Chapter Two

My first two weeks at my new workplace have been pretty decent. In fact, they were better than I expected. My first day, my colleagues- now my friends- went out of their way to make me feel at ease. They came to me and introduced themselves, showed a keen interest in me and my background…the works. It’s a small office, since they’ve just completed a quarter here in India and we are only about 16-17 employees in all.

Then I was told that we had an office outing planned that weekend. Our boss was going back to the States and we needed to sort of give him a farewell. My colleagues had planned to take him to Akshardham temple and then for dinner at TGIF. They also had prepared a li’l skit for him on “teamwork”. Now since it was too late to give me a part, I played the narrator.

Akshardham was fun. Hadn’t been there before so I was completely floored by it’s beauty. The intricate carving on the pink stone and marble walls was simply magnificent. And the place was huge. It didn’t feel like anywhere near Delhi, or India for that matter, coz it was spotlessly clean! And it looked even more gorgeous by night. And by the expression on my boss’s face, I could make out he was feeling pretty much the same way!

Around 6:30 pm we started back for Connaught Place, to TGIF. We were all starving and couldn’t wait to dig in. There was a 20 minute wait outside the restaurant, so we literally barged in when our turn came. We were about 11 of us, and trust me we all, including the biggies, stuffed ourselves till we couldn’t eat another bite. Drinks freely flowed and everyone was in a jovial mood. I felt as part of the group, not at all as a 5-day old employee.

Let’s hope the rest of the journey is as enjoyable. Keeping my fingers crossed!