2008 Summer: My BTP (B.Tech. Project) Guide had extended the stay of both the guys under him by a couple of months. It was only the second time in my life that I had failed - academically, but how it happened is a story worth telling (and I leave it for another post). To cut the long story short, I had to stay in the campus while others relaxed at their homes. Or to put it in a different way, I was enjoying in the campus while others were rotting at their homes. One night around 3 am after a game of volleyball, a couple of movies and a game of cards, I left for Alibaug beach (in Mumbai, about a couple of hrs from my hostel) to watch the sun rise - with my friends in a friend's car - and returned 4 days later from GOA. But in these four days, my Prof. had asked my friend to submit his BTP report as he himself was going to Russia and I missed the chance. So I continued to stay in the campus with nothing to do but enjoying hell lot. Finally, I "Graduated" on June 28th, reached Hyderabad on the morning of 29th and joined my first company on the 30th day of June.
1 year on, 29th June, 2009: It was Monday morning but I got up by 6.15 am and got out of home by 7.45am. Reason? The next batch of Campus Hires were joining and my Manager asked me if I would join them for a day during the induction. After all, they would have plenty of questions to ask and would open up best to only someone like them. It's a really hectic week for me but I still wanted to join the new Campus recruits for half a day. By 8.15, I was at Novotel for the induction.
365 days earlier, 30th June, 2008: It was my big day. The first day at my first job. But I had to be woken up from my slumber. 8am already and I had to reach Novotel by 9. I finally reached only (thanks to my Dad who drives really fast)15 min late. Everyone had lined up and were moving in after signing on a sheet of paper and proudly collecting a shirt that had "DELOITTE." embroidered on it. Within no time we all had settled in a really huge hall. We were all awed by the super-magnificence of Novotel, the huge hall, the scale at which the induction was organised, the size of the batch that had been recruited. Everything just seemed so huge, so imposing. Soon, we were welcomed by the Partners, Directors, Sr. Managers and had some long sessions for the first two days on everything from What-Deloitte-Is to Finance to Transport to What-our-work-would-be. Everyone was excited. Yet, almost everyone felt drowsy on both the days. "Students will be students". It takes time to grow-up.
Now, 29th June, 2009: And here I was, volunteering to help with the induction of the new batch of Campus Hires. Apart from facilitating the fun-events being organised, my job was to speak to the new joinees, to make feel comfortable and clarify the numerous questions they are bound to have - or to put in a couple of words, "PLAY HOST". Me - whose voice was never taken to mean more than a suggestion at home, me - who was never taken seriously even by my friends, was now, ME - who would be giving out advice to others. Okay, it didn't really happen like that (maybe, I screwed it up) but I still felt as good. And I was attending the sessions of all the Directors and Partners all over again. But this time, I didn't feel sleepy in the least. Infact, I had pulled up a chair and listened to them attentively. There were some new speakers too and also a couple of old ones. One of the Directors started out in the exact same manner as the last time I heard him. It really was like Déjà vu. He gave an example of how his son once asked him a question and how he digged deep into the details and unearthed a lot of information. And guess what, it was the same question I had heard last year. It's amazing how his son never again asked him another question the whole of previous year. Maybe he thought, "Daddy just digs deep into unnecessary details." But jokes apart, he was just as motivating as last year.
So after the lengthy sessions, some fun-events, and networking with the new Campus Hires over breakfast and lunch, I got back to office by 2.30pm. I went to the gym around 9pm and when I returned at 11 I found a mail in my Inbox saying some work couldn't be completed. I decided to finish that before leaving so that others could continue normally the next day. I finally left at mid-night. Dropped a friend home and reached my place at 12.45am. 17-hrs long day. The longest ever* I would say.
*for me. And considering day starts in the morning and I'm doing something other than watching movies or chatting over the day.
Overall, it was a wonderful day even though a bit tiring. For once, I felt big. I felt responsible. I felt OLD. And I felt like telling my ex-girl friend, whom I dumped when she told me "Grow up", "I have".
But on a more serious note, this one year has truly been a life-changing journey for me. And as I said at the beginning, it's been full of Emotions and Attitude.
There was a reason why I chose to work and not go for higher studies. And MONEY was definitely not on the list. I wanted a change in my attitude, I wanted to grow-up. And more importantly, I wanted to see the "old Anil" back in my who would take everything as a challenge and wanted to kick out the "Anil" who got into me during my time at IIT, the "Anil" who was too-easy going and one who had no goals, no ambitions and was content with watching time fly-by. And I wanted to see the joy of achievement again in myself.
And quite opposite to what I had expected, I was on bench (or jobless, not literally) for 6 months. 6 months to make new friends, 6 months to laze around. I even watched a couple of movies in office. There were days when I would come to office at 12 and leave by 6. 3 hours everyday, I would spend in the Cafeteria or the Barista. And I was being paid all this time too. It was probably the happiest time of my life. But life wasn't a bed of roses even then. The pressure of having to think about how all my peers were on projects while I was still on bench, affected Utilization, blah blah was pretty depressing. It was a time when life a roller-coaster of emotions, happiest in the morning to totally depressed 5-hrs later. Yet, it was also these 6-months when I made some really amazing friends. Friends-for-life and also friends-who-made-my-life. It really wouldn't be much if I dedicated a part of all the successes I might achieve in the future to these wonderful guys and girls, from whom I got to learn so much.
Jan 2nd, 2009: I got hired in Dec, 2007 but joined my first project only in 2009, on the second day of the new year. Every day on my project, my Manager would ask me, "Can you do this?" and I would reply, "I don't know. This is my first project. But I think I can if I'm taught how." and he would say, "I can see how much you can do". So, I was mainly left to reading about the project until Jan 28th, when I got the first big taste of "actual work". 5 and a half months old into the project and experienced in 2 work-streams, I was asked to take lead within my team. The word "team-lead" could be a little deceiving here, but it's true that I finally feel more content. I can tell you truthfully that I had once again experienced the feeling of "achievement" and "satisfaction", feelings that were lost for the past 4 yrs unknown to even me.
And the price of all this? The second half of year gone by was the start opposite of the first 6 months. The time I spent with my friends got steadily lesser and probably reached rock bottom today when I couldn't be with my friends to celebrate the completion of First Year with Deloitte. It was ofcourse, my decision. If I could find time to be at the induction yesterday, I surely could've also taken out time to watch "New York" with them. But that is just how much the priorities have changed over the last 6 months and also how terrible a movie, New-York is.
This was the Emotions-ride over the last year. As far as the Attitude-part is concerned, I shall keep it short and to examples.
1. There was this girl with whom I spoke atleast once almost every single day of my life. I showed a lot of attitude but she would always bear me. One fine day I tell her that my closest friend was back from the US and I wanted to introduce her to him and she doesn't turn up. Now we aren't on talking terms.
2. The closest friend from the US who was here, we made plans to have a Guy's Night-Out at another friends place over the weekend before he went back. But he said he was busy shopping on Fri, Sat and Sun and didn't turn-up. I was totally pissed-off and didn't meet him after that. Now he is back in the US.
3. Another friend who is here on vacation called me 3-weeks after she landed. And she even made it a point to mention it to me. You know what happened next.
And please don't leave any comments on the Attitude-part. I put them on this blog only because I feel my blog as more private than a confession-box in a church. Also, they were actions I kind of regret and don't want to repeat. They were put here solely for the purpose that I keep my temper in control in the future. Interesting to note here would be that all three events are still fresh in my mind as they happened in a span of a week and not more than 15 days ago.
But still, what an year it has been. Wishing that the next year would also be as good would be being greedy.
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