Corporate life - Part II

Break!

Finally! We got a break. A break from Sam, I guess he needed it too, after all the "Could you please repeat that, Sam”,” Could you please scroll back up, Sam", "Sam, can we try to complete the assignment after the coffee break", and the most popular "Sam, I am don’t know what is happening". Have to agree he does have a lot of patience. Kind of like a father figure. He pushed off to Calicut or some place in Kerala, I don't know for what reason. The important thing here is we got a break. Although this just means somebody else will be here to bore us to death.

Early next day, we were upto the usual mail checking, ego surfing, chatting, etc., etc., not to mention job-hunting (Krishna hates the job, he thinks its not technical at all and is a fit only for non-engineering graduates). Kaadu came in at 10 and soon gathered junta for an early-morning-cup-of-coffee (yeah! some junta find it funny even absurd for some strange reason, doesn't seem so strange for us lazy ones), I joined him for his company, and he usually has some good gossip to share, usually involving our female batch mates from college.

No one had arrived to replace Sam. I silently fostered the idea that they might let us off.
Navjeet arrived soon after we returned and just before I almost convinced myself that they would let us off (I guess its hard to adjust to a strict 9 to 6 schedule when you have just finished your college, where I made sure I never attended more than 3 classes continuously). Kaadu cleverly suggested that we switch of the lights, complaining he could not see the ppt clearly. All of us expressed our deep gratitude to Kaadu by conveniently dozing off. I had absolutely no consciousness till someone suggested we have lunch. Afternoon was the same except that I put in a little effort to stay awake initially. Navjeet discovered our dark side only late in the afternoon and pressured us to switch the lights back on. He promptly left after giving us an assignment and set its deadline to noon the next day.

The assignments were completed under the able guidance of Sree, the person who had stayed awake for the longest duration the previous day. Navjeet continued the tutorial; I paid attention but never understood a word. Then the unthinkable happens,” So guys since we are done with the tutorial, let’s have a test", I am shocked! Will the result of this test affect my increment or my promotion or my career or they might even throw me out? (I get kind of anxious when my job is involved).

Thank God! The test consisted of only MCQs. I ticked whatever I thought was appropriate and gave it up as soon as possible. I had the feeling it might have exploded if I kept it any longer. Navjeet discussed few of the answers none of mine right (Sigh!).

Another day, same building, same floor, same room but, a new tutor Budhadev! I liked him the instantly. He was short and looked like one of those guys in school who would usually be very dear to the class bully, and troubling him was as good as punching the bully in the balls.

All of us resumed the afore mentioned activities, even before he started off. Poor guy! He made hajjar calls to the support guys to report the missing application instance on which we (the trainees) were supposed to practice. But, to no avail. At last! Our loving father in the heavens is sensitive towards our feelings.

Budhadev gave us a session of theory in the morning and another in the after noon. He too left us with an assignment to complete (Of course! the instance had to be up and running in the first place ;-)).

Urmi, our training co-coordinator announced, to my joy, that four others and myself have been assigned to projects. And, we will be taken off the training programme. I was thrilled, rather relieved. Kaadu was not among the four, so he would be continuing the training. Tch! Tch! Tach! The training was scheduled to finish 21st the next month. That’s a WHOLE month.

... To be continued

Corporate life - Part I

Training!

"Sam!", kaadu shouted desperately trying to gather attention from our SQL tutor . Sam took us through a brutal week of training .We went topic to topic at rapid pace. Kaadu found it real hard .He hadnt even heard it till Aug 3rd 10:59 AM.

Kaadu is a good friend from college is like they say a jolly good fellow etc.,etc., always grinning and making fun of guys, the final year saw girls inducted into his victims hall of fame. What singled out kaadu was his unquenchable thirst for irritating and playing pranks on people. He had just managed through the 8 long semesters of engineering with a decent agre. Although he had taken up trical, he hadnt had the slightest idea bout wat the hell was going on all through the four years. He just attended classes for the sake of attendance and scrammed for few days before the exam. Obviously everthing he had learnt was flushed out minutes after the exam. I guess most of us in the engineering student community are a bit like that. Somethings never change, I still remember like yesterday, cramming for the placements apti luckily for me and kaadu placements had gotten over as soon as it started. We got placed just in the second company. I a lot of luck i guess!

Here we are together sitting in the cold training room of this huge MNC. Just a week of having worked here I already have a list of things I hate

1. The practice of switching off the AC in the afternoon

2. The soggy burnt rice pancakes disguised as Masala Dosa

3. The way Sam goes on from topic to topic only stopping to say "Any doubts till now", while we are wondering "What did he explain in the previous topic?"

4. I find it absurd that everybody can be nice to everybody. "Hello! At least somebody is faking".

5. The practice of "employees" to use lifts to move between a single floor, while the building has ten floors

6. The assignments and training that has left all of us gasping for air, week ends and not to mention sleep.

..To be continued