Tag Archives: TBI

Trade Bank of Iraq

Culture, Festival, Nature, Religion, Workplace

It’s a public holiday today in Baghdad, but we are in office

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Today has been declared as a public holiday in Baghdad to commemorate the death of Imam Moussa ibn Jaafar al-Kadhim, the seventh of 12 principal Shiite imams, who died in 799. Shiites walk for hours, and often for days, from across the country to reach the mosque in Kadhimiyah, known for its twin golden domes. The mosque was built atop what were believed to be the tombs of Imam al-Kadhim and his grandson – Imam Muhammad al-Taqi, the ninth of 12 principal Shiite imams.

Hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims converged on the golden-domed shrine as security forces tightened security after a wave of deadly attacks across Iraq. Many of the main streets in Baghdad were closed in recent days to prevent attacks on the pilgrims, who travel on foot.

The traffic restrictions caused hardships to many of my colleagues. Many of them couldn’t come to the bank yesterday. The working hour was reduced by one hour since Sunday. Yesterday, it was decreased by two hours so that all the employees could reach home safe and in time.

The holiday has been declared today only in Baghdad province. Therefore, all our branches outside Baghdad province are working as a normal business day. So, the banking system will be fully operational today. The branches need support from head office as well as some transactions need authorizations. All routine checks are to be carried out to ensure the transactions are booked and recorded properly. So the back office is open today.

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An empty Baghdad road

I am in the office to supervise the back office work and for authorizing the required transactions. I stay in the office complex and hence it’s not a problem for me. Mustafa stays close by and so he has come. Ibrahim also can manage to come to office walking, so he too has come today. The vehicles are not allowed on the road today in Baghdad. As the Baghdad branches, and Head Office are closed, so the volume of work is much less today.

“If you have a work instead of a job, every day is holiday” ― Paulo Coelho

Happy World Environment Day to everyone! Today is also World Environment Day. Let’s make it everyday.

Celebration, Friends, Workplace

Colleagues celebrate my birthday 2013

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Tomorrow, 21 March is my birthday.  21 March is a public holiday in Iraq every year for Nowruz. Nowruz, meaning ‘New day’, is being celebrated in several countries. This ancestral festival, which has been observed for more than 3,000 years marks the Iranian/Persian New Year and is primarily celebrated in Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, India, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan. In February 2010 UNESCO recognised The International Day of Nowruz on their list of “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”.

Nowruz coincides with the start of spring and traditionally honours the rebirth of nature. The celebration begins precisely with the vernal equinox, the moment the sun crosses the equator and sunlight is evenly divided between the two hemispheres.

Isn’t it great to be born on such a day, when half the world is celebrating the rebirth of nature, onset of springs and it’s equinox! Well, I feel proud to have born on such a day and feel happy that people are rejoicing around on my birthday.

My office colleagues celebrated my birthday today. I was in a meeting of ALCO. On my return from the meeting, I found my colleagues brought a lovely, yummy cake for me. It’s so nice of them.

My birthday cake

We took a few photographs and then I cut the cake.

Happy birthday to me!

We all had slices of the cake. It’s very tasty also because it‘s mixed with their love and respect for me.

Me, my colleagues and my birthday cake

Thank you, my dear colleagues for your sweet gesture, love, respect and wishes.

Every year on 21 March UNESCO celebrates the World Poetry Day. A decision to proclaim 21 March as World Poetry Day was adopted during the UNESCO’s 30th session held in Paris in 1999. Happy World Poetry Day!

Wish that Nowruz brings the blessings of happiness, prosperity and love. Happy Nowruz!

Nature

It rained again in Baghdad

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Since yesterday it rained in Baghdad. In fact, it rained whole night and it continued in the morning too. Continuous rains mean flooded roads in Baghdad. We started thinking that it may be a repeat of the 25th December rain, when the roads were so flooded that the Government of Iraq declared a public holiday – Rainy day! However, TBI functioned normally and served all the customers who dared to reach its branches.

Flooded street of Baghdad. Image by @prashantrao.

It was in the afternoon that the sky was getting cleared up and later we had a bright sunshine in the late afternoon. I am going on vacation and I was expected to get my exit/re-entry visa today. But, it’s postponed for tomorrow as it was raining in the morning. Tomorrow is the penultimate day and I was praying that it should not rain like last time and the Government declares a holiday. Thank God, it’s clear now and I hope to get my exit/re-entry visa tomorrow. I am a bit tense, obviously.  Well, this is the problem that I am facing because of this rain. I take pity on all my colleagues who came to the office in the rain and returned home through the flooded streets.

