Adieu 2017

Okay, as 2017 draws to a close, as usual, I take some time to retrospect and reflect on what were the things which went well, and what were the critical learnings.

I started the year jobless, and I remained without a job for the first two months. To mention that in brief, it was a period of uncertainty, tension, doubt and it was definitely not a very pleasant feeling.

However, thanks to support from friends and family, I finally managed to get a new job in March, which led me shifting to another city. So after a period of over 3.5 years, it was finally time to bid adieu to Mumbai. I have had lots of good experiences in the city, met new people, made quite a few friends, interacted with colleagues, discovered my interest in modern board gaming, which led me to participate in several board gaming sessions, learnt to enjoy the continual monsoons, experienced the humidity and complete absence of winter, explored the areas, long walks on marine drive, vada pav, paani puri, had exposure to both Corporate and Factory HR- Professionally, and frankly did a lot of amazing things with some amazing people.

Nevertheless, moving to Kolkata was a good experience as well. The obvious advantage was getting a proximity to home, which helped a lot. I had not expected to be back in my home state so soon, but it was welcoming all the same. I reconnected with some old friends in Kolkata, and made a few new ones. Even discovered a Board Gaming café here, which I happen to frequent on most weekends. Again took a new place on rent, in a pretty decent society, though a bit far away from central Kolkata, but having good facilities nevertheless.
The new job is also going decent (with its shares of ups and downs of course, as I believe no job can be perfect). The best part of it being that my colleagues (especially in my team, HR) are really friendly, supportive and helpful, and I absolutely enjoy working with them and spending time with them. There were lot of new things to be learnt, both professionally and personally. I even got to see Shaan perform live in one of our corporate events.

On the personal front, I made few bad decisions, especially the one to get into a relationship with someone whom I didn’t know that well. Let’s just say that it did not turn out well for either of us, and we decided to separate pretty soon. That was also a learning though. One should never rush into these things, without considering all factors.

I got to visit my home once every month, and it feels good re-connecting with family, enjoying good home cooked food, and just relaxing without any worries. Thankfully my parents are still doing well, and are in good spirits.

One thing which I realized had taken a back seat was ‘fitness’. After a lot of procrastination, I finally pushed myself to go to the local gym, go on walks, etc. Very recently, I repaired my cycle (which was lying dysfunctional for over a year), and I today, I actually cycled over 10 kms to office, from my home. It was an exhilarating experience, to say the least.

Another thing which I ensured, was that I travel to at least two new places this year. So I made trips to Rajasthan and Uttarakhand (I have never been to either of the states earlier). I also visited Ranchi for the first time and met a friend there. I attended weddings of a few close friends, even visited Mumbai two times in between.

Also met Girish in the beginning of the year, who had come over from USA for a few days. I was still in Mumbai back then. Subodh’s wedding in Baroda was also one of the highlights.

I am also really glad that my habit of reading books remains unchanged. I have read quite a few good books this year, but two of them which stand out are ‘Sapiens’ and ‘Homo Deus’ by the same author, Yuval Harari, an Israeli Historian, who has written about the history of mankind, and has also predicted how things can be like in future. I would recommend everyone to read these two books, to get some incredible insights on life and evolution.

I have also developed my body clock to sleep early and wake up early. Nowadays I try to wake up in between 6 and 6:30 am, and go to sleep at max by 10:30 pm. This has really helped me develop a healthier lifestyle, though I have a long way to go.

There were failures too of course, I wanted to revise and brush my concepts of Japanese, but could not really spare sufficient time to do so. Neither have I been able to practice much on my keyboard, and my telescope remains inside my house, not yet opened once in the past year.

Hopefully, I will work on the above and more going forward.
That’s it from my side. Thank you for reading. Wish you a happy near year in advance.

I am still Alive

So what has been going on in my life lately? Nothing much, just the same old grind of corporate life. I have now realised why hardly anybody is happy doing his day to day job, but has to keep going, for many factors, financial, social or the like. Or maybe just because any other option does not suit him or her. It has become more of a daily chore than anything else.

