Time Flies.... This was the first Dialogue Ian Ramsay (Client Manager) told me when I went into the DB office for the first time. I had met him already when he visited India to train us. And time has really flown very fast in fact. Its been more than a month now since I came to London.
Monday morning rush at East Ham underground station was not surprising as I was told I was at the peak time. As I tried to take picture of East Ham station, my friend stopped me and repeated a dialogue quoted by another to her when she tried the the same six months ago, DON'T Take picture of East Ham and all. So as per advise I didn't take any picture of it, though I found it very exciting at the first look.
Morning chill was at around 5-6 degrees at 8.30 AM. I was very under-prepared for this kind of cold. Somehow managed to cover under my old jacket. It was good to see lots of Indian hotels in East Ham. I thought I wouldn't miss home food that much as long as I stay here.
I was hoping for a exciting day ahead as it was my first official day in London. Few things which excited me more are
1. Row houses : Every single house in the street was look alike. Although none of the interiors looked alike, still this thing surprised me. Why would anyone want the house to be same as other houses. This point never made any sense to me until I got to know from my owner that that is the tradition which has to be followed by everyone. Govt controlled that action. His exact words were 'Build a Taj Mahal inside the house, but exterior should be same'. Tough funny, it was very appreciable.
2. London Tube. It was really an amazing and unbelievable thing which they ever would have built. The tube was introduced 150 years ago in London and it had covered almost entire city. It had at least some 10 different lines throughout London. It was no surprise that such narrow roads do not have traffic jams anywhere. I could easily guess that most of the population travels by Tubes in London. Wondered how many years are needed now to construct such level of metro facility in Bangalore......
3. Discipline on roads. One of the clients who visited India for the first time some 2 years ago had only 1 complaint about Indian roads. She asked why do people honk so much while driving. That question was a surprise to me as until that point of time I always believed that is the way it is.. Honking is must to wake up sleeping drivers in the vehicles ahead in traffic jams. I remembered her words when I took a close observation of London roads. People don't honk here. I couldn't even hear 1 horn from any vehicle on the road on my 10 minutes walk to station. She had mentioned people honk here only when they are angry and it was true. I liked that point very much. How peaceful roads would be in India if this is followed there.....
4. Work attire. This was most amazing sight for me on the first day of travel. I remembered exact words of one of my manager from India 'Just observe the way they are dressed for work'. He mentioned it to me while advising me to be professional in my attire. It was so true. I understood the meaning of professional attire that day.
I had to get down at Mile end and catch central line train to Liverpool street where my office was located. I observed one more important thing while climbing up the huge escalators at Liverpool station, If you want to stand still on an escalator then stand on the right hand side. Else you will be knocked off. :) That was a practise all over London. :)
After much excitement one disappointment was on my way. My client office, where I would spend half of my stay in London was no where near to my imagination. I had imagined it to be on top floor of a huge building with nice view of London all around my work station. I was totally disappointed when I saw a 2 storied old heritage building. My office was in ground floor and dint even have many windows. Added to that was one more fact inside the office, there were no cubicles at all. Everyone, however bigger post they are in would sit on workstations without any walls between them. So there was no chance of watching live scores on cricinfo during work hours. :(
I went straight away to meet Ian as he greeted me with surprise. His surprise was that my friend had finished her term so fast and was going back in one week. 'Time flies' he said and introduced me to other clients who work in the same floor. I had conversations over phones with most of them and was glad that they too recognised me. Most of them greeted me well saying I was at right time in London. Although scary, the work place looked friendly to me. Most important reason for that was that everyone would mind there business and wont give a damn on what you are doing unless they need some assistance. That was a very positive thing. :)
I observed first signs of summer as I headed back home after office...Long days... It wouldn't get dark at least until 8.30 PM. I was sure it would confuse my dinner and sleep plans for few days at least.
Jet lag made me to sleep by 8.30 PM for first 3-4 days which was not a problem at all for me. The real problem was when I woke up at 3-4 AM in the morning. First week was almost same except that I had different variety of food everyday for lunch as I was trying all available Veg restaurants around my office. I made up my mind to the fact that all working day's of my stay here will be as same as everyday of that first week here. That was fine as long as I had wonderful 2 days of weekend free to roam around and explore as much as I can.
