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Day 0 :SUNDAY 17th October 2004

I check into my hotel room and find that the room mate that I have been allocated is a hardcore tamil fan ,the one who jumps at the sight of “thalaivar vijaykant” and dhanush.
.This guy is out of the room for quite some time …within which I watch the weekend edition of F.R.I.E.N.D.S ,which I haven’t viewed for quite some time in Chennai due to C.A.S and of course the Chennai test match.
The evening is spent picking my mother from my cousin’s place and dropping her back at the station ,after which I get drenched in the sudden downpour.I reach my hotel late at 11 and settle down with a hot water bath and finally sleep at 1 am .

Day 1 :MONDAY 18TH October 2004

D-day ……..I get up at 4 50 am inspired by the very thought that in am entering into the hallowed portals of INFOSYS and get ready by 6 00 am ,fully attired in my formals.The Bus comes half an hour late that morning and I am caught in the great traffic jam that takes place every day on hosur road.I reach Infy at 9 am ,am astounded by the sheer aura of the campus. But since the bus was late,I have no time to eat my break fast and I have to rush to the classroom,where a video session with Narayana murthy and Nandan nilekani is just over.The class room is very good ,more so resembling a mini auditorium.

The first day we are given sessions on the corporate culture by the higher level management and fire safety drills between which the people from ICICI come and get our details and we are allotted a card each. The lunch that I had was very heavy and tasty.I opted for north Indian thali meals instead of the traditional south Indian samabar ,rasam just for a change. Day one was all about gazing at the campus with awe……and getting ready mentally to belive that I am an Infoscian ….and not any more a Veltechian…

I don’t catch the evening bus,I meet my college benchmate Joshy who takes me to the canteen that is adjacent to the volleyball and basket ball court……more so closer to the amphitheatre an introduces me to his batch mates.We have a nice time discussing our college life,comparing the past and present…….and wow it has been one heck of a roller coaster ride.

I board the 7 15 pm bus to reach the hotel and discover that my other batchmates who had taken the 6 pm bus had rached the hotel only 5 minutes earlier at 8 30 pm ,since they were held up in the traffic jam at hosur road. I get to the hotel and thank god ,that I have been given such an excellent atmosphere to work in and of course,the even more raunchier fact of working at “Bangalore” for the next 2 months .

Day 2 :Tuesday oct 19

The day begins with some lovely music on radio city 91 fm , which is so much better than the machan-machi of radio mirchi—except the fact that I still do miss suchitra ramadaorai’s voice. This time the bus reached at 7 30 in the morning…..giving me ample time to eat my break fast and also making a few local calls.One thing to note is the fact that Infy has phone booths all around the campus ……..for ppl to communicate to Bangalore based numbers .
The not-so-desirable thing is the reccurence of sleeping in the classrooms.Whenever I sleep I tend to sway to and fro and the push back chairs and the AC in the room ,dosen’t seem helping matters at all.I embarrass myself sitting in the first row,after which I retreat to the last few tiers to avoid being caught napping.This slumber of mine stems from the fact that I sleep late at night after doing some roaming around.

That evening I go out with my friend pervez to BTM layout in serch of a PG accomadation,but we are very disappointed with the quality of rooms on display and the people surrounding them . We get drenched in the rain and some how manage to catch a bus to corporation circle……where we are supposed to get down,but since It’s been heavy roaming around in the evening ……I feel extremely tired and doze off in the bus and just miss to get down at my stop ….bcoz the Bangalore bus doors close automatically after a predefined time and I am left alone as my friend pervez manages to get down just in time.I basically had a problem after being woken by pervez to first realize where I am ,and then wading through the crowd ,before which the bus took off.

I get down at the next stop ,about 1.5 kms from the corporation circle and begin a lonely walk ..at around 11 pm back to my hotel and …..as soon as I reach the place….I take a shower at get to bed at around 1 am.

Day 3 oct 20 Wednesday

Listening to radio city on my walkman is so much a pleasure with the day beginning with “oh hum dum suniyo re ……(the hindi version of endendrum punnagai-alaipayuthe) .It’s a new habit these days of swiping in a card for attendance.I chose to explore the campus with cycles that are provided at every nodal point. There are 6 canteens specializing in different cuisines having Indian,Chinese..etc etc. There is so much of greenery around at Infosys ,that one wonders is this a software organization or a place competing with the botanical gardens. We had certificate verification …a GD round and a HR test and so literally the whole day was free ….and I had enough time to roam around. I tried my best at getting accomadation adjacent to Infy,but since the company of persons weren’t that good I had to reject staying at ELECTRONICS CITY, the area around Infy campus,seconded by the fact that I couldn’t get homes easily there without a brokers help and my friend joshy returning home to Chennai , didn’t help making things easy as , if he were there he would have definitely helped me finding an accomadation at electronics city. staying at Elec city would mean getting a lot to save on rent and transport……vut one would have to stay in a pure “pattikadu “ environment as not many shops are there on the outskirts here.
I finally managed to get a accommodation at a place called BTM layout ,where my place is a small portion of a room ,enough to accomadate 3 beds and a couple of study tables…but as of now it’s only 1 person with whom I share the room. I pay a hefty 4k as the rent which included the food in the morning and night. But I am glad that I have a decent room,a big bathroom ,very much unlike the PG’s that are offered generally.
Day 4 ,oct 21 , Thursday.
I still find it hard for the feeling to sink in that I am “working” now and have to fend for myself …and last nights experience of searching an accomadation was sure a new experience. But no complaints …..I have to move on…..the only thing that depresses me is that we have to sign a 2.5 lac bond for a year,so this year’s CAT is only a formality.

We have our training sessions started and the biggest surprise is that I am made group leader………the girls in my group of 8 …..have great fun waking me up With a yell “GOOD MORNING” as soon as a session gets over , as I was sleeping …swaying to an fro……I must admit it was quite embarrassing .The later part of the day was spent checking emails in my lab,with the help of a senior who logged in with his email id.I cant get to use internet on my own until I have an email id @infosys. Its been a great week ,and I am all set to become a software engineer ……..I am leaving tomorrow to Bangalore by car ,to move into my new accomadation and show around the infy campus to my father.