A project......

Here, again, i am doing projects which have nothing to do with my job profile. But, have a lot to do with my personal interests. These are the kind of projects that capture my attention instantly. Something, i really love to do...
okay, this is not something great. Actually we are planning to give our office canteen a makeover. currently, it is in a wonderful shape. but it would be so for new comers like me. for people who are seeing it for the past 11 years, it has definitely become very boring and dull and gloomy!
So, how did i get into this? actually it was across the table when we were having breakfast. there had been an audit of the canteen few days previously and it was found that there could be a lot of improvements. well, so we were eating and BB suddenly told MM that the wall between the seating area and the kitchen needs to be transparent so that the kitchen wud automatically be spick and span. so, MM suggested that we need to change the cutlery and furniture as well.... actually need to change everything..
we were 3 females sitting on the table apart from this lot and BB suddenly announced that renovation of a place like canteen is best done by ladies. So the ladies sitting at that table at that point of time got the job. it was me, k, and moe
we had our aamby valley day coming closer and we had to practice for our dance too, so we accepted the target at that time but gave a farther deadline.
Aamby valley was over and we had to act now because everyone was asking us for the status of the project that was handed over across that breakfast table!!!!
So we went on a expedition to all the canteens where our caterer serves to. and, we were depressed seeing that. we'd thought, our canteen was out of the ordinary, exceptional.. but the canteens we were seeing were far better. of course they were all just 2 years old and ours is almost 11..
anyways, so we started with a list of things we saw and some photographs to back it up. We visited 3 places that day and the last was canteen of a school called Gurukul. It was amazing! the school in itself was amazing. The facilities and also the fees are ofcourse exorbitant. its a residential school and later i was wondering if at any point of time i would be able to afford the fees if i want to send my kids to that school.. well.. may be.. hopefully..
So, after seeing the canteen and kitchens in all the areas, we started our journey back and got stuck in traffic for over an hour and a half! that was the irritating part of the day. but rest was great!
so we got a general idea of the latest trends and started renovating the canteen in our minds eye.
We made one more trip after that and went places, mostly to the suppliers seeing the various types of cutlery that would be available. it was hot. stuffy. but we had a very good biriyani that day which practically compensated everything else. Lastly we went to Big Baazar to find the largest variety. the entire day seemed waste as we realised we shud have visited big baazar first!
Anyways, so all the data gathered, we were then planning to visit Mumbai to see the crockery and cutlery because it would be around 30% cheaper there than here. but, that never happened cauz BB thought, we were breaking our heads too much on this project. So he asked us to present the data we had gathered and then hand everything over to the company who manages our canteen facilities to do the rest!
well, then armed with the rapidly made presentation we headed upstairs to show it and then came the unexpected. Phones were dialled and within a minute, all the managers in the company arrived to have a look at it. i have never seen people assemble so fast. ofcourse when the boss calls you, you better be there!
So, only the presentation done, we were not at all prepared to speak in front of a dozen others. 'Phew! alright, lets get over with it'
and then, we began. Hardly any questions, many nods, many smiles..... we were succeding..
everyone liked our ideas. appreciated what we had done. gave their suggestions and some tight deadlines too! We were ecstatic!!
one comment, 'you are really taking efforts to do all this. and you have done well. just remember that after all this is done, people will still make annoying comments'
Well, we already knew this, but we really appreciated him telling this!
afterwards, there was a definite upswing in the mood and somehow this has boasted my confidence which i had sort of lost during past couple of months.
So now, we are on mission canteen with a tough deadline to meet.
The joy of creation is lovely. we are not creating anything, its just a renovation... but... well, lets say creating a new canteen. I hope it turns out to be beautiful...
this will definitely be an experience which will teach me a lot of things and which i will remember for a long long time..