D534-Mumbai-D534-Kakinad

I came back from the rig only to arrive mumbai for my boss to call me early the following morning not to come to work. I was bewildered. How badly did I mess up for him to give me a personal call not to come to work when I haven’t even brushed my mouth so early in the morning? He then went on to mention that there had been reported cases of violence in Mumbai and all foreigners were advised to stay at home. Man! I was so elated! Just imagine.. free day off?? All because of why? Some politician named Raj Thackery had been mongering hate amongst the locals asking them to chase immigrants out of Maharastra state (for those who don’t know, Mumbai is a city and it is in Maharastra state as well as some other big cities like Pune) Tcheiw, come as see these jobless people burning toll booths and taxis early morning news. They can hardly feed themselves and come and see them throwing stones and being destructive. Anyways, me I no send anyone.. I took the day off and went to my local beauty parlor. I had a full body massage. It was total heaven. I even went comatose while the masseuse was doing her magic. It was the sound of me snoring that woke me up.. hehehe.. yea.. I hear myself snore.

Fast forward to the weekend. On Saturday I went to check out a new dentist. Did I mention that the last dentist I was with was starting to experiment with my mouth? I just generally had a bad feeling about this guy. So I took the train from Thane to a place called Dardar (yess o.. I am now bonafide Mumbai babe). Some chick on some Bombay expat group had recommended her dentist so I decided to go check him out. First thing Mr.Fancy New Dentist asked me for were the X-rays taken by the last dentist. Me I was like “err.. sorry Mr. Fancy.. I don’t have no X-rays” Mr. Fancy could not believe that the past dentist did not take x-rays before sticking braces in my mouth. I left his office feeling as though I was lucky to still have my teeth attached to my gums. Hehehe.. really.. this is not a funny matter o. I have now officially switched to Mr. Fancy. I will be commencing treatment in the next month or so.

Before I could say “Tolantino is back in Mumbai” My boss had sent me on another mission to Discoverer-534. I was working with Iti again and some other cool Indian guy. Really, I did have fun. The job was very short. I was there for six days and I probably only slept on 4 occasions for no more than 6hrs. It was work work work.. cool thing is that the guys working on the rig were also still very cool people. Very fun. They even used to pass me and Iti candies every now and again.. hehehe..The joys of being a woman on a testosterone filled offshore rig! I love D534 and I wanna go again!

Here you can see the rig floor in the background. This is where the drilling operations take place :-)

Last day on D534.. bone deep tired but still manage a smile :-D

I love this pic. (You can see fishermen from local villages who swamp our ship every evening in search of big fishes. there was a night we counted ab0ut 50 of them. The client then hired a small patrol boat to chase these fishermen from fishing close to the ship and disrupting operations.. you can see them advancing from the horizon. Make me feel as though we are being invaded!)

As soon as the job was done, we were already on a chopper back to Rajamundry. My boss sent us straight to Kakinada! Yikes.. You all know how much love I got for Kakinada. I came here with great trepidation/dread. From my own experiences, they only send you to kakinada when they wanna screw you over! I’ve been here twice in the past and they all had stories/experiences attached with them. I have blogged all about it.

So, on reaching Kakinada two days ago, I was put up in one of the company staff houses. Great thing about this place is that there are maids who wait on your 24/7 needs. Always at your beck and call.. hehehe and my room has mosquito nets so I am very well protected. This time around, I can actually say that I have been having fun in Kakinada. It is mighty strange though but seems like the angels are on my side this time around (not that they weren’t in the past) My second night here we went to Kakinada beach.

Lovely KKD Beach

Lovely KKD Sunset

It was so blue and non polluted. I really loved it. One of the managers here was being transferred to Turkmenistan so we all went to his place in the evening and had drinks over masala snacks.. my tongue was so numb from the alcohol that I did not feel the spiciness of the situation..hehehe.. it was really good fun hanging out with this guys.. seems like the kakinada folks are more friendly than the Mumbai office people. Nothing spoil sha. All this was last night. I didn’t even know I was intoxicated until I got up to leave and my head did like 20 back flips in 10 seconds.. hehehe.. I had totally arrived..