Monday morning rush at East Ham underground station was not surprising as I was told I was at the peak time. As I tried to take picture of East Ham station, my friend stopped me and repeated a dialogue quoted by another to her when she tried the the same six months ago, DON'T Take picture of East Ham and all. So as per advise I didn't take any picture of it, though I found it very exciting at the first look.
Morning chill was at around 5-6 degrees at 8.30 AM. I was very under-prepared for this kind of cold. Somehow managed to cover under my old jacket. It was good to see lots of Indian hotels in East Ham. I thought I wouldn't miss home food that much as long as I stay here.
I was hoping for a exciting day ahead as it was my first official day in London. Few things which excited me more are
1. Row houses : Every single house in the street was look alike. Although none of the interiors looked alike, still this thing surprised me. Why would anyone want the house to be same as other houses. This point never made any sense to me until I got to know from my owner that that is the tradition which has to be followed by everyone. Govt controlled that action. His exact words were 'Build a Taj Mahal inside the house, but exterior should be same'. Tough funny, it was very appreciable.
2. London Tube. It was really an amazing and unbelievable thing which they ever would have built. The tube was introduced 150 years ago in London and it had covered almost entire city. It had at least some 10 different lines throughout London. It was no surprise that such narrow roads do not have traffic jams anywhere. I could easily guess that most of the population travels by Tubes in London. Wondered how many years are needed now to construct such level of metro facility in Bangalore......
3. Discipline on roads. One of the clients who visited India for the first time some 2 years ago had only 1 complaint about Indian roads. She asked why do people honk so much while driving. That question was a surprise to me as until that point of time I always believed that is the way it is.. Honking is must to wake up sleeping drivers in the vehicles ahead in traffic jams. I remembered her words when I took a close observation of London roads. People don't honk here. I couldn't even hear 1 horn from any vehicle on the road on my 10 minutes walk to station. She had mentioned people honk here only when they are angry and it was true. I liked that point very much. How peaceful roads would be in India if this is followed there.....
4. Work attire. This was most amazing sight for me on the first day of travel. I remembered exact words of one of my manager from India 'Just observe the way they are dressed for work'. He mentioned it to me while advising me to be professional in my attire. It was so true. I understood the meaning of professional attire that day.
I had to get down at Mile end and catch central line train to Liverpool street where my office was located. I observed one more important thing while climbing up the huge escalators at Liverpool station, If you want to stand still on an escalator then stand on the right hand side. Else you will be knocked off. :) That was a practise all over London. :)
After much excitement one disappointment was on my way. My client office, where I would spend half of my stay in London was no where near to my imagination. I had imagined it to be on top floor of a huge building with nice view of London all around my work station. I was totally disappointed when I saw a 2 storied old heritage building. My office was in ground floor and dint even have many windows. Added to that was one more fact inside the office, there were no cubicles at all. Everyone, however bigger post they are in would sit on workstations without any walls between them. So there was no chance of watching live scores on cricinfo during work hours. :(
I went straight away to meet Ian as he greeted me with surprise. His surprise was that my friend had finished her term so fast and was going back in one week. 'Time flies' he said and introduced me to other clients who work in the same floor. I had conversations over phones with most of them and was glad that they too recognised me. Most of them greeted me well saying I was at right time in London. Although scary, the work place looked friendly to me. Most important reason for that was that everyone would mind there business and wont give a damn on what you are doing unless they need some assistance. That was a very positive thing. :)
I observed first signs of summer as I headed back home after office...Long days... It wouldn't get dark at least until 8.30 PM. I was sure it would confuse my dinner and sleep plans for few days at least.
Jet lag made me to sleep by 8.30 PM for first 3-4 days which was not a problem at all for me. The real problem was when I woke up at 3-4 AM in the morning. First week was almost same except that I had different variety of food everyday for lunch as I was trying all available Veg restaurants around my office. I made up my mind to the fact that all working day's of my stay here will be as same as everyday of that first week here. That was fine as long as I had wonderful 2 days of weekend free to roam around and explore as much as I can.
