Life of S ~ Vol. II

Pichle episode main aapne dekha, ki kis prakar IITR se graduate hone ke baad, S ki job CTS main lagi. Is news se woh bahut khush tha. Company join karne ke ek din pehle, woh Gurgaon ke company guest house pahunch gaye tha, aur apne pehle din ka besabri se intezaar kar raha tha. Ab dekhye aage...

Sharp at 9 AM, we showed up at the office expecting a warm welcome. But all we got was disappointment. The only person there to greet us was an office receptionist. While waiting for some one to take charge of us, we saw several current employees moving about their jobs. We looked at them with awe and respect, aspiring to be one of them in a couple of years. A few others joined the Three Stooges (NIT Jam, NIT shed and NIT pur, in case you forgot) and S. They introduced themselves as Barood, Ramesh , Ankur (all three from DCE and natives of Delhi) and so on. S was least bothered about the pleasantries, only wondering if there weren't any gals joining with them. A few minutes later they came in one by one (ofcourse...girls have to be late!!!). Finally, S lost interest in all the new comers, and decided to wait for his friend Bodho.

Bodho was S’s class mate from college days and was a good friend. He was one of the most intelligent people S had met (do keep in mind S's own intelligence level with which he compares others IQ) and was amongst the most laid back and care-free people that lived on this planet. There was a lot more to Bodho, but that was a whole chapter or rather a book in itself.

As time passed, we waited for someone to come forward to greet us, while S also waited anxiously for Bodho, who hadn't turned up yet. Finally, an hour later, Shefali, a HR personnel, came in and took a role count, as if we were still in 1st grade. Then she led us downstairs into the basement conference room. There she first handed out a bouquet of flowers and a huge book about the company, the benefits they provide you with and the policies, to each and every one of us. Then she asked each one of us to introduce ourselves and say a few lines about our background and college. Finally, our induction had begun and we felt welcome and part of this "GREAT" Organization.

About 45 minutes through this procedure, a peon opens the door and asks another new comer to enter the room – there he was...Bodho. S should have expected this from him right from the beginning. S though to himself about a class way back in 2nd year when Bodho tried entering one of the classes 15 minutes before it was about to end (a lil too late even by Bodho's standards). To his misfortune, he got caught by the professor and he had to repeat that course because of that. (Ofcourse, this was nothing compared to the time when Bodho got caught by a professor not while entering a class late, but leaving a class early from the back door. He managed to step out while the professor was turned towards the black board. But unfortunately for him, another professor was passing by in the corridor, who caught him in the act.) But that never changed Bodho. Even today, when he was about to start a new life, he had the same old attitude.

After the introductions, Shefali called for a short tea break. During the break, about half the people, mostly guys, walked outside for a smoke. Not that we are trying to promote or support smoking, but smoking is said to be a very good way of socializing. S was no way going to stay out of this group. They discussed different things like where in Delhi did they come from, how they planned to commute daily and so on. Fifteen minutes later they walked back into the building basement to find the rest of the group playing Ping Pong in the basement. S finally got a chance to speak to his pal Bodho. Bodho was as usual full of words which made no sense, but had humor in them.

A few moments later, one of the new comers came running in and said, “What are you guys doing here? Shefali is pissed off with all of us! On the first day itself, we all are missing from our seats. She gave us 10 minutes and already half an hour has passed. Come fast.” We rushed through the cafeteria and the Ping Pong room and finally reached the conference room only to see a frustrated Shefali barely smiling at us. Apologetically, we entered the room (Shefali: a bell should have been ringing in you head right about now!!!). The rest of the day passed by with senior managers visiting us and sharing their "Beautiful Experience" at CTS and trying to make the new kids on the block more comfortable. They told us that the kind of work coming in the near future is going to change our lives for ever (the only problem being whether the change was going to be for the better or not!!!).

Later that evening, a person from a bank came in and got us all to open new salary accounts. For most of us guys it was our first job, and having a new salary account was real thrilling. Each of us were also given lunch coupons worth Rs 15/- each. Not that it was a lot, but the gesture was what really impressed us people. We were having a blast. Good food, a 2 week stay in the guest house, great work environment, everything a new comer could ask for. We went back that evening feeling we had accomplished a lot in life. S and his three new hommies (at the guest house) headed back together while the others moved on their own way.

The next three days passed by in similar fashion and we were all really enjoying ourselves. The fifth day was the start of training. We had a full fledged six week schedule of training on the new cutting edge technology we were going to work on. The Delhi boys had formed a small group amongst themselves. As usual, they thought of themselves superior to the others. There were about 4-5 people with work experience who formed their own small group. S was very fortunate in all this. Every day there was one or the other girl sitting next to him. Not that he tried to make this happen, but the situation was such and it ended up that way (as you will see..things usually "happen" around S). Some of the people thought otherwise. They felt S was such an ass, intentionally sitting next to a girl each day and hitting on her. It was only S and the girls who knew that this was not the case. The training went on and Bodho and S turned out to be among the brightest people in the batch (do I even need to say any thing about the batch now).

Later, realizing that S is an intelligent guy, the boys from Delhi (Barood, Ramesh and Ankur) decided to get friendly with him (now we know where every one stood in the IQ chain). S also had a house in Delhi, where his grandparents stayed with his uncle and two cousins. And fortunately for him, this place turned out to be close to that of Barood. He decided to take a lift from Barood over the weekend when he went to meet his family. During this ride, they got friendly, smoking and drinking beer on their way back (yeh kingfisher ki dosti hai..tutegi nahi....). This was the beginning of a new friendship that was going to go a long way.