The guys in the KKD base had put up a volley ball net in front of our office so they invited me to come play. Your girl has never stood on a volley ball court ever but I am never one to turn down a challenge. It was us against drivers and security guards and technicians.. everyone was on on the Volley ball court. What was weird was that the guys were teaching me how to serve and they were going like “mam.. this is how to hold the ball..” I thought that was hilarious. Here is me, playing volley ball with the driver who will drive me home and he’s also teaching me how to make a volley! I totally loved it.

Armature volley ball player

RUN Tola.. RUN!!

So just before I went home, I bumped into this Gabonese guy whom I had seen in the Mumbai office. He works in KKD and has his wife and kid with him. He has invited me to come to meet his family on Sunday so I am looking forward to it. I pray my boss is not going to come up with some messed up job for me to do on Sunday o! Make una help me pray abeg!

So many many things have happened to me since my last post. One of my blog readers Engr. Nemo was going to be moving to India for work. She arrived and since we got chatting, we realized that we both live on the same road in FESTAC town. My lil brother used to roll with her older brother back in the days and there was a time I went to borrow movies from her in her house. If you don’t believe that we live in a small world.. this is proof. I cant wait to return to Mumabi and meet her

And my word OBAMA won the elections. I am not one to meddle with American politics but this is history in my time. The first black man to rule America…. I am glad I witnessed it. Though I must say that there was no way the guy wasn’t going to win after all the numbers that turned out to vote for him His African supporters who were not eligible to vote must have done their respective voodoo in his favo.Poor senator Mccain didn’t stand a chance..hehehe.. just kidding.
This is it my people. My blog is now up to date with the major events. I hope to catch up again very soon.. xoxo..

Tolantino…

An Indian Revelation

I am back on the rigs. Discoverer 534. Remember that ‘posh’ rig I was on around June where I had my own room with cable TV and wireless internet access? Yahh.. that’s the one I’m talking about. I was really happy to hear I would be coming back here to work so I packed enough stuff to last 40days on the rig.. hehehe. That’s how much I love this rig. I would rather be here 40days than 2 days in Mumbai.. hehehe. I am also working with another girl and my guy Hash.. Lets call the girl Iti. She and Hash are both Indians and I really enjoy working with these guys. Firstly, Hash and I started with the company round about the same time and Iti must have started about 4mths before us. The ‘seniority’ dates are not that much so we are all still on a learning curve together. This time around Iti and I are both sharing a room.

Back to the gist of this post. I had the most interesting conversation with Iti a few minutes ago. This conversation as well as my meeting with some other Indians in Mumbai whom are professionals and don’t seem to be on a power trip like the people I was working with in my earlier experiences has really started to change my views about this country of peoples as well as the working dynamics.

Since Iti was also in the same position as myself only a couple of months ago, I started to share with her my previous working experiences here in India with engineers who were more senior than me. Especially working with female engineers and the way they seemed to put me down and push me around whenever we were on jobs. Iti explained to me that she also went through similar experiences when she first joined the company and though she was surprised, she didn’t find it as shocking as I did. Granted.. but why did Iti put up with this treatment and why did she not put up a fight like I always seemed to do??

Well, according to Iti, here in India while at university, a preconceived notion exists where students who are more senior believe it is their right to ‘Rag’ the less senior students. It is very common to find this in Indian universities and everyone seems to think this is acceptable. After a year or so, the less junior student becomes accepted by the senior ones but still, there is still that attitude that the less junior individual can be spoken to as they deem fit without any consequences. But why has this carried on to the work place I asked? Iti explained to me that she thinks this attitude is only prevalent within our company as she has friends who work in other companies and everyone else seems to be pretty professional and don’t ill treat new employees or ‘Rag’ them around.

We then went on to discuss why this is very common within our own work place only. The conclusion was that since our job is not very ‘white’ collar, we go around in uniforms(coveralls), share the same room and bathroom with your work mates, we are together mostly 24hrs a day for days on end in the middle of nowhere, then this juvenile attitude starts to creep in. The need for hierarchy starts to creep in Eg. You go on a job. You have a cell manager who is the first hand. This person is usually the most senior and has the most responsibility and experience. You have the second hand. This person also has some work experience and is quite competent. Lastly you have the Third hand. The third had is usually the least senior engineer on the job and is usually still a trainee with very little experience. This is very much like the setting which puts emphasis on seniority and hence, people easily slip into the habit of giving the trainee a tough time. Now, I could understand this explanation from Iti’s point of view as she did take her time to discuss with me these issues but this does not make it right in anyway, shape or from.

