Variety at the workplace

My immediate client counterpart grew up in the Soviet Union. Part of her growing up in Belarus, was watching bollywood movies in cinema theatres. Well, american movies were banned and bollywood movies were the nonsensical comical dramas, without any political overtones, which the government thought would be safe for its people. Dubbed in russian, along with the song and dance routines, brought people respite from the rigmaroles of the daily struggle. When she enquired what my weekend plans were, and on learning that possibly I would watch a hindi movie, trigerred her curiosity yet again. So are they still the same dance and music routines, she asked? And that is when, I came to know her tryst with bollywood movies, when she was growing up.

Another client colleague from the same project is a german. A young guy, must be the same age as me, very hardworking,. He was with us two weeks ago, but then went back to work from the Frankfurt office, for two reasons. One, that was part of the project plan, so that he could work with his manager there for a while, before heading back (he is coming back next monday) to the project location. And second, he was due for his final exam of the long distance MBA program that he has been diligently pursuing, for the last 4 years ! Apart from learning about the miserable weather patterns of Frankfurt, I got to hear many anecdotes about europe and its denizens. One of them was about a Jan 31st tradition, when women go bersek and start chopping off men's neckties, if one is wearing one. This bizzare tradition is very well practiced. According to the women, thats the day when they symbolically try to subdue men's power ! Men, on that day, wear ties that are very old and haggard, deserving a complete chop.

The next client associate that we work with is a chinese of vietnamese origin! She is again the same age as me, but a bit more crazier, I feel. She mumbles in her work ! Hardworking again, on the job all the time, but keeps talking to herself on every task. I think its the translation thats going on. She must be translating all work processes coded and discussed in english, into vietnamese, decoding it syllable by syllable and then functioning. She doesnt say much about vietnam or china or about other things. And when she is under stress, trying to deliver something on time, she goes on a binging spree. We have some snacks in the corner for hunger pangs (I stay away from them), and she devours them under stress, chatting along to herself at the same time. She is adorable.

My client manager, I am told has her roots from Ukraine. Another client planning manager has greek origins.

As I spend time working on this project, sitting in a conference room, somewhere in a suburb close to chicago, I learn so many facets of life and lifetimes, of other people. I learn about societies, customs, ideologies, notions. I am fascinated, how every day can be so much more....