Bangalore : A Flashback

After 3 days of the exit procedure in Infosys Technologies which involved running between nearly 30 buildings for getting no-due signatures from various departments of the company, I finally was relieved. Some hope filled my life again.

Life totally changed in the last one week. There was about only 10 days of time before I needed to submit the legal documents of the 1 year bond agreeement at Infosys. I felt that I was destined to be with Infosys for 1 long year. There was no other option for me. How things changed so suddenly after that, surprised me. One of my friends working in NCR hyderabad sent a mail to our group asking if anyone was interested in a job at NCR. Though I knew that the time I had was too short, I gave it a go and sent my resume to him. I had an interview at Hyderabad in a couple of days and in 10 days I got the offer. Now I am going back to hyderabad, the thing which I have dreamt for atleast since the last 2 months. There were some strong reasons, as to why I wanted to go back to my home town then.

15 days earlier:
I stood on the terrace of our building, staring at the dark skies. A feeling of defeat was overwhelming me. My mind was screaming "Why did this happen to me, what am I gonna do next in my life? Where is my life going?". There was no answer. Only a deafening silence prevailed.

30 days earlier:
I picked up my mobile and dialled a number with some desperation. "Hi, this is Vikram, I just wanted to know the result of my interview as I have an other offer in hand and should be leaving for Bangalore in a couple of days", I said. The voice on the other side replied in a very soft tone "Sorry Vikram, I suggest that you go ahead with your offer. Your application at ADP is currently on hold and we cannot assure an offer to you". The person on the other side was the HR of ADP and that response evaporated my final hope of getting a job in Hyderabad.

Being in hyderabad, was important to me for personal reasons. But now there was no other option for me than leaving for Bangalore. However, something told me that if it's meant to be, I would be back in Hyderabad soon. Bangalore had always been my dream destination. I always wanted to make a career in the 'Silicon Valley of India'. But this trip was different. Going to Bangalore with an Infoscion's salary was not surely something which I dreamt for.

I reached Bangalore with 10 other batchmates of mine. We were given accomodation in a hotel for the 1st week. A bus came to the hotel and picked us up on the first day. After the initial security checks at the entrance, we were let in to the campus. Infosys Bangalore is a city in itself. With 35 buildings and nearly 10000 people, Infosys Bangalore is more of a tourist place than a software company. I felt like a stranger lost in a new city. I was in awe of the campus for the first few days. I was put into a training batch of 150 people.

Infosys training is one of the most rigorous trainings one can get in any software company. Daily lectures, tests every alternate day, mock projects and what not. It sometimes reminded me of going back to school. After the 1st week, I moved to a Paying Guest with six other friends. The place where we lived was awesome. 7 of us lived in 2 small rooms with one attached bathroom. The rooms were so big that if all of us got down from our cots and stood on the floor, there would be no space for anyone else to enter. We had no other option but to live there.

Our entry into Infosys really made a difference to the company. Hey, I am serious. There was a major breach in the Infosys security system just after a few days we entered the campus. Our entry into our locality caused a lot of businesses to thrive. The net cafe , bakery and andhra mess in our locality obviously had a good time during our stay. One thing I really missed in Bangalore was watching movies. Cinama halls in Bangalore suck big time. Considering the price of the tickets, I never felt like watching a movie again in those theatres. And the other negative thing about Bangalore is the traffic. God, it was really awful. Sometimes, it took us more than 2 hours to return home.

Our typical office hours were 7 AM - 9:30 PM including the time involved in travelling. After a tiring day at the office, all of us sat together for sometime and shared the happenings at the office. 7 different people put into a confined space and the result was extreme fun instead of chaos.

One of my roommates had this serious problem of being forgetful, yet he was the most adorable person in the room. Whatever he says, would be witty in some way or the other.Then there was this other guy, who always had this never ending constipation problem. I wonder how many midnights he spent in the bathroom because of that. Added to that, was his tension for doing good in the regular tests at Infosys. Added to his tensions, he also had a strange encounter with a gay medical hall owner, who tried to persuade him. It started with that guy telling all his personal stuff to my friend and then flattering my friend for everything he does. He used to comment on his dress sense etc. And finally one day he asked my friend to come out with him for shopping. The whole scene was out and out hilarious. My friend got skeptical and backed off, I think, at the right moment.

Then comes this guy, fondly called by everyone as 'annayya', who has a great penchant for books. I was kinda jealous of him, I could hardly complete one novel during my whole 2 month stay but this guy went on and on with books. But can you find someone, who gets an Infosys bag to the office just to carry one walk-man and nothing else. Annayya, sorry about this comment.

There was this friend of mine, who feels he doesnt belong to this world at all, yet he is very understanding. But one day, we felt like beating this guy black and blue. That day,all of us decided to hire a TV and CD player to watch some movies. Then come the words of enlightenment "What if there is a power cut today?". Somehow we silenced him and got the TV. The very evening Bangalore witnessed one of the heaviest rain in those 2 months. And obviously, there was a power cut. All the money we spent was wasted :)

And then comes the most studious guy of the lot. I sometimes wondered why he chose to be complacent with a company like Infy. But I liked his attitude, he always used to say that he didnt have any regrets whatsoever.

And last but not the least, here's the guy, who enjoyed whatever he does. You have to watch while making any sort of comment on him. You never know when he backlashes at you. This little bit of suspense about him was always fun. You can never expect his reactions. But Bangalore wouldnt have been the same without this guy.

Though I shared a laugh with these guys every now and then, something was always there at the back of my mind. Getting back to hyderabad. I came to hyderabad on a weekend to attend a written test for Motorola. Fate it seems, had some other plans for me. My name strangely missed from the list of the eligible candidates. By the time, the HR realised that it was their mistake, it was too late. I returned to Bangalore dejected.

Life seemed to have ended for me.

I stood on the terrace of our building, staring at the dark skies. A feeling of defeat was overwhelming me.....