Annual Leave

My boss came in yesterday. She works out of Manchester and she visits the Edinburgh office once in two weeks. Ordinarily this wouldn’t be a big deal but then I needed to tell her that I shall be on leave for 3 weeks in November. Why you ask? Well my sister in laws wedding of course.

So after discussing all action points relating to my work, I casually slipped in the point that I would be on Annual Leave during November. Annual Leave is something I picked up here, this past month I am seeing a lot of people marked “On Annual Leave” in their calendars. This is the time when Europe is at its sunniest or warmest, also the time for school holidays, so most people take off 2-3 weeks during this time. I figured if they can then so can I. My boss turned out to be very happy with me as I was professional enough to plan it well in advance and she had full confidence that I would ensure no work items would be hindered due to my absence! Duh – what?!!

Talk about managing expectations and people. I like the way she positively replied for that put me in the right frame of mind and then smoothly slipped in the fact that I should do relevant transfer of work responsibilities before I leave. Brilliant!

Anyways now my calendar has Nov days marked with Annual Leave. Whenever I feel swamped with work I just turn to my calendar and I feel a smile coming on. :)

Falkirk Wheel

One of my colleagues told me about the Falkirk Wheel last week and on hearing about it I was intrigued. It is a wheel which acts as a boat lift and takes boats from one canal to the other, consuming energy only as much as required for heating up 8 kettles of water!

The topography of Scotland is filled with mountains and hence a difference in heights of the canals. Since waterways are essential for trade and transport (in olden days), traditionally the boats used to manage through a series of Locks. Locks were compartments created in between, wherein a boat is brought to the end of one canal, huge doors closing in behind so as to not let water pass and the doors ahead opened to fill in the compartment with water and raise the boat to the height of the next canal. This was a time consuming process resulting in a lot of water loss as well.

Hence the wheel was built in Falkirk, which is half hour journey from Edinburgh by train. The wheel itself a huge contraption, panning over 117 ft high, transports the boats within a space of 3 mins and with no water loss. It is built on the Archimedes' principle – ‘Any floating object displaces its own weight of fluid.’ So when a boat enters the lift it displaces its own weight of water and when it is let out into the next canal that amount of water returns to the lift.

The benefits are amazing and the tour guide was very entertaining, she had us in splits throughout those 3 minutes. However what astounded me was that this particular lift is being used for recreation rather than to help actual boats, I guess the waterways aren’t used as much in this day and age. It cost 45 billion pounds to make it and I kept wondering when they would break even!

The icing of the day was we actually saw a private boat making its way through the canals, first used the boat lift and since it wasn’t available for all the locks throughout, we saw it go through a traditional lock system as well. That was awesome.

I especially liked the safety measure they followed, whenever a boat entered into the lift or the locks it was tied to side to avoid the boat crashing on either sides.

Banking Services

This weekend we needed monthly statements from each of our bank accounts respectively. So Saturday, although gloomy and wet, we decided to brave the weather and head to our banks. Shaiwal banks with HSBC and I bank with Santander. Let me at the beginning set the record straight - Santander was not something I chose because I wanted to but I chose it simply for the fact that while other banks were taking a month to process and open a bank account, Santander was taking only 2 weeks.

Before setting out to the banks, due to my low opinion of services here, I decided to call up the bank and check the process of getting a monthly statement. The bank executive assured me that I could walk in to the branch and get my statement, however (aha the catch!) I needed to carry my photo ID and proof of address. Why in god’s name I needed to carry the two for the life of him he couldn’t answer, especially when I was sincerely trying to explain that I was already an account holder and while I understand the requirement for my photo ID, I couldn’t comprehend the need for proof of address. Well I didn’t want to delay so I took along both while going to the bank.

First stop was HSBC, there were two beautiful girls standing at the entry asking “May I help?” One couldn’t help but smile back looking at such lovely girls and I guess the overall customer reaction would be, “No please, however if you may then I would like to be of help” Whatever!

