Today one of my friend had to go to Greater Noida for an interview. He asked me to accompany him and i did so. We reached Noida by Metro and then the question was to go to Greater Noida. So we took an auto (for Rs 200) for Greater Noida and hoped to reach there in an hour. Oh we did actually, but the address was something like Knowledge Park 4. Everyone knew about Knowledge Park 1,2 and 3 but what the heck was 4 ? So it took us another half an hour to find that location. Anyways finally we were there. And due to all of this additional crap, had to pay 250 Rs to auto wala. After he got freed from there, we had to come back to Delhi; actually Noida first :D. So we came out and starting looking for auto. Oh boy…it was a complete jungle and nothing there really. So we thought about calling a cab. Called almost all radio taxi services but same response “Sir we don’t operate in Greater Noida” 🙁 . Finally we saw an auto (carrying bricks :D) wala and asked him to send some auto if he found one on his way. Man something adventurous here. He asked us to adjust in the same auto itself :D. So somehow we 3 guys adjusted with him and started the journey. He dropped his load on the way and dropped us to Noida after that.
What I am still wondering about is that they have setup almost a new city, so far from the main city but without laying down any transport infrastructure. Someone stuck there in the evening won’t have an option to come back. Moreover there is not a bit of security. It is such a long distance and no police post nothing. Such a crappy idea of first setting up a city in jungle and then opening an office there. Blunder in itself !
In the evening, me and my roommate went out for a round of market and i was telling him this story. Just felt like writing it.
It was in Jan or Feb of 2004 and i hadn’t got a job by then. I was doing my final semester 6 months training. 2 of my good friends were in Delhi for the training. One day they came to know about some job opening in some not-really-a-BPO company (yea, something like handling calls about some networking or some similar stuff…not that dishwasher can wash under wears or not types). So they called me in the evening, say 5 PM and asked me to take the night train to Delhi, as the interviews were scheduled for the next day. So it was the time to pack bags and leave for Delhi. I packed the necessary luggage and started getting ready to catch the night train. It was just my 3rd or 4th time in a train. So i was not aware about the reservations thing and different types of tickets. Just knew one thing; ticket to Delhi 😀 . I reached the railway station well before time, bought one ticket and started waiting for the train. It was just a general compartment ticket so had to board that only. Finally the train arrived and man this general compartment thingie was crowded like anything. But there was no other option available so had to enter somehow. After entering i adjusted myself and the bag i was carrying. It was a long journey (around 6 hours) and it was really difficult to travel in this position. Finaly after 1-2 hours i got a half seat; yea exactly half. So it was little better but still traveling on half seat in the night, that too in such a crowded compartment is no fun, for sure but oh yes…there was no other option.
It had started to dawn and the train reached Delhi railway station. As i had to go to Noida so there was another mission pending to be accomplished. As i was explained, i started looking for a bus to Noida (It is such a pity that even being called NCR, traveling from Delhi to Noida/Gurgaon or opposite is the most pathetic thing to do). It took me around half an hour or more to look for the place from where i would get a bus to Noida. And by the time people had directed me to 3 different places that you would get it from here, here or there etc etc. As they say that people in Delhi don’t say NO. They do tell you something, may be wrong only ! So finally i succeeded and got the bus to Noida. As luck would have it, there was some problem with the engine of the bus and the driver spent around 15 minutes trying to do some jugaad-ment. Anyways, just taking it as part of the mission, i was sitting quietly, half sleepy and tired. Oh yes…then the stop where i had to get off came. I took rickshaw from there and now the target was just 10 minutes away 😀 . As expected, i reached in the room in 10 minutes. The next task was to skim through some books and get ready for the interview. I took half-bath (yea half as there was no hot water and moreover i was tired and sleepy so could mange half only 😀 ). Then i skimmed through some technical stuff. 2 of my friends had to leave for their office but there was another friend who had to accompany me to the company as i was totally new to the city…
He told me about some interview tips and all and in the afternoon, we left for the venue. In 45 minutes or so we were there. Went to the company’s office and found that actually there were no interviews happening that day ! Oh boy hit the shit ! I was with totally blank head and the only thing i could think of was to come back. Again there was no other option :D. But my friend was already doing a job in some BPO, so he was aware about the recruitment process of BPOs. There was another BPO’s building adjacent to this one and he said that we should check there also. As we went there, we found out that there was some recruitment planned and a chance to appear for that. Oh man some luck at last. We went inside, filled the forms and started waiting. My friend said that he would also sit in the test to avoid some boredom. As otherwise also he had nothing to do 😀 . Finally i cleared the test (he didn’t as he sat in the test to just kill some time…). There was an interview after that and they asked me to wait for HR round. After sometime they called me for the HR round and oh YES it was done. The final wait was for the offer letter. I can’t express in words that how good it feels after clearing 2-3 rounds of interviews and waiting for your offer letter. And boy if it is your first job, it is pure magic ! My friend had to go for his shift so he left. It was evening already so my 2 other friends got free from their office and directly reached there. I was still waiting for the offer letter. Finally they gave us the offer letters and we left for the room happily. I would again say that the feeling of getting your first job is really awesome. Though it was not an A class job, but still a job is a job and something is almost always 😉 better than nothing. We had got really late and reached at room around 1 in the night. In the society, we even met the UP police’s night patrolling guys and they congratulated for the job and asked for a treat 😉 .
