First Step towards Corporate Cluster..

Time flies. I just heard people saying it however now I completely believe in it. At times it feels like I have just completed my school. Do not know when I graduated and stepped in this clutter called corporate world. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea yet we are bound to be a part of it to earn our bread and butter. It is such a corporate dominated society. I do not like it. L

I remember the first day at work. It was not a full time job though. I got a five days assignment in at IT firm called Appulse Technologies in Gurgaon with few more friends. We were in our last year of college. It was the month of January and an opportunity to be away from college with friends to earn Rs. 5000 for it. What else we could have asked for? We were excited, nervous, full of energy and passionate about the new work.  

We had to report at 9 A.M. at the office, we all were on time and as always Shikha was late. Sameer and I were waiting outside her house, irritated and cribbing. We honked, called, screamed but Shikha did not turn up. Finally after 15-20 minutes, she showed up and we left to pick Abhilasha and Prashant from Vasant Kunj. They were all set and we left for Gurgaon.

We struggled for some time to locate their office and finally we saw this building with a big board which had “Appulse Technologies” written on it. We were anxious yet thrilled, it was the first job ever for us except Sameer. He had worked with Airtel before he joined college. Nipsy Jhamb, assistant manager-HR greeted us and introduced us to the research team we had to work with. We met Niladri Sir, who was managing us for the initial days. We were taken to the conference room for a brief intro and to understand what we were hired for.

First official meeting of my life was hard as nails. I was taut and quiet. The meeting commenced and we were asked to introduce ourselves. Trust me nothing else in this world is more difficult than introducing yourself to a bunch of people staring at you. However, mass communication course helped us and we finally could talk rubbish to impress these corporate guys. We finally succeeded. Immediately after the meeting we were sent on the floor to start our research work on US and UK based companies and details about them. It was great fun.

Our first day was hectic with lots of ups and down. I remember that commotion when lasha (Abhilasha) and Prashant lost their data as they did not save it simultaneously. To their luck, some glitch occurred in UPS and there was no power back up. Power went and so did their data of about 200 companies. Lol. It sounds amusing now. They were in soup and had decided to not come from tomorrow. Nevertheless, everything went well and they started from scratch.

Apart from the time we spent in office, I have good memories of time we spent while getting back home. We use to take pit stops at the food court in the same building as Alcatel, Sapient, and eating parantha’s at Qutab Institutional Area. Apparently they serve best parantha’s in the middle of the night when the entire world is fast asleep. I love the orange coloured macaroni they served. It looked eerie but tasted fine.

Some moments can never be forgotten and they leave a strong impact on us. These five days indeed changed my life and made me a part of this corporate turbulence.