My first day at Redmond started off quite remarkably. It was exactly lunch time when i realized that i had no one to lunch with! I was standing alone, lost in the overwhelming crowd of Bldg #41's cafeteria. I turn left right but no dice. Alright, so be it, lets grab a bite and get back to work, i thought. I quickly parsed through the array of stalls - mexican, chinese, lebanese but they all had one common defect. Absolutely no veg stuff at all. It can't be that bad., i scanned one more time and in some unnoticeable nook i found veggie pizzas. Bingo! thats it. Thats all i could ask for. Somehow lunch for day #1 had been taken care of!

The Second day was a bit better in the sense i already knew where to get what i can consume. I went right up there and picked up the pizzas. Thankfully, a different topping today but if it wasn't so i wouldn't have complained either. Sigh! Lunch alone. Again! When i was almost done, i met some guy who was searching for company. I nodded him to join me and we spoke over lunch or whatever was left of it.

The third day was more better. My mentor and another team member took me for lunch. I should say they were pretty cool, discussing day to day activities than arguing over tech stuff. We were discussing China's quake, Jaipur blasts and Myanmar floods and fund raising ideas to counterbalance the miseries of the world.

The fourth day saw some progress as i discovered an Indian cuisine at Bldg #43's cafe but still it was a 'lunch alone' for me.

A week folds over, without creating a proper lunch pattern for me. Very well, so be it, i was saying to myself. A dozen days later, today, there is Jan, Har, Div and San with me. We lunch (not just that, we do a bunch of more activities) together these days! My 10 min lunch break unrolled itself to a full blown 60 min break. We bring food from home, buy food from the cafe and swipe a lot of food from the rest of the gang. A proper lunch these days consists of good swipes from atleast 5 different plates ;-) The food strewn, sauce smeared table reminds me of my Undergrad days. 3 years hence those good old days, to me, it appears that the best things in life haven't changed a bit. Perhaps life's code is recursive too!