“Will you stop buzzing?” I said looking at my mobile. I was in the middle of something and this machine just doesn’t know how to keep quite. It almost felt like a mother talking to her crying baby to calm down while she is occupied with something. Nevertheless, neither the baby nor the mobile understands the language.
I reached out for my mobile, seeing the messages, now it was my turn to jump in the joy because there was a news and a good one! VERVE was planning our first ever Get-together and we all were super excited about it. The office whatsapp group was flooded with messages.
We had enough of zoom meetings, virtual coffee meets, talked over phone quite often but the very idea of meeting team-mates, colleagues in person was startling. I was stimulated, a bit nervous and sort of skeptical too. There were mixed emotions. It’s like, I know these people, I do share a bond with them but how would this virtual bond turn out when I would meet them in person was a question, I guess, we all had in mind.
Since we were planning to meet in September 2020, the time when covid restrictions were very much on, there were quite a number of issues we dealt with, like traveling, hygiene, precautionary things and what not. Trust Me! It was a monumental task. Prioritizing “Safety” at the top, VERVE’s Aurangabad Office which happens to be a big Guest House was finalized as a place to meet.
Finally, beating all the odds and discarding all the Ifs and Buts we Arrived!! Soon after meeting, I realized the awkwardness and the discomfort I was thinking about just vanished into thin air. Within no time, the big Guest House was filled with the barrel of laughs. Jokes, making fun of each other, chit-chat started flowing and the place started to build the Heat.
The place was awesome, the people I was with were equally awesome. What else you could have ask for when all of this is accompanied by some delicious food. In the breakfast, we had multiple food items to choose from, but like a hard core foodie I had a bit of everything. Though the breakfast items were regular like poha, upma, shira but the overall atmosphere made it taste even better. Soon after the breakfast what to order in the lunch became the Talk of the Town. Aurangabad’s very famous “Bhoj Thali” along with the Gulabjamun and Basundi is what we had in our platter. What a mouth-watering food it was!! The very next day, Yummyy Samosa-Rice and Misal Paav took the craving to another level. The Masala Paan from the popular “Tara Paan Center” is a must to have if you ever visit Aurangabad. You know what, to be a Verve-ian, you got to be a Foodie and the way we all attacked the food, I guess we all passed the Test with flying colors. The word “भुक्कड” perfectly goes with us.
The energy was on all-time high. Post lunch on the first day, there was time for some clicks, the moments were worthy of being captured. The smiles were real, no one had to say “cheesssee” for the clicks. Few clicks in the “formal attire” was the only “Formal Thing” we did during get-together. I never felt like meeting these people for the first time. It seem like spending summer holidays with the extended family at inherited Big Family House. I still remember the games I used to play with siblings in Summer Holidays which continued here also. We were awake all night playing Housie, Cards, Truth and Dare, Blindfold Games. I did a bit of cheating also to ensure my Team wins and even won a badge of “Cheatercock “. The fun acts by the Teammates were hilarious but what nearly took our breathe away was the act by my Team-mate, wherein she was supposed to complain about her in-laws to her friend, imagining herself as a HEN. The way she mimicked clucking sound of HEN “Pak-Pak-Pakkak”, it justcaused a laugh riot among the crowd. The vibes of the place were such that literally brought out the inner child in us.
We all met each other leaving our designation and positions aside. It helped us bring the Raw and Real version of ourselves and that’s what made the Get-together a thing to remember. It made us forget completely about the pandemic and the uncertainty we were forced to live with.
Even while writing about it, those cheerful laughs are still in my ears, the smell of the delicious food is still there with me and those Get-together pictures still makes me smile. After the event, I guess, we became much stronger as a Team and the connection we share now, is altogether in a different league.
What an amazing feeling it was to be around such wonderful human beings!!
All we are waiting for is the next Get-together now.
Hopefully we all will meet soon.
Fingers Crossed!!