MyDays @ Infy Mysore:Jaane Kaha Gaye Wo Din

Its now about 1yr and 8months that I have been with Infosys Technologies ltd. Well for those of you who don’t know what I am referring to, it’s one of the biggest software firms in India and probably amongst the top most respected firms across the world. Surely my ride in Infy (as we call it in short) during these months has been quite a bumpy one.
However what I am going to express further is not going to be about this ride, but about the first 4months that I had passed with this company.
It was September 30, 2004 that I got the joining letter from Infy. The letter mentioned my joining date as 18,Oct 2004. I was totally ecstatic. I knew it was my day. But there was a surprise in store for me in the letter. It stated that I was supposed to join a certain batch of trainees at Infosys, Mysore. Yes that was the place where Infy had one of its branch offices or Development Centres(DCs) as we call it. Anyways the posting at Mysore was a surprise because most of my classmates from my college in Bangalore were posted at the Bangalore DC. So I was damn sure that even I would be posted there. On seeing that initially I was pretty apprehensive of the fact that while I would be alone in Mysore since none of my friends would be joining me there, however I had no option. Then came the day of 17th Oct when we were actually supposed to report at Mysore. I caught a bus to Mysore at 1’o clock in the noon to reach there by 4’o clock. Once I reached Mysore the next step was to catch an Auto upto the Infy Office ( these pointers were infact present in the FAQs in the offer letter). I never expected what awaited me on my arrival. For that matter no one in his/her thoughts would have expected that.
We were welcomed to the awesome world of Infosys, Mysore. A vast lush green expanse right in front of us. After the initial mandatory security checks at the gate we made entry into the campus. A Chevrolet Optra was waiting to pick us up from the spot to our rooms. While I waited for the car to start after having packed off my luggage in the cabin, there was another guy whom I could see had just landed from his auto. This guy after going through the checks joined me in the car. This was my roomie. The Chevrolet then took us across the huge Infy campus in Mysore to our rooms. Well there awaited another surprise in the package. Our room was nothing less than what one would find in a 5 star hotel. Absolutely POSH !! And that is where we were supposed to pass our 4 months of initial training. Was I dreaming??? Well that’s what me and my roomie thought for a while. Nopes!! We were totally alive and kicking and that wasn’t a dream.The first few days in the campus were absolute bliss, with no or very little on the class job to be done. But there was much more to unfold. Firstly when the actual training sessions started none of us had anytime worth to spare. We had to do lots of night outs in the training labs. Generally we used to be back only by 2 at night only to be present in the next days class by 9a.m sharp. And mind you, had we been a minute late even we were asked to apply for ½ a days leave immediately. However to augment this unique experience of 5 star rooms( in which we were rarely able to pass any time except weekends J) and the blood sucking training seesions, we would have the chairman Mr.NR Narayan Murthy himself visiting the campus.
Amidst these rigorous sessions and visits to us from the Top Bosses came the toughest moment that I had been in my entire span of the journey. That was when my group ( we used to work in groups of 4 ) was caught plagiarizing an old project work. Infact that turned out to be the toughest time for not one but quite a few of such groups who were caught in the act. [After this our group went through another set of episodes. But I dont think it would be wise mentioing them here.Thanks to suggestions from my friends ]. Well what i can say is I definitely had my nerves held tightly...

Anyways now it’s a long time that we were since given postings across different locations and different departments after finishing our training. But now having past that time long back I wish I could go back in time. I made friends. Some for a lifetime and some definitely worth keeping in memory. Still there are lots of mails exchanged. But yes we still miss those days.
Before I end this post let me tell you about my most memorable moment in Mysore. Meeting the honorable prime minister on our last week in the campus at Mysore.

Did I do a Rang de Basanti at 19??

