home sweet home

finally got home after a long long journey...

the train from jamshedpur was late... so the four of us stood at the train station and waited for more than 1.5 hrs... it was hot but not dry... so we were sweating away... while we were waiting, so many people came to beg for money... we just stood there, ignoring them, not an easy task... some of the kids looked so pitiful... and the project manager said "and some people question the credibility of slumdog millionaire"... pathma gave away some money, i think he cannot stand the looked on the kids' faces... as for me, i guess i was cruel... i just stood there and ignored them...

when the train finally arrived, we were struggling to get on it... and the project manager was the 1st to get on the train, and i was behind him... and like the usual, some people cut in front of me... and the project manager... he is so nice and sweet... he got on the train, took his baggage up, turned back and grab mine... and of course the couple who cut in between us did not let me go in front of them, so the poor PM has to handle 2 luggages in the train... and mine isn't exactly small and light... frankly, no one in the office was that nice to me before... reaching where we were supposed to sit, he took the luggages and put it on the overhead racks... and upon arrival, he took it down for me as well... and then getting off from the train, he got down and then took all the luggages down... he is so sweet...

well, i've travelled with some PMs and some of the other guys in the office before... some are nice, some not so nice... thierry was a quite a good companion, i remembered i went to tanjung bin once with him, and then he drove from the airport to ptp, and we were supposed to get the gate passes at the port authority... so we all went to take the passes... on the way back, we were supposed to get our id cards back, and he said, you just wait in the car, i'll do it, so he took our passes, jumped down and came back with all our ids...

richard was a normal companion, he takes care of himself... nothing special about travelling with him, except he takes way too many cigarette breaks... ashwani... was an "ok" travel companion, except he doesn't like to pick up the bills... everything is claimable, but he will make sure he make someone else pay for it and claims... nick was a good travel companion, not that i travelled much with him, but he was caring... i remembered once i went to aceh with him, but i was supposed to leave earlier than him, so before i leave for the airport, i went to see him to give him the slips to claim the airport tax... he paid the taxes for me earlier that morning, so i gave the slips to him so that he can claim... and then he asked "do you have money to go back? do you need some cash?"... i was like, eh, no one asked me that in a long time... deepak, well, when i travelled with him, he ignored me while we were in the airport, but since we took the same taxi to the plant, he made me work in the taxi! not exactly a good candidate to travel with... but bidyut... aww, so sweet and nice and caring and thoughtful...

some people in the office are very nice to work with, some not so... among those i like to deal with are ong, thierry, nick, bidyut, huilin, faridah and that is about it... others are ok, some not so nice... but in general the team works quite well together... also one of the reasons why i felt so sad about the shifting of office to beijing...

on the last day of the kooc seminar, they gave out these pens to the people who have presented... so they gave a me a set as a token of appreciation... i took it, and then a fellow colleague told me that i should share it with him, i said "you can have it all" and i gave the whole box to him... and he said no, he only wants to share... i said no, i will not share, if he wants it, he has to take it all... so he did not take it... the next morning, he sent an sms saying that i still owe him half my gift... i ignored his sms, but when i went to the office, i gave him the whole box, still wrapped and unopened, and told him the same thing... and we had a good debate about sharing and not sharing... so i said, whatever i gave out i won't take back, do whatever you want with it... and left the box on the table... i just don't understand some people, what is in the box than he wants so badly? and if he wants it so badly, why want to pretend to be shy and only wants half... well, of course i know why he wants half... some unspeakable reason... some reason so absurd...

and i wonder to myself when i was on the train... i think we as humans just like to covet what belongs to others... the grass is always greener on the other side... therefore, other people's husband is always better than our own, other's wife is always sweeter and nicer than our own... other's job is better, other people have a better life, a better way of living, a better family background, everything that is not ours is always better... sigh... when do we learn that we should be happy with what we have?