So that was how i landed the first job of my career 🙂 .
One day, after 2-3 weeks, i was coming back from office and met the same guys and they said “bhai tune party ni di abhi tak” 😛 . Their party is still pending…
Reunions are a good thing…they take you back across the lanes of old golden days…
It was around 2 weeks ago, that I happened to meet a guy from my first company. While we were talking about the old stuff, he told me that they were planning for a reunion of folks who are in NCR these days. Surely, it was a nice idea…chance to meet all the old guys. So it was finalized and and the date was fixed…6th of Feb…
…so guys (with few exceptions…) were there at the venue. I, one of my friend and his wife were the last people to reach, though 😉 . There is kind of different feeling in going late, you know 😛 . When we reached almost everyone has already started with their drinks and snacks . So after saying Hello to everyone, we also joined the gang. The main difference one could notice was that everybody came with his/her better 1/2 😉 and kids…so it was kind of different scene from those old days when not everyone was marred…oops married 😉 . Everyone was recalling those old times; those nights spent in office, the morning breakfasts, few blunders when hopes of survival jumped between earth and sky, that “what the heck you have done” things from their bosses etc…
It was all fun. Your first job is like the first love, it is hard to forget 😉 and for most of the people present there it was their first job. They started their career from there, learned the corporate stuff, grew up as professionals and so on…After some time started the round of introductions (as there were few new faces…mostly in the form of better halves 😛 ). It was suggested that everyone would introduce the one sitting adjacent to him. It was fun time knowing everyone’s specialties in personal and professions lives. People present there, as per the introductions given were loving, caring, sweet, responsible, hard working, dedicated, straight forward, with good sense of humour, desi, [stuff not told in public starts] good cooks, good husbands, good workers at home etc etc [stuff not told in public ends]…hey obviously all these qualities are from no single individual 😉 . It is all mixed stuff 😀 . While introductions were going on…my ex-boss, who is a really good singer was requested to sing a song and he sang Jagjit Singh’s apni marzi se kahan…
Then one more guy was introduced as a good singer and he made everyone hum to the tunes of
So after all the introductions and fun it was time to have lunch. Again folks who came with their kids, took their turns to hold kids and hold a plate and vice-versa. One thing was so much clear that taking care of kids is probably harder than working in IT 😉 . Then it was mobile no exchange time before leaving. Everyone enjoyed the meet and said that we should meet more often and such meets should continue. It was like living that life again…Finally after having 3-4 hours of good fun we said goodbye to each other and left to live in our present !
eh tere pyar de pattar
jo hun tak saambh rakhe ne
na hun eh tumbde mainu
na hai ehna ch nigh koi
kadi veraan chup raatan ch
je kar khol v behna
na dil tadpaun hun mera
te na hi karan diljoi
eh tere pyar de pattar
main awein saambh rakhe ne
mohabbat v shalaga v
hallasheri v ehna wich
ate tokan nahore v
gile v te dilase v
eh apne aap wich dunia c
aasha te niraasha di
eh madra de pyale san
eh san vikhia de kaase v
eh tere pyar de pattar
main awein saambh rakhe ne
bahut bechain kita c
kadi mainu udeekan ne
kadi din raat is dil nu
kiha cha c kiha dar c
jiwei rab ton koi
sukh da suneha lai k aaunda hai
ehna sadka kadi
ik daakia mera payambar c
eh tere pyar de pattar
main awein saambh rakhe ne
ai par ehna nu hun takkdan
tan dil nu kuch nahi hunda
kehar eh hai samajda haan
k gal oh c nadaani di
aate shayad tu v jeekar
ehna nu pad k hun vekhein
tan hass ke aakh deve
bhul c uthdi jawani di
beshak zindagi dian peeran ton
kadd ke laamb rakhe ne
eh tere pyar de purze
main fir v saambh rakhe ne
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