Mumbai weather is getting hot and humid, and definitely not the kind where you look forward to going out or travel long distance. Heck, even going into the plant premises in this heat serves as a deterrent. There are quite a few things that i want to do, but the planning has been lacking. It’s almost as if the entire week, you just wait for the weekends to arrive, and once they do, all you want to do is sit back and relax, and in a flash, you are back to your hotseat(office) again. Am I playing hide and seek with time again?

They say having friends is extremely instrumental in your life. So why do I feel even more lonely than before. Where are the friends when you need them? Or maybe it was the introvert and unsocial nature of myself which led me to the state where i am currently. I do not know. Right now, I am just trying to put my thoughts onto paper (not literally), but i guess all i am doing is exposing the confused state of my affairs.

Why is saving money in Mumbai such a pain. You just go out a few times, and you already feel penniless. Not to add the astronomical rents, and other expenses. Sometimes i wonder how people manage to survive here at all. Nevertheless in spite of being one of the costliest cities in the world, with all its traffic and problems, I still feel that this city has a heart, and i have developed a soft corner for it. Something which never happened with either Kolkata or Delhi. Thats another discussion altogether.

Thankfully, one of my oldest habit of reading continues to this day. Finishing more books, and starting yet some more. I am definitely going to finish all of Murakami’s works. The guy is simply a genius. Anime continues as well. Definitely enjoying the Uchiha Itachi arc in Naruto Shippuden (I think the first time ever that i am enjoying watching a filler series). As far as video games go, not having much time for it, but still MGS 5 is going great. Just completed a long mission, and it thrilled me like it did for MGS 1, nearly a decade ago. There are quite a few games I am yet to catch up on.

I am quite sad to say that the fitness thing is going nowhere, and I have become more fat and overweight than before. It is time to say-Do or die. Reading Quora answers is a great source of motivation and occasional time pass. I have had a stint with some dating apps(including Tinder), which got me a few friends(yes, even if I didn't find anyone to Date), and after a long time in my life, I am spending some time with females. Getting to understand the female gender is a herculean task, but extremely enjoyable.

This year is going to be a year of marriages, as lot of my good friends and relatives are getting married. My best friend is going to get married this year as well. Of course I have always been a social recluse, and attending marriages isn't exactly my best idea of having fun. Nevertheless its good to step out of your comfort zone every once in a while. [Note to self- Stepping out in the afternoon heat from your AC room, doesn't really help much besides making you sick].

I am also listening to lot of old hindi songs, mostly the emotional ones. And their remixes. Particularly liked the Sanam Puri version of Mere Mehboob. Listened to it like 10 times in a row. I have been hit by severe depression often, including recent times. I need to develop a positive attitude towards life to deal with it. In spite of knowing the universal fact that there is no real purpose or meaning to your existence. You just survive, and then you die. Thats it. Considering yourself as some special entity or someone with a greater purpose is nothing more than fooling yourself into believing old myths.

My First Designation

I write this post after completing 13 months in BASF, my first job. It has really been a roller coaster ride so far, and I hope I am a better person than I was an year ago. Both professionally and personally.

Tonight, I returned home at 9:30 pm, due to some last minute extra work. But I am still feeling happy. Amidst the heavy pouring rain, life goes on as normal in Mumbai. I got two more books today, and as ever my list is increasing like never before. Though of course, I moved into a new place, so still taking time settling down. The experience in the Dahej plant was pretty good, but as of now, am really glad to be back in Mumbai, the city of dreams.

We had a mini celebration in office as well, and of course got the confirmation certificate post completion of my yearlong training. Now I am officially an Assistant Manager in Human Resources, at age 25(one of the youngest in the company), and definitely looking forward to my new role. Working in a team, and dealing with policies which impact the welfare of all employees, is something which really gives you a kick from inside. Recently a senior colleague who met me, told me that I should be in Marketing, considering I am from FMS (known as one of the best bschools to pursue a career in marketing). However, I am quite sure that HR is my calling. Even in my batch, people remember me as ‘THE’ HR guy. But, its only now that I feel I am making a very tiny dent in the big ocean which is HR. But definitely a good start. And I am thankful to BASF, and my remarkable colleagues for giving me this opportunity.

