My first blog of the many to follow: First-hand experience with Milaap

A new career path,  a new salary, a new location - all these in conjunction disrupted my sleep the night before my first day at Milaap. I somehow managed to wake up on time (all thanks to my 6 am-wake-up-schedule for almost 2.5 years), but I somehow -like always- managed to be late on my first day. After walking towards the auto stop and much negotiation with the auto guy (every Bangalorean's story), I managed to reach the Milaap head office. What struck me most about the office at first sight was the beautiful locality. Though Bangalore boasts many such serene localities, I was pleasantly surprised in that offices are usually located in areas with all the hustle-bustle. As I was taken around the place and introduced to the team as a new fellow, I realized that the team was a lot bigger than I had assumed. As I learned the backgrounds of most of the members of the team, I was amazed. All of them were people with impressive academics and work experience, and they shared one common mission- to better the lives of people. There is more to the team of Milaap. They endorse a very friendly work atmosphere, which is evident from the way everyone interacts. It looks more like a close-knit community brainstorming to make ideas work. I personally feel that this is what the big organizations, with many hierarchical levels, should also promote. When the size of the organization is big, it is obviously hard to accommodate such work culture, but it is not impossible. Free flow of ideas is crucial for the development any structure or organization.I had a couple of training sessions planned for the day. It started with Sushmita walking me through Milaap, and its policies, organizational structure and processes. Once again, I was convinced that I was in the right place. Post the session, I went out with team mates for lunch. It ended up being a long walk+lunch+long walk, which I enjoyed. I would not do justice to this post if I fail to mention the office space. I would informally describe it as "perfect beauty". As someone who has an eye for well-decorated spaces, I enjoyed looking around, and rating the place in my head. I wouldn't say it was perfectly maintained or carefully designed. It just looked care-free. That is the style of architecture and interior decoration that I connect with and appreciate. It looked very effortless. I also feel that this casual care-free style represents the work culture at Milaap. To perfectly end my obsession with the office space, here is a sneak-peek.  The place looks much better than in the picture. I will take a bow for my outstanding photographic skills (sarcasm intended).I had 2 post lunch sessions lined up. One was with Shub regarding the Salesforce platform followed by a session with Bhairavi on Milaap's partners. I found both of these sessions informative (credits to my after-noon walk that helped me stay up and pay attention, and also to Shub and Bhairavi for making it interactive). My learning for the day exceeded my daily average.I am more excited about the field work that I would be doing with one of Milaap's field partners MASS, an organization that is working for the Devadasi women in the sectors of enterprise development, training, sanitation, and energy.I would like to sum it up by stating that it was a day well spent.Was I looking forward for my next day at Milaap? Yes!There it goes, my first BLOG!