Workspace odyssey: Returning to work in a new world

Gurugram: INDmoney

INDmoney’s move from a small office to a spacious, light-filled one on March 2 coincided with the news of the spread of the pandemic in Gurugram. A week later, they shut down the office. But that didn’t affect their work. Brimming with a quiet confidence, Ashish Kashyap, CEO, says: “Though it was proven that we could work remotely, we wanted to retain the space as a single congregation point. Because it reinforces the energy that translates into the company and the product that we are trying to build.” They came back “in a thoughtful manner”, opening the office on July 1, and the remaining work on the interiors is on in full swing, even as the staff have begun using it in a transient manner. For now.

Mumbai: Law Firm

On June 21, the watchman of this building at Nariman Point came to check if all the electrical mains had been switched off in this office space that was once crammed with lawyers, but is now completely empty. That day, the partners of the firm handed over the keys of the space they had been renting for three years. The pandemic has hit revenues hard and in order to sustain the salaries of their employees, the company decided to give up their office to save on rent.

New Delhi: Gaango Devi, Tea stall owner

Devi reopened her tea stall on the pavement of an arterial road leading to the Okhla Industrial Area, New Delhi, about a month ago. “They all fled,” she says, referring to the labourers who used to flock to her stall through the day. “I don’t know when they’ll be back.” Most of her customers were employed by MSME units that dot the industrial hub. With the buzz gone, Devi waits for the occasional motorist who stops for a cigarette break. “I set up the stall again because I got bored sitting at home,” she says.

Anand: Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (Amul) dairy plant

Since the lockdown was announced, there hasn't been a day when Amul plants stopped working. “We started getting 15 percent more milk, because small players such as dairies and shops stopped buying milk from dairy farmers,” says RS Sodhi, MD, GCMMF. Apart from working at full capacity, Amul also had to hire four extra plants to handle the additional milk. “We had no option but to ensure milk was supplied since we are a source of livelihood for about 3.6 million farmers,” he says. Amul has a robust supply chain, wherein close to 1 lakh partners are involved. During the lockdown, food and living arrangements were made for all their workers, including transporters, cleaners and labourers, so that they didn’t have to travel.

Nagpur: Jitendra Sarda, director, Shri Vyenkatesh Casting

"Work is tiresome and requires long hours," says Jitendra Sarda, director, who resumed work about two months ago. For him, a typical week includes travelling four times to a stone-crushing unit in Pachgaon, 22 km away. For the rest of the week, he travels to a dolomite mine in Sausar in Madhya Pradesh, where work is expected to begin soon. Although operations had stopped completely in the first month and a half of the lockdown, demand started picking up as the economy reopened. "But demand has again nosedived, partly due to the monsoon and also due to the infection spread." Like most businesses, Sarda's is facing a crisis of labour; and an increase in diesel prices has led to a rise in production costs. "While there are no Covid-19 cases in Pachgaon, we ensure the workers are safe and take appropriate hygiene measures," he says, adding that during the lockdown the staff lived in nearby quarters so that they didn't have to leave the property.

Ahmedabad: Gopinath Dhandapani, AVP, sales, Cygnet Infotech

Dhandapani tested positive for Covid-19 on July 10. With his wife in Dubai, he couldn’t quarantine at home and had to be shifted to a hotel in accordance with the rules of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. But unlike a lot of other patients, Dhandapani continued working while battling the disease. “I never considered taking sick leave,” he says. “I love my work and it keeps me busy. This way, I was keeping myself occupied, and didn't focus on infection.” For the 40-year-old marathoner, his laptop kept him good company through his isolation period of 10 days, and helped him recover quickly.

Kochi: When Chai Met Toast (indie band)

(Clockwise from top left) Achyuth Jaigopal, Ashwin Gopakumar, Palee Francis, Sailesh Pai

When Chai Met Toast released their first single 'Maybe I Can Fly' from their upcoming debut album When We Feel Young in mid-July, with all four band members working from their homes and Francis putting it together at his home studio. “We had an album coming up, so we didn’t want the work to stall,” says Jaigopal. Although they miss the usual jamming sessions, the band is used to working remotely—since Gopakumar lives in Thiruvananthapuram—and ideating through video calls and WhatsApp. With the relaxations in place now, some of them meet once in a while at the home studio. They feel the pandemic has given them more space to be creative. “We are using this time to discuss more ideas and finetune our skills,” says Gopakumar.

Bengaluru: Balagopal KV, Growth Lead, Airmeet

Balagopal never owned a vehicle, and didn’t care for one. He would rent a Yulu two-wheeler every day to get to a co-working space, about 20 minutes from home. Since the lockdown, the co-working space has shut down, but he continues to work from home. “Since we had launched Airmeet just months before the lockdown, the timing worked out really well for us. People couldn’t hold physical events, and Airmeet specialises in conducting events and conferences in virtual spaces. We were a remote company before it became cool to be remote,” he says. Balagopal still uses Yulu, but for getting around the neighbourhood and buying groceries.

Jaipur: Shweta Mewara, Co-founder and creative director, Gulmohar Lane

The pandemic has completely redefined the workspace for Mewara, an entrepreneur and a mother. “Extensions of our lives outside our home, from kids’ play area to office, have suddenly all moved in,” says Mewara, who now works from her dining table. The struggle is real, as she has to balance her two-year-old’s routine with work. “His latest obsession is working on the laptop, just like his parents. It’s tough to keep him off the laptop, diaries and files. Now that we work from home, so does he,” she laughs.

What Mewara misses most about an organised office space is the storage and designated work desk. “Spills, chaos and multi-tasking are the most common problems,” she says. But the designer has also converted her travails into a business idea, and is planning to launch a new line of study tables on her home furniture portal.