I just saw the latest episode of Naruto, and even though the story may be too stretched or illogical, it still inspires me to do my best. Especially considering the spirit of Itachi Uchiha is still remembered and elaborated. He will definitely be the most inspiring fictional character for me till the end.
But I seriously do need to take a vacation to a proper place. Plans still pending.

But I am happy that I face very few periods of depression/frustration nowadays.

Short Trip to Mumbai

Finally visited Mumbai after a gap of over a month. I have fallen in love with that city. To be honest, it is a bit of a difficult experience staying all alone, cut off from your friends and family. Yes, you do get used to it after a while, but somehow that feeling of being alone, sticks. Add to that the near absence of any hang out spots, or even proper restaurants nearby, and you get an ideal recipe for depression.

Nevertheless, this has been an experience of its own, and for the next few months will continue to be so. So it was a welcome relief to be back in Mumbai for the weekend. And luckily managed to meet quite a few friends, including Girish and Amitabha.

Yes, I finally managed to bring some of my books here. I was dying without them. And somehow, am trying to put a structure to things, and make the best of my time here. Both professionally and personally. So lot of things to do.

Though right now, I feel the charm of PS3 is fading away. I hope Metal Gear Solid 5 changes that. But the best part of being in Mumbai was to just enjoy the crowd and the food. Yes, you heard it right. I so missed the food. It is so hard getting south indian food here. Or good quality chaat. So I ate my way to glory.
Managed to catch a bad cold as well. And colds in summer are actually quite unpleasant. Oh well, I had enough of complaining. So could use this post in thanking those people who matter.

Of course, Amitabha and Girish needn’t be thanked. For we will keep bumping into each other without reason. But I would like to thank my Grow batchmates and BASF colleagues cum friends Anupama, Subodh and Shapnaa for sparing time. It is always fun hanging out with you guys. Anupama, I know you are gonna do a great job in your stint. Subodh, thanks a ton for the bike ride, in the peak summer heat. But Veg hut remains. Shapnaa, I know you love to talk, and you are pretty good at that and everything else. Keep rocking. Waseem was missed, but there is always a next time. And Swati, you better think of something fast. Everyone’s missing you as well.

Managed to catch up with Queen. A pretty good movie, but highly overhyped. Anyways, catch you all later. Adios.

Mumbai Life Diaries

This Saturday was one of the better days in my life. It started off with me roaming around in Crossword for a while, figuring out which book to get for one of my bibliophile friend, who was coming to Mumbai for work purposes.

The lady at the payment counter was interested in showing me a new E-reader which was launched at the shop. Was kind of similar to Kindle. I told her that I was not much of a E-reader, and still preferred to read my books the old fashioned way. Yeah, portability and all is all fine, but I like the smell of the pages, and the feel of the book in my hand. No Reader can replace that(yet, anyways).

Oh, and yeah, my membership was still valid(I had registered over 2 years ago, and that too at Durgapur). Got a meagre 7.5% discount, but that’s still better than nothing. Speaking of discounts, Flipkart is now offering a discount of 60% on selected books, including the Luminaries(which I got at 30% discount). Get it while it lasts.

Anyways, coming back to the point, I left for Bandra in the evening. Luckily,got an AC bus which goes from Vashi to Bandra, just in the nick of time. It was empty, save for one couple getting cosy in the corner. Yeah, PDA is pretty much common and accepted in Mumbai(at least in many places). The traffic was still insane though.

I haven’t really roamed around the Bandra side much. And the station was big and over-crowded big time. I had to talk the skywalk towards Bandra east side. After meeting up with my friend(and handing over the gift and yes, got one from her too), we decided to head over to Candies for snacks munching. I settled for a Veg Burger, and a curious looking Chocolate dessert which I had never eaten before in my life(it turned out to be reasonably good). After that, we headed out to the Linking road market, as my friend wanted to check out some Shoe stores.

Post the shopping, we headed out to a CCD. I stuck with my favourite drink, Choco Frappe. She tried the Strawberry Lemonade and hated it. The place was being set up with speakers and mikes put in. Soon, we came to know that Siddharth Malhotra(Student of the Year) and Parineeti Chopra were supposed to come there for a mini interactive session. Soon enough they arrived. I have to admit that I didn’t really look at Siddharth, but Parineeti was really looking pretty(maybe even prettier than she does in the movies).

