Of clients, Mumbai and chai wale kaka…

Mumbai – the city that never sleeps (or maybe the city that sleeps only after the ek chaalis ki last local ;) ), has never been the way it’s been in this trip. I am ‘onsite’, sadly it was neither LA nor the big apple! Nevertheless, this trip will be special… for it is my first official trip.. and to the client’s office at that!

Excitement, apprehension, anxiety, joy – to name a few emotions that I felt (and still feeling) when I first came to know I would be travelling to client’s office in 2 days. That was 4 days ago. Today, 2 days into the trip, I feel both exuberant and restless at the same time. Exuberant because it’s been a confidence and morale booster trip and restless because I long to go back to my city, yes, my city – Pune. :)

Mumbai or Bengaluru or Chennai - it would’ve been the same had it been any other city in place of Mumbai, because frankly all I’ve been doing is waking up in the morning, taking a rick to office, sitting at my desk and working for 10-12 hours, living upto my company/manager’s (and my own) expectations, taking a rick back to the guest house, sending out status emails, watching a movie and going off to sleep.  I don’t have a clue as to what this place looks like in the light of the day, what shops sell what stuff or which restaurants there are in the neighborhood…

But what I did experience or rather what touched me was the daily cup of chai that I was brought to me every day without fail! :)

The day I reached here, I asked for a cup of tea – it was prepared and brought to me. I thanked kaka and graciously drank it –amrutjal! (when you’ve slept for hardly 4 hrs in the night and woke up with a wince at 6am, then walked for half a mile, then travelled in a bus for 4.5hrs, trust me, it is heaven!).

 Next day, without having to ask, kaka brought me a cup of wonderfully intoxicating smelling tea. I was pleasantly surprised! I thought he must’ve gotten it by mistake. But when he gave me another cup of hot piping tea in the evening with that smile on his face (a smile which closely resembled one of an ajoba looking at his grandchild), I was so deeply moved that I can’t express it.

Here’s to you kaka! You made me feel at home... :)