Skip to main content

L for Lunch

The following story might make you cry. Please be prepared accordingly with some tissues.

In my 4-5 years of working life, I have mostly had a team around me. We sit around each other, share some fun moments, talk about the boss. And most importantly, have lunch together. For a couple of years in between when we had a really bad boss, lunch was our escape. Our only topic for discussion would be the boss. When he quit, we almost had a vacuum in our lives. Which of course got filled by another bad boss. But the point is, lunch was always an important occasion in the day.

Then things changed. I got married and moved to Bangalore, while my team continued to sit in Mumbai. The Bangalore office was a whole new story. I don't have a single team member here. And worse, there is noone I can talk to. There's a sales team that is almost always on the move.

So from a hip and happening lunch time, I moved to solo lunch, sitting alone at my desk, watching Youtube videos on a slow internet connection. What makes it worse is that my office is located in the most awesome location with atleast 8 of the top 10 highest rated restaurants in Bangalore on Zomato, within 5 km. 

Sometimes, during lunch I cry. Thinking about all the amazing lunches we could have had here. But sometimes I think it's ok. Who wants all those extra calories from the amazing Russian Medovik Cake at Berry'd Alive. Or the Pasta at Church Street Social. Not me.

And besides, you know how much money I am saving with this. My own sad little lunch in a corner of the office means no spending on group outings. Also, slow Youtube ka mazaa hi kuch aur hai. You know that Adele is going to say, "It's me" after Hello, but waiting only makes the song sound better. You must try it.

The one solace I have is a coconut water guy. He is nice. He is old and my only source of conversation in the work day. (Other than the 6 hours of phone calls I have with my team that sits in Mumbai). Coconut is the indulgence I have allowed myself, every afternoon at 3:30 pm. I go stand there and he knows exactly the kind of coconut I like. Everyday he picks a random topic for conversation - Traffic, construction work, wrong parking, his observations on politics. Its a nice 10 minutes of silent conversation. He is almost the only person (other than my Mom), who asks me if I had lunch.

It feels nice. Also, a little sad that this is what my lunch hour has been reduced to.

Sigh.

Did you cry? Maybe you could donate to get my team to shift to Bangalore?

Please do.

Thanks
Preeks

Comments

  1. Wouldn't it be better for you to come back to Mumbai? Just asking :p

    ReplyDelete
  2. Eating lunch alone is the worst thing - worst thing ever . Grounds for resignation even

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agree completely! I wish HR understood this!

      Delete
  3. Replies
    1. Thanks! And wow! You are still around on blogworld! Had no idea! :)

      Delete
  4. I hear you. Ditto same situation after i moved to the Pune office. Lonely lunches and no more afternoon juice breaks. Im that weird girl without a team, who comes alone, roams the office alone with a laptop and ear phones frantically looking for an empty meeting room and getting shoved from one table to another because, no team, no table.

    I will readily donate if you promise to go hunt for my teammates' loved ones, kidnap them and get my team to move to Pune as ransom. My donation will be generous i promise.

    - Moo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Same same same same situation. Exactly same. Roomless, table-less. :(

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Them 90s Things - 1 - iTV Music Channel

Starting a random series of all things from a 90s childhood, just so I have a record of these memories for posterity. Do you remember a channel called iTV?  The 1999 Cricket World Cup was when our extremely middle-class, government quarters colony rose to the challenge of cable tv. Till then, we were happily adjusting our antennas and watching wholesome family entertainment on the two channels of DD1 and DD2. Then came the cable wale bhaiya, with his fancy earring, a few TV guides stacked under his arms along with long ropes of cable, promising unlimited entertainment for the entire colony. And just like that, we all got lured. Cable TV bought with it a lot of changes, many of which I assume will get covered in this series. But, today's post is about 1 particular memory which every 90s kid can relate to. A huge letter I revolving on the TV in anticipation of a new song being chosen. Yep. The iTV generation. Not MTv. It was all about iTV. I still don't know what that channel was

Drumrolls and All That

In crass Hindi, this moment would have been aptly defined as "Laut ke buddhu, ghar ko aaye".  Exact translation would mount to "Fools return home" and that's what this post is. So, after taking a break from work, doing a second Masters, getting a job in Singapore and moving countries, I am back on the blog.  Who would have thunk? An year back, I had no idea this is what I would be doing in an year. But then again, do we know what we will be doing an year from now?  Lesson learnt. No planning, no guessing.  Just keep exploring, keep doing new things, keep learning, keep meeting new people. Things will happen. Trust. Like a fool (who returned home!) So, while I discover this part of my life, Singapore, I thought I need the blog more than the blog needs me. Because moving countries is not in the least as glamorous as it sounds.  There's the whole deal with selling all belongings which you have hoarded lovingly over the years. A

Letters to the Upparwalla!

(Wow! BlogAdda made my day! :) ) Prologue: I have been SO so SO so lazy, busy and blank, that I stopped writing posts altogether. But then, on reflection, I thought I owed this one to the unseen forces above. Hence, this post! LETTER #1 To The Gods Above, 1, "All Roads Lead to Heaven" Road, Heaven - 000000 15.06.2010 From Un Faithful Earthling Somewhere on Earth - Does the pin code matter? Sir/Ma'am, SUB: Complaint Regarding Services Rendered             This is to bring to your kind attention, the highly unsatisfactory services being rendered to me, not at all in keeping with the Contract signed during my release to the Earth. Further, I wish to register a complaint regarding the following key issues: Interaction With Irritating People : According to Clause 4 of my Contract which you have also signed, it was mutually agreed by both parties, that during my peaceful stay on Earth, my interaction with irritating people would be kept to as minimum as possi