and so i landed in london

I land in london, quite an uneventful flight except that i slept through breakfast. and then almost had a heart attack when i couldn't find my bags for an hour.. but reached all right and settled in fine. office is nice, team is good, work is interesting, have been picking up well so far. and then...

B****** k*.. kya ho gaya agar (some business terminology). Kya kar lenge.. m* ch********?? It was like I had been electrocuted. I am in citi alright, or am I watching an Omkara-type profanity-filled movie again? I looked around for the source of this barrage, and discovered it was the senior guy’s cabin in front of my desk. he probably didnt realise there was an indian intern right there.. there was a storm of mixed emotions building up in my head, shock, amazement, disbelief and surprisingly (but then maybe not) relief..

This was probably the final missing piece in my jigsaw, of why this place seemed so familiar. Right from cubicle arrangement of desks furnished with desktops, extension lines, and 3 drawers on the side to the coffee vending machine in the pantry area and the broader cafeteria. You catch Aishwarya Rai gossip on the common TV in the breakfast zone, you find people sorting personal issues over the company extensions, heads glued to their monitors so that you may rarely see their faces, and not to forget the team wide lunches and meetings enjoying dairymilk chocolate. Of course this place goes beyond all this, a book club within the pantry area, tastier vegetarian options, taller and fancier buildings, suit clad men and women and last but not the least the sprawling city outside. But I feel at home. Only the content of the documentation reminds me that this is another time, but otherwise I feel I have been here for a long time.

London hasn’t even begun to amaze me yet. So far I have just got my phone and grocery fixed, my accommodation is really homey thanks to the kind LBS students. And Sherlock holmes is nearby to revive a childlike enthusiasm in me. The weather can be cold, but when the sun comes out and warms your skin, I can tell you there is no happier feeling. The range of options are incredible, right from consumer goods to entertainment to celebrities, everything here is king-size. Queen-size rather. And then there is the ubiquitous Indian, every place you go there are more Indians than any nationality, British included. Right from shops to our CEO, they are all Indian. You can say the density would be like 1 person per sq meter here. I guess I am beginning to understand what the London dream means to us..