I am happy that I am starting to get more experience. I am very confident running a job as a second hand already and I am very happy working with Iti and Hash. These guys are really different from the other experiences which I have had. But then again, I guess the fact that we are much more level in terms of experiences kinds of brings us closer and does not foster any form of big headedness. That said, not everyone in India is out to get me!! I was really impressed with Iti’s way of thinking. She wants to experience working in other places with engineers from different backgrounds, culture and creed. She does not want to remain in India where there is a chance of slipping in and following the general norm. I have a lot of respect for this girl and I am wishing her the best.

So back to me..me.. me..

I am fine. I have been partying allover the place in Mumbai and there are more international staff joining the company. I have a new flat mate. She is French-Italian. My old flat mate, Angel got transferred back to Indonesia so I have been alone in the apartment for sometime now. There was a festival a few days before I came to the rig and true to Indian form; we had a day off work. I took all the newbies for a day out in Mumbai. We went on the very crowded Indian trains and then took a ferry to the Elephanta caves. From there I took them to some nice Deli place. The food was totally awesome!! I have been partying, partying, partying!! I am glad I got sent to the rig. I have been spending too much money on Sunday morning brunches and alcohol in 5 star hotels!! This is why being in town is not good for me at all. I spend too much, drink too much and eat too much. Talk about an idle mind!!

Can you guys imagine I’ve been in Mumbai 1yr already!! OMG!! I cannot believe it myself. I remember stepping off the plane at Chatrapatti Shrivaji International Airport a year ago and feeling scared to the bones. I am definitely not the same girl who stepped off that plane. I have seen things and been to places people only read of and I have felt emotions which people do not wish on their enemies. I have really survived! I am very grateful for this experience and for the chance of meeting people whom will forever leave an impression on me both positively and negatively.

So how do I celebrate my first year anniversary in India? I will go out and gaze into the ocean. Watch the beautiful sun setting into the Bay of Bengal!! I saw it yesterday and it was totally awesome!! This time I will take pictures.

Mumabi Rocks!

WARNING: This post is being written under the influence of 8 glasses of Martini.. hehehe.. yeah.. I said 8 glasses of Martini. I was going for 10 but man.. I just could not go past the 8^th one.

So I finally got my ass out of India and landed in UK. Things were going pretty smoothly until my passport got stuck in the home office. My boss originally planned for me to go on 2 weeks vacation. After I still didn’t get my passport back at the end of week two, I started to fret, worry and write the home office. Then I also had to talk to my boss who had no prior knowledge of me being “without” passport. I thank God the guy is understanding! 2 weeks slowly rolled into three weeks with no passport. By then, I had already made serious prayer requests to God and changed my flight tickets twice! (with additional fees o!) Anyways.. I got my passport back on 4^th Sept and was on a flight back to Mumbai on 5^th Sept. I was too glad to be on that flight. With this credit crunch in the UK and people fearing for their jobs.. the last thing I want to do is anything that would get me fired and back on the job market.. hehehe..

So, I got back to Mumbai early Saturday morning. I went straight to my girl, Dee’s place in Bandra. Dee’s end is where the party at! I made her hair the very same day I got back into town and the following day was some dinner thing at the Grand Hyatt hotel. I am really starting to loose track. All those drinks and stuff.. lol.. I had fun sha. The following Monday, I went back to the office.. I could see people looking at me like “WTF has she done to her hair now!” I really love shocking people at work with my hair. Hehehe. From the different colored braids to my afro to the sleek weaves.. lol.. These people are totally confused. Even my boss had to comment! Lol! I totally loved it.

Being back at the office, I finally realized that I may be spending more time in India that I initially bargained for. These guys have no plans to transfer me O! I have been here 11months already and my employment visa is being renewed tomorrow. I guess this is the cue/wake up call which I need to finally convince me that I would be here for at least another year! Ye! Mo ti daran! (Laments: I am in big trouble) Here are a few things which I need to do to make my life here more permanent:

1.) Buy my own personal bed covers: For the past year, I have been sleeping on the sheets which the apartment service company provided with the apartment. They are white sheets which look like the ones you get in hotels/hospitals. I have since been deceiving myself that I don’t need to get my personal one as I would not be here in India long enough. I guess I was wrong

2.) Change my sim card from pre-paid to post paid: I have been on the Pay as you go system for the past 11 months. I have been saying I don’t need to “commit” to post paid as I would be leaving India soon. I guess the joke is on me right now eh?

