The COVID-19 pandemic has turned all our lives upside down. To contain the spread of the disease, many organizations across the world have been forced to turn remote, even if temporarily. For a lot of legacy organizations (like my previous employer - a newspaper), it was simply not possible to imagine a remote way of working together. But even they had to come up with some way of making work possible.

Thankfully for us at Blue Sky Analytics, we realized that our work could be done in a remote modality, pretty quickly. It has roughly been a year since all of us had seen the insides of an office. From a company that allowed remote work, we had become a remote first company seamlessly. Now, no longer do our folks come to office. This has meant no two hour long office commutes. It also means some of us can work from anywhere we wanted - provided we have access to good internet. All of us have gotten used to this new way of working.

Unfortunately, this has meant the death of one beloved institution - the office space. We have effectively shut down our wonderful office in Gurgaon. For those of you who are familiar with this space - it was where we started, where we had our wonderful table tennis matches, where we had excellent home cooked food & more importantly, built the friendships that kept us sane during the lonely lockdowns. It was where we started germinating to be what we are today.

Our office started out like any other - empty at first, it quickly grew into a close-knit space where we brainstormed and collaborated.

Our office started out like any other - empty at first, it quickly grew into a close-knit space where we brainstormed and collaborated.

Our office started out like any other - empty at first, it quickly grew into a close-knit space where we brainstormed and collaborated.

Our office started out like any other - empty at first, it quickly grew into a close-knit space where we brainstormed and collaborated.

Since we were shutting down our office, we had decided to give away all of our office furniture. Thanks to a dear friend (shoutout to Purnima Rao), we were able to get in touch with a few non-profits who could make better use of our equipment. We are delighted to let you know that a large chunk of our office furniture (tables, chairs, water cooler and laptops) were given to three wonderful organizations working in Delhi - NCR.

With the lockdown in effect, and our office moving to a fully remote capacity, we had to bid goodbye to our office space in 2020!

With the lockdown in effect, and our office moving to a fully remote capacity, we had to bid goodbye to our office space in 2020!

A new home for our furniture

These organizations, much like us, are building a better world and we couldn't be happier to help. Please do take some time to check out their work and help them:

The Community Library Project

This library is a low cost, citizen-led initiative committed to building a publicly owned and free library system accessible to all. They have 3 branches in Delhi - NCR (Sheikh Sarai, South Extension, Sikanderpur) and are always looking for volunteers. As someone who volunteers with them, I can vouch for the excellent work they do.

The Narela Community Library

Located in the premises of Khemo Devi Public School in Narela, this community library, is available for all to use, free of cost.

Our tables and chairs have a new home at the Narela library!

Our tables and chairs have a new home at the Narela library!

Kutumb Foundation

Over the past 15 years, Kutumb has been working for the empowerment of disadvantaged youth in and around Kotla Mubarakpur.

If you are in a similar bind like us, and looking to get good use of your furniture, we urge you to please donate them to organizations like these. They are always looking and can benefit from help like this.