Cut Copy and Paste: END OF PART I

In spite of many reminders from my friends I was not getting the time (Oh really???)and tempo to write part 3. but yesterday saw Om Shanti Om and realised ke "kahani to abhi baki hain"

“Jindagi badi honi chahiye Dost, lambi nahi” One of the best dialogues on Indian celluloid, where Anand explains his philosophy to Babumoshay but here; my training period was getting stretched day by day. All this later part of training was giving me sense of good ol' engineering days. And why not? I was one amongst thousands of engineers who come straight out of Mumbai Uni. to test their skills (??) and luck in certified world who have no idea what in stored for them ahead.

16th November “D” day
Time 9 a.m.

I unflagged all the flagged questions and answered them with best of my knowledge (haa!!) and hit the FINISH TEST. There was pause on screen for couple of second. It felt like an hour to me and there flashed the SUCCESS window. First sign of success in my professional life. Arghh!!! But not the way I thought of. I screamed like every other human being in that panic room and rushed out. All my gang was outside, waiting; may be more anxious than me. That day I was wearing Sumit’s lucky shirt and his lucky locket in my pocket especially he gave me for this exam. I called back home and cracked the news. Ohh it was such a relief.
And now, it was celebration time, the whole batch of 75 got through to the assessment and all gathered at Tamanna executive, the only renowned food court in Rajiv Gandhi IT Park. For the last time we all were together because here after everyone will lead to there destination. We went for a movie that evening. Next day was my last day in PDC.

Date: 17 November
Time: 6.00 P.M.

I was boarding in shuttle no. 15 for the last time. I still wish I would have carry a pen and notepad that day; I had so many things to tell to PDC. How about writing one letter?

Dear PDC
We have been known each other for just 40 days, but let me tell you it’s been a great association. Being with you was a continuous learning process. Just to sum up what all I have learned, and then it includes C, C++, Scripting languages, Java, Software Development Life Cycle, Bug Life Cycle but no the list is far beyond that. The friendly environment here made things really cozy for me. Most importantly I received my first salary here, the cash I used to get before was either a scholarship or the friendly rewards from relatives. But this one was my own earned one. I bought my first cell phone here, got all new bunches of interesting people, your delicious pantry items still keep my mouth watering.

Staying away from home was a challenge specially when you have a nerd house owner and you need to convince him for placing syntex water tank without raising a penny in house rent or to ask for a lift if you miss your daily shuttle? What to do when your maid is on unnoticed leave for a whole week? What if, you forget your pair of keys at home? How to take care of yourself when you are not well? And what to do; when you are all alone at your place on Deewali night? I learned all this and many more things here. The list is endless and trust me it was fun.
Thanks for being there with me in all ups and down. Hoping to see you soon.

Yours Sincerely
Employee No. 11!&*#

Next day I was at my home, I had still 5 days to go before reporting at Hyderabad Development Center, it was perfect Saturday eve I was with my old (so now they are old friends) buddies, freaking out just the way we used to do some time back. We all started our professional life more or less at the same time, each one of us were sharing their unique experiences, some talking about there tight training schedules, some about facilities there company providing , some about their campus and almost everyone about the HR girls. We all were going through very interesting phase of our lives, spending most of the time away from home and learning how to deal with the situations by our own. Sometimes I was finding it difficult to cope up with these changes in early stage of my life. I wonder how difficult it was for my parents in there late 50’s. After all their only son was staying away from them.

When all this was happening at front end, somewhere back of my mind I was preparing myself for yet another Cut paste, yes my pasting I mean posting location Hyderabad.

Day: 20th November 2005
Time: 4.30 P.M.
Place: Dadar Bus Station; Mumbai

Baba:” Bus for Hyderabad?”
Booking wala:”5 vajata yeil”

It was Level 1, 30 more minutes and I am heading towards the next level. Pune was the place where I have been even before Wipro happened to me, it was just 3 hours away from Mumbai. But Hyderabad, its different thing, 700+ Kms from Mumbai, “Hyderabad is the capital city of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Hyderabad has an estimated metropolitan population of 6.1 million (61 lakh), making it India's sixth-largest metropolitan area.” (As per Wikipedia) and that’s all I knew about it.

At 5 bus came, it was Garuda from APSRTC, I got quite comfortable seat. I hugged Aai, Baba, promising them to return in a month. At least that was the initial plan; once in month trip to Mumbai.
I always fantasized myself in place of Saif from HumTum or Amir in Dil Chahta hain. But seems destiny has different plans for me. Till date, I have traveled 100 times alone with all kind of transportation modes. But No! No HumTum for me. I remember the ol' college annual days, where losers like me awaiting outside the ballroom dancing room, seeking for the partners, but no luck and jinx still continues. Sridhar from Hyderabad was next to me, it was his first trip to Mumbai and was amazed with the speed on which this city runs.

Sridhar:” You will find Hyderabad really slow man;”

First tip of city where I am going to be for god knows how many days. Chalo yeh bhi dekh lete hain. The movie in bus was Kachhe Dhage, I was in no mood to spoil my sleep, I told conductor to wake me up at Hitek City.

Now again I was at ground zero; the hunt for accommodation will begin all over again. Jonny and Vinay were already there and started looking for the place. I was supposed to report on Monday morning and then need to join them for the hunt.

Day: 21th November 2005
Time: 6.30 A.M.
Place: Miyapur Junction, Hyderabad

“Chalo Hitek, Madhapur, Gachibowli”….condutor shouted, loud enough to break my sleep. It was quite chill in the air. Bus dropped me near auto rickshaw stand. I spotted one and asked “Wipro Madhapur chaloge?”