Tea @ Terminal

For all those who have never been associated with Infosys Bangalore DC, the term “Terminal” might sound a bit unusual, so for your convenience just try to replace this name with any generic name for the place where you meet daily with your friends in office and do all the things which I am going to put in the text below. And believe me if you are not doing any of the below stuff then you are seriously ill and most likely it’s the symptom of “Hyper mal-working dementia” (Don’t worry I will take up the details of this disease in a separate blog).

Out of the various food courts, having tea at terminal has a special significance. Its not that the tea served here is tasty (Infact it’s the worst tea one could ever have), rather it’s the experience of this place which stands it out from all other places.

So what is special about terminal? I think the basic difference is in its architecture. The open space of terminal gives a sense of freedom from our “cubicle life”. Having a cup of tea, sip by sip, and discussing anything and everything on this earth with your friends makes us believe that “Freedom of speech” is still a virtue we posses by birth (though its limited to the table we occupy and is capped to the decibel level at which we talk).

Before I give u a sneak peek of gossips, let me tell you how the crowd gets pulled to Terminal for tea. Well tea is served here all during the day, however the crowd of tea lovers peak at around 3:30 PM and tapers at about 4:30 PM. So here is how it all begins –

3.15 PM (I get a ping on my communicator from my project mate)

• Chai ????
• Offcouse… chalo…
• Ask Bhat and Goel too
• Ok…
• I will be there in 5 min… come soon
• Coming… give me 2 mins…

3:22 PM I reach terminal where I meet the remaining team mates… then one of us will be stand in the queue to buy tea coupons while 2 of us will stand in the queue for getting the tea… and 1 person will go and grab a table… 

Terminal gets crowded by this time and there is queue everywhere, so effectively managing resources for the different tasks is the key thing in having a peaceful tea. Depending on the co-ordination and luck, we sit around a table in min 7 min and max 15 min, and then starts the mind refreshing session. Well I have been a veteran at the terminal food court and can actually recognize a person by the time when he / she comes to terminal and I think the same applies to me – many people can recognize me as the most seen faces at terminal (I guess I must have a top of the mind recall just after those food court guy sitting at the coupon counters). So I have been party to various type of discussions, and here I will list down the top FIVE topics which are discussed in order of their occurrence and relevance.

Generally the talk starts with something related to project (Its very difficult to get rid of work, especially when you are having tea/breakfast/lunch with your project mates). If its not a serious project issue then we switch topic in a matter of seconds (most of the times) but for serious issues (like major goof ups or escalations) tea time is just an extension of conference room meeting (and that is really bad).

From the list of general topics discussed at the table, the other most common one is “Crib”. If you want to crib about a new policy, salary hikes, promotions / performance ratings, workload or your manager / team mates, there cannot be a better place than this. Once started, everyone pitch in with his version of the same story. Unless someone sensibly changes the topic, even 5 cups of tea is less to listen out individual cribs. Still this is the hot topic every other day on most of the tables. In a way I think this is good, at least once during the whole day you get the option of venting out your anger with every sip and I am sure it acts as a psychological balm to our tensed nervous system.

At times the tea gossip is nothing but gossip (especially when the group is of same gender – only male or only female). In either case the topic of discussion is the hottest item (male / female depending on the gender) on the floor, someone sitting on the next table and is worth a discussion, or just a “bakra” from within the group (who probably has seen his/her own face in the mirror that morning). There is really no sense to these set of discussions but I think this is the most hilarious of the various types (except for the one who is being talked about, well most of the times). There is one special flavor to this type of discussion and the ingredient for that flavor is the age group. If those involved in discussion are “Just Married” category then its about – how to set up your house, where you can get the best deal for a new flat / car, and where to take your “other half” for the coming weekend. If the age group is of “New Parents” then topic scales up a bit and its about the various vaccines you need to get for your child, the best pediatric in the town etc. For the next higher set (in terms of age) of people, its about the cost of food items (Inflation is a major concern, which people in this category understands the most), children's school and their exams, and a few more thing I am not aware of (actually had very little opportunity to share tea with this set of individuals).

Then comes the latest happening news. Don’t confuse it with the prime time news or front page item of that day’s Times of India. I am referring to the latest on BB (Sorry once again, BB is the bulletin board of Infosys – a vibrant public mailing service within Infy and the soul soother for many, just google it and you will get an idea of what I am referring to). These are the happening topics which bring emotions to the fore and are mostly limited to a sport event (99% of times its cricket) or a movie / TV show. Sides are taken immediately and discussion may get heated up depending upon the degree of individual’s devotion to his idol / team and level to which his / her idol is being criticized in the group. Most of the time these topics are enough to pull the complete discussion through with everyone’s spirited and enthusiastic participation, or may even extend beyond the tea table and reach the desk once you are back to work.

There are few (like me) who genuinely come to terminal to have a cup of tea and get rid of the eternal sleep that cripples our senses during office hours (I know its unethical to sleep during office hours, so I try the ethical way to keep my senses awake). Well its difficult to have a cup of tea alone, so people like me need to rope in a few others. And when “Sleep deprived” people like us sit around the tea table, then believe me we discuss about the various “employee welfare” measures which company should implement to make our life (work life) better. Like providing a couch in every cubicle, allowing work from home on a regular basis, need for an hour of compulsory sleep after lunch (you wont believe, but in China, most of the manufacturing firm has an hour of compulsory sleep for its workers after lunch. We are also workers, and if it can happen in China then why not in India?). Well this list is too long even for the HR guys to read through, I don’t want you to take that pain, so chuck it.

Well, there have been “Eureka” moments at terminal too. Sitting with someone (most of the time “someone” I am referring to is an “intellectual”) and discussing a topic over tea can suddenly spark an idea which you cannot believe can happen otherwise. Sometime the idea strikes even from the bunch of brainless – like this one (Man! I am talking about this blog, really you belong to that bunch of brainless!). These are the moments which creates history, and I am very sure, many great discoveries, ideas and innovations can be traced back to one or the other table of terminal.

The next time you go for your “Tea @ Terminal” don’t waste your time discussing this blog. This was never an intention – I don’t want to update this blog with another type of tea time discussion.