Sunday, June 26, 2011

Day One @ Work

No. Not quite. Not work actually. I just had a lengthy, fun, funny, and an extremely extravagant Orientation Ceremony with a company which after two rounds of extremely grilling interviews found me fit to be recruited with them. I have not the cutest of littlest of clues why they did that. My interview was nothing spectacular. Under instructions from my goddess-cum-mentor*, I only blabbered some confident nonsense. What I do remember as my high point during the interview was when I sang. Yes! I sang to grab what was for me the final opportunity to lend some measure of safety to my very uncertain future. Now when I look back and remember it, I am stunned at the choice of my song. It was the most poignantly romantic ghazal I could have rummaged for in my song bank. Good part- it softened the features on the hitherto wood-like face of my interviewer. Bad part- It still couldn't stop me from cursing those who now seem pseudo-angels to me.

It was fun- I called myself a cat and a parrot in the same breath during my introduction (under duress, I assure). Played games. Lost at them. Confessed to being a helpless nocturnal. Interacted with guys, after almost an eon. Sounds like a party right? It was kind of one. Except we were dressed in formals.
It was extravagant- The venue was Le Meridien. We were served food and lots of caffeine throughout the day. The ambiance cried out to be clicked and frozen in elegant frames. The smells, the color, the decor, the delicacies, all were in tandem- competing for attention, yet subtly bowing down to accentuate the overall effect.

We, a batch of 25 freshers, did not learn a lot about the profession, very little about the job we're supposed to do. All we heard was about the glory of the company (which honestly left me very, very impressed) and the majesty of the profession (which, again honestly, helped me clear my dubiousness about getting into this line of work). We met our seniors at work. We were assigned a mentor, who, I was happy to find out, is an alumnus of our college. The day ended even better when we were successful in persuading our very benevolent Managing Director to shift the date of joining till about ten days ahead. We felt like we were back at college, negotiating with our lecturer to cancel lectures, to grant an extra attendance or to not teach us during that lecture hour.

The day was perfect. I had my best friend to share my happiness with after the Ceremony got over. The morning was special. My mother, with whom I share a communication incapability, did the best thing she could to make sure my day went well. It was a huge day for her as well. For my father too. Two decent/smart-looking stalkers in a white Santro escorted me home, passing all sorts of lewd comments, which did not bug me much, since I was in the familiar comfort of 'my area'. Bidding them a final adieu, I was smiling while I climbed up the stairs to my flat, for I could not get out of my head a sentence I had uttered to a table occupied by all our seniors-at-work, addressing our mentor solemnly and the laughter bouts it had resulted in- "Ma'am, will the work require a lot of brain? Incidentally, I don't have one." No exclamations. It is a fact.

More seriously, our chief mentor reiterated a line about four times, using analogies of markets and trends to drive home his point. "We fear when we should hope, and we hope when we should fear." I liked it. The essence and applicability of this line goes beyond just the markets. Worth ruminating on.This thought closed the first day of its kind for me.

*this person, a lot many people close to me would know, is undoubtedly, Cheistha Kochhar. It was by sheer luck that I met her, and by a great blessing that I got to be friends with her. For a lot of my stability and all traces of confidence left and instantaneous solutions to what are for me life threatening situations, I will forever be indebted to her. Thank you Cheistha. I'll always marvel at the person you are.

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