The Office Pooja

A break from the travel stories today - will continue though, don't fret.

We moved to our new office this week in Mital Towers, about another 5 mins walk from the old office - which doesn't sound a lot but come the monsoon could me the difference between soaked and drowned rat! We are up on the 8th floor now and my desk is in an area beside the pantry along with the rest of the servicing and finance teams.

Before we could use the office we had to have a Pooja, this is where the holy man comes in and performs a ritual. We used two deities, Ganesh ( remover of obstacles and keeper of knowledge) and a Laxmi (Goddess of wealth) and various acts were performed. They were washed, rinsed, fed, covered in flowers and then chanted over. Candles were lit to represent the fire and incense wafted around the office. The holy man did a lot of chanting but all I really picked up was "Ohm Ganesh" and "Ohm Laxmi". At the end we took in in turn to waive a candle clockwise over the deities and then bless ourselves with the fire. It lasted about half an hour in all and certainly gave a sense of occasion to our office move!

We have settled in nicely to the new office now - which boasts a fridge, microwave, coffee maker and a panini toaster. Which meant on Friday we all had a feast of cheese, ham and bean toasties. Hurray! Now I know for most of you that is so dull its unbelievable but too a bunch of guys who live on Paratha, Biriani, pav vada and naan this was a true treat. Its amazing the things you miss when you are a long way from home......