My Short Trip to Mumbai and A Deluge of Memories!

So finally I made it.. I have been longing to make a trip to the Amchi Mumbai, just to meet my friends out there.. A warm touch, a cozy chat, a quiet dinner and a good companionship.. I almost jumped at a training session organized by TCS. Well, the session proved worth the visit too. Well, that’s my first flight experience too. The whole world seems so serene and small from top. Awesome sight! I reached there on Sunday Afternoon, planning to catch up with lots of friends in that short span of 6 hours. It turned out to be better than what I have expected. I felt great catching up with pals and their stories of Mumbai and Work.

Coming to the business of the visit, I went to Mumbai for training on creative brainstorming and innovation techniques. At least, that’s what I thought at the first. I ended up being in a train the trainer session for an organizational effectiveness initiative of TCS called Propel which helps in creating a change platform. Sounds complex, right? It is.

The training was conducted by Tao Knoware Pvt Ltd. When the first 2 days of training concentrated on making people more human and resolving value dilemmas in organizations, the rest 2 focused on enhancing productivity by addressing specific issues at the organizational level. The training session was an awesome learning experience as I could relate those issues in the current organizational context. The whole training is focused on organizational culture as for TCS, “means are more important than the ends.” I met with so many sharp minds who are mature and sensitive. I guess that enhances the appeal of these sessions.

Unfortunately I was hit by viral fever so I was kind of a passive participant there. Added to that, our training was organized at Hotel Retreat at Madh Island, a real godforsaken place! Actually it’s a perfect place for honeymooners and definitely not for corporate conferences.

Its time to get back to Chennai again! Hoping to catch the morning flight, I landed up at 8:00 AM on Saturday only to realize that the flight is booked by mistake at 8:00 PM. Now, the feeling was of pure jubilation! So, I got enough time to catch up with my buddies after all! I asked my friend to pick me up at airport and landed up at her flat again! It’s so long since I had a quiet chat with my dear college friend. She is getting married this December and is trying to train herself to be a traditional lady! Her life got changed from jeans to suits, and I just loved watching her taking charge of her life! Glad that I could spend some time with the “to be married” gang!

Thanks to my friend’s sweet roomie’s suggestion, I met up with my ILP gang TCS colleagues in Mumbai. Life was back to projects, bosses, and profiles again! It was glad to see them back after one year! Lots of catching up and so little time! All good things come to an end finally and so does this trip…