My journey to Mysore..

Before I came to Bangalore I stayed in Mysore for 5 odd months and worked at Infosys, Mysore as a soft skills trainer. The tenure was short but not so short to forget and let go times I spent there.

It was 3^th April, 2010, when Shradha HRD (my employer) informed Shikha and I that we would have to travel on 7^th of the same month to Mysore. We were in a state of shock not because we were being sent there but we had little time to pack and shop before we depart. (Girls cannot go anywhere if they don’t shop, hehe) We were on our toes for the next 4 days. Until Tuesday afternoon, 6^th April, 2010, I did not even touch my suitcases which I had to carry. Thanks to mom and my bhabhi who helped me pack my stuff as I had to take early morning flight to Bangalore. Finally I could pack all my things for next three months.

I was sad but excited. New assignment, new place and icing on the cake, it was Infosys I had to work with. I have never worked with any such big brand before this. It was kind of sinking feeling as I was leaving home for at least 3 months at a stretch however I was prepared for more as this had been the trend with trainers from Shradha HRD who were sent to Infosys, Mysore.

Early morning at 6:55 was our flight. I could hardly sleep the entire night due to the fear of not waking up on time. At last, I managed. It was such a sinking feeling leaving home for three months or more. Mom and dad came to the airport to see me off. I was prepared that mom would wail however she just got her eyes wet as there was not much time left for the flight. We were just on time.

We left and thereafter, it was just Shikha and I together for the next few months. No family, no old friends, no relative, just the two of us. We boarded the flight and in a few hours we landed at the Bengaluru Airport. Excitement levels and anxiety was rising with time. We met Regu Mama (Shikha’s uncle) at the airport and he took us to Majestic (Bangalore’s inter state Bus Stand) to take the next bus to Mysore. It was 3-4 hours journey from there. We had started to feel tired already and to top it all; we had to report to work the same day. I was almost in tears and had started missing mom. :(

We took the next Volvo to Mysore around 11:30 am and expected to reach Mysore by 2:30 pm. We knew there was no way for us to report at work by 3 pm. So we informed Rishi (the person at Infosys we had to meet) and he allowed us to reach ASAP. We began our journey and half way through Shikha started feeling pukish as she has road sickness. She cannot travel long distance. We faced bad times as bus driver did not agree to stop the bus. I was going paranoid. A man sitting next to us came to our rescue and requested the bus driver to stop as he could see her condition. The bus driver finally stopped at Mandya, a place very close to Mysore for me to get some medicine for her. Shikha came off from the bus and threw up. I had tough time because of all this nevertheless after all the pain we reached the peaceful city, MYSORE.

It was a hot afternoon and we cribbed all our way. We got down at the Columbia Asia junction as our auto wala bhaiya, Raju Bhaiya, asked us to get down there. Raju Bhaiya is designated to provide service to Shradha employees who work in Mysore. So before boarding bus from Bangalore, I informed him the time we would reach Mysore. He took us to our PG in Vijayanagar, stage 3, near Aishwarya petrol pump. We met PG uncle and he showed us our room. It was a tiny, clumpsy, shady room. I was overthrown contemplating that I will have to spend next few months here. It was devastating for me.

Since we were getting late for work, we pulled up our socks and quickly got dressed for work.