A word from me, "Working Will"

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I knew that worklife would be different here when I peered across the top of the office cubicles and saw the top of a bright blue turban jutting out above the desk dividers.

Then there are the power cuts in the middle of the day, usually lasting only 20 seconds or so until the back-up generators switch on but enough time to consider the fact that you are no longer in Norway and wouldn't it be nice to take advantage of the darkness to have a quick snooze.

Some definite pluses are having a small army of Nepali boys living in the office, ready to deliver a hot milky cup of coffee at the press of a button, or three buttons to be precise (ext. 110). A second bonus is the close proximity of some dirt cheap but delicious restaurants selling South Indian thalis at 65 Rupees (85p) complete with dhosa and curd on the side. You're always guaranteed to have an interesting conversation with the web architect or Accenture consultant sitting opposite you too.

The office building itself is located in a brand spanking new glass-and-steel metropolis called the DLF, where goat herders brush past executives and cattle grids keep the large livestock from wandering aimlessly onto the main plaza. As like much of India, Gurgaon is a place of mind-jarringly stark contrasts.

But what about me? Well when I'm at work it's flat out, not a second to myself and not a second even to write this blog. There are over fifteen projects to get moving between two of us in the team, not to mention new opportunities around every corner. The parent company (Australian engineering firm SMEC) has fingers in every infrastructure pie you can imagine and here it's all about WHO you know.

So the bosses are asking me to travel, put in some "face-time", get to Dhaka, Lahore (where I'm writing this now), Himachel Pradesh and even the remote mountains of Sikkim. Its gonna be a busy schedule. But at least I'll be with Maria to fascinate me with stories of real life...

In fact neither I nor you would know much about Gurgaon life at all if it wasn't for Maria's burning need to vent her continual fascination and frustration with everyday life here. Stories about our emotionally distressed driver, about transportation nightmares, about beggar girls and dance techniques... By day I'm living vicariously.

I'll leave this entry for now and post some pics of pretty Pakistan when I return from across the border (in-Shallah).

Masses of love, klemz

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