It Rained Really Heavily That Day

This happened just last week while I was returning from a hotel in Bhubaneshwar after attending a small party with my friends. It was around 12.30 at night when I left the hotel. While I was about the leave the hotel premises it started to drip lightly. We were confused whether to leave then itself or wait for the heaven to relent upon us. Some of the guys however planned to leave right then since the rain drops were pretty light and we never knew how long it may rain. The only two people left bemused were me and my roomie, with whom I had been to the party. After some contemplation though, even we thought of going by the populist choice of leaving immediately. Our decision was also augmented by the fact that I also had to catch a train to Kolkata that very morning at 5.30 and I hadn’t managed to do my packing. Hence we left.
But who knew that there were other plans from the heavenly abode. We weren’t even 50 mts from the hotel premises that it started raining cats and dogs. But there was no looking back now as we had touched the highway. We only persisted with our journey. I was riding pillion while my roomie was on the driver’s seat. By the time we must have been around 200mtrs from the hotel and the rain drops grew bigger. The rain was coming right onto our faces. Pinching us. Hitting us really hard. Not only were we totally wet by now, I for that matter was shivering.(I had worn a thin Tee that evening since it was damn hot when I had come ). Having no idea whatsoever what to do now, we thought of taking refuge in a shed for sometime and wait for the rain to subside. Lucky we thought by ourselves. We spotted an ATM by the roadside. After somehow managing to park our bike we ran towards the ATM and hid in the ATM booth. After sometime when the force of the rain reduced a bit we planned to escape. As we were on our way out the force of the rain again increased. But this time we were adamant as to whatever happens we were not going to stop. We still had to tread almost 5 kms from that point. Never the less we moved on. From this point on infact it grew darker. Visibility reduced to zero. The roads familiar to us till a few hours ago seemed real strangers. One more thing I forgot to mention till now is we(me & my roomie) both are bespectacled beings. Hence it was more difficult for us to spot anything in the dark. I at the back could only pray that no obstacle come in our way, else we forsure would have had our body parts hanging by poles along bedside in the hospital J. We kept moving carefully, moving at speeds of 20 kmph. Then finally came a turn where we had to move left. Am glad to mention this because at least after that point the rain wouldn’t be head on with us. After about another kilometer on that road we finally arrived at our dwelling. The ride which otherwise would have taken us 15 min took a 1 hr this time. At least we thankfully reached home and I was pretty happy about that.
After reaching home I remembered that I was to pack my bag now since that morning I had a train. I thought of immediately sliding down on my bed since it was already 1.30 a.m and I had only about 3 hours at max to sleep.I instantly kept my wet clothes and shoes to dry in one room under the fan. Putting the alarm clock into action by my bed I fell asleep in a min. I don’t know whether the alarm clock had worked or not that particular morning, I had woken up only by 10am. Well as is obvious by now, I invariably missed the morning train and had to catch the one in the afternoon.
Though the nerve wracking thoughts of that night has subsided now, I am infact happy of such an experience to carry for the rest of my life..

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.