Chandra left for the office, 'on time'. "What's the big deal?", you may ask...
Today is Saturday and "on-time" for Chandra is to be able to do stuff in the morning in an unhurried way
- Few moments in prayer, when it is quite and peaceful, just before Sunrise
- Take the dog out, with no hurry to get back
- Flip through newspaper headlines (ET: Ola founder complaining about capital dumping, World travel & tourism body 'advising' us how to handle the new SC order on alcohol outlets to SRK's team winning in IPL... no good news!)
- Not rush through morning 'rituals', though nothing ritualistic about it!
- Break the fast (even if not healthy and/or delicious by own preference and obsession)
- Drive slowly... he drove so 'slowly', he almost banged another car parked on the left, the "blind spot". The car belonged to his apartment complex!!
- Grateful for '50% less ads' in FM 95 and also better music. RJ Naved's prank call was on a young lady who had just taken up her 'dream job'. The prank was initiated by her own boyfriend! Kaisa 'boyfriend' hai yeh :)
- He drove in no hurry. The traffic was smooth. At 9 AM on a Saturday morning, 'light traffic on Bangalore roads' is a news!
- Being a Saturday, he does not need to get the Universe to conspire for a parking space. The parking is outside, in the open. To park inside, there was additional cost. As an entrepreneur, he was cost-conscious. It was always head vs heart when it came to it. He wanted his car to be in basement parking. But reluctant to spend. Are all entrepreneurs so stingy?!
- When he parked the car, the new security came out and took a circumambulation of his car. 'where is the sticker?' he asked. Chandra pointed to it. He nodded in approval and went away. These boys have a good knack of picking up the nuances of their jobs, "security", pretty quickly!
- Once inside, the place was about to get a major week-end clean-up. It was all mess, in the common area, just before the mega-clean up.
Chandra always wondered why do we have to make it messier or messiest, before making it spick & span?! Why can't it be a continuous process? Many people do this at home too?!
- Naturally, the place was smelly! AC was not on. The office boy, the boss on a weekend, when others are away, said, "No AC on weekend and holidays"!
- Chandra was struggling to control. While the shared office makes a big pitch to come in and work 24X7, 365 days, how can one spend time there without basic ventilation and acceptable room temperature! Chandra would not take a no for an answer. Without losing cool, in an assertive way, he dropped a line to the real boss there.
- As he was about to settle down, the AC went on, with a big noise. Even the AC unit was objecting to be called for service on a Saturday morning...
Chandra switched on the computer. The first mail was from the shared-office accounts team.
- It was from someone, who had the name of a Philipino dictator
- It said, "Urgent action required. Your services may be terminated"
- Chandra could not write back to the dictator, equally dictatorial in his language, 'sirji, payment ho gaya hai! last month's and next month's. No dues. Check your records....etc'
- But the smart dictator has sent an automated mail, with no option to reply or write back. Quite unprofessional for an international shared office, Chandra felt.
He had come to office to do a lot off pending stuff. He needed all the concentration and focus. He is off to a bad start. But has no option to fight it out and get cracking!
Reader, how has been your Saturday morning?
