Life of S

My next few blogs are going to part of an informal autobiography written by my very dear friend S. He has had his share of excitement, adventures and mishaps in life, and his experiences are definitely worth sharing with the world. Most of what follows are his words, with few changes done by me and a few comments (usually in braces) along the way. So here goes.....


With the sunrise of the new millennium, India was looking forward to a new industry to take her to the next level. From a Developing to a Developed country. The service industry was an integral part of the new India. The BPOs, call centers and software industry were leading the way with the new generation of youngsters in India. S (the main protagonist of our story) was a part of this generation next.

Graduating from IITR in CSE, he had job offered to him in his final year. The company, CTS Pvt India Ltd, was the sister company of a major software services company based in the US. To him, it was the one of the best software companies in the world that existed (cause it was the only job he landed). Although the company had offered a job to 16 people on the campus, only 5 of them were willing to join (which tells you a lot about the company). They all had better offers as far as pay was concerned. But to S, this still seemed like a dream come true. After all, he was graduating out of college with a mere 6 point on a scale of 10 (hoping that he would be asked to write a sequel to five point someone: six point someone ~ a new hope).

S was asked to join ASAP. Apparently, the company had a newly signed contract with Moon Microsystems, a pioneer in the field of Software Development and the inventor of Coffee (one of the most "popular" "programming" languages in the world today). He was thrilled at the new offer and at the same time a bit nervous because of the short notice they had given him. He had so many questions in his mind: What kind of clothes can he wear? What kind of shoes to buy for the work place? How often will he get vacation? What are the other perks the company offers besides the pay? And so on…. The list was never ending (notice that he wasn't worried about the actual job part despite his six point programming skills). Each day and night, as these questions troubled him, he would call up a senior in the same company and bug him. The senior soon got pissed off and start avoiding S. However, S being the fighter that he was, would find a new senior everyday to bother. Although he had no other offer, he still would quiz the senior and pretend that if things don’t suit him, he would not join.

As the days passed by, he prepared himself mentally for the challenge ahead of him. Finally, as the penultimate day arrived he moved from his uncle’s house in Delhi to the Gurgaon guest house of the company. There, he saw this short nerdy guy (oily hair..big specs...the works...u get the picture...I heard they are launching a whole new fashion line aimed at this segment). He was wearing the CTS T-shirt. “One of those Ghissoo category guys” was the first thing that came to S's mind. Some one to maintain distance from. But throwing caution to the wind, S introduced himself. The nerdo guy replied, “Am Bhojpuri Pandey from NIT Jamshedpur.” Well, well, well, S was left with no words in his mouth (which must have been a sight to behold) as he tried to put together the two pieces of the puzzle: “Bhojpuri Pandey” and “chashmish geek.” Somehow, he just couldn't figure out how the two went together (S's mind == black hole...nothing comes out of it). While he was still thinking this (you can actually see the thought process...it's that slow), Bhojpuri took him to the adjacent room where his two other Bhojpuri friends were staying. “Hey, do u smoke?” the first one asked S and before S could respond, the second one offered him a sutta (talk about ways to start a conversation). S forgot about the mystery of “the geek and Bhojpuri” as he accepted the offer and picked up the match box on the side table (ladies and gentlemen...finally the secrest has been revealed...the way to S's heart...a sutta...)

“Punjak Singh!! From NIT Jamshedpur” the first guy said. The second guy followed by saying “Nobeljeet Yadav!! from NIT Jamshedpur!!” S so badly wanted to ask if their middle name as “NIT Jamshedpur” or some thing. However, he thought that this is the first test of corporate life….watch what you say…it can be used against you (elementary..my dear Watson..if it isn't ..then S couldn't have come up with it).

As they sat together smoking, they discussed their aspirations and expectations from CTS. They planned to wake up early in order to make it to the 9 AM reporting time. While the rest slept well, S kept tossing and turning due to anxiety. Finally the morning dawned, and they all got ready and had breakfast.

More to follow soon...