Now into the real world - Part 2

Once Pubilus Syrus said , 'No one knows what he can do till he tries', I just kept on trying opportunities, Diwali passed soon as it came. It was a regular duty for me to check e-mails twice a day. 13th Nov '04, was such a regular day checking e-mails, my new Nokia 1100 rang in full volume with my mom's call. Mom asked me to guess good news but she couldn't wait till I answer and wished me for new offer from MBT. I couldn't believe and also I haven't seen a new e-mail stating that, but I saw it was already read. Well, my friend Vicky did my job prior and he shared that to my mom.

It was long ago, I have got something good, something inspiring. I felt like crying, may be little more than that. All those tough days and humiliations screened in front of my eyes in fast forward mode. I want to run madly to see my mom and dad to tell them I did it, leaving bike in the internet cafe. Even I forgot to take printout immediately. Took my bike home, my mom blessed me with a kiss and dad shook hands. May be that moment of my life is called "pursuit of happiness" (Copyrights: Will Smith). From then till I reached Pune on 18th Nov, everything at home was splendid.

Pune was the farthest place I ever traveled and northest region ever reached. All I knew in Hindi was 'Paani Puri and Bhel Puri'. Everything in life was new, it's my nature to adopt a situation quickly, after all, the humiliations I faced hammered this character in me. MBT - Mahindra British Telecom, 5000 employees (now 25k and more) and plenty of opportunities, I love(d) to say that I work for this company (nobody but MBT offered me a career).

19th Nov '04 'Friday' - I may not exist tomorrow or reach any heights in future, whatever happens this is 'The date' that I will never forget even if I get memory loss like 'Ghajini - Aamir'. I can say my life started from this day. I got dressed-up formally, wore a smile on face and met 29 other dreamers, none of them were looking sober and passive, they were filled with tonnes of energy and enthusiasm, and mostly having different family background, different by society, state and languages. Like many of you, my induction @ MBT was truly professional (saying this because of the comfort given). Couple of happy faces from HR department appeared and facilitated to complete the formalities, couple of little moments were made like first salary account and first employee code.

We met again on Monday to know what they need from us. Then the real drama started, two weeks of behavioral training were happy honeymoon days, a calm before the storm. Those were ice breaking sessions, very funny, I really felt high on confidence, made friends and understood my competitors. Played some team building games and involved in tough arguments with own mates, everyday was interesting and came across different people, unusual environment and I started liking it. First time after high school days, I enjoyed everyday and slept every night peacefully. I don't know enough words to exactly describe how I felt those days.

The real challenge was Technical training, there was list of 10 areas to be cleared and were given 45 days to complete. We all knew it could be done and also it would be tough. I knew if failed to clear 7 in one attempt and 3 in two attempts, I will be fired. Perhaps I was very close to it, after every evaluation I used to call my mom and tell her I will be coming back to Coimbatore, as usual she used to convince and advised me to compete harder. Some days I worked overnight all alone and worked on the weak areas. My mates were busy saving their life and career, I had partner and she helped me to some extent. Some how, with Gods grace I survived in the border and was given a direct-contract employment for an year. I was happy to survive but not satisfied with the performance shown. But, I didn't have any regrets as I gave something next to my best and got to know my weakness. I was prepared to improve my weaknesses and use my strengths. I was not allocated to any project immediately so went on leave for 3 days after this mind blowing training.

There were more exciting moments after joining back...

Slumdog Millionaire

As soon as I heard the news about 'Slumdog Millionaire' winning accolades from international audience, I was expecting the release date in Indian theaters. Finally I have seen this movie @ Big cinemas in Kalyani Nagar, Pune. It was a fresh morning show and theater was nearly packed. love to see good Hollywood movies in English (even if it is Indian community oriented) as I believe translations might go wrong or inexpressive many times. When the certificate of movie was shown as "slumdog Crorpati" I thought going out of cine hall, but after 5mins I was happy understand that the display was just wrong.

From the very first shot till the break (huh, break made for Indian audience) the movie was fascinating, the story revolves around a guy from very slum of Mumbai "Dharavi" participating in a quiz show "Who wants to the Millionaire"(KBC in actuals), first half was entirely carried by three young (childhood) musketeers, Jamaal, Salim and Latika. I have heard/read from few famous critics that Danny Boyle is one of the directors who works well with the child actors and that is completely proven on screen. Innocence and prudent talent of these stole my heart. Perhaps, the story telling, for each and every "question", method elegantly matched for the movie. But after few questions I couldn't avoid wondering about 'only incidents of Jamaal's life came as questions in a quiz show, it looked like coincidence at Everest.

The second half of the movie couldn't match to screen play of first, Simon Beaufoy did a amazing job in capturing childhood of Jamaal, but he could have kept romance scenes(affair!!!) in a better way than it appears. There was more of a chase than romance. Some scenes are truly classic to its originality like when Jamaal was asked sing 'Darshan Do Ghansham', he demanded 50 bucks for turning into 'professional' and guiding Taj Mahaal to couple from abroad, they were very humorous and original.

