Office & Concorde

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Hi all,

"We are here to for some serious official work and we shud be devoting our time and attention to that".I experienced something similer this weekend.it was office this weekend.Our unit head,Mr.Prashant Gupta,arrieved in US to check out the progress made by our team this week.This has lot to do why our weekend was like this this time.

We had some team meetings last week wherein we discussed abt the happenings of this location base.We all some deadlines for the deliverables.The deadlines are little too strigent.and that made me go to office on saturday as well.Kamlesh who is handleing Interest Rate Derivatives joined me on Saturday mornings as we made our plans for the day.Thanx to Chandrika Amin,my
colleague (originally from Ahmedabad) we reached office w/o any cab expenses.It was around 10.45 am that we settled down at our desks.Being a weekend there was not a single person apart from us in the office,barring the pantry staff.I quickly put my hands on activity in order to cover up as much as i can in a day.We had got some aloo ka paratha which Kamlesh had
cooked for both of us to office in a Tupperware dabba.We had it for lunch at 2.00.After a nice lunch we resumed the work.It was boring but no options.We
have to put an extra effort to ensure that we deliver by the due dates in the coming week.

Prashant in the meanwhile was enjoying his shopping with my other 2 colleagues at Christiana Mall.This is the only weekend he has here as he will leaving coming friday.I think he wanted to make the most of it by shopping at some hepp places.We called him up to check out the POA (Plan of Action) for the evening.He told us that he will be taking us to dinner at JALSA,an
indian restaurant in here that evening.We decided to meet all three of them at his Hotel..Hotel Hilton at 6.15 pm.We all came on time.The cab was booked for 8.00 pm so we have a couple of hours to engage ourselves in some chatting and gossipping.God...he loves it very much.That two hours we discussed nothing apart from who is leaving JP moragn and where they r joining.I was just waiting for the watch to tick for 8.00 pm.At 55 past 8 we came into the hotel lobby for the cab.

The cab was on time.There was a slight problem locating Jalsa but we managed to find it ultimately.It was a nice dinner.The food was good especially Chicken Tikka.After treating ourselves to some wonderful garlic nans and mixed varities of indian food we left Jalsa for the apts by 10.15 pm.Before leaving we decided the POA for Sunday..of course it was less of us and more of Prashant in that decision.And the decision was to go to Concorde Mall on Winmington next day afternoon.

Next day i.e today i got up rather late.it was at 9.30.This used to be my reguler time back home,not so long ago.But it has changed now.I get up..raher have to get up by 6.15 each working day as we report to office by 7.45 am.The new job has certainly put in a lot of discipline in me,if not anything else.After having my bath,i went to Pracheer's apt for a hot cup of tea with soothing hindi romantic music numbers.After having a couple of cups we called up Prashant and informed him that we will meet him at Hilton at 12 noon.He in the meanwhile made arrangements with his hotel to drop all 3 of us i.e
Prashant,Shailaja and me to Concorde in their hotel shuttle service free of charge.

It was a smooth 45 mins ride till we reach Concorde at 1 pm.After getting down we unanimously decided to spread out and meet up for lunch at 2.30 pm at Sears showroom in Concorde.Prashant went his way and myself along with Shailaja started our shopping.The first thing i picked up is couple of purses for tai and mai.It was a good deal as i got goods worth $75 for $50 after a good negotiation.We went around many shops there.I tell you shopping here is an experience that all temporary immigrants shud never miss.Its a pleasure.A joy that cannot be described.I wud just say AMAZING.!!It sure costs hell lot of money but who cares when ur copmany is paying ur bills.I picked up a
lot of small varieties before we meet Prashant for lunch at 2.30 pm.But it seems he was more interested in shopping that having a lunch with us.This apart we vary in our tastes.He is die hard fan of Chinese food and we hate it equally.this might another reason why he told us to have lunch seperately and meet up again at 5.30 pm at the same spot as afternon.

Malls here are just too good.They are equipped with everything.Here we get one of the best food varities at a single point.We decided to go for the Italian food today.I had a Margarita Chicken i.e fried chicken with cheese in a french bread with sausages.It was great!!So far i have tried all food varities here except labounese and mexican food,which we will cover
up in coming weeks.FYI,i have had beef,pork and meat at some time since leaving Mumbai.I donot intend to make it my menu.I still miss our home made food b'use thats the BEST.

Ater the stomuchfull lunch we resumed the shopping.Added another couple of bags to our luggage.It was mainly clothing for me.I spent around 150 bucks today including travel.Believe i wud never spent the way i spent on t-shirts today.I got around 8 t-shirts for around 75 bucks.It comes to around 4000
rupees.Again trust me its all company money thats why iam spending this much and i have no intentions to continue my spending habits once iam back to mumbai.

We all showed up at the predecided place at 5.45 pm.We went out and the pick up was right in front of us.However there was a slight problem as Hilton Hotel Shaufer declined to give us the lift,we not being Hilton customers.Ultimately we decided to go for a cab.We bid bye bye to Prashant and booked the cab on phone for our apts.Cabs here are expensive.They charge
50 cents/mile i.e Rs.25/mile of distence.Same for city area is a little less.Till the time we reached our apts the fare was 50 bucks i.e Rs.2250.Imagine how many times we can go borivali to Churchgate in taxi in
this amount!!!!!

It was fun..but it was equally tiring.We quickly had a warm cup of tea bfore we parted for our individual apts at 7.30 pm.I went home got fresh and press the clothes for the whole week from 8 - 9 pm.I missed the Istriwala down the Saujanya across the roads very much!!I miss him every sunday ;-)At 9.30 we had our dinner i.e Baigan ka bharta with Garlic nan and rice.Now its 11.10 pm as i finish up writing yet another weekend story to u.Next weekend Prashant will be back to London so we are planning for Washington DC overnite.It all depends on the weather.Hopefully it will be fine and i will have a whole lot of experiences to share with you....

till then have a nice week ahead ;-)take care..I miss u a lot!

Sachin

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