But we left before they did. Roamed around some more across the streets, did some random chit chat, had maggi, and finally I left for home. Oh, and yeah, I did see a policeman trying to round up the street peddlers with his stick, but they all returned as soon as he left. Was quite a funny scene though.
Yes, am slowly getting used to Mumbai life. The last seven months have been good. And I have to get to second gear fast.

For now, adios.

2013 in Flashback

This may be my last post for the year. So how was 2013 in review, in retrospect? Was it better than 2012 or worse? Oh, well, like most other management grads, let me also put some bullet points:

Yin:
• Finally began my first job, at BASF. Been a good journey so far
• Made new friends, though all within BASF
• Met some old friends, had some good times
• Shifted to Mumbai for the time being, liking it better than Delhi
• Got a PS3, and some cool games to go along with it(including GTA-V)
• Mastered Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 3
• Got some decent books as well
• Saw the first play of my life (The Vagina Monologues)
• Visited the Times Literary Carnival 2013 (with Amitabha and Girish), a great experience
• Completed my MBA (Don’t feel like mentioning that, but its kinda important nevertheless)-and passed all subjects
• Got my heart broken(by one of my past crushes)
• Started Breaking Bad
• Finished a few anime- Samurai Champloo, When they Cry Season 1, Mirrai Nikki, etc
• Tried out a few new restaurants, notably Delhi Durbar
• Had my first Starbucks Coffee (with Girish)
• Had a rural stint, in work
• Managed to get back in touch with a good friend
• Visited an Oktoberfest(German beer festival) and had just plain water
• Visited Elephanta Caves once more(had been there in 2012)
• Saw Gravity at Imax Wadala
• Went for shopping with female colleagues (re-learned the art of patience)
• Went for an Outbound training session at Kolad
• Saw how board meetings are like
• Stayed alone at hotels in rural areas
• Danced and performed in front of a crowd
• Travelled to Pune, and Met Amitabha

Yang:
• Gained Weight
• Had occasional bouts of depression
• Did few things which I should not have, and ended up hurting others in the process
• Felt the loss of my grandfather, who passed away this year
• Felt aimless and goalless at times
• Procrastinated
• Wasted 2 months at home, doing virtually nothing but facebook and whatsapp whole day
• Had tons of health problems, felt miserable
• Felt pessimistic

So in all, I guess 2013 was probably a better year than 2012 was. I wont say that I am at the best of my moods right now, but am definitely better off than I was in Delhi.

Lets see what 2014 has in store for me.

Special thanks to everyone who made this year special for me.

And a special mention to the Grow Batch(Trainees in BASF) 2013: Nikhil, Jerry, Swati, Anupama, Shapnaa, Prakash, Waseem, Ravi and Subodh. It was real fun hanging out with you guys.

Internship Diaries, Post 2

So continuing from where I left off. Life at Wilson was fun, the Warden was a nice guy, and there were many people from different Bschools including IIM A, B,C,L,XLRI, etc. Met and befriended a cool guy named Mayank, who is a commerce graduate, indeed a rarity in Bschools. [Incidentally, also met another commerce grad from XL who was staying in Wilson- Abhishek Jain. Hope he clears his CFA lv 2]. Basically, Rachit, Twisam and I used to go to office together, it was the same for us. Sometimes we took the bus, other times we hired a cab. Wilson college being close to Marine Drive, we had a gala time out there. Just watching the sea waves strike the shore is a sight which cannot be described in words, but gives you pleasure.

There are several cafes on the opposite end of marine drive, stretching across for kilometers. I liked Sukh Sagar, which offered quality South Indian food. A veg restaurant called Crystal is pretty popular out there. Many times the queue outside these places would be amazingly large. One of my favorite night past time was to roam around the beach, have ice cream and take in the fresh,cool air along with others.

On one weekend, we went on an outing with Twisam and his bong friends[one of them being Shilpa, my classmate at FMS]. We visited quite a few places, including the Bandra band stand, and had a delicious Biryani at Arsalaan.