While appreciating work done by Anil and Irfan, we shouldn't forget to give credits for Madhur (Salim) and Saurabh for their fantastic work. Dev patel and Freida have done good job in their debut movie. But, to me, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail (Youngest Salim) and Ayush Mahesh Khedekar (youngest Jamaal) are the true heroes who won my heart. Antony's camera worked well to show "Dharavi" naturally, If something was very consistent but adopting the changing mood of the movie that was ARR's elegant music, may be, we have heard quite a hit songs and rocking music from him in many movies. This one is not lesser than any of his earlier creations. He stood his genius once again with winning 'Golden Globe' too. I can say on behalf of million fans "ARR, please bag us an OSCAR".

Now, I need to tell our dear audience that we are very much lagging in appreciating a movie and its background score (and songs). We all knew the song 'Jai Ho' won golden globe and crew are recommended for OSCAR, but, by the time this song was played (at the end with crew list) people moved out of cine hall. I wish they have listened to it on their music systems.

This movie doesn't have rich looking background like "Titanic" and "Gladiator" but it has strong content like "Million Dollar Baby". Well, considering OSCAR winning qualities in a laymen perception "Slumdog Millionaire" deserves 3.5 - 4 out of 5.

May God be with ARR for OSCAR show.

Stepping into the real world

Immediate period after college life is the toughest as we get to see the real face of the world, cunning and honest (surprisingly!!!), cowardly and brave, selfish and selfless and many more characters will play their acts very seriously. Most of you may agree this view, like all of you, I had my time to undergo this period, It was always in my mind for last few months to reach my friends with a blog, they shall help me to value my journey till now, like "yearly audits" (sounds like retiring ain't it? but am not), Well, This part of my life was (is?) meaningful, I somehow materialized my knowledge and experience, it gave me guts to fight tough in any field I was into. I borrow the words of Jim Carey "Bruce Almighty", 'I have corrected few wrongs of my life'. Now, will get into the story.....

By mid of June '04, I started from Coimbatore to Bangalore with the very common dreams of many Engineering graduates. I had nothing more than a phone number of my close friend Vicky's' house owner, not even his address, by the way Vicky was also searching for a job and staying in BTM layout-2. After handfull failures in campus interviews and with the hurted ego the train journey couldn't be much better. I was accompanied by my ex-schoolmates having their appointment orders in reputed MNCs, I didn't get involved in the chat as I was lost in the memories of the mistakes committed during college days. Well, there were plenty to remember so time passed quickly, by that time train already reached Bangalore. My ex-schoolmates were given company accommodation for few days.I said bye to them, and called Vicky on house owners' mobile number to pick me from the railway station. Till this point of life I was just a happy frog in the Coimbatore 'well'.... everything in life was easy in the shadows of home.

I got an accommodation as a paying guest in the same house where he was staying. That night I slept well dreaming about ORACLE walk-in the next day. I wasn't even aware that there would be 1000's of grads who might turnout for few opportunities opened. I went to dairy circle - ORACLE office 15 mins before the scheduled walk-in at 9 AM, I was happy to see no crowd (thinking I was an early bird), but, misteriously gate was closed and the campus looked like a battle field, resumes and pencils scattered around. It took me a while to understand and imagine what might have happened there, in the very place I was standing, there were 1000s of fresh graduates rushing to register for written test, which flared up tension around and securities disposed the crowd with some man handling. I felt like standing on line of fire.

I started understanding the difficulties of many unemployed guys (just by participation), passing a day with meager spending was breath-holding experience (that time I had account for every dinominations of 100 bucks). During those three months in Bangalore, I got used to walk long roads searching for destiny... destination. Sometimes I walked 8Kms to reach interview location (in deep streets, where postman struggles to reach) thinking that very next road will lead to right address. Many times I got frustrated and feared about failure, I always felt loneliness and unsafe. After attending UTI telecom's interview in August '04, I have decided to shift my search from Bangalore to Chennai as my close friends were working there. I knew onething for sure that they can support me till I get a job.

My trip to Chennai was memorable and as believed I got connected with good network of job seekers for knowing the new opportunities around. I felt relaxed and saw few movies (though interviews were scheduled in the next mornings). One sudden day I got a call from UTI Telecom with an offer, but it wasn't my favour so couldn't join them. Then I appeared for MBT (TechMahindra) and left to Coimbatore for Diwali celebration (huh, celebrations for other and crackers firing in body).... I had planned to join in a mainframe course at Trivandrum, if I don't make the last interview attended. But, Life is full of surprises and one of that was waiting for me.

Will elaborate in the next blog...

Note: I request you to forgive me for the grammar and punctuation mistakes because I am very poor in it and I promise to improve my writing skill in the future blogs.