Author Archive » Vandana Baria

Fun Fair At PCPL

As kids, all of us loved going to summer fairs, no matter how far we had to travel to enjoy the games, food and create some happy memories with our loved ones! Last week, we thought about digging out that hidden child within us and reliving those lively times once again. So, we organised a wonderful Fun Fair in the office, for which the members of PCPL rose to the ocassion and came up with eight amazing stalls hosting interesting games and delicious food.

Mastizaade – This team brought a roulette table to the Parity Cube Fun Fair to attract the crowd. Many tried their luck here, while some professional players taught the amateurs a few secret tricks to win. B-)

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On The Rocks – This stall came up with a hilarious one minute game! The participants had to eat a cookie, kept on their forehead, without using their hands. It was mad fun watching people try this one by making faces, blinking rapidly and sticking their tongues out in order to get the cookie in to their mouth. Those who managed to accomplish this task won their money back along with a plate full of patra, a delicious Gujarati snack. :P

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Lucky 7 – The busiest stall of the evening was by none other than the CEO of PCPL. He sure knows how to run things successfully, be it a stall or a company. ;) It was all about pure luck at this stall. Players, who lost the game thrice, got a veg puff and pastry free of cost :D

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The Reflex – This one had a game for focused people; you just had to catch a 10 rupee note in three tries.

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Dimers – Here, participants had to throw a coin in the centre of a ring placed inside a bucket full of water, without touching the water. 

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Master Minds – The only stall that brought the essence of a typical fun fair to the office, with their bullets and guns aimed at a bottle full of water. 

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Darkmoon Angels – Before the fair, we didn’t know we had professional tarot card readers in the house. You could get your future revealed at this stall while enjoying some refreshment and snacks. This one had a calming and somewhat intimidating effect on the crowd.

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Polish Me Pretty – A grooming stall for lovely girls. We thank Monica & Sonal for adorning our nails and hands with beautiful nail art and latest mehendi designs.

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Looking at these pictures and the amount that was collected, it is safe to say the fair was a roaring success. And it was a Fun Fair with a purpose. All the proceeds collected from the stalls were donated to Nanhi Kali, a charitable organisation for underpriveleged girls.

Pictionary is More Fun with Bad Drawings and Weird Guesses

Have you ever played Pictionary?

If yes, you must not have played it the way we did.

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Recently, at Parity Cube, our employees were engaged in a fun filled Friday playing pictionary.

Unlike the actual rules of the game, our HR and hosts- Geeta and Ekta gave it a little twist. 5 teams with 7 talents in each were formed. Each team was given a minute to guess the drawing.

A team player was supposed to pick a dice from a box. Then they were supposed to pick a card. Whichever colour dice they had picked, they had to draw the object mentioned in that colour on the card.

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Every player was allowed only once to be the picturist (the player who draws for the team).

Well obviously we allowed the other teams to distract the guessers.

Do you want to know some of our hit guesses & drawings?

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Akshay had drawn a long triangle trying to explain his team a famous monument. His team ended up guessing it to be mountain, tower, Alphabet “ A ” etc. whereas it was an Eiffel Tower.

Anil drew an airplane and some chaat hawkers trying to explain fast-food, but his team guessed it as fast, food, airplane, garden, pani puri, bhel, etc.

Another team player drew rain to explain monsoon, his team ended up guessing rains, water, rainbow, sweater, umbrella and everything else.

Dhrumi was trying to explain direction to her team with the help of an arrow and a hand… but her team could only guess that it was a hand, an arrow but not the actual word “ right”.

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The winning team was Sumit’s team. Their team could guess the maximum number of drawings. They scored the best and the highest amongst all the teams.

Desidime Turned 5 this July

Birthdays are always special, no matter how many years pass by, but this year was a tad bit extra special for us because it is with this birthday that we entered a new phase of growth. To quote the founders, this year “we enter a phase in our journey where we turn a new page… from doubts to clarity from uncomfortable situations to even more uncomfortable situations… To learn things we have not learned so far… “

Thus, no doubt, a grand celebration was in order, and like eager teenagers we decided to have a dress-code for the party.

Thus, there we were all, wearing our hard-work on our backs, for that is what the DesiDime t-shirts represent to us- hard work and passion.

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We also decided to surprise our colleagues a little, and so we had the office all decked up with balloons, before they punched-in for the day. (BTW, ‘punch in’ is just a phrase here; we don’t really believe in having a machine that makes you feel guilty about every single minute you could not be in office.)

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And these red and white festoons are still up for the employees to indulge in some post-work fun bursting-spree. It also doubles up as a stress“buster”, you know… when a colleague gets too irritating, take it out on these balloons while they last.

Another small surprise for our staff was a small gesture in form a ‘Thank You’ note sitting on their desk when they arrived in office. It is our workforce that has helped us reach this milestone; this was the least we could do to show our gratitude to them.

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Even though everyone in office is well past their schooling days, we had no qualms in ordering a massive cake in the shape of the number 5 (in case, someone forgot which birthday it was ;) )

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The birthday celebration coincided with the joining of a new member, Gustavo to the PCPL family. So, it was this jolly good fellow from Brazil who was asked to cut the sinfully yummy Red Velvet cake on behalf of the company. The guy was all blushes and manners… stood with his slice in hand till everyone got theirs. Bless him!

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After everyone managed to grab as much of the cake as they could, they were served with some smoking hot missal and cold drinks.

