The arrival:
It all started on 22nd June 2008... when as per perfect planning and an example of operational excellence, my car arrived to greet me at IGI... after paying the transport company the money.. i drove to IMT... my first drive in NCR... guided by Paacha... and misguided by a lot of padestrians ( u have to admit the confidence with which each and everyone claims to know the route)...I arrived at the gate of IMT...after almost 3.5hrs of driving... soaked to the bone in sweat... i was greeted at the gates by prashant, nilabh and sahu( both my colleagues at CapGemini)...and I proceeded for the 'check-in'...
J47:
In spite of my desparate attempts to get a room close to the mess as suggested by mallu seniors... i got a room at the farthest corner of the college...farthest from the mess...J47 they said...prashant and me dragged some of my luggage from the car to the room... kept my stuff on the bed... my roomies parents were sitting in the room... a boy was arranging the stuff... already knowing that the guys name was Bharat.... paachan went ahead and made first contact..."Hi Bharat!!"... very much embaressed... Bharats mom said..."He's our servant...Bharat has gone out to make a call!!"... and then walked in Bharat...a sweet looking boy... the first thought that went thru my head was..."poor fellow...he'll change his room soon"... After some pleasantries... we 3...me paachan and sahu left for my first beer in Gzb...
Tiger and the PDP:
On our return from the bar...we found lines of students standing at the Basket Ball court (BBC)... understanding the impending loom... we tried to escape from the sides... when the sound came... "freshers assemble here"... well what the hell we 3 went and stood in the line... lots of bachas and a few uncles and aunties like moi... standing in lines.... yelling out our details to our deaf seniors... now i understand... partying does have an effect on ur hearing :P... well out came the mobile and my first SOS to nilabh... and like an angel he came and took me aside... that was the first escape from the PDP...I dont remember seeing Bharat that night.....
Following 5-6 days were fun...its all about understanding the system... most of the seniors didnt know all the ppl in the batch and the majority had less than 2 years work ex...well i knew the weakness and capitalized on my old looks (Beer belly and a balding head)... I believe during PDP i've had work ex ranging from 34 months to 44months depending on the age of the person i'm responding to... PDP was fun apart from the boring classes and presentations... I used to sleep well before 1am and get up as late as 8am... I didnt see bharat most of these days... when sitting on the sidelines...observing the PDP... i usually used to recognise him running around yelling "Generator chalao" and what not :D...
The Oldies:
During the PDP... we were a small gang of oldies who were too old to be ragged by the seniors... me, doc, sahil and tagging along was paacha (He looks old as long as he doesnt open his mouth)... man!.. i remember the awe i had listening to the 2000Crore business plan and being in the presence of a doctor from a good med school deciding to do an MBA... I knew i had come to the right place as far as networking was concerned...
