Anniversary Thoughts

Finally we made it. Its been one year in the company. How we managed it is a different story all together. But nonetheless, it is an occasion to remember, to have fun and also to lookback and relish the memories created so far. Here, I am going to tell a story of a girl, story of her dreams and aspirations, a story of transformation.

She was very happy, on 1st Dec, when she boarded the train with her parents and families of two of her friends at college. It was quite unclear to her, not even the station where she had to get down. She just had a slight clue that that day atleast 30 of her to-be-batchmates had boarded the train. But she didn't know anyone, nor did her friends. Although there were communities in Orkut through which she could have known others in the train, she hadn't cared much for that. As a bunch of boys passed her, she remembered a face from whom she had got a friend request at the last moment. It was AN(Now better to call him Chalu Raja). She walked upto him and talked to him. She was introduced to others in the gang. That was the first day.

The following days were filled with more excitment, as she and her friends and their families went for a tour of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. She found the place to be homely one and was able to relate to the city very easily. Eventhough she had been once to city, things now where quite different. She was destined to stay here for sometime, atleast for some months. A little tension of leaving her parents for the first time was also haunting her. But she consoled herself, for it was this life that she always dreamt of.

On 6 Dec, she was asked to report to an office in the city, where she came to know that they will be taken to the HQ of the company which 20 kms away from the city. It was no less like a "Bidaai", when all the parents, particularly mothers, (of girls) shed their tears (well, that is a little exaggeration) when all of them boarded different buses. After a long hour, they finally reached the HQ. She stood with her mouth wide open at the first glance of the conference hall. She was really skeptical about walking over the neatly polished marble floor, lest she should slip.

Guys and Gals from all parts of India were going to be her batchmates. She had never thought of this before. Nor she was aware of the vastness of the company she was going to join. But much to her astonishment, there was only a small welcome message said and they were bestowed a big flat file with loads of papers to be filled in. Thanks to all those papers, at the end of the day when all the formalities were finished, she could'nt even recognise her signature anymore.

That was not the end. 2 days later, they had an exam over the topics they would be taught during the training. It was like latin and american for our young girl, who was not from a CS background. All that she knew about the machine called Computer was that she can operate it on a fine day.

Along came the Induction Day of 10 Dec, They were made to play games, do requirement gathering, logo making. It was a quite different affair from what she had thought initially. By the end of the day she had made some new friends. She was also introduced to some friends-of-friends and so on. And she knew it was just a beginning.

Hyderabad was very similar to any north Indian city. It had its own rich culture. And anyone could survive in Hyderabad if she or he knows Hindi. Thus, our girl was able to improve her long-forgotten Hindi. Hyderabad became even more enjoyable because of her roommates. It was like, they were always meant to be friends. Each one of them enjoyed food and our girl even got a company in seeing movies, of her favourite genre, in her roommate. A few days into training, she found herself in easy conversation with every of her batchmate. Eventhough the initial OLAs and tests had made her nervous, later she got used to it. And she started to enjoy the training. One little fact, once told by her school friend, that "training period is going to be one wonderful period of your career life, never miss chance in it, enjoy it to the max". She always remembered that.

They were given enough chances to enjoyment also. Outbound brought the childishness and sportmanship in everyone, and they were also asked to explore their other talents in Spotlight like singing, dancing and acting.

During the course, her language changed from English to C#(read as C Sharp). To her the word "foreign" doesn't exist anymore, it is onsite. And MCP was no longer Male Chauvinist Pig but Microsoft Certified Professional. She Frequently used the terms OLA, KT etc eventhough she never thought about asking anyone about the expansion.

When the training was completed, she thought it was the end of the great friendship that she shared with every of her batchmate. But it was not to be. She was "benched" and that too for more than 9 months. She completed 1 year, not doing any project, actually not doing anything. It really sucks. But for the friends she is always surrounded with, it was really sucking. For a change, she shifted from Hyderabad to Bangalore, only to find that it is the same there also.

Guys, this is the story with a colorful start and not-so-colorful ending. I mean, this story is not ending at all. This is a continuing story. This is what happens to every girl in this field. You are "TRAINED AND BENCHED" (Courtesy : A friend of mine whose name in Orkut read the same).