A desi survival guide to professional
meetings in your pajamas
March 2020 hit us like that relative who shows
up unannounced during lunch time. One day we were complaining about traffic and
office politics, the next day we were explaining to our mothers why we couldn't
"just pause the meeting" to receive the grocery delivery. Welcome to
the great Indian Work-From-Home experiment, where productivity meets family
chaos in the most spectacular way possible.
The
Setup: Transforming Your Ghar into a Corporate Office
Remember when the biggest decision about your
bedroom was whether to make the bed or not? Suddenly, we became interior
designers overnight. That corner where you used to dump clothes? Corporate
background. The bed you never made? Off-limits camera zone. The poster of Shah
Rukh Khan? Strategic repositioning required.
Every Indian home has that one "clean"
wall that becomes the designated video call backdrop. You know, the one wall
that doesn't have your mother's collection of small plants, your father's
newspaper stack from 1987, or that random family photo where everyone looks
like they were forced to smile at gunpoint.
My neighbor spent ₹5,000 on a
"professional" backdrop, only to realize his wife's pressure cooker
whistles provided the real ambiance during client calls. Nothing says
"authentic Indian work experience" like explaining what that
mysterious whistling sound is to confused foreign colleagues.
The Great
Mute Button Mastery
Working from home taught us the sacred art of
the mute button faster than our engineering degrees taught us anything useful.
We became digital ninjas, unmuting ourselves with lightning speed while
simultaneously signaling our mothers to lower the TV volume.
Indian families have this supernatural ability
to choose the exact moment you're presenting quarterly reports to have their
loudest conversations. "Beta, should I make aloo gobi or bhindi
today?" becomes a boardroom discussion topic whether you want it or not.
The real MVPs are those who mastered the
"nod and smile" technique when their mic accidentally unmuted during
family arguments. We've all been there – trying to look professional while
internally praying that nobody heard your father arguing with the cable guy
about why Star Plus isn't working.
Dress
Code: Business on Top, Comfort Below
The pandemic gave birth to the revolutionary
"meeting mullet" – professional shirt on top, pajamas below. We
became masters of the strategic camera angle, ensuring our colleagues never
discovered that our "power dressing" stopped at the waist.
I know at least three people who attended
important presentations in formal shirts and underwear. The real anxiety wasn't
about the presentation; it was about accidentally standing up during screen
share. Imagine explaining to your boss why you're giving quarterly projections
while wearing cartoon character boxers.
The shoes situation was even more hilarious.
We'd religiously wear formal shoes for in-person meetings but now slip into
chappals between video calls. Some people got so comfortable that they forgot
how to walk in actual shoes when offices reopened. "Sir, I'm having
technical difficulties with my footwear."
The
Background Cameo Artists
Every Indian household has those uninvited
background stars who refuse to follow the "meeting in progress" memo.
Your father, who usually watches news at volume level 47, suddenly develops
selective hearing when you're on important calls.
Then there's the domestic help who has
impeccable timing. They'll choose the exact moment you're discussing budget
allocations to start their loudest cleaning routine right outside your door.
The vacuum cleaner becomes your unofficial meeting soundtrack.
The real legends are the pets and younger
siblings who treat your video calls like their personal entertainment show.
Dogs barking at delivery guys, cats deciding your laptop keyboard is their new
bed, and siblings photobombing your screen with dance moves that would make
TikTok proud.
The
Indian Family Integration Program
Working from home meant your family finally
understood what you do for a living. Sort of. Your mother still thinks "client
calls" means you're chatting with friends, and your father believes every
video meeting is negotiable time-wise.
"Beta, meeting khatam? Come eat
lunch." became the most heard phrase across Indian households. Explaining
that virtual meetings have the same time constraints as physical ones was like
teaching calculus to your neighborhood stray cat.
The funniest part? Family members started
recognizing your colleagues' voices and developing opinions about them.
"That Sharma ji from your office talks too much," your mother would
comment, having eavesdropped on exactly one team meeting.
The
Technology Trials
Internet connectivity became more important than
electricity in Indian homes. We discovered that our "unlimited"
broadband had very creative definitions of "unlimited." Nothing
teaches patience like watching your screen freeze mid-sentence during an
important presentation.
Every family appointed one "tech
support" person (usually the youngest member) to handle video call crises.
"Screen nahi dikh raha" became the most common household emergency,
ranking higher than actual emergencies.
The irony? We spent years avoiding family time,
and suddenly we were conducting professional meetings from the heart of family
chaos. Your presentation skills were tested not by tough questions from
clients, but by explaining why your grandmother just walked past the camera in
her nightgown.
The New
Normal Normalcy
Looking back, the work-from-home experiment
taught us that productivity doesn't require pants (at least not full pants),
that family interruptions can be more entertaining than office small talk, and
that Indian families have an incredible ability to adapt to anything –
including their children running multinational meetings from the dining table.
We learned to embrace the beautiful chaos. Yes,
the neighbor's dog still barks during important calls. Yes, your mother still
doesn't understand why you can't pause a live meeting. And yes, we all secretly
enjoyed wearing comfortable clothes while looking professional on screen.
The best part? We proved that Indians can work
efficiently from anywhere – even if "anywhere" includes beds that
double as boardrooms, kitchens that serve as conference rooms, and bathrooms
that provide the only quiet space for confidential calls.
So here's to all the work-from-home warriors who
successfully convinced their bosses they were productive while simultaneously
managing family drama, technology disasters, and the eternal struggle of
looking professional while feeling completely ridiculous.
After all, we're the generation that learned to say "Can you hear me now?" in six different languages and became experts at unmuting ourselves faster than our parents can find their reading glasses. If that's not professional growth, what is?
#BusinessOnTopPajamasBelow #PressureCookerProblems #BackgroundCameos #TechSupportFamily #UnlimitedBroadbandMyth #MeetingInterruptions
