Thy neighbor

Just moved to a new project last week and it wasnt a very good choice for me to go by. But then had no option but to go and accept as I was given 2 options :

1. Take the project

2. Face a disciplinary action.....

In this tough times who wants to face disciplinary action....So i went ahead against my instincts and got into the project. Team of 2, me being the lead and "the driver" who "drives the project"...

All this last week.....

In the process of starting the work amidst other things to do, moved to 3 different places....One was near a GPM(Group Project Manager) , the other one was in a far flung cubicle and then this one where I am seated right now. Moving to this many places is such a pain. Carry all your belongings viz

1. PST files of Outlook (mail backups)

2. Coffee Mugs

3. Documents

4. Notebooks

5. Markers etc

To different places is such a task I tell you. And you get all your data from one machine to the other in a Pen drive, put it in your new machine and then you find that the pen drive doesn't get installed. And then you look for other ways to get the data xfered. Till the time data doesn't get moved, you cannot leave your last machine. I haven't relinquished my old machine, a VISTA machine. However if you find a cool neighbor, then all this pains and frustrations evaporate. A neighbor as in a pretty girl, not a boy.

I moved to this place by Saturday. Moved my systems, bags and drawers along with the IP phone. Now this lady was seated already in a cubicle just next to me. Have pretty good looks. I moved in with my luggage and sat quietly. Couldn't get my thoughts off her. She was in a green t-shirt and a jeans. Poor lady suffered from cold. So sneezes were in the order and she suffered from it badly. 4 days now I m here and today she showed some signs of recovery. I counted her sneezes and they were close to 50 when I was seated in the seat and she was too. She was like those "carrying hankie" types. It was today that she missed or forgot the hankie, else for last 4 days it was her integral part in the hand.

It's pretty amazing for me to see the items on her cubicle……….The list goes on something like this :

1. The white board is pretty clean with no mention of her name or project name. No to-do list.

2. No scribbling on the wooden table where you keep your Desktop and other items like bag.

3. A small Ganesha idol near her monitor. (I used to follow that some years back)

4. A water bottle, very trendy and very girlish. Usually I won't prefer to keep water bottle at my desk, even if I do then I would have a Coke/Pepsi bottle reused. Reusability you see :)

5. A picturesque coffee mug followed by a company coffee mug. Later I realized the picturesque coffee mug is for show and the coffee is being taken in the company mug.

6. A laughing Buddha.

7. A newspaper, not Page 3 but good financial express one.

8. Few soft toys like a small teddy bear and stuff like that.

I have hardly spoken to her in last 4 days except for a TIMESHEET issue (the hours tracking stuff based on which the IT cos bill the client). Voice is sweet and she hails from Mumbai. That means trip home every weekend. Mumbai folks have a strong community in my office, every Friday they rush off the office @ 4 PM to head back to their city. The expressway is just 5 kms from my office.

She goes for pre-defined coffee, snacks and lunch break. Breakfast @ 845. Usually I encounter her in the 1^st floor of my building (sit in 2^nd floor, 1^st floor is my last cubicle)..She either goes up and I m going down or vice versa. This happens mostly during entire day. And for 2 days in row. Amazing. Silent gaze and then walk through. I turn around in a wishful hope that she would turn back like Simran did in DDLJ :P. But to no use. Coming back to the snacks, lunch time @ 1230, the same time I go for lunch with my colleague and 2 of my managers (good ones with whom I have worked before), coffee breaks @ 1030, 1500 hours followed by paper reading session and then finally evening snacks @ 4 PM, time for me to go to food court (a better term than canteen) for a snack.

I don't plan my trips to pantries / cafeterias as per her timings. Just happens that I and she pass through each other. Coffee time she goes, a mug and her cell phone accompanies her. Hankie is left back at the table. During the evening snacks and the lunch in the afternoon, the hankie accompanies her too. What's the calculation, its beyond my comprehension.

Weird post I know. But better than some rant or some frustration poured out there. Different people sitting in their cubicle have different habits. If you ask me what I like to have on my cubicle desk then the list goes on like this :

1. The bag (Company bag or the Diesel one)

2. Newspaper, that's a must. At end of day I dump it in the dust bin.

3. Mobile phone thrown out

4. Markers

5. To-do list on my white board

6. ITouch and its USB cable

7. A book

8. Wallet and keys on the desk

9. Helmet when I go by bike

10. Print outs of question papers of the exams or something like a ticket to go home…………

11. Spects

What's on your desk in the office ? And do you observe your neighbor keenly ?? It's always great to talk about ONE s own self. Yeah ? Gives a lot of satisfaction. After all it's a world where people bother more about ME or I than you or WE.