Met up with Girish as well, who is enjoying his stint with ONGC, being sent off-shore in the middle of the sea for half a month at times. We went and visited the Nehru Art gallery, Planetarium and Science center. Along with a mall which was suffering from load shedding. Had a good time over-all. Ate Paapri chaat without dahi.

But I guess one of the best weekends was at Sentosa Resort, Pune, for the All India Pagalguy Meet [AIPGM], number 9. I went over to the Pagalguy HQ for the first time, where I met up with my batchmates Nikhil Nathani and Mridul, along with some other friends such as Sourjo Mukherjee from IIM Rohtak. Made new friends there as well. From PG HQ, we took a bus to the resort[in Pune], where we spent the weekend. Best part was getting to meet the PG team, and interacting with people whom I had always wanted to meet, such as Pallavi Puri, Varun Saxena, Apurv, Harshal Modi, and of course the Pagalguy himself, Allwin Agnel. The resort was pretty good, and we had great events, best of which was probably Chuck Gopal’s[Deepak’s] stand up comedy act. Of course, there was the famous Puyscar ceremony too. Later, in the night, we all sat on the lush green grass, and played mafia till 5 am in the morning. It was really a fantastic trip, and I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. The return bus journey, where I discussed about HR, with Anvesh(from TISS) was also worthwhile.

I should also mention at this point that I made friends in Tata Motors too. Some of the senior professionals out there are really great, and I simply love it how they encourage everyone to participate in all matters. People enjoy and people work. This is something I really loved about the company. During my penultimate week, Amitabha came to Mumbai again. This time, we went to Sanjay Gandhi national park and then onwards to another big mall. I somehow fell sick during that time, and had to leave early. Nevertheless it was a good trip, though we didn’t get to see any wild animals in the park.

Back to office, well Tata Motors got an Award for being the best learning organization in South Asia. To celebrate, we had cut caking sessions and an Official party scheduled. Deboo and I were the only summer interns to be present in that party. Which was held in the last week of my internship. Was lucky that I got to go there. The entire HR team was present, and I really had lot of fun. Even danced for a change[though am a horrible dancer]. The food was scrumptious, and the dessert mouth watering. After a great evening, went back to Wilson.

But then, slowly, it was time to wish adieu. To the TML employees and my co-interns. Some of which I had become close to, and bonded pretty well. It was an emotional time for me, no doubt. These two months in Mumbai were probably the best of my life.

First, it was Rachit, who left early, and I was left without a room-mate for a week. Twisam and Rito da left the week before I did. So I felt a bit lonely at Wilson. Thankfully Mayank was still there, and that guy is a pretty enthusiastic lot.

Finally, Deboo left on Thursday , leaving just the two of us[Megha and I] behind. I actually worked a lot on my last day in office. Had my final review, got many formalities covered. But still managed to take some time out during lunch to visit the Jehangir Art gallery, with Megha during lunch. Had lunch at Samovar café, which is inside the gallery and a pretty good place. The French toast was indeed delicious, and I would recommend that to anyone. The Alu ka parantha was okayish, but I have tasted much better paranthas. Honestly, you don’t get good north Indian food in Delhi. The final lunch chat with Megha was pretty good, and I knew I would miss Mumbai.

Finally it ended. The goodbyes were done, bags packed, and for one last time, I walked across Marine Drive. Glancing over the couples, the joggers, the sleepers, and the wanderers. Maybe I was just one of them, feeling the breeze, the waves rush by. I don’t know why but I could feel a tear drop at that instant. Thank you Mumbai, thank you Tata Motors, thank you all my fellow interns, my friends, my colleagues. It was just a super wonderful, amazing time I had. Till we meet again.

Summer Internship Diaries, Post 1

Okay, I reached Mumbai on 15th of April, pretty excited. During the initial 10 days, Tata Motors had provided us with accommodation in a hotel. The hotel where I[or rather the entire 3rd batch] stayed was pretty decent, and situated at a stone throws distance from the Gateway of India/Taj Hotel. The room which I got was pretty decent. My room-mate was a bulky, bespectacled, gregarious guy called Dibyaroop, from XIM-B. An extrovert, fun loving guy who is a master at handling people. I would say anyone can learn decent management skills from him.