Food, Friends, Workplace

Basbousa

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This morning our colleague Sara brought Basbousa. She cooked it at her home and brought to it to the office for us. It is a dessert traditionally served in Middle Eastern countries.

Basbousa is a sweet cake made of semolina soaked in syrup. I loved basbousa with the morning tea, which the ladies of our department also brought for me. The syrup is not too sugary, but sweet enough to satisfy a sweet tooth.

It was great, Sara! Thanks.

Workplace

My 5 years in Baghdad

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It was the morning of 12 August 2007, when I first landed on the soil of Baghdad from Dubai by Iraqi Airways flight. It’s now 5 years that I am staying in Baghdad since then. I did hardly know then that I would be staying in Baghdad for more than 5 years!

We went to our office straight from the airport. Our then Chairman also arrived at the airport by a different flight and we all went together to our office direct from the airport.

We were inside this office building when there were terror attacks on TBI. Two car bombs exploded within a gap of 5 minutes and the building was devastated. We had to abandon the building and it still lies there shaken, dark, abandoned.

Old TBI Head Office that was bombed

When I look back these 5 years, I could see many incidents, events etc. TBI has grown manifold in its size, business and in banking technology. Also, personally, my son Babai has completed his schooling and has joined Sikkim Manipal University for MBBS. He has also completed one year too.

We have shifted three houses and the present house is our third house in Baghdad. I still miss our first house, although I stayed there for three months only.

This is the first house where I was staying after coming to Baghdad.

I have got a few very good Iraqi friends in Baghdad also among my colleagues. When I joined TBI, we were 6 Indians in the Bank and now only two of us are continuing!

Due to security reasons our movement is restricted in Baghdad and now we got used to the solitude of Baghdad. I had never seen so many guns, arms before. I remember those days when we used to travel in a bullet proof GMC with armed convoys. These are the special privileges of VVIPs in India!

Terror attacks and killings are still almost a daily occurrence here, but that scale has gone down substantially. There were the days when nobody knew that they would return home safe. Any car parked for long was a suspect car bomb. We didn’t have any office timing as we did not know that which area will be closed when and how long. The banks clearings used to take 9 days!! Now, many things are much better/changed.

Many things have remained the same in Baghdad and yet many things have changed in these 5 years.

Nature

Temperature reaches 50° today!

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In my previous post, I said that temperature was going to hit 50° centigrade in Baghdad soon. Today, the temperature has hit 50° for the first time in this year. Last year, we had a hot holiday when the temperature crossed 50°. I don’t know whether there will be any such holiday this year too!

Ramadan has started yesterday and so many people are fasting because of Ramadan. It’s a real testing time for them in this hot, scorching summer. May the God help them to complete their fasts in health. Due to Ramadan, the bank is closing early by one hour at 2.00pm instead of regular time at 3.00pm.

So, I was back at home by 2.15pm. There were only three branches open at that time – Harthiya, Parliament and Majidi Mall. I didn’t expect that I have to return to office then. It was around 3.10pm, I received a call from Mahmood from our IT Center. He reported that there was a huge difference in Harthiya branch and it seemed that the branch had finished their work. I told him that Ali Fauzi was at duty today from Equation support team. He must look into that. He said that the branch contacted Ali but he replied to them that he did not have authority to help them. WTF?

Anyway, I again walked down to the office to have a look at it. I fixed the problem and the branch was balanced. Then I left Ali at the office for completing the minor things and walked up to my house. It’s nice that I stay near to my office otherwise walking under the Sun, spitting fire and raising temperature to 50° is no fun.

Random

Power starved weekend

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This weekend we had several power outages. After June 2010 car bomb attack at our old Head Office, we shifted our head office to the new premises. For security reasons half of a section of road was blocked, manned by security people and cordoned off by using RCC blast walls.

With the improving security conditions in Baghdad, the government is insisting to clear off the private check points, blast walls that dot the city. The caravans and generators for our bank were also on the road. In compliance to the government instructions, the bank has to clear of the thoroughfare.

Therefore, the bank went for de-clogging the road and removed caravans and generators and moved them inside the premises or on pavement. Also moved in the blast walls from the middle of the road to the tip of the pavement.

