It’s time to wake up, the time is 8’o clock.
It’s time to wake up, the time is 8’o clock.
It’s time to wake up, the time is 8’o clock.
An aggravated and totally annoyed me woke up to these very words at 8 in the morning everyday to begin another day at the office. Putting in motion my new routine centered around the office.
Brushing my teeth taking a bath putting on the office gear and basically making myself presentable for the office took about 30 minutes of my time, which was highly accelerated by the mental pressure of reaching office on time. Having the breakfast in a rush, gobbling up the milk making supreme efforts not to spill it on myself and my hastily worn formal shirt (Office code, formals on all days except Friday) I am all set to hit the road. On the street rushing towards the bus-stop to catch the jam-packed DTC number 764, a glance on the watch confirms that I am on time today, and unless I meet some unforeseen incidents on the way I’d be well on time in the office today.
After some anxious waiting at the bus stop and then some pushing and shoving in the bus, I reach my mid-way halt Nehru Place, from where I change buses for my next destination, from where it’s a five minute walk to the Corporate Voice – Weber Shandwick’s Delhi headquarters a.k.a my workplace.
At the entrance I was greeted by a smiling receptionist alias Gayatri and a register lying in front of her which I, like all employees of CV|WS was compelled to fill. The choice was that if you were on time that is, if you reached office before 10.15 am then you could enter your name in it with any ordinary pen, whereas if you dared to enter the office even a minute above 10.15 you would be handed a RED pen to fill in your attendance implying your having taken half day’s leave and thus a half day’s worth of sum being deducted from your salary. Thankfully I never got my name in red leaving quite a lot of scope for defaulting.
Sitting on my desk in front of my BENQ computer I begin to go through all the pending works that I have with me and simultaneously look around for today’s FILECOPY circulating around the office. For the uninformed, FILECOPY is a compilation of all the leading and important newspapers of
After glancing through the newspapers for today’s news and for any mention or coverage on my clients I move on to more pressing matters like sending the daily coverage reports to clients. This requires to be sent to the clients by 12pm sharp and takes up most of the afternoon. Thankfully I wasn’t single handed responsible for this, and a whole media team was set up to commission this job (which also happened to be the most sought after team of the office, as nearly everybody kept jumping on them time and again to check whether their coverage came in or not).
After this I move on to other pressing issues like making the monthly dossiers or preparing for the next Press Release event, lending a helping hand to my seniors wherever possible.
Around 1pm in the afternoon hunger starts to hit in, and slowly and steadily we all queue up to give our lunch to Narendera Bhaiya, Office’s Man Friday who would reheat the lunch and then serve it on a dinning plate. All my colleagues of the same stature gather around a table, which was nearly always mine (as it was always so neat and clean, free of the heavy files the others had to bear), to share their lunches and to dig into others. This took up nearly an hour of hour time as it included the long wait for the return of the lunch from Narendera Bhaiya. At around 2pm we would all get back to work with full stomachs and an energized body.
The rest of the day passed away with the usual activity revolving around work and with the wait for the clock to strike 6. The atmosphere at this time was always quite relaxed as most of the reports to be sent to the clients had already been sent out by 12, so it was quite normal to find the a decrease in the number of office personnel at this time as most had left for their homes or to prepare for some upcoming PR event. The rest that had decided to stay either sat around gossiping with each other or smoking outside in the ground. The only highlight of the evening was the welcoming sight of Narendera Bhaiya with tray full of his special cardamom tea rejuvenating every soul in the office.
At 6pm sharp a race amongst the remaining staff members began to finish their work and then head back home. Every other minute a chair could be heard moving backwards and the main door opening and shutting announcing the departure of yet another colleague. By 7pm the office would be nearly empty with only a select few remaining to complete their unfinished work.
I too would head back to my place taking the same route back home. Bringing another day at the office came to an end.
P.S.: I really cannot finish this article without mentioning the extreme support and help that I received from some of my friends-cum-colleagues there, like Dipanjoy Seal & Nishant for their ever readiness to help, advice and most importantly teach, without them, I can easily say that this internship would have been fruitless for me as all I learnt, I learnt from them; Shivani Ramiah, who apart from cheering up my day with her friendly gestures also taught me the importance of valuing and appraising that what I have even if I personally dislike it; Chiteshwari Anand for being so kind enough & patient to pick and drop me off from the office (thanks to her I was cry goodbye to the disgusting service of 764); Sanjeev Singh for rather than being a boss was always a friend or an elder brother towards me; and last but not the least Neha Singhvi for having gotten me this opportunity. Thank you all for making my first venture in the professional field so personal for me.
