Cheating and more

Students, especially overseas students, sitting exams in some specific subjects here, have been caught cheating recently. All the students who were caught cheating were of Indian origin.

And the explanation that they and their trainers (incidentally, another Indian) could come up with was:
a) It’s part of the Indian culture
b) It’s an acceptable practice in India.

EXCUSE ME?

But then, why am I surprised? There was this wife-beater a few years ago here who tried to justify his 'habit' saying that it was a culturally acceptable practice in India.

And there was another man who tried to justify killing his wife. His reason? She was having an affair with a Pakistani man, ie, the enemy. So he was actually being patriotic by killing her.

And there was this guy in front of me in the Immigration office, asking if he could get his visa stamped in the NZ office itself instead of taking it back to India, as "India is bad, nothing works properly there and nothing gets done on time", he said in his pigdin English.

BLOODY SLIMEBALLS!

Oops! (or is it actually sigh?)

It’s now more than two weeks at the new job, and things couldn’t be any different or any better.

There is such a strong team culture and doing things as a team is the norm here. And I actually heard words like well done and perfect applied to work done all the time. And of course the fact that work is only 8km away from home and I can drive in each day and get free parking. Any wonder that I can’t stop grinning?

It is a whole new world of GA (general aviation), RPLs (recreational pilot licences) and what not. And it is such fun (yes, fun).

But there’s a fly in every ointment. My own personal dhristhi pariharam. The hardest thing is not the jargon, but getting used to and recognising a whole set of ‘new’ people. I am beginning to suspect that this is something I am rather hopeless at. And this is because....read on.

I went down to the main kitchen to get a cappuccino this morning. Saw a whole crowd of blokes hanging around there. Said hi to them and waited for the machine to make my cappuchino. One of the chaps looked strangely familiar. I sneaked another quick look at him and decided I must have seen him:
a. on the train to Wlg in my previous job
b. he had been a retail assistant in one of the shops I frequented
c. he had been on TV, that’s why he looked familiar.

For some reason, I was convinced that it was option c that was the right one.

It would have been alright if I had stopped with just thinking that. But me, I have to talk, don't I? So I said to him, have we met before? He gave me a very strange look and said yes, we have, we had all our IT training together last week. Then it hit me, he was J, another newbie like me in my workplace and we’d gone through two 2-hour systems training sessions together just a few days ago. And I thought I’d seen him on TV!!! OMG! How could I. How did the TV even come into the picture? I’ve officially lost it.

I apologised profusely and said all the right things about how my memory was a like a sieve and he was nice enough to come up with some of his own faux pas. But this is worrying. I can’t be so scatter-brained. Just not good enough.

And ...this isn't the first time such a thing has happened to me.

New day, new job, new jargon to learn...;-)

An award: and going, going, gone…

My first ever blog award! Thanks to Shyam for giving me this.I am touched and pleased!

And then, along with Navarathri rounds, things are happening so quickly now, they still haven’t sunk in. Life’s a bit of a blur at the mo.

I am moving from here. Moving, moving, moving. Just in case you didn’t get it, it’s time to move on from here, new job beckons. But before that, I am taking some time off to get to know I, me and myself all over again!

The countdown has begun!! Only today and tomorrow to go…

No more train into town at unearthly hours in the morning. Although I admit, I might even miss it and the fellow sufferers who travel into town along with me every morning. I will miss the sweet-looking old lady who has her hair up in a bun everyday and wears a skirt. I will miss the flat-faced bloke with green hair and jeans that just about manage to stay up on his waist. I will miss the guy with the earphones who looks like he has burnt skin. I will miss the mustached man who gets off at Ava daily. I will miss the middle-aged couple who hold hands when they get off from the train in Wellington. I will miss…

But, most of all, I will miss all the wonderful people whom I will leave behind when I walk out of this role. They are more than workmates - they are friends and I truly will treasure the time I have spent with them.

But for now, leaving, leaving, leaving, that’s the only thought in my mind. Freedom beckons…

Solliloquy

Why, why, why? To eat or not to eat, that is the question.

I am only human and like all humans want to impress the top boss on the rare occasions when I do see him. Today I did see him, he came down to my floor. And what’s more, he came to talk specifically to me. And what was I doing when he came? I was in the process of shoving a large spoonful of smelly rice into my mouth. Very edifying spectacle. I am sure he went away completely impressed.

Why, why why? Why couldn’t I be talking impressively on the phone, or typing an official email or organising some meeting or making a clever joke when he came? Of course, since I am eating most of the time I am at work, maybe that is to be expected;-( I am depressed. I am off to eat some more comfort foods (chocolate).

1. Interventionist
2. Militates
3. incentivised
4. volunteerism
5. inter vivos

These are five 'new' (to me) words that I learnt on the job yesterday.