CELEBRATING WORK

Twenty two years back, almost the whole of Hindustan were celebrating this day when the Indian Cricket team routed the best eleven of Lloyd's for the cup of joy. This day, it was yet another tough time, though not for me, but for a good number of people in my college (roughly 400), for Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) was visiting the campus for placements. Most of the people, who missed out on the first three opportunities (officially two!!), were so nervous and were pinning their hopes on this day to join the elite people of 169 who had already won their jobs. The pre-placement talk started exactly by 9 a.m and the tests by 9.45 am. At the end of an hour, we submitted our answer sheets and by 1 pm, the short-listed candidates for the interview was announced and I was glad to be one among those - I was expecting that. My name was in a batch that was to be interviewed by Mr.Vishnu and my interview time was 2.45 pm. Those short-listed got ready for the final battle of the day. It was also the third such thing for few people of which Guru Prasad (My Classmate) was one. He was very much confident after his interview in the earlier companies, but was dejected in not being selected. This time, he didn't want to use the word confident! While I was getting ready in my room, Guru and Sankar returned after their turn was over and gave me some tips and instilled lot of confidence. When I was awaiting my turn, a sip of Pepsi (given by some friend-a volunteer) made me cool and when I went in, the first thing I noticed was the smiling face of the Interviewer which made me feel At-Home. He then followed that with some usual questions - my introduction, the reason for my switch-over from core mechanical to software for which I gave some answers which I thought would please him and I noticed his raising eye-brows (and a smile in the corner of his lips) when I called software industry as a Secular Profession. Some technical questions and a puzzle marked the end of my time and I came out unsure if I had impressed him enough. It was almost 9 pm when the interviewers came out to announce the results. "Shravan Aadith" - read one employee (and he was none other than Mr. Vishnu) and there was a huge roar from all of us. The quiet fellow went up to collect his offer letter - the earlier companies had not given any offer letters! Some more names followed and the roar never decreased in the decibel. My classmates became a little impatient for none of the 12 interview-attendees' name was not called. All of a sudden, My name was called. Even before I realised that, the claps and shouts grew larger and I got pushed to the front by Sarathy to collect my offer letter. Suddenly, I became deaf. All my world was silent, for I thought I was above the stratosphere. I grabbed my letter, shook my hands with a gentleman and it seemed an involuntary action. I then ran and ran as fast I could. I didn't want to escape the bash that would be given, but I wanted to convey the news to Srikanth, my friend. I didn't know that he too had a news for me which I learnt when I spoke to him - He had got selected to TCS!! That was a double delight and I thought it was a day in my life that I should not and I would not forget! I conveyed the news to my parents and a couple of my best friends. When I came out, I learnt that 61 of TCE had got through. Guruprasad and Shankar were my classmates who joined me in the list. It was celebration time.

The day was June 23, 2004.

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Just a week before my year-long wait ended, I was more than fortunate to have survived - escaped the wheels of a bus when my leg slipped from the foot-board of a well crowded bus. By God's grace, I only had a cut on my head and a few bruises. Two local men took me to a nearby hospital and had my wound dressed. It was a wednesday and on Friday, I had to report at the Thoraipakkam facility of CTS. The thought of going to the company with a bandaged head pained me more than the wound. I was joined by my mother to Chennai. An X-Ray taken, later revealed the innecessity of a stitch. On friday, I was joined by Srikanth to my office and all my pains seized to exist on seeing the office and my friends. That day, I completed all my formalities, signing lot of documents. We were then asked to come to Tidel Park the following monday which was supposed to be our official Joining date.

That date was June 20, 2005.

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Almost nine months of association with Cognizant (we call it this way!!!) and being designated as a Programmer Analyst, I was one among the many thousands waiting for a mail regarding the Annual gifts! The company had become the fastest to report a turnover of a Billion!!! Even when the news of an iPod being the gift were on a high, we only treated them as rumours. Only a day earlier, we had received the news of our incentive. The buses for the Annual Day function at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium were to start by 2.15 pm. After a Telecon (a fort-nightly status call meeting), we were having a chat and the topic was the usual one - the Annual gift!

All of a sudden, a mail popped up on my desktop and the sender's name read "Narayanan, Lakshmi". I was thrilled and immediately clicked on it to get a larger view and my eyes, beyond my control went to the fourth paragraph of the mail which read - "June 30, 2005 will receive an iPod Video". I was overjoyed and gave out a little scream and called on the people near me shouting the words "Video iPod". At the first instant, none of them believed and only then I realised that I was the first person in my wing to have got that mail. The people I called came to my place with an unbelieving expression on their faces and when they read the mail, they became otherwise! There was hustle bustle evrywhere in the wing, some very happy faces and some sorry faces who had just missed out on the gift by a mere 10 day marging and got to be content with a Samsonite strolley. Only then I thought that I had joined at the right time and was lucky enough to enter the list by a 10 day margin (June 20).

The day was March 10, 2006.

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I was one among the happy lot. I didn't have the apetite but then, joined my team mates for the lunch and we started for the stadium by about 2.30 pm. After an hour, we seated ourselves comfortably and waited for the events to start. It was 5 pm when the function started with the traditional drummers from Kerala creating a resonating atmosphere and it was followed by a Kalari Payattu dance, another mallu tradition. There was a surprise at the end of the dance when Lakshmi appeared on the stage in a ZORRO style - with a sword and a mask! The applause had begun. Not all knew it was Lakshmi and it came to light only when Lakshmi himself revealed during his welcome address. Some clients had also turned up for the function. The award ceremony began with 14 cognizants getting "The Best Associate" award, followed by "The Best trainer Award", "Best Project Awards" and "The Best Manager award".

The cultural events started with a Bharathanatyam dance by reknowned dancer Shobana and she definitely lived upto the expectations starting with a drum-beating number. It was followed by a group dance by associates who are in the level of managers - who have been working for more than 8 years in cognizant.This was awesome, given thier age!! Shobana came again for another number and finished her part by dancing with her troupe for Rahman's Vande Mataram - this had many depictions/abinayas from various walks of life and was pleasing! After the treat to the eyes was over, it was time for a treat to the ears. Kadiri Gopalnath was on stage with his Sax. And truly it was a treat. Theeradha Vilayatu Pillai and Madurai Mani notes - he had se4lected the songs very well!

There was a rope dance/acrobatics by two - one lady and a man. That was really a risky job in the world - hanging 25 feet above the ground with only a single rope between life and death. they surely deserved lot of appreciation for their efforts. By this time, many started to leave the hall - some for the dinner, some for the alcoholic beverages that were served outside. In came the singers...Sunitha Sarathy, followed by Srinivas, Anuradha Sriram and a few more. Anuradha Sriram was at her usual best - came down to the level of calling "Machan"!!! I think Harish Ragavendra accompanied her for some duets that included Suttum vizhi Sudare and some foot-tapping numbers. I had joined my batchmates by this time and tried to move my hands and legs in tune with the song. In short, tried to dance. Sweat poured. It was also getting late. So, we moved down for the dinner. It was said that the dinner was of Taj Coramandel! What I thought was that my hostel cooks would have done a better job cooking. It was horrible and it lacked variety too. One thing I liked was the Ice Cream. But then I had to wait for 30 minutes to taste that. It was 9.40 pm and I had to catch Rockfort Express to home. So, I left the stadium and headed for the railway station. That was one good day, a memorable one!!

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