The story begins right from the point when I was picked by AblySoft, the website development company of North India but let me begin this with a brief introduction.

I am Shalabh Tyagi (the central character of this story)

College: Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, MumbaiIntern at AblySoft

Sector : Information Technology

Location  : Mohali, Punjab

On the way to my workplace for next 2 months,

Driver: “Tussi Chandigarh pehli baar aaye ho”

Me: “Haan Ji”

As I was listening to Proper Patola playing on 98.3 FM and watching the trees along the NH5 all kinds of thoughts were coming to my mind about the company where I would be working for next two months. From entrance gate to my mentor I had hallucinations about everything and anything related to my internship. By the way, meanwhile having all these I was constantly interacting with Sardarji sitting in the driver’s seat. Kudos!! I have already learned multitasking.

And this 10 minute journey in OLA cab seemed to be everlasting as we discussed from Diljit Dosanjh to Yuvraj Singh and needless to say bars and girls of the Chandigarh. I must say Punjabis are really amicable.

As I stepped down from the cab and entered the office to my surprise I was the first one to reach there. Seeing me in full business formals even the office boy thought that some foreign delegate has arrived (but why this early) to meet his boss. My business suit probably outshined the nervous squirrel hiding behind it. To avoid the morning naps that were hovering over due to the early morning flight, I picked the newspaper kept in front of me. I was on the page 4 of “The Tribune” when my name was called by the HR manager and the butterflies in my stomach had already started fluttering. She greeted me and apologized for making me wait for so long. In the next moment I was in the meeting room with her, where the welcome tea and cookies were already waiting to warm me up.

After the brief introduction round I realized that my induction has already started as I was on the second block of my induction form. I must appreciate the fact that the HR was quite calm and composed and she managed to send the squirrels in my stomach to a long sleep. Then came the list of organization chart along with mission and vision of the company; needless to say company work policy and do’s and don’ts were piggybacking it. Once the HR manager left for catching up her daily routine, the game of hallucinations again started and this time the main characters were my project mentor and the project itself.

In another 15- 20 minutes Senior HR executive came (PS: First thought that came to my mind was why all HR are girls, my college has 60 percent males in HR batch though) and took me to my mentor’s office.

Sitting behind the table was guy in the mid 30’s with height as much as mine, but weight slightly more than me. Now this was the third time in the day that I was giving my introduction, every time with slight variations. Seeing the cabins outside his office I realized that I was bit overdressed for the day, while getting ready this morning I ignored the fact that I will be working with a quite young IT company where you don’t have many restrictions on dress code. By the time my eyes and mind returned inside his office I was already seeing the JD of my profile and some serious talking had already begun.

All the marketing jargons which I had come across in my first year, were again teasing me but this time they made some practical sense. My mentor was quick enough to read the lines on my forehead and offered me to go for the lunch with him, as hour hand had already crossed 2, five minutes ago. After having rajma chawal and seeing tens of unfamiliar faces in the cafeteria I was back in the meeting room where I started my day. Soon I was told by the HR manager that in next 10 minutes I have a meeting scheduled with the CEO.

I was waiting with baited breath for the big guy to come. As HR mentioned in correct 10 minutes he was there. I noticed that he has written 15 minutes on his pad so this meeting is supposed to be short and crisp. The 4th round of introduction was in a serious tone and bit slower (or maybe I was more focused this time). He explained me why he hired me and what he expects from me. His calm and composed nature bolstered me to throw questions at him and the meeting which was earlier scheduled for 15 minutes lasted for 30 plus minutes. After meeting him my confidence was reinforced that I was at the right place with the right people for the right work.

Soon after the meeting I was handed over my QR code, my system and my login credentials. Once the admin guy gave demo of the system and the portals and various tools, the HR called it a day for me and told me the agenda of the next few days where lots of activities and meetings are planned for me, but due to time constraints and the scope of this write up I won’t be able to discuss all here.

Lastly, I can say that I came as a nervous cow and bit frightened, but returned much more confident and elated.