It has been lot of days since i posted last in my blog, I was just reading by and thought could pen down some of my recent life time activities. I have not written about my life in Dharwad(PU) and in Bengaluru(Engg,) which i plan to write some other time. So i will position myself in this blog to life after Engg. Soon after finishing exams and spending some days in Bengaluru, I went back to Koppal. I went back in VRL bus with my four year luggage thrown all around. I was frightened to loose them by failing to remember where they were all kept. Anyway i went back and had a long vacation of 6 months until i joined TCS. Those six months were wonderful initially. I used to eat,roam around and play cricket everyday. I miss those cricket playing days. Everyday morning, we used to play for 2 hours or so. Occasionally some bet matches. Anyway later on, days became boring as always Monotony catches your nerves sooner or later. We started wondering when are we going to get joining date. We tried calling TCS , heard lot of gossips and finally we got to know Dec 15th, 2010 is our joining date in Ambattur,Chennai. To be honest, I was initially excited to go to Chennai though i didn't know anything about the place. Since we had to find accommodation for ourselves during the training period, We thought, we shall go early to find some place to stay. Likewise i went there with two of my engg. friends, Prajjwal and Anoop to Chennai without any reservation in a general compartment in Chennai Express in the Morning. We had to pay for going late to board the train by standing for three hours. Anyway, We got down and somehow managed to get to Ambattur with our Zero Tamil speaking skills. Well, here is where we opened our jaws. Ambattur is an industrial area. We didn't know how industrial area will look until we went there. It was rainy season and we had a very tough time walking by the roadside with all those roadside mud pools We saw our office, A rented building a midst very non IT like area. We were honestly let back, We had very beautiful things in our mind which just melted like chocolates at Ambattur. So, Now we had to search rooms to stay. We started calling people who had advertised on placards and then we went to nearby SriRam Sarnam PG. Intially, We were shocked at the rent price and later found out how are so called IT engg. are obliged to pay society with their ultra high pay scales. Anyway, later in the day after so many phone calls with our other friends,We decided to stay in SriRam Sarnam PG. After paying 9000/- rupees as advance,We booked rooms for 9 people if i remember correctly and went back home. We decided to go to Chennai on 10th Dec, 2010 though our training would start from 15th. Until then, I spent some time peacefully. Also, I had to shop for starting this IT life. My Appaji was shocked when i asked him 20,000/- rupees for shopping. I gave him a long lost of things i wanted to buy. Later, He paid and i spent it like a monkey on a rampage meal. I bought this and that which i don't want to list here but i am happy that i am still using them after two and half years. So, We booked train for our journey, We somehow managed to squeeze in our luggage in train and we went with some sheepish excitement for our new life. Our life of earnings was about to start.
Also, My two other old friends Nikita and Pallavi had to join in Ambattur itself. They had their own gang so there were no problems in settling down in Chennai. Training in TCS is called Initial Learning Program(ILP). It will be for 50 working days. Our ILP was from Dec15th to Feb25th. First day, We had to report to Karapakam office, We were given some temporary id cards, A pen and pad of TCS stationery. We were introduced to some senior employee of TCS. I was quite impressed but afterwards came our batch HR who dragged us back to reality. Then, there was this Bank account opening with managers trying to show some magic in bank accounts. We were given a choice between StanChart and Kotak Mahindra with most of us opting for StanChart, Yes, We are crazy pseudo Indo-Americans!! Anyway, After that we had to report to Ambattur for our induction program. We were divided into batches. We were about to be given training in etiquette and soft skills needed for an IT engg and a basic technology training. We later found out that the technology training was a mockery of time management because we were thrown around in projects after training based on "you name one" technologies like fresh potatoes in Mandi bazaars.
So, About soft skills, I must admit i was very impressed by the kind of faculty we had. We had wonderful time doing those acts, getting to know each other, trying to chisel some hard stones inside, trying to express and impress. I would like to remember Vikas Munot. Our instructor for many programs in soft skills. I was spell bound by his speaking skills,his persona in general though he found my soft skills very soft for some reason. He was the best faculty for me in ILP. I shared with him my poems too. He said though they are good, they are very serious for my age. Anyway, I also remember one more faculty, Gerard, who impressed most of the people with this dude skills. We had two teams in two seperate phases of training for labs. I would like to remember Anil,Supriya,Rashmi,Satish,Sarita,Apoorva and Prassana who were in our team. We had a wonderful time in labs. I also learnt a lot about Java/J2EE though i have forgotten most of it shamelessly. I also remember Ashwin our faculty for Java. He also managed to impress people mostly girls with his nerdy attitude.
Apart from office, We had very nice time in our PG. My roomies being Vishwas,Pankaj and Poki(Naveen). We spent most of free time facebooking. Some times reading,preparing etc. We also went to Marina beach, Thiruvanmiyur beach, shopping malls, McD, KFC etc ,as and when, we got time. Also, My other PG mates and friends, Prajjwal, Anoop and Harshit were guitar crazy. We spent time singing, dancing and playing those guitars. I only did singing and dancing though.
We, Myself,Vishwas,Naveen,Nikita,Pallavi and Vibha, also went to Mahabalipuram and Crocodile park in between. We had a nice time there too. We roomies spent most of sundays roaming in Chennai, visiting places, Vandalur Zoo also being one of them.
Finally, 50 days were about to end, Some of us got posted to Bengaluru, for which i didn't apply because of some reasons which i would like to keep it to myself. On the last day, I got to know i had to stay back in Chennai with most of my friends romping around with their transfer. I even couldn't participate in the send off party. Few days after, My roomies left to Bengaluru, I moved out to live with my other Engg friends Anil and Hemanth who were working in Cognizant. Thankfully, They stayed nearby our RMG office. From there starts another phase which i would like to cover in my next blog. Thanks for reading, Will come back soon...!!!