I must have been around 19 then, doing 1st year BE from an Engg. College in Bangalore. It was the semester break and was about time that all the North Indians left for home. Like everyone else in my batch even I was packed with loads of anxiety or rather excitement to visit my hometown. But unlike others my journey back home used to be a pretty tiring one, taking some precious 66 hrs our out of my life, considering the fact that I had to travel non stop. Hence this time I decided to do a break journey, wherein I would take a rest for one day in Jamshedpur and head forwards. This incident that I would be narrating from here on happened in the journey from Jamshedpur to Renukoot ( my hometown where I was headed : a small Induatrial town in the southern part of Uttar Pradesh ).
During this journey to Renukoot I had one companion with me in the face of my Uncle. He planned to accompany me to Renukoot from Jamshedpur since he hadn’t paid a visit to my Mom and Dad for a long time. So there we started our journey to Renukoot. Before I proceed further I guess it would be wise to briefly describe my uncle here. To be true he is a person who is really unaware of the real world outside the place he had ever belonged to. So in real terms I was the guardian, as I had to guide him during the entire journey. He always looked pretty much gullible in the world outside his domain.
Anyways let me get on with what exactly had happened. The train had left Jsr at 2.00 p.m. It was around 5.00p.m when the train reached Moori Station ( A pretty big town in Jharkhand). The train had some 30min halt there, waiting for another train from Ranchi, after which they became a single train and proceeded to Amritsar. I thought that it would be wise if I got something to eat for both of us since after Moori there wouldn’t be many major halts. So I got down of the train and went to a nearby pantry area on the platform itself. When I came back to my coupe I was taken aback with what I saw. Two policemen goading my uncle to pay a fine of Rs500/- odd. On enquiring I found out that they were collecting fines from everyone whom they found smoking inside the coach. But to my best of knowledge there wasn’t a single law in the jurisdiction, at that time, wherein you could be fined for such a behaviour. However, on telling this to those two guys they said that such a law had been recently introduced and that my uncle had to pay the fine. But on our insistence they agreed upon Rs100/-( of course they wouldn’t give any receipt for that). My uncle on the other hand was still not ready for that sum, hence I took out a Rs100/- note from my pocket and handed it on to them. These guys then moved on from there to the next coach. I don’t really know what struck me after that but I really felt guilty of such an act and I though of taking the two cops to task my own way. I immediately got down of the train again and headed towards the police control room in the station. Midway however I spotted the guard of the train. Just to ensure that I had enough time before the train left I asked him about the departure schedule of the train. As luck would have it I had only about a couple of min or so. Hence I thought that it would be wise if I narrated the story to him only and took his help instead of going to the police as that would have meant a mere wastage of time. On listening to my story he said that even he could handle the situation if I were able to bring those two cops into his notice ( and yes in that last 1 min left as otherwise the train shall leave). I now ran in search of the two cops only to find them in the 2nd bogy from ours. I called one of them and asked him to come with me. They could easily sense that something was wrong. They kept on pestering me to tell them the real issue while I kept on telling them to just accompany me. Then I took them to the guard. The guard then in front of around 20-25 people gave a proper screwing to these fellows. Having already received public ignominy they took me to a corner and asked me what I needed. I was by this time so thrilled with the set of events, that I could boldly ask them to pay back my Rs 100/-. To my surprise they even did so and were pretty much eager for the train to leave.I came back to the bogy felling as happy as I had ever felt before.I was relieved to have this gut feeling that I did make a difference however small it may have been.
Now, a few days after I have watched Aamir’s Rang De Basanti I felt even I should express this incident that had happened much before the movie was released because now I feel that even I had done a real life Rang De Basanti. Isnt It ???

My Escapades With My Mobile

At this point in time, while I am writing this, I must agree that I am in a totally bemused frame of mind. I am just wondering whether GOD has created some special kind of bunglers who are really adept at losing their belongings and especially when it comes to Cellphones. For anyone who is reading this I must tell that I have already managed to loose around 3 mobiles in the last 2 years. Lest I forget all were pretty trendy for the Times. By the way after losing 3 mobiles and a net worth of ( 7500+15000+6000) I can assure one and all that the next mobile that I am going to get from the market wouldn’t be worth more than Rs2500/-.
Now let me put up the whole story as to how I have managed to loose all these mobiles till date.
The first one happened in a Bangalore bus when my pocket was picked. The proceeding was a totally planned stuff, something of the reel life kind. I was about to get down from the bus, when these embezzlers had blocked my way out. And then the city buses in B’lore city are kind of a HiTech machines. The doors would get closed as the bus leaves the stand.By the time I could be out the doors were already locked and the bus had started. So I thought of shouting to the driver and stop the bus( I was in a real hurry to get down of the bus as a girl had been waiting for me ).But there came a few people at my rescue and rather to my surprise. The driver henceforth stopped the bus and I managed to barge out. As I was getting down I felt somebody pick my pocket. As had happened previously, by the time I understood that I had been robbed of my mobile the doors had closed and I left astounded.What followed after wards can be left for another write up.
Now the remaining two incidences were partly my folly and partly my bad luck. While the common factors in both these losses was that the mobiles were switched off when I lost them and that they were picked up my none but the house keppers, and that’s why I call it my bad luck, the fact is that I had forgotten to pick them up from where I had kept them. The first one in a conference room while the second one right from my house.
Oh !! before I forget to mention, this is what happened after my 3rd mobile was stolen. My Aunt was present in the house( in fact I was present in her house then) when the incident happened. She is one of those super-superstitious kind of mankind’s example. She immediately went to some lady ( More famously known as Bhabi) to find out who had stolen the mobile. I thought she was some kind of an Airtel employee but found out that she was no more than a high priestess who helped people in such matters. In fact there was a deluge in the small tent like place where she operated from. She had then given some prescription sort of a thing to my aunt to get back my mobile. Well nothing happened at least for the nest 48 hrs and I had to leave the place empty pocket yet again.

And here I am now writing this after some 72 hrs of the incident and still without that mobile and felling forlorn. Rest I guess I can update only if at all the prescription works and I get back my mobile else one can rest assured that I am going to buy a cheap variety.
And hope my Escapades with my mobile can end here.