Today was not like any other day !

Today was not like any other day!

Today was not like any other day! I had a holiday! A no work day that was forced upon me by the administration of my office. Rules are more important than productivity! India is still to come out of this mentality. The administration people of our office in general consist of people generally above 45 years of age. They have been with the company for the last 10 years or more than that. They have got the positions and fat pay packets. But when it comes to work, the most incompetent. Performance matters to all the associates of the company but not to them. Office is like a garden for them where they are always taking their pleasure walk and appreciating the beauty around. Well I know you are wondering why I am I just going on spewing venom at the administration guys! Well I have a strong point and here it goes.
It all started when my manager asked me to move to Noida office from Gurgaon office. The reason was that it will help me to work better as the person to whom I report and work with is based out of Noida. I have a wonderful manager and nothing was forced upon me. I was just told to give it a thought. My wife’s office is also in Noida. At that time we used to stay at Malviya Nagar. Both of us in general were spending two hours on an average travelling. It made perfect sense to shift to Noida. We stay in rented place and don’t own any house in Delhi. So for people like us, change is the only part of life which we have to constantly accept and both of us were good in accepting this. I told my manager that I am willing to shift. He took some time to shoot the necessary mails to the Admin guys. In the mean time a tragedy struck us. Our flat was robbed while both of us were in office. My laptop, wife’s jewellery and some other stuff were taken away. It no longer made sense to stay there as both of us were terribly afraid. In this huge megacity I and my wife are completely alone. No relatives, No parents. Both of us are from Kolkata. So we decided to no longer stay in flats which are in gallis and instead agreed to move to a flat which will have a proper security. We wanted to stay in a society. After lot of flat hunting we caught a good one in Noida. The society was in Kendriya Vihar Phase II. This society consisted of around 700 flats and had a good security along with parks and a small shopping complex inside. We shifted there. Now my wife’s office became a 30 minute journey while mine became a four and half hour affair. Soon it became an affair to remember. It took two hours to reach Gurgaon and two and a half hours to come back. Initially I was able to cope up but very soon I started feeling too much exhausted. I went and bought Revital.
A month passed like this. I travelled daily to Gurgaon. In the mean time my manager kept sending mails. He tried his best to get me a seat in Noida. Now to get a seat allocated in our company we need the regional admin head’s approval. Mail was sent to him. He took his own sweet time to reply. He told that for a seat one has to get ISU head’s approval and then seat would be allotted based on availability. ISU means something like divisional or practice head. The ISU head approved. My manager sent that approval mail to Delhi admin guys requesting for a seat allocation in Noida. I was marked in that mail. I was delighted. My affair with the road was soon going to be a thing of the past and very soon I will be able to lead a normal life. I thanked all the Gods, all the Stars. Whenever I saw any Temple during my journey back home, I offered my sincere thanks to the God who resided within that temple. I even thanked Jesus when I saw a Church. There was no Mosque so Allah missed the opportunity. I was a happy man.
I waited for few days for the admin guys to reply. But nothing arrived. In the very first I had told that when performance matters, these fellows are the most incompetent lot. After a discussion with Ankit, I decided to come directly to Noida office. Lot of seats remain vacant as people keep going onsite. Besides, the law of probability says that few persons will always be on leave on any given day. So getting a vacant seat is always a good possibility. I went to Noida office, occupied a vacant seat, logged in to the system and sent a mail to the local admin requesting for a seat. I worked in this office a year back, so the nervousness of visiting a new place was not there. After sending the mail I went to the admin person. He recognized me and gave a big smile. One year back this person was very ill and was admitted in Max hospital. I along with a friend went to the hospital to visit him. We shook hands and then I told him about the mail. He scanned the mail and then told that ISU head approval is there but where is the Delhi admin head’s approval? I did not tell him that it was already seven days that the ISU head’s approval has come and there was no response from Delhi admin head yet. Too busy to reply to a mail I guess! I told him politely that “Sir, I thought ISU head approval was only needed. Please arrange a temporary seat for me for the time been. In the mean time the necessary reply from Delhi admin head will come in”. He told me “There is not a single seat vacant in this office and how can I give you a seat?” I told him there were lot of unused seats and let me seat on one of them. But they have been allocated to different projects and those people may shout if you sit on somebody’s system. I was trying my best to persuade him politely. “Sir, I understand but can’t you please make an arrangement for just today. From tomorrow I will be going to my Gurgaon office as usual.” I requested. “No. Not possible. You please vacant the seat where you are seating and kindly go out of the office and sit in the reception. Please do not enter this office unless you are allotted a seat. You cannot go against the rule. Company policy does not allow this.” He was adamant. “Sir I just need a single seat and that too for just today.” “Not possible” was the reply I got. Even Ankit tried to plead with him but result remained the same. I called up the Delhi admin head. I told him about the mail that he has received around a week back from my manager. He remembered and told me that he will get back on that mail very shortly. “Shortly” is a highly misused term within the company. It means anywhere from a minute to a month. I thanked him with a smile. People say you should smile while speaking on the phone so I smiled. I remembered what my supervisor told me “Never get angry with admin or otherwise they will not help you”. I followed his word diligently. I came to the local admin and told him that I had a word with the Delhi admin heads’ office and they will send the approval shortly. “But I will not approve as there is a huge fight for seats here. There is no vacant seat. When he will ask me I will tell no. Try the other offices” Don’t you think these words could have been told in a better way? Here is an associate pleading for a seat and that too for just one day so that his work can continue. There stood a guy hell bent to disrupt. I have worked in the company for quite some time now and I know how seats get allocated and how things get done here. I went back to the seat where I had kept my bag. I shut down the system. Soon a security guard arrived and asked me my name. He told me to vacate the seat and go and sit in the reception area. Suddenly I felt myself like a terrorist. SIMI, Al-Qaida, Lasker-i-Taiba? Organization did not matter. I earnestly wanted to be one and blast the admin fellow. But at the end of the day it is our company. A company famous for job security and strict hierarchical control. At least among the administration and some other groups. Soon I was sitting in the reception with nothing to do. That guard who escorted me outside wore a satisfied look. He was successful in the operation. The terrorist associate has been successfully flushed out of the premises without bloodshed. It was a stellar performance. I called up my supervisor and updated him. He told me not to get angry and keep building pressure on them for the seat. It might take some time but it will get done. After all he has the experience and I always found it rewarding to follow the experienced guy’s advice in office. So I decided to take leave. Going to Gurgaon via public transport made no sense as it will take me nearly three hours to reach it. So working from home seemed the best option. I informed my supervisor and left for my home.
Friends, I know that I have committed a mistake. I should have informed the local admin before arriving. I should have taken the necessary approvals before. But I strongly feel there could have been a better way for handling this. Mr Rajnath Singh of BJP has accused Mr Rahul Gandhi of been a “Bachha”. A “Bachha” in politics. Rahul Gandhi in reply had told “Yes, I am bachha. I donot have the experience of Mr Rajnath Singh. I cannot think in the way the elder generation thinks. I do not feel in the way the elders feel. The fact is also that seventy percent of India’s population is also bachha”. Admin fellows, the baccha brigade are coming. We will rock you! My wife has put Pink Floyd in the music system.

(helicopter in background)
(beat)

When we grew up and went to school There were certain teachers who would hurt the children any way they could……We don’t need no education…Teachers leave them, kids alone.
I yelled along with the Pink Floyd, “Admin leave me alone. Hey Admin leave me alone!”


Note: Despite all this I still love my company. Few fellows cannot make it bring it down in my eyes. We will defeat you.