3.) Bedroom furniture: I need to put things up on my bedroom wall. Really. This room just looks.. well.. bland.. there is nothing here that is “ME” Its very impersonal so I need to start making myself at home.. India is going to be my home for the next couple of months at the most

4.) Stop complaining about India (Full Stop)

Ahhh.. it feels good letting that out.

Ohh.. I found out I was missing my debit card last Sunday when I got back to India. I was totally freaking out! I couldn’t figure out if I left it in Manchester airport or Abu-Dhabi airport or even in Bandra during the trips out. I had to cancel the debit card with the bank to be on the safe side with onle 600rs in my pocket and no food in my house. I have had to borrow money from my Egyptian sweet heart. Hmm.. I don tire o. I don’t even feel happy at all. I don’t feel right without my debit card safe in my purse.

My boss tells me I am going back to the rig in two days. Same rig I was on last time near DIU. Phew.. I am happy about this don’t get me wrong. More experience, more exposure, more blah blah blah.. hehehe.

This past weekend, I went to Dee’s place again. We went to see the Symphony Orchestra of India perform. Since I don’t know anything about the Orchestra, I was already sleeping half way through the performance.. what for do? I gotta try to be “posh” every now and then now! Lol..

Back to the 8 glasses of Martini. Today was Brunch Buffet at the Grand Hyatt hotel. All you can eat and drink for just under 50 Dollars. Where I come from, we call this “Awoof!” Come and see your girl in action. There is nothing like drinking in the afternoon. You get back home and you have enough time to sleep it off before the following morning.. hehehe. It was really nice and I am still very tipsy.. I need to go “sleep it off”

Random: OMG.. I need to start going back to the gym or doing some form of exercise.. I have GAINED!! Vacation and Brunches and Dinners out are not doing me any favours at all!

Its good to be back up here.. thanks guys.. for hollering and kicking my ass back into blogville..

Lotta love

PS: Please forgive the typos.. I am still very much under the influence..

A Lot can happen in 3 weeks (Part 2)

PLS READ PART 1 BEFORE READING PART 2

Lol.. see me breaking down gist like I am writing nollywood script. Ok.. so here is part two. After my Colaba runs during the weekend, I was already fretting over my promotion. I should have had it by now but things are not going to plan. My boss is telling me there are a lot of things I ought to know which I don’t know and this is frustrating for me because I don’t feel like I am getting enough exposure here. But that aside, on that fateful Wednesday morning, I arrived at the office as normal. I was studying, I wanted to please my boss and I was also running some general errands in the office. That was how Mr R called me and my flatmate. Shuwo! What have we done wrong? Mr R then opened his computer. He showed me that I have 7 days off and about 21 vacation days pending. He said that I need to take those days off ASAP. He even suggested that I go back to my apartment for the rest of the day as he does not want to see me in the office. I asked if I could come to the office the following day, Mr R said to take 7 days off. Say what! Take 7 days off? Na beans? Me I cannot siddon in inida for 7 whole days. I will go mental. All of a sudden.. I had a revelation.. what if I could go to London and Manchester? Afterall, I haven’t seen my people on that side since I left in October. I quickly checked with travel desk.. kia kia they booked me on BA leaving Mumbai for that evening.. I wanted to faint.. I was overcome with excitement. One minute I was studying OIL CD in the office and next thing I am on a plane heading for Heathrow. I cannot even begin to describe the joy when my people saw me. It was a really good surprise. No sooner had I landed that I’d started wakaing around london. Infact.. I waka to the point that my trainers snapped. Oxford circus, west end.. come and see sales.. shopping.. everything dey there..I was in a dream o.

Posing on the Jubilee Line

Sharp sharp.. I headed out to Manchester to see my people. Some places will never change sha! I reach Manchester and I was welcomed with cold freezing rain. Thank God I took my Monsoon umbrella along with me from Mumbai. I sha did all the doables in Manchester and then headed back to London.. I waka some more. I met with friends from school whom I haven’t seen since boarding school days.. friends form Uni who are now working in London and also, I hooked up with aloted, a fellow blogger. It was awesome sha cos she is one of the people with whom I share names and we both have something else in common.. she was also an adult braces wearer..

