A Place Called Abu Dhabi...

For over 20 years my life has revolved around this place.. Then one day I landed here.. and then I had one of the finest experiences of all times.. It is a place to be..

It was 10 am in the morning as my plane touched down the Abu Dhabi international airport. My first visit to Abu Dhabi and also the first outside my home country. Like any normal person my mind too was preoccupied with many thoughts. My first step outside the flight and there was the sun - close to 42 degrees and relatively high humidity as well. The Transport Bus guided us to the ARRIVALS section.

As I entered the Airport I couldn’t help notice the never ending shopping centers – you get anything and everything here – Diamonds to Chocolates – you could get it all. I collected my VISA, got my retina scanned and then finally stepped out of passport control section. One of my Dad's friends came to pick me up at the airport and took me to Hotel Rotana where I would stay for a while before I could find an apartment to stay for a month. From the 10th floor of my hotel room I looked through the balcony to have a larger view of capital of UAE, Abu Dhabi. All I could see was wide roads and never ending HUGE buildings, something I had only seen in movies.

I was here at Abu Dhabi for my summer placement training at ADCO - Abu Dhabi Company for On Shore Oil Operations, a name that I had always heard as a child. I have always wanted to be here to experience the same first hand, IN FACT I have grown hearing about ADCO. All geared up and optimistic I slept early for a Bright new day tomorrow. In the morning I woke up early (I could hardly sleep with the excitement) had my breakfast and went on to find a Cab which would take me to ADCO HQ.

I have seen ADCO on the internet many times but watching it this close was a different experience – it was much grander, Majestic standing tall watching The Arabian GULF in the front as it looked in the images. Staggering 15 floors divided into the east and the west wing and clubbed with the Y block forms this MASSIVE ADCO HQ. Top class Equipments, Machinery, state of art Security and Safety systems were installed to keep this place running without any difficulties and also providing its employees a pleasant working Environment. I enter the front door and proceed towards the reception desk where I am given my ‘Work Placement’ ID card. Then next step was to go to the first floor GSD (General Service’s department) department where I was selected for my training. The GSD Department is filled with employees working on their desktops and everyone busy and always at work – it signifies the amount of work that is being carried out here. I quietly sit on my desk and wait for any order/work/task that comes my way. Here, I’m given a well equipped desk to help me work more efficiently. With multilingual and multicultural personnel all around I felt like a corporate citizen of the world for first time sitting in ADCO office.

The 11^th Floor Air handling unit goes down and soon the GSD department directs the BIFCO maintenance officials to the rescue. Rectifying the Air handling Unit was too small a task for the Team. The problem was well attended and solved. Two weeks just passed by – I was taught many things – The working of GSD Dept, basics about AC’s, working of the Fire Fighting Equipment, VESDA system, how a smoke alarm works, about safety standards, The LV Room, the Generator room, the daily maintenance report and many more.

Two weeks just passed by I am sure that the coming weeks would prove to be much more resourceful in terms of learning and understanding of the Department. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all my superiors who guided and mentored me whenever I needed them. A special thanks to ADCO management that made possible.

Merely two weeks up and the Arabic hospitality have already touched my heart as a new comer every body cared about me this was heart warming. I don’t know if I would ever want to leave this place but I am sure that apart from the learning’s that I would get at ADCO I will also be taking many memories back home, memories of generous superiors at ADCO, of kind hearted people of Abu Dhabi, of all the Shopping centers & Malls, of the Sun which suddenly seems dearer and of all the people whom I met, at my stay here In Abu Dhabi. I will carry the remembrance of rich Arab culture many years to come

The last of its kind..

When was the last time you referred to something as “The last of its kind..?”. And how did you spend/do/live it ? What was going on in your mind then ? For me it was pure confusion.

Trim 6 – Final exams – MBA !! Yes the day had arrived when we were all giving the “The last of its kind” – The Exams. I don’t seem to recollect our prepararations. Wait a Sec ! Did we even start preparing? Noooo !! We had something better to do. Guess what? Ranjeet – Da – Dhaba (RDD)..

Just before an exam called ‘Creating effective organization’ – we decided to head over to RDD. Eating Kebabs was not the only thing in mind – it was more about a proper get-together before we all disperse. As soon as we were done with TQM, me and Mallu (Saurabh Malhotra – a thin – lean – then then long haired Punjabi – who surprisingly is being called MALLU ! Courtesy – U know who ), Kinky (Kinshuk Vatsa – The DepG of WE – the most loved person by all – lets call him ‘OFIK-One of its kind’) took a cab to RDD. We weren’t even greeted by the staff – infact we had to wait outside for like 15 mins (in the Kadakti Dhoop) until the restaurant finally opened.

We were soon joined by Mihir (ElMiro –his CS name. If joey used to say ‘how you doin’ then ELmiro said ‘that’s what she said’ ) and Sushant (The other half of Web Council )...

“Sir, you may sit inside – The AC has been switched on” – said the waiter. We all rushed in to occupy the best cozy seats.

Then came Raj (iamrajs – tweeeter – someone who admires SRK like I do), Pulin (name may sounds weird but he is the unpolluted of of the lot. LAZY too !!), Shah (we call him Sheesha now – he has mastered the art of Hookah making) & Pali (recent snaps indicated that he always wished to be a girl – cheers ).

“Yaar bike se itna bura accident hua ke mai bata nahi sakta” – said Anna as he came in to join the party (Akhil Chauria – a mammoth to beat them all – our BigB). He said he is going to pay attention to the speedometer the next time he hits the road. It was purely God’s grace that he was unhurt. He calls himself ‘HYBRID Thakur’ now. He says that Thakur’s have evolved over time and have learned adjust to the surrounding.. Hence the word – Hybrid.

So here we were at RDD – soon to be drifted away in different directions. We would leave behind memories, of times that were truly awesome.

Everything thing in life has a start and an end. If it doesn’t have a start then nothing new and better can ever happen. If it doesn’t have an end then maybe we are struck somewhere. Joining MBA was a start and Farewell was the End. And with every End there should be an new Start – guess it’s the way of life.

The party got over – we were back at our rooms by 5. Every party ends with a hope that there will another one soon. All our parties ended at my place with some sheesha and then guarantee that we shall party again tomorrow. However this one ended a bit different. At 2100 hrs we decided to go to worli sea face, followed by PORSCH show room on ELMiro’s order and then the Mucchad pan shop. We returned by 1 in the morning and slept not before 2:30.

It was indeed a day of very special memories and that's the reason it’s up on my blog. For now CRK is back to blogging…