Sunday afternoon. I wake up at 12 p.m.Was with the guys from offshore till 1 am last night,and as I look bleary eyed at the clock,I realize that the whole gang must be at Narita by now, checking in .....
2 weeks back the Japan team suddenly woke up to the fact that unless some sort of training and Knowledge transfer happens this project will fail miserably. So they decided to get the offshore team here for a week. In typical Japanese fashion they took more than a week to make the decision and then suddenly wanted the team here within 4 days. So Me in Tokyo and AB in Noida spend 4 very exhausting days in getting the invitation letters and visas ready and preparing the team.
And then suddenly all of them are here ..............
All six of them bleary eyed and tired, the ones first time abroad looking slightly dazed and confused, the ones who have been to Tokyo before excited and longing to catch up with friends ....
Four guys with a single minded determination to hit the bar every evening when the 1000 yen – 2 hrs drink all you can offer is on and drink till they pass out .Two girls with their minds more on shopping and having fun than things like knowledge transfer and deadlines.
And what a whirlwind of a week it was .When I look back on it all I have is snatches of memories ...
the guys drinking themselves silly each and every night,the girls wanting to buy makeup and accessories....
Me worrying incessantly that they will be Late for work ....Will they remember the protocol? their manners? All the small but extremely important nuances that come with working in Japan that I have told them a million times ?...
Me screaming at them – yes actually screaming when they do come to work late totally unconcerned about how it would seem to the client ..you are not at offshore damn it ... get your ass to work on time and behave yourselves while you are here .. keep your voices low, don’t lounge in the corridors and for heavens sake concentrate and listen listen during meetings ....
Me torn between the Indian and the Japan side...doing the exhausting job of a mediator.
The Japan side .. making fun of the Indians,complaining all the time, being totally unhelpful and going back on what they had said during previous meetings even when we showed them the MOMs as proof; making us re do all the work.In all my experiences with Japan never have I met such a bunch of lousy bastards.......
AS and SP and NS refusing to touch Japanese food, even the veg sandwiches at the deli, insisting on going to my apt. everyday during lunch to heat up and eat food out of MTR packets that they have lugged all the way frm India.... Me telling them to loosen up and get out of their 「roti daal and chaawal only coz we are Indians」mentality and try their hand at the Japanese food ..its tasty yaar just try it na .....
AB.... first time in Japan - amazed at the alcohol intake and the fact that Japan business is hinged more upon the after work drink parties and relationships than anything else ....
AB on his return from Nagoya ... hogging on a bowl of maggie noodles and bread and my tomato chutney as if he has never seen food before .....
Me taking SP and RS to Odaiba at night and smiling quietly at their delight as they ride the monorail and go into raptures over the marvelous view of the rainbow bridge and the Tokyo tower at night .....
AB,NS and AS –in akihabara on Saturday ....take three normal Indian IT engineers and put them in akihabara, and suddenly they go berserk. They turn into a bunch of over excited out of control kids and wander along the floors as if they are in magic land. No amount of pleading, threats and` we are dying of hunger` from us makes them budge from there. They only leave when all their money is finished and we refuse to lend them any.
VA,SP and I thoroughly exasperated with them, finally leave them huddled together in the camera section of softMap，crooning over the latest sony camera and scour the restaurants to find something veg for SP to eat. Finally we walk in a coffee shop ask the lady at the counter to remove the chicken from the chicken salad sandwich and tell SP she’ll have to do with that ...
SP and I pushing off to Asakusa ...I show her the temple and the huge lantern and she is appropriately impressed.
SP very excited on having bought her very first digital camera frm Akihabara. I spend the afternoon at Asakusa patiently clicking her in various poses and then at12 a.m at night she realizes that she has left the camera behind at Asakusa and now its too late to go back and look for it....
Me hogging on paranthas and the namkeen that they get from India, realizing that I do miss Indian food more than I am willing to admit ....
The riotous Friday night party when everyone both from Japan and India gets thoroughly drunk and AB and I take the opportunity to tell the Bitch M what we really think of her ..
And now that they are gone .... after 6 days of eating haldiraam namkeen and kaju katli, talking in hindi,loud laughter and unrestrained crazy conversations... I find the sudden silence unbearable ....