These days you just can’t have a birthday party and not click a selfie! After all it was our 5th birthday! So, we all squeezed in together and the pogonophile* boss somehow managed to capture 35 of us in a single frame. (*Yeah, he has a thing for beards)

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This was followed by some inspiring words from the bosses.

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Just before the close of the party, it was time for the announcement of the ‘Employee of the Quarter’. Our Office Help cum Administrative Assistant, Datta was the proud and deserving man who got to hold the shining cup, this time. It was in recognition of his efforts, as he not only made tea, coffee and took care of all the sundry things that keep the office going but also helped the HR and Admin team with all the filing and assembling.

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A befitting end to a perfect evening.

10 Reasons Why You would Love to Work with Us

Greetings our new or potential teammate-to-be! Maybe you’ve just received an LOI from us or maybe you simply stumbled upon us while looking for a job. Either ways, you are here to know a little more about what kind of a place and people we are, and whether you will like us or not. We know the apprehension surrounding the decision of taking up a new job, so to allay your immediate fears, let us tell you, we are a fairly relaxed bunch, who value talent above anything else in people.

Furthermore, here are a few more things about us that we would like you to know.

We don’t judge the book by its cover

As long as you know what is acceptable at a workplace, you can walk in to the office wearing your most comfy outfits and get down to working, without much pretense.

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The first name culture

We love being addressed by our beautiful, meaningful first names, so do you, we hope. Words like ‘Sir’ and ‘Ma’am’ are banned here.

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Get to drive your own ‘car’eer

Nobody knows your real potential better than you. That is why, you get to set your own quarterly goals here, define your own daily tasks and be your own worst critic.

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There is a genie waiting for you here

Our monthly Lucky Draw Scheme gives you a once-in-a-tenure opportunity to demand anything from the bosses that will inspire you to work harder. So, start deciding on what you desire the most. So far, people have grabbed a MacBook, a laptop and some online courses.

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Get to try on some new hats

Of course you will have a proper job title and a defined work profile, but when the situation arises, we are sure you would be glad to widen your horizons and learn new things.

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The Rooster Award

Naturally, you can’t escape our notice if you manage to do more than what is expected of you. Every quarter, our most hard-working employee gets a shining cup and a gold coin as a recognition for his/ her efforts.

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The parties are always harder

We sure don’t want to end up with dull Jack’s and Jill’s in our office. So, we try to balance all that hard work with as much play in form of monthly Birthday celebrations, fun games and HR events, at times even, putting up projectors for World cup matches.

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The creative space

When cubicles, desks and people start getting awfully formal and restrictive to your thought process, you can escape in to the ‘Bean Bag Room’ for some uninhibited introspection, exploration, or even personal growth during the self-learning hours on Fridays.

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Holiday with colleagues

Just like the work culture, our yearly picnics and getaways are never the routine, done-to-death water parks or resorts… they’re more on the lines of trekking, rafting, camping, barbecues etc.

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Never go hungry

We understand the deep connection between food and motivation for work, so we keep our fridge and snack-boxes stocked with munchies to sate your hunger before it gets to your head.

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Last but not the least, be the first to know and grab all the best deals in town and save a lot of your hard-earned money.

Hope, we’ll see you around soon!

The Whereabouts of Parity Cube

Traveling can be one of the most frustrating part of a new job, especially in a city like Mumbai. You are already dealing with the anxieties of being among new people, adjusting with the new culture, settling in to a new work routine and add to it the commuting woes, which can well be the last straw for your already strained nerves. Also, if you are from out of Mumbai, you have food, bed and board to think about, too.

So, to make your journey to PCPL a little smoother, we have put together this piece on how best to reach us along with some help on settling in this city, if you are new, here.

Location

To begin with, here’s where we are located in Kandivali East.

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How to reach

No matter where you stay in Mumbai, the PCPL office is pretty convenient and affordable to reach because we are opportunely positioned right beside the highway as well as at a walk-able distance from the nearest railway station.

If you stay far, you can use Mumbai’s lifeline- the local train to reach Kandivali station on Western line and then opt to walk or take a ‘sharing’ rickshaw to reach the office from the station. The rickshaw fare is just Rs 7 to Rs 10 per head. If you are new to Mumbai, we recommend you download the m-Indicator app on your phone to work out all the train routes, timings and ticket fare. Those who stay in the heart of suburbs can choose to travel by bus, cab or auto as per their convenience. The nearest bus stop, Bandongri is right across the street from the office.

If you are among the lucky ones like our colleague Evgeny, who rents a place in a nearby residential building, you will be skipping in and out of office every day.

Around the workplace

As our postal address suggests, we are right beside one of Mumbai’s most beautiful malls, Growel’s 101. So, you will just have to hop to your right for some binge eating or window shopping, or catching up on movies, right after work or picking up some groceries and home essentials while going home. If you like playing snooker or other such games during your breaks, the game zone is not far away.

Also, if you love your junk food, you’ll get it right outside the office building, along with a chance for animal lovers to pet some of the stray dogs the commercial complex has adopted.

House hunt

Not from Mumbai? Here are some brokers’ contact numbers that we have curated from our other colleagues who have been through this routine before.

Indira – 09769460888

Arijit – 08976340641

Raj – 09004646555

Vishal – 09820806926

Ritesh – 08983317122

Kunal – 9967042431

… and here some numbers for the nearby Andheri-East area as well.

Sandeep – 9821812050

Ramesh – 02230160552

Vikas – 02230141883

If you are a total stranger to this city and its ways, you can also take guidance from anyone in the PCPL family.

Hope this will make the beginning of your journey at PCPL much easier.