Namaste Oxford

It was in early September that I visited Elsevier’s office in Kidlington, Oxford for a month. After an almost 20 hour journey inclusive of 2 hops (Delhi and Frankfurt), I arrived in Kidlington, on a cold and windy Monday evening. Dead tired, I retired to bed soon after looking forward to the day ahead.

I woke up to a wet and cold morning. The Elsevier office was a mile walk from the place where I stayed. On the first day, the 15 minutes walk seemed to be long but it became quite a routine over the next one month. The walk led me by the landmark “Swift Shop”, over the canal, by the Oxford motor park and Spires business park. The Elsevier’s three storied crimson building stood comfortably between Thames Valley Police Headquarters and Oxford airport. After obtaining the visitor’s pass for the day (I had to take a fresh pass every day), I was shown my desk by Sarah Hood. I was sitting between the likes of Nicola, Memory, Richard, Scott, David, Graham and Becky. On the first day, I met many people which included my fellow Satyamites as well.

After the greetings, started the day where I had to catch up with work and plan for the days ahead. I was fortunate to have very friendly people around me who offered their extended support in my short tenure there. Many pending actions as well as some future plans were addressed apart from the usual routine work over the month. Being in proximity of people with whom I had to interact frequently made my job a lot easier. Worth mentioning is the dedicated corner we had there for tea/coffee preparation. Everybody took turns to prepare tea and coffee which was served with biscuits. Over tea and coffee sessions, we chatted over wide variety of topics. The day would end at 5 pm for most of the people there though for me it was usually late evening.

Going back from office, I would dwell in serenity while walking in countryside and enjoying world of nature of Kidlinton. Passing by the dense vegetation and mature trees, I would go to upto pedestrianised High Street which has a good selection of shops besides Tesco from where I would get my evening snacks. Kidlington is a large town to the north of Oxford. Interestingly though, it is officially still a village; second largest in England.

The weekends would pass crisscrossing the streets of Oxford, London and few other places I visited there. Everything in England is very systematic. The shops open at 9:00 AM and shut down latest by 6:00 PM which is quite early by Indian standard. Motorists have very good road discipline and respect pedestrians. People have very high standards of cleanliness and hygiene. I feel there is lot we can imbibe from their culture

The last day there was very hectic. There were too many things to wind up. In the afternoon, I had “The Last Lunch” with John, Nicola and Memory. The farewell card that I received at end of the day was a pleasant surprise and I was overwhelmed. After bidding farewell to everyone, I rushed to London the same day loaded with dulcet experiences to share with my family, friends and colleagues in India.

I have fond reminiscences of my visit. It was great to put faces to names with whom I had been interacting for past few years. It was good to befriend Oracle DBAs from HCL who support our applications. I believe that now we all know each other a lot better and this will help raise our proficiency to a higher level. I came to know myself better and I have realized things that we must change in ourselves while working with different people and work culture. It was a gratifying trip both on personal as well as professional front.