Anyways, I met Amitabha and invited him to my room. Later we went down to the Gateway, and had lunch at Café Mondegar, a popular,crowded place for youngsters. The Mumbai crowd had already begun to fascinate me. Amitabha left in the evening, and during the course of the day met other co-interns who were staying at the hotel, including Tapish, my FMS classmate. It was fun interacting with people from a mixture of Bschools. However, I did not really get the courage to speak to any female intern.

Okay, April 16th was my first day at Tata Motors, and my first day at corporate[being a fresher]. The first two days were reserved for the induction programme, after which everyone would leave for their respective destination[which was revealed during the induction]. I was a bit apprehensive, since I had no idea where I would end up, considering Tata Motors has its presence in multiple locations in India and outside. The office where we had to report to was near the Bombay Stock Exchange. For those who do not know, Tata Motors has 7 offices in the Mumbai region itself.

Anyways the induction programme was good, and well structured. Got to know quite a few things about Tata Motors and their business operations. A host of speakers came to take different sessions, which was quite interactive. We even had a cake cutting ceremony with the HR head. The ice was broken, and all 45-46 of us got along well. Lots of formalities were done and finally the time came for the project locations to be announced. I felt a sigh of relief when I got to hear that my location would be Mumbai itself, as I had really wanted to explore the city[having only been here once before, and that too for one day]. Deboo[Dibyaroop] got Mumbai too, and so did many others. However, quite a few did get other places, such as Pune, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, even Nepal and Sri Lanka. Some were happy, others were apprehensive.

Got to speak with quite a few people in the induction, and hopefully made a few friends as well. Cannot recollect all their names, but to include a few, Sarthak, Navtej, Tanya, Rohan, Mayank, Priya, Ankita, Oscar, Shraddha, Mallika, Vishal, etc. It was a pleasure interacting with all of you. Also met Aditya Verma and Aastha from FMS, coming out of the Taj Hotel at night[they had their induction over there, courtesy HSBC].

So the induction ended and I was supposed to work in the same office building, since the HR division operated out of there. Got introduced to my project head and my project guides, all of them being extremely nice and helpful people. My first impression of Tata Motors was pretty positive.

Now to talk a bit about the employees in Tata Motors. To be more specific, those in HR[though I have interacted with people in several departments, but primarily I was in the HR division]. The environment was mostly informal, though of course formal meetings and discussions existed as well. Tata Motors has recently adopted a First-name culture, which is slowly spreading across all offices. Which means even a junior officer can call the CFO by first name rather than to say Sir or Maam. The best part was that anytime you could speak to the senior management team without being apprehensive or worried. Nobody would stop you from doing what you wanted to do. You had decent independence to take a call. And neither was anyone on your head pressurizing you to do this and that. The average age group in the HR department would be 24-25, with over 60% of the employees being female. So often there was situations where I found myself being surrounded by girls on all sides[not to be taken negatively though]. As for me, I got an entire cubicle to myself[which could normally seat 2 people]. That too just near the newly installed Coffee machine. Which meant I had generous helpings of Chocolate drinks and Badam Pista shakes daily. Everyone was friendly and always ready to help. Starting from the security guards[whose contribution was extremely valuable] to the Chief Learning Officer, who actually encouraged me to do lots of things.

My co-interns in the same department were: Rachit Bijalwan, Twisam Datta, Mayank Saraf, Megha Pathak, Krishnapriya Singh, Anivesh Kumar, Ganesh and Deboo. Met other interns too, such as Satish, Ankita, Prasanna, etc. Together we had lots of fun and fultoo masti. Honestly I feel sad for some of the interns who had to work alone in certain locations. Working without a fellow intern nearby is a hell boring job.
The canteen offered average food, but a wide variety of it. And it had a Free Snacks time from 5 pm to 7 pm. So you could eat and drink as much as you want for free during that time. Notable to say is that the considerable appetite of Deboo and Twisam made them partners in search of cheap, tasty food in the Fort area. They told me they found a restaurant which sold really cheap and delicious fish. Though I am a non-veg, I usually avoid eating heavy food outside. So I decided to stick to the canteen on most occasions. Nevertheless we did try out places such as Paratha Mantra and Café Samovar[in the Jehangir Art Gallery nearby].