Rocking the Natural Look in Manchester(Village Girl)

Thugging around the street on my brother's bike. Its true what they say.. you can never really forget how to ride a bicycle. I taught myself to ride at 15 and I haven't ridden since then. But three days ago, I got on the bike and I was riding with my eyes closed after falling off twice!

So.. yesterday evening.. I was back at Heathrow terminal 4 (A plane was heading for Mumbai and it had my name written on it). On reaching Mumbai early hours of Sunday.. I didn’t feel up for the 1.5hrs drive from the airport to my place in Thane. Instead, I stopped in Bandra at Dee’s place(with luggage,dutyfree shopping and all). My people, its so nice to have someone with whom you share cultural ties in Diaspora o.. speakless of a place like India. We hugged like long lost sisters..(even tho I was away less than two weeks.. lol) I filled her in on the gist.. apparently.. the guys in Bandra are having Brunch and Shiri was cooking.. fantastic.. I left my suitcase, grabbed one bottle of duty free red wine and went to join the party. It was totally awesome meeting new people there that Shiri had invited.. I found myself discussing US politics and economic downturn with another American girl.. Heck what do I know about that shit.. Kuch nahi (nothing) But it was fantastic fun. Around 6pm.. I went back to Dee’s and took my suitcase and then set out with Dee’s driver for the long-traffic-jammed-drive to thane. I was just slipping in and out of consciousness in the car. The sleep was gripping me tight.. I didn’t get home till 8pm.. So here I am on my bed. Its already 1.36am O! and I am still waking up for 6am.. lol.. the things I do to myself sha. This blog must be todate by force because I could get to the office and my boss can spin me 360 degrees again. All this has happened to me in the space of 3 weeks! Unbelievable.. and if I have surely learnt a lesson here.. to never ever ever ever procrastinate updating my blog. I will be going to the office tomorrow.. I wonder what the following weeks will have in store for me..

Mumbai Blues

So your babe is now back to her host local government area a.k.a Mumbai. I left Lagos last Saturday and I was here by early Sunday morning. I’d already lost five and a half hours of the day so I was and still am really jet lagged. I got to the apartment to meet my two flat mates (Kuti and Angel). More gist about kuti later. These babes did not gree me rest while I was away. They were just sending me offline messages “Tolantino..when are you coming back?”, “Tolantino…how many weeks do you have left?” ,”Tolantino.. we miss you so much” Shuwo! Make una free me o! What do you want me to come back for? Lol.. but anyhow…. It’s actually good to be back. I miss my maid pampering me and keeping the apartment spik and span. That woman knows how to do her job abeg. As I did not get any sleep on the plane, I quickly took a quick nap. I hadn’t been sleeping for two hours when Hijo called me

Hijo: Tolantino..where are you?

Me: Huh? What do you mean.. am in Mumbai

Hijo: Yes I know you are in Mumbai but are you in the apartment

Me: Yeah.. but I just woke up

Hijo: You need to come to the club house.. Angel just got a call from Indonesia..her mother is dead

Me: Huh? Which angel? My flatmate Angel? No way.. are you kidding me

Hijo: Tolantino….you gotta come now

Man.. I was absolutely floored. Angel is my Indonesian flat mate. I call her angle because
She is so sweet, easy to get along with and I just don’t even have a single bad word to say about this girl. She only just came back from vacation to loose her mom barely a week after. We managed to arrange for her to go back home that same night and this meant another trip to the airport and back. She was really broken and this made me really sad. I just wish there was something I could do to help with the pain she must be feeling.

So.. this is it for now.. Picture my situation.. A lot of my friends have been transferred to other locations.. my manager confirmed that he does not have any transfer plans for me. This means I could be here for much longer than I had anticipated.Ohh… and the only Naija friend I have made out of my work circle is also being transferred to Nigeria. See as these people are leaving me on my own. Here are some of my pictures from the Ghana trip. I hope you guys enjoy.

Namaste!

Akwaaba... very similar to ekaabo in yoruba.. both mean the same..(welcome)

The Hotel was fantastic. I am already looking forward to my next visit

At the Makola Market. Woodin and Ankara material at prices much cheaper than lagos

At kwame nkrumah mausoleumTolu and I. We had such a ball..