-
Initial learning program(ILP) at TCS
My happiness knew no bounds when I got through TCS and Infosys. I had to make a tough choice. I opted for tcs, as there was a bleak opportunity of getting back to my hometown ‘mumbai’. I booked my tickets to Trivandrum for the fourth of September. The atmosphere at home on the third was serious. My family made it sound like I was going to fight a war on the Indian border. I never heard so many sermons even when I ventured into my teenage. Here I was all set to enter the big bad corporate world. Dad said, “Keep your eyes open and mouth shut. Think ten times before you speak”. And trust me it was one difficult task for someone as garrulous as me to actually keep my mouth shut. Sister said “ Don’t be manipulative but be smart enough so that others don’t manipulate you. BEWARE of sycophants.” With all the advices taken and with a bit of apprehension I embarked on my journey to the land of coconut trees (kerala). I wish the land was accompanied with a bit of culinary skills as well so that the food we ate could be a little delectable.
Here I was in Trivandrum with a bunch of equally apprehensive people eager to make their mark in the corporate world. Met people with a variety of skills. Some were technically savvy, some were smart, some had great command over language, some were genuinely naïve, some thought they were gods best gifts to humanity and to top it all there were some who would not stop asking foolish doubts. But trust me, they were the only redeeming feature in the boring technical lecture. They were someone whom anyone would love to imitate and the best sources of entertainment in the software engineering lecture. And here I introduce you to the word that every software engineer fears and that is ‘software engineering’. The lectures were slower than boring ekta kapoor soap and they seemed never ending like the eternal soap ‘saas bhi kabhi bahu thi’. And given a choice I would rather watch the boring ekta kapoor soap than listen to the lecture. Other lectures were sought of fun like istd, pge and sac. But what acted like the icing on the cake was foreign language. Everyone loved it except the few guys who took their own sweet time to pick up the foreign language. But hearing them speak was another great source of entertainment. And among the other things that provided entertainment was the scenic beauty of kerala. I never witnessed something so serene, so beautiful and so exotic. Generally trips tend to exhaust you but these trips rejuvenated us nonetheless. What actually exhausted us were the studies for the mid terms and the tests. After a beautiful trip to the beaches what awaited back at home was a bunch of print outs of the slides that were tough to comprehend without my notebook.
Days past by and so did the lectures and at the end of every lecture came the second most dreaded thing and this was the ‘feedback form’. Every engineer detested filling the form. Every one had blank faces and tried to grab snippets from the other and molded the sentence in their own sweet way and presented it. It was one tough job especially to remember how each faculty taught and what did it teach. It was simpler to remember salaam namaste’s imbecile story than remembering this crap.
Now life was getting hectic. We had to get up at six in the morning. All the girls were ready on time and this time it was the boys who took their own sweet time. And even after that, they did not manage to look one degree better. We spent the entire day at the office doing our project or attending boring lectures. I would go back to my hotel room and there I was throwing my clothes in the room and slipping into my night suit. This was one moment I really remembered mom. She always yelled at me when I threw clothes on the bed. And here I was with my roommate who gave me competition. If I threw four she would throw five. This was when I actually realized the importance of cleanliness. Now my drawer is absolutely clean with all clothes ironed and kept in place.
And finally the third most thing every engineer fears is the ‘MATC’. Everyone was keen on going back home and thankfully ‘MATC’ had been really kind with our batch. Almost everyone got his or her preferred location except a few. But one person that actually sent chills down our spine was ‘xxxx’. Everyone got so bored in her company. While having mundane conversation with her the facial expressions of most guys resembled as if they were suffering from constipation. The harder we tried to get rid of her, the more our efforts were in vain. Forget the guys even the girls who had considerable patience were now getting restless. Conversations with her were more boring and lengthy than a three-hour documentary film. We lost count of the boyfriends she had and we just prayed she never expatiated on her latest escapades. And here I felt like a true soldier fighting for the country as the moment the people who were getting bored with her got back to the hotel a warm welcome of flowers and paper balls awaited them.
Now came the time to depart. I thought I was entering a mean world but here I met the sweetest people of my life. Everyone was so much fun to be with. We developed a sort of harmony. We got accustomed to each other. Somewhere love blossomed and somewhere friendship .The bad corporate world seemed to be really sweet. Everyone was always ready to give a helping hand. If getting back home was something that made everyone happy losing on such wonderful friends made everyone sad. I wish this ilp lasted longer. This wonderful phase of my life is etched in my mind like one of the most beautiful memories. Thanks all of u, for this amazing memory.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments: