So I finally did make the move. After a very crazy August, where I spent a lot of time in airports and questioned myself repeatedly about the decision that I had taken - I find myself in a new place, surrounded by new people in an absolutely new environment altogether. The comfort zone is a really prized concept.

I don’t know how people do this frequently. This wrapping up one life and starting another, in a wink. I have so much baggage - literally and metaphorically, that even the thought of doing this again exhausts me.

Today is my fourth day at work at Zeenah PR, and there’s not a moment that goes by where I don’t think of the place I left behind. That’s the thing with change - you invariably end up comparing the two scenarios.

The new place is nice.

Its a smaller firm - set in a massive duplex villa.

The walls are painted bright red and yellow.

The windows are minaret-shaped.

The couches are violet.

There is no free lunch.

Saturday and Sunday are working days.

I am still using the web-version of Outlook.

I get to use my fake British accent and nobody guesses that it isn’t original.

The people are quieter. Very obviously different from where I came from.

There are no Bengalis at work (!!!)

The entire universe of what I know has changed - I don’t even know how many newspapers, magazines and broadcast channels we have here - which makes every day a learning here.

I have to be at work at 8 am.

The parents are going out of their way to ensure I am okay - I am very grateful.

I have to wear formals every day. So I get to shop! 

I have a three-course packed lunch to carry to work.

I spot the sea while being driven to work.

I don’t really have anyone to talk to. I don’t talk very much.

Like today, as I sit silently in a little room, with five other people who form the PR team here, I cannot help but think of the nuisance I created at Edelman. It was like I owned the place. But then it was second home to me. I miss it dearly. But once I remove the ‘emotion’ from the equation and think rationally - I haven’t had much to complain about, yet.

This is an all new ecosystem. Even though I’ve grown up here, spent 17 years in this country - workplaces are a different story altogether. I’m hoping I can get through the first few months - and then everything will fall into place. It always does.

View from the second floor

The TBWA/Zeenah Office - Al Shatti Street