A bit about my project work[but don’t worry I wont go into the details]. Within HR, I was working under the Learning and Development team. My project was related to making a database of External training programmes based on the need requirements of corporate functions. Didn’t understand that? Fine, lets move on.

Just after having stayed in one week at Tata Motors, a Plant trip was organized by the team, to get us acquainted with the process of developing vehicles, performing research, etc. So 5 of us interns, along with 2 other employees were sent to the Tata Motors, Pune plant. It was a fun trip, and I really enjoyed it. I feel it was one of the best part of my internship, since I could witness how a car is made from scratch and what the working environment in a plant is like.

There are lots of things I could write about the Plant trip, but I will restrict myself to mentioning a few: i) The ERC or the engineering research center, where the vehicle models are designed and benchmarking is done, ii) The different Assembly lines where the vehicles are made, the welding and painting shops, etc, iii) The Crash testing site, where vehicles are literally crashed to check for damage and impact on the drivers. Ours was a structured programme, and there were people to guide us at every step. We had official guides who gave us tours in multiple areas across the plant. And trust me, it is quite a big plant. Almost like an entire city in itself. It felt good to have lunch with all other employees, in the massive canteen. I was especially impressed to see how blue collar workers keep doing the same job hour after hour, day after day. Hats off to these guys, the actual producers. Though yes, some part of the process has also been automated, as in huge robotic arms doing the stuff.

During the two day trip, I handled all the logistics, including calling the cabs, deciding the locations to be visited next, co-ordinating with the POCs, etc. The trip to Pune, on the Mumbai-Pune expressway is also a nice one.

I had decided to meet Amitabha, as he is staying in Pune itself. So I thought I would call him to my hotel later at night. But imagine my surprise, as our team was deciding to leave the plant, I saw a tall guy wearing sunglasses, with sleek hair walking past. He looked like a salesman. I almost ignored him, till I head my name being mentioned. I turned around and saw that the guy was Amitabha. He had come for some work at Tata Motors. Talk about a co-incidence. Anyways later during the day he took me on his bike inside the main city.

We had loads of fun, and I really enjoyed it. I saw Osho’s ashram, several cafes and finally ended up at Phoenix Mall, one of the most popular ones. Had Papri Chaat, saw cricket on the extra huge television, and then left. Reached my hotel at night, and then slept off. A worthwhile trip ended. Btw, the hotel where we stayed at Pune was really good. Better than the one at Mumbai. Also met Sarthak[co-intern from SIBM Pune] there.

Back in Mumbai, it was time to search for accommodation of my own[the hotel was only there for 10 days]. I had heard lot of stories that getting a convenient, cheap accommodation in Mumbai was a pain, and that people travelled for over 1.5 hours daily, struggling in local trains, in order to reach their offices. Moreover, getting a cheap accommodation in South Mumbai[the place where my office was] was out of the question. Anyways, I just decided to go to Wilson college[near Marine drive] and search if they had a room available in their boys hostel[since the college was closed for summer vacation]. And lo and behold, I got a room within 2 days itself. That too at a very reasonable rate. The warden was a pretty decent guy, who knew quite a bit about FMS.

So I shifted to Wilson with Rachit[who became my new room-mate]. Deboo shifted to another college, Xaviers. I met up with Twisam and Rito Da[first_timer from Pagalguy] who were also staying at Wilson, along with several other people from XLRI, including Abhay, Himanshu, Rishob, Abhishek, etc. Megha and Krishnapriya shifted to an army girl’s hostel.

From FMS, Rachit Kwatra and Karandeep were also staying in Wilson, and Divya G, Divya Katoch and Bibha were staying in the girls hostel of Wilson. Shilpa Sardar was also nearby. So was Sudhanshu Suman and Indrajeet Das[though I didn’t meet them].
Now it was time for Round 2.