All my bags are packed; I am ready to go…

Don’t you just love that feeling of anticipation of when you are going on leave and you are waiting the morning with abated breath? Well I totally adore that feeling!! Yes, I am going on a holiday, a well – deserved (at least in my books!! ;-) ) break from the mundane daily rut of life.

A holiday that I am going to take with my best friend and explore the final frontiers, go where none of us have gone before! (a bit of Star Trek!!) We are going to visit 4 places in the south of India, starting from Bangalore (I prefer this name to the new one!!), to Mysore to Ooty to Coorg!! So miss me till I get back with excerpts from my trip to enthrall you. Got to go, the car has come!!

A 5 Rupee joyful experience..

It was hot and clammy (as it usually is this time of the year!) as I left office last evening with a colleague. My semi parched throat started demanding for some liquid intervention when my colleague suggested buying an orange ice lolly. What? An ice lolly? I used to have that when I was in school! Do they still have those? Yes he said and proceeded to guide me to the restaurant wherein I gleefully opened the ice cream freezer (after getting a go ahead from the owner!) and rummaged around for my orange candy!

Upon procuring my prize I proceeded to open it. The bright orange coloured ice lolly stared up at me when I tore open the wrapper and I went ahead and popped it into my mouth.. Yummy! The cold ice melted on my tongue and ran down my parched throat. As we made our way to the station we reminisced about our school days when this was an everyday event while continuing to enjoy the ice lolly. Suddenly we both went quiet as we had bitten off more than we should have and our mouths were full of ice! Have you ever had this experience where the ice cream has sent cold shivers of joy thru your very being? It is wonderful! All too soon the lolly disappeared and we were left wishing for more….

Mickey Mouse lunch boxes & Donald Duck water bottles!

Have u ever wished u could go back in time to when u were in school, back to the Mickey Mouse lunch boxes, the Donald Duck water bottles? I do at times! Sunday was one of those days. I went to one of the first departmental stores of Mumbai with my best friend. We had time to kill before our dinner reservation and decided to go where we hadn't been for a while. As we browsed our way through the different household appliances we turned the corner and arrived at every child's paradise - the toys and stationery shelves. Did u know that they had a shower cubicle complete with shower curtain and liquid bath soap for Barbie? Wow! When I had a Barbie all I had was one change of clothes, a hair brush and a pair of removable shoes! There was even a dressing table complete with comb, brush, and make up! How does one apply makeup on a doll and why??

My glance shifted to another shelf where I glimpsed Faber Castell and Staedtler colour pencils and crayons in sets of 12, 24, 36 and 54 colours! I remember using only Camlin products…. Which I may say was awesome! Going ahead we came across a shelf of only different kinds of pencils, erasers and sharpeners. I think all the colours of the rainbow and some more were captured in the erasers and sharpeners - each was of a different colour! Next in line were magnetic pencil boxes, yes the very ones that I used in school! The minute we saw these we went all ooh and aah (what else do u expect from 2 girls?) and started to open each compartment while reminiscing how we used to put our sharpened pencils and small rulers neatly into the "compass box" :-) Besides these there were other varieties of pencil boxes which varied in shapes and sizes and colours from a football shared one to a rectangle one with a Pokémon picture on it, from a cute Mickey Mouse to a stylish Tomb Raider adorned the various boxes. After glancing at our watches we realised we had used up our free time and started towards the exit. Oh to be in school again and carry the Mickey Mouse lunch boxes, the Donald Duck water bottles… :-)

2 years and counting..

Seems like a not-so-long tenure for an employee in an organisation.. Yes, I just completed 2 years in my current organisation! Mixed were the feelings that ran through my mind and heart and mixed too were the reactions that I received from all and sundry.. Some congratulated me on the feat with a handshake and a slap on my back, some grinned cheekily and asked for a treat :-) others looked at me and wistfully said "So long? The years have gone by really fast!"

So why do we stick around for more than a year (that being a reasonable time) at any organisation? Though pay is not the only reason, I think today's workforce also stays because of job satisfaction.. I know that I do! I love what I do with a mad passion! Even though I work in a department that all employees worldwide love to hate – HR! ;-) But I have realised that it is just one of those quirks of the employee human mind that we need to live with, accept and move on and make things better.

Two years.. a long time if you think about it, and time does fly these days and it makes me think where did all those days go? We are already in the 5^th month of the year – where did the first 4 go? I remember greeting the New Year as if it were only yesterday! Time - the one constant thing that keeps on moving – sometimes fast, sometimes slow..

The last two years have been filled with fun, work and responsibilities; it has been a time of learning, of teaching, of guiding, of being guided, of partying, of crying, of laughing but most of all it has been of living. Living life for each day and coming across all the obstacles and clear roads, learning something from each of those days. Experiencing the different types of people in my organisation, their different and unique thought processes and logic, their perceptions has helped me develop more as a person and an individual. Thanks to all of them I am now 2 years and counting… :-)