Shaiwal explained he needed his monthly bank statement, the lady then proceeded to a nearby machine punched in the request, the machine promptly sprouted out a chit which she then handed over to us and guided us to go upstairs to first floor. The chit had instructions to go to the first floor as well and also the name of the bank executive who would handle our bank request. As we went upstairs the executive was already waiting for us and led us to her seat. After verifying Shaiwal’s identification, she then competently printed and handed over the bank statement, all the while enquiring if there was anything else we needed. WHOA!!! What service! To top it off the ambience was amazing too; the office is in the heart of Edinburgh with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the Edinburgh Castle. We were impressed; banking with HSBC sure does make you feel good.

Next stop Santander Bank. I had weird feeling that my bank would not match up to HSBC standards so my feet dragged a bit on the way over. However can’t delay the inevitable for long. We went into Santander and found no beautiful girls, we found a queue to the teller window and a bank executive seated at the desk speaking in hushed sympathetic tones to a customer. I couldn’t make out whether the executive was solving a bank related issue or the customer’s divorce issue.

Anyways after a small wait, I went up to the teller window, since the executive didn’t look like he would be free soon. The teller very promptly assured me that I COULDN’T have my bank statement as these were never issued at the branches, the request for them were to be placed over phone and it would reach me in 10 -12 working days time. I laboriously explained to the teller my entire conversation with his phone banking and said I had even bought in my photo ID and proof of address. It didn't cause any ripple, the teller happily repeated to me what he said before. I did get a statement of transactions for the last 3 weeks but not a monthly statement.

Well Santander might be the official sponsors for Formula 1 but they don’t have well streamlined banking process in place to service the customer much less to provide customer delight! Oh HSBC tussi great ho.

FOOTBALL!!

I am not an avid football watcher, perhaps I should be more honest than that……I have hardly watched 5 football games in total. So when people go ga-ga over Manchester United, I normally have a bland smile on my face and I nod knowingly. World Cup 2010 therefore didn't stir any great emotional response from me.

 

My dad and brother on the other hand were going on about it; the latter more so being an ardent fan of Argentina. Last weekend we got a TV in our home here and there happened to be a match going on, I don’t remember the teams playing but I did sit and watch for a time. It sort of was interesting and I thought okay, I should see how it all ends!

 

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing said a wise man. Well I happened to watch yesterday the semi final match between Germany and Spain. Since Germany was being touted as the Goliath I thought I would support poor David. Luckily for me David actually paid off. So then today morning as I was talking to my brother, my poor husband was shocked from his sleep to hear me speak about defence, strategy, goal and such. My poor brother although knows that I was football ignorant in my childhood has no clue whether I picked it up during the years I was in Chennai. And I was just happy to share my new found knowledge via the commentators.

Indian from India!

One thing that I do notice now that its been almost two weeks since I joined here is the fact that people don’t expect me to be from India just because I am an Indian. Confused? Don’t be let me explain.

People here tend to be shocked, whenever during the course of conversation it slips from me that I have been in Edinburgh only for about 4 months now. There are now that I have taken the time to look around quite a few people who could be of Indian origin but carry themselves exactly how natives here do. I gather these people might be the second or third generation of Indians or Asian origin people who have been brought up here. So what I didn’t pick up earlier was on the fact that people around were far more comfortable with my existence among them than I myself. The operating premise is that I am perhaps one such second or third generation or else I have been here for quite a number of years.

So when they do come to know that either premise is false and that I have been here for only 4 months, the first question I get is, “But then, how come your English is so good?” the second question I get is, “So then are you here on your own or do you have family?” and the third and final question I get is “How long is your stay then?”

The 1st question initially felt quite complimentary but as the number of people asking it grew the question became tedious and insulting. Yes I speak English well, I am from a country which has English as second language and is spoken as much if not more than our mother tongues. Oh I tried that response once but then I had to explain why English was so widely spoken and I got into the tangled web of “India, you see, is a DIVERSE country!”

The second question surprises me for the people here are normally very aware of personal boundaries and take care not to cross them. It also gives me a feeling of being a frog under a telescope, up for scrutiny! And hello for heavens sake what does it matter if I am on my own or with family, right now right here, I am working, so what’s your problem buddy?

The third question is when I feel like giving up. And there I thought I was making some inroads and making a few friends here and there. But then all they want to know is when they get to see my back for good!!!! So much for gelling in.

Another week down people, weekend is here, wish all of you a great weekend ahead and hey don’t think of Monday unless you absolutely have to.