - to drive me to a few of my good friends in Chicago, and bade them a quick farewell.

The packing didnt end till about just an hour before I was to leave for the airport. And yes, the drive to the Chicago airport was interesting as well. The driver was a Gujju and as I got out of the cab, he helped me from getting squished by a city cab driver, who just managed to run one of the wheels over a part of my leg. Oww, it hurts! But, as mom says, instead of giving out a curse of "Why does this happen to me?", I smiled and thought "Thanks bhagwan, shaayad koi badi museebat tal gayi." Guess some big mishap has been reduced to this.

First day in office is always difficult. Being in a new place, you have so much to remember - new locations, roads, directions, faces, designations, new terminologies and some events. I guess it would be fine to say for everyone that one gets accustomed to these as time goes by. But, learning all these quickly is what makes a difference for you to be comfortable in the initial few days.

Day 1 at the new place was full of meetings. I remember at least five of them. And in the first meeting itself, I was able to contribue to the meeting more than I had expected myself. I also got a GPS (Good Point, Sudheesh) for one of my suggestions.

Day 1 was fortunately a Friday, something which happens rarely. I learnt that from Monday thru Friday, the office wear is quite professional - a blazer/coat/suit or a tie is required. Well, I didnt particularly like to wear a tie, the abhorrance perhaps been due to the fact that I had to wear one on a few days in mInfy. On the other hand, this was the only chance where I was able to use my coat - I had just used it 2 or 3 times in the last 2 years. So, day 2 was exciting on that front. I also travelled to office by bus on this day as the others had left by carpool early. The bad part was that when I put in the 5 dollar bill, I didnt get my change back for the ticket. "I am sorry. Didnt you know?" was all the driver could say. Talk about daylight robbery. This is one of the instance when you have to think of the pitfalls of the over-automization in the US.

Today was day 3 at the new office. This morning, 2 of the world's strongest forces were working against one another. my sub-consciousness and my consciousness. the former wanted more sleep and the latter wanted me to get up. After an hour's struggle, it was over.

I was in a bit of a hurry today - didnt shave and forget to get a blazer or a tie. In fact, I didnt even have breakfast. Blame it all on the extra few minutes of sleep. I hope I can get to sleep early tonight. I will as soon as I finish this blog.

First thing to do in office is to check mails. But why? Perhaps expecting some good news. Well, that hardly ever happens. Still, one can keep the hope alive. There was a meeting at 9. Didnt even read the doc once. I have to check the cricket score though, before going to the meeting. India won a last over thriller, but Sachin didnt score. Good that I didnt spend my time last night on it then.

Before going to the meeting, I got a tie from Amjith. He is beginning to prove to be quite helpful. A couple of hour long meetings are done now. Most of what was discussed either seemed too obscure or too trivial. Slowly, things will make more sense, I guess.

By the end of the day, I see that all day was mostly spent in meetings again. People in this office seem to have a lot of meetings for seemingly trivial reasons. Designing a single table required an hour long meeting. Maybe there is more to it than meets the eye. Getting to these meetings isnt that easy either. This building has 37 floors. And, I am seated on the 21st floor. From where I am, to get to the top floor, I cant simply take the elevator. There are 3 elevators in this building. The first one goes only upto the 12th floor. The second one doesnt stop to the floors upto 12. It just has stops from 13 thru around 26, I guess. And similarly for the third elevator. So, to get to the top floor from where I am, I first have to get all the way down and then switch elevators. Sheesh! Well, actually, least there are 3 sets of elevators of around 6 to 8 each. Still, sheesh!! Isnt there a better one?

And since I still havent got my access card made yet, once I get down at any floor, I have to either wait for someone to open up the door or have to call someone to open the door for me. I mostly do the former, of course. And I cant take the stairs! Gosh, I did that once. Then, realized that I was trapped as to get back to the hallway from the stairs, I needed the access card as well. Well, it makes the first few days just that much rougher.

Some meetings are kept at other buildings. And its so cold outside, that we have skyways here, which are closed paths, connecting 2 buildings. The skyways are at a height of the second floor. So, when we cross over to the next building, we do so over the road underneath. We can also enjoy the view when doing so. Pretty good, I say.

Hmm, that was quite a lot of blogging. Better head to catch some sleep now. And here's a sign off I learnt from NFSMW. Later.