Monday, April 23, 2007

Dont sleep in the office

Hello I am back again, after a long long time I got some motivation to write something.
Right now I m in Bombay ..doing my summer internship with HSBC, which is apparently my first experience in the corporate world. So exams ended result is out and guess what I survived again. This time my finance prof grabbed me almost by my throat but again “Jai Bajrang Bali ki “ main bach gaya. I m sure last janam mein maine kai punya kiye honge jo bhagwaan inna meharbaan ahi mujhpar.

Now workplace is a different ball game all together I sometimes feel completely out of place, to start off I don’t have a fixed desk. Some renovation work is going on and apparently there is a dearth of chairs. I come here pretty early almost the first one to the office and take my seat but then since you are a summer intern and your importance in the firm is slightly more than the sofa which lies in the waiting room anybody could come and ask you to move.
Here you are sitting on a nice chair …pretending to work when actually you google for getaway destinations arnd Bombay and somebody comes and says excuse me this is my desk. I wont get into the details of how does that feels but I guess the feelings is almost similar to that of Shakti kapoor shouting at that India TV ki reporter(Oh my god how the hell I remember that piece of news ) But then you are supposed to smile and say politely oh I will move.
Lets just talk about how the workplace is actually different from a college.

1) You cant sleep in your office.. I know its tough for guys like me who got so used to go into the cuddly woodly woosh world of sweet dreams the moment something academic pops up in front of their eyes. The worst thing is you have a comfy chair a nice AC and everything which is perfectly designed to facilitate falling asleep but sadly you cant. Its something like Angelina jolie calling you in for a date but you cant go because there is a family puja in your home which your grandma wont let you miss. Few days back I found a cutting chai joint close to my office so after that its not that tough to stay awake.

2) You have to dress up nicely. Oh I hate it, I know most of us like: buying mach 3 but hardly using it. The monthly consumption of our Deo is more than the water we use for bathing but no forget the good old days. In an office you are supposed to be nicely dressed clean shaven and yeah Deo wont help you must take a bath daily. Since my dry cleaning skills is something I am as proud as Rahul Gandhi is for being a Gandhi I simply do the bathing ritual every alternate day.

3) Low rise is out and double pleates are in: How can I miss the comfortable freedom providing floaters. No sneakers and all only formal shoes. We all wear denim as if we are third cousin of Levi Strauss but in an office you cant wear a jeans Trousers is what you are supposed to wear.

4) When somebody is talking to you , you better listen: After my grad days I realized the best way to get away from any situation involving uncomfortable questioning Like Kanpur wali auntiji asking about my graduation marks, my father talking about my ATM withdrawls or any professor trying to explain a complex theory to me. The best way to get away is to act as if you care and keep nodding your head with few shots of yes no maybe in between. But nahin Beta aap office mein aisa nahin kar sakte. When your head is giving deadlines and guidelines you will have to follow them.

5) You cant cog your assignments : After my graduation my assignment doing habits are a cross over between a fax and a Xerox machine. I used to cog assignments with great speed and accuracy but then in here you cant cog it coz you are the only one working on your project and unlike the campus there are no good friends around to help you get through.
I am ending this up because my project guide is roaming around :P will get back to this place pretty soon.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

nice work. :)cant agree more with each of the five points u mentioned.n here i was thinkin nething wud b better than IIMC!!

Priyankari said...

hey, grt post! absolutely agreed!

Unknown said...

Welcome to the corporate world :D

Unknown said...

gud post..abt to enter into corpoarte world in few months would keep ur points in mind...plz be regular in updating ur blog..

Raju said...

hey! I'm back too! Thought I'll do my rounds of visiting buddy blogs! :) So how was your post MBA experience?

Anonymous said...

Welcome to the Corporate World Dear!There's more to come and learn.
I thankgod everyday that my office doesn't have a dress code....so let it be monday or saturday we are in our casual best....Jeans and tees jindabaad!

Łóòň Ġãĺ said...

hahahaa ankit .. i love the way u write man!

i know i've myself been workin in a bank as a temporary where i cover people .. and i never have a fixed place :))

oh c'mon! wearing formals is so cool! i mean it IS so cool! and the best part is it actually makes u look HOT!!

hey cool! u independently workin on a project?? good good! What is it abt?

anyway hope u have a nice time ... and am so sure its gonna be a great experience workin there ... esp coz its bombay! am so in love with bombay!

Anu Sharma said...

another hilarious post...i was reading calmly till "I come here pretty early almost the first one to the office" but cudnt resist rottfl at "and take my seat "...keep posting (frequently)...happy working ! :p

Rai said...

I simply do the bathing ritual every alternate day..

It's good that you joined HSBC. Atleast, this will make you used to a GOOD habit :-P

But it's good to see you back. keep posting ...

amit said...

The plight of the intelligent birdie into the corporate world...humorously interesting!