A friend of mine asked me to read a few blogs here... So I read a few blogs. Then I got smitten by the blog-bug. So now I want to write a blog.
I never imagined I'd have to actually open an account and all... I mean, they've put up buttons like "Post" and "Publish". Man! Sounds like serious stuff!
So I used my Google account to get here. Hmm... nice place, this Blogger.
7 months ago, I went to Bombay to work. Got through a campus placement. Big brand name. Da Maayaa Jaal. Folks at home were surprised.
"Kaaay??" the aunts yelled in Marathi. "Job laagla?" (Translated... 'Got a job?'). I'm supposed to be this inexperienced little whimp, you see. Got an academic future to take care of. 'Havent-seen-the-world-yet' types. Sab kuch chod-chaad ke kaam karvaenge bachchi se?? Voh bhi Mumbai mein???(He he... Ennervating the Aunts and the Grandmas of this Earth is my birth right).
So I packed my bags with a few clothes and things and shot straight to the big, fat metro, where, they say, 'Dreams come true' (Wah re meri kismat!!).
Arre! Whottta sittty yaaar!!! Ekdum phasht-moving. 24 hours electricity yaar! And running water. Its like magic yaar. He he... I was used to the 4 hour electricity cuts of Pune.
Anyway, I was put up at this hotel by the company. Had to find a place to stay in 2 weeks... that was plenty of time, or so I thought. I wanted to concentrate on the nice new feeling of independence. So I pushed back all thoughts of accomodation and got ready to retire for my first night in Bombay.
I had a sweet thing for a room mate. A regular 'Mumma'.
"Deeeyar, fold your clothes na. You want me iron your shirt for tomorrow?"
I loved that kid! So I let her iron my clothes sometimes. I can't stand in the way of people's happiness... even if it means having to sacrifice ironing my own shirts.
5th June 2006. On that fateful day, for the first time in my life, I stepped inside a corporate office. Phew! Even typing that was heavy! I was with 3 other gaaon-ki-goris. 4 of us had been recruited together in Pune, so there was that 'safety in numbers' jazz.
When we entered this humungus glass structure, complete with security guards and fancy, electronic I-Card armed personnel, looking as important as ever... I heard angels singing the Opera. Their voices soared as my eyes grew wider. Then it stopped. So I took that as a cue and started looking for the HR guys.
Half a hour later, we were all sitting inside a small room packed with 30 other kids like us. Fresh grads, all set to hit the Corporate World with their talents (Atleast they said we were talented after the Interview, though they never specified the area of our talents... hmm... mishtree).
And of course, let me clear your obvious doubts. No, we weren't hired for a BPO or a Call Centre. We were hired for a "High-end KPO" (whatever that meant, it sure sounded better than a Call Centre).
So. I was in a small room packed with 30 other kids, right? Yah. And then there was this HR guy (absolutely smashing young fellow- Shashi Kapoor of the 1950s lookalike) prattling about the globally powerful, '2nd best bank in the world' company and our mindblowing luck at having being recruited here.
He talked about a lot of other things too... I wish I'd paid attention. Sounded very impressive then. 'Looked' very impressive, actually. So I sat there for another hour or two staring at his agreeable face and then we were all ushered out into the lobby again.
The general enviroment of the place was awkward. I mean, fancy people in crisp, ironed shirts and clicking shoes on polished tiles and carpetted lobbies and grey name plates on cold meeting rooms with walls of sound-proof glass (I didnt know there was any glass there until I barged right into it. I should really not have strode across the floor to the nice looking chair with all the world's confidence oozing out of me).
He he... what was comforting was that they assigned us with roll-numbers. They didnt call them roll-numbers, though. They called them 'SID's and 'GID's. It would take me weeks to figure out what SID and GID stood for.
Chapter I... First 3 days of training. 30 odd 'talents', all together, suffering from 'I'm confident but you look confused' syndrome. The Bombay kids had a lot more confidence than us poowah widdle small town kids. But in those 3 days, we also found out which department we were headed for. He he he... the devil was by our side and only 12 out of 30 got selected for the 'Finance Center of Excellence' (Again, sure sounded better than Financial Applications, where the remaining 18 went). And all of us from Pune were among the 12.
We had a good two weeks of induction (for all those lucky people out there who havent tasted the corporate kebabs yet, induction means feeding the chicken before sending it to the slaughter house).
So we were a flock of 5 Pune-ites and 5 Mithibai-ites. And oh!... not to forget... 2 girls from Mulund College of Commerce. Hmm... National Integration!!! A melange of social classes.
And we were all set for the next day, when our training would begin.
The Company had got itself a new litter. We were 12 young cubs with sharp claws, a couple of canines and an abundance of curiosity. And we were first of our kind, that would go through a full 2 weeks of formal training before being let loose on the Shop-Floor. We were endowed with a fresh perspective that needed to be harnessed. We were to be taught the rules of the Corporate Jungle and the Company had put its best out to tutor us.
And thus, we all took our first wobbly step together with sparkling eyes and untarnished hearts, into the Enchanted Forest. But who could tell what was waiting for us in there?
