15th June 2013...... It was raining heavily
outside. I was sitting with my family. Aai Baba Prashant and Jyoti were all
encouraging me that everything's going
to be fine. I was tensed like hell 'cause my mind's forecast told me that I was
going to miss the train. The train was scheduled to leave from Nagpur @ 6:00
pm. Garibrath Express was common people's luxury train......
So my kid-bee, Prashant took an initiative to hire an auto-rickshaw. He
took instant decision to call his auto rickshaw owner friend @ 2:00 pm. I was a
bit relaxed then. So finally my family gave me a warm farewell excluding
Prashant, as he was gonna be with me up to Wani. He helped me carry my luggage in the heavy rain outside, up to
rickshaw. So finally I caught a bus from Wani to Nagpur. And the journey
began........
I
reached Nagpur @ 5:45, with my heart pounding like it was gonna come out in my
hands. I was nervous.... Fat gayi thi meri...... So I hired a rickshaw again
for Rs. 200 of hardly 3 Km. But since only 15 minutes I had left, Rs 200 for 3
Km seemed OK. Now I
reached Nagpur Railway Station, with my whole body sweating. It was quite hard
to figure out which were raindrops and sweat-drops on my body.... Well, nobody
would have given a shit about that......
So gasping I landed on platform number 6. Garib-Rath was ready waiting
for me........ But shit... where was Biplo??? Again tensed, heart pounding
heavily, sweat all around my body, station employees announcing passengers to
be on-board. I touched my pockets looking for cell phone.... And with trembling
hands I called Biplo.
Mr. Biplo Singh, Relaxed as never before in his entire life told me that
it will take 10 minutes to reach to station.
Fuck off.....
Those 10 minutes were longest 10 minutes of my life. Announcements were
making the things worst. I forgot to take a copy of ticket with me....... And
since Biplo was only to have one, was the reason I cared for him most......
Else I don't give a shit about him....
Thanks to IST- Indian Stretchable Time. Train was almost 15 minutes
late. So Biplo had enough time to join me. We finally sat on our reserved seats 18
and 20. Husshhhhh...... happy ending. Biplo's father also came to wave him a
good bye. He shook hands with me and left.
But now the journey began......
Shweta, a cute girl from Chandrapur
came looking for her berth.
"Hey can you tell me
where's 21??" asked Shweta.
Biplo, looking at
her whispered... "Dekh maal aya"....
What else we wanted??? Journey
was set. We shared each other's minute details and then she started chatting
like she knew us as we were friends since childhood...... I just loved her chat.
She offered us Potato Chips. At first, completing formalities, denying the
offer with mind lost control over my hands, they unknowingly made their way
towards chips she offered. And then with her vicco-vajradanti smile, I started
sharing chips with Biplo. Biplo's mother also gave him dinner box. So we 3
shared each other’s eatables, me having
none!!
Again chatting with Shweta for
sometime and then sleep grabbed us.
In the morning @ 8, train reached Daund,
and when I woke up, I kept on searching for Shweta, but a man from another
berth told me that she left. Ohhh.... Disappointed, at least making expressions
on my face like I have lost my treasure, I convinced myself that these things
happens in life. Nothing lasts forever.
So Biplo & me decided to have tea at one the of tea stalls. Biplo
cursed chay wala like hell saying that tea was not worth Rs 2 also. Train left
for Pune.
After reaching @ Pune, we entered into one of the hotel and had our
break fast. It was raining outside. So we took our luggage and caught a bus to
Aundh.
Hella India Automotives...... A 5.2 Billion Euro Multinational Company ,
with Headquarters @ Lippstadt, Germany, offered us designation of Product Development
Engineer, with a good package, was the reason for this whole beautiful journey.
Finally we reached Elite Autumn, a hotel where Hella provided us accommodation
for 15 days. The rooms made us happy. We were informed to report @ the company
office located @ Baner, Pune , the following day @ 9:00 AM.
Next day me & Biplo got ready early in the morning @ 8:00 AM. I
called room service and asked them to arrange transport for us. And I came to
know that transport have already been arranged. So we got into the cab and
reached office.
Neetu Mungikar, HR @ hella, was
greeting us all. After having our not so interesting poha as break-fast, we
went to training room. And there we met all the 15 freshers. 6 boys and 9
girls. As we entered into the training room, Mr. Sanket Patil, HR head @ Hella
entered in the room following us. We took
our seats and Sanket
started talking to us.
With a very serious tone he
welcomed us.
"So guys you are the 15 students we
have selected to work in prestigious Hella India Automotives. Are u guys
happy?? " He asked.
With all the energy we had, we
replied in unison "YES SIR".
He continued "But since
you guys might be aware
that our biggest client Maruti have withdrawn themselves as our client, we are
in big loss."
With our eyebrows turned into arc and hearts
beating fast, we were
listening him. "So since we are in big loss, we have taken a big decision
to work together maintaining integrity to bring Hella India back on track. And
to do so, we have decided to cut employee salary for 2 months." With
breath-stopping awe we kept on hearing him "Depending on the progress and
situation, your joining after 2 months can also be differed. So nothing to worry. Welcome to you all
once again" and he left.
I was completely shocked. My
father had given me Rs. 20000 . So 4000*2=8000 as house rent of 2 months +
15000 deposit+ Rs. 4000 of 2 month's mess = -ve 7000. These all calculations
happened with lightening speed in the background. And finally words came out of
my mouth..... FUCK OFF.....
Everybody was shocked.
Everybody was looking at each other's face. The expressions on everybody's face were like we 15 have done unforgivable
biggest mistake of life.
This was the situation for 15
minutes. And suddenly Neetu entered the room with wide smile on her face. She
directly approached front left corner of the room and took out the camera
hidden inside a package which was recording all the baffled expressions just now we have given. Taking camera into
her hands and raising it, she said with Sanket entering the room...."So guys these were the
welcome expressions we captured from you." A huge relaxation among
freshers..... She continued "How was it guys??" and then Sanket
followed her "Hella is 5.2 billion Euro Company and it have never happened
in the entire history of hella that they haven't paid you your salaries. So
don't worry. Nothing like said before is gonna happen. This was just a joke and
you guys can relax." So this was it. Happy ending again.
For rest of the day we were
signing all the necessary documents. Akshata, one of the freshers, later stated
that she was feeling like celebrity signing all the documents without knowing
their contents.
We got introduced to Dhananjay, Adarsh,
Saurabh and Aditya, 4 freshers from Walchand College of engineering sangli. And
we later came closer to be the best buddies.
For following 15 days we underwent the so
called corporate training...... And after 15 days we were allocated our teams
and cubicles.
And thus my new era of life, the corporate
life began......