This exercise caused disruptions of power supply to us in the weekend for several hours on Thursday evening and again on Saturday. I had to manage the weekend inside the house without electricity for hours. I bore through it seeing those men working under the scorching hot Sun. They were nice people as they were trying to restore the power in between for sometime whenever it was possible.

Now, I sincerely hope that this exercise will not jeopardize our life as the security situation is yet to be satisfactory in Baghdad. Anyway, a beginning is needed to be made to reaffirm that it’s better than before. Also, we cannot use a public thoroughfare as our bank’s property.

Culture, Festival, Religion, Workplace

Baghdad is closed today but I am in office

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The government declared today as a public holiday in Baghdad in view of large scale violence yesterday before the Shia religious festival tomorrow at Kadhmiya Mosque in Baghdad. The public holiday has been declared for movements of the pilgrims walking to the shrine of Imam Musa Kadhim and for security reasons.

However all our branches outside Baghdad are open and are working. As we are having centralized banking system in our Bank, the branches need support on the banking system, so some of us have to come to the bank.

As I stay near our office, so I attend the office under such circumstances. It’s very difficult for others to come to the office from far places. Mustafa stays nearby and so he also comes to the Bank. Ibrahim has also come.

Today is a lackluster day due to low volume of activities in the Bank as the Baghdad branches and Head Office are closed.

Workplace

Baghdad locked down before Arab summit

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Iraq’s government has locked down Baghdad ahead of this week’s Arab League Summit, throwing up a maze of security checkpoints and roadblocks as it seeks to protect the capital from insurgent attacks.

The summit is being held for the first time in Iraq after 1990, and a successful meeting would allow the incumbent government to show the country is pulling back from years of violence and upheaval months after the last U.S. troops left.

Entire streets in Baghdad have been closed down, SWAT teams have been combing the city, the government has declared a five-day public holiday in Baghdad from today. Helicopters are seen spanning the Baghdad sky for maintenance of security and to avoid any embarrassing terror incident just ahead of the summit.

However, all our bank branches situated outside Baghdad are working as normal days. So, they need normal IT and system support for their normal functioning. As such, we have decided to run these two departments with minimal people staying near the office. I am also attending the office during this week for oversight of the support and for necessary assistance and guidance.

Celebration, Family, Friends, Workplace

My birthday in Baghdad 2012

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March 21 is my birthday. This year, I am in Baghdad on this day. However, my friends and colleagues did not let me feel alone. Today is a public holiday in Iraq on account of  “Nawroz”. Therefore, my department colleagues brought a cake and some snacks yesterday to celebrate my birthday. So nice of them for arranging this despite closure of major roads in Baghdad, causing huge traffic snarls at other roads in view of the Arab summit next week and a series of near simultaneous bomb blasts in around 20 cities and towns of Iraq, including Baghdad, today killing over 50 people and  injuring hundreds of people. I am touched by the love and respect shown by my colleagues towards me by taking the troubles of going out and bringing a huge, yummy cake along with snacks. They all wished me on my birthday. Message spread fast and I got phone calls from some of my other colleagues wishing me for my birthday.

Like any other holidays in Baghdad, I got up late in the morning enjoying the holiday for Nawroz. It is Parsi and Iranian New Year today and across the globe this day is celebrated with much gaiety. March 21 marks the Vernal Equinox and represents the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness and heralds the change of winter to spring. It’s called Nawroz, which means ‘new day’. Nawroz is also celebrated in north Iraq, aka Kurdistan, in a grand scale.

This also gives me a great pleasure having born on such a nice day!

We cooked “kheer” today at our house in Baghdad for my birthday. It is a special tradition in all Bengali families to cook and eat “kheer” or “Payesh” on the birthdays.

Today, I felt very special as I got many, many birthday wishes through phone, text messages, emails, Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp etc. I got the wishes from my family members, my colleagues, school friends, college friends, ex-colleagues of Trade Bank of Iraq and Punjab National Bank, my teachers, and my friends. Even friends of my son Babai also called to wish me on my Birthday and a few wished me through Facebook. But, I missed Jaya and Babai today. I wish if they could be with me today, in person. We only talked over phone.

I like getting such nice wishes, especially on the special days, like birthday, wedding anniversary etc. I love these things as this make me feel that I am loved by others, people remember me and cares for me. It’s an excellent feeling. I cannot live alone. In fact, a man cannot leave alone. He has to enter into relationships with his fellowmen for living a life. No man can break the shackles of mutual dependence. Aristotle, the legendary Greek philosopher said:

Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god.