Once an Infoscion, Always an Infoscion

5 January 2011 – Infosys came to our campus and selected a bunch of students for internship batch. We were super-elated and excited to enter the corporate world. We, the final semester students had been given the task to work with Infosys and submit the project in college by the end of that semester. 

GEC 2 - Mysore

31 January 2011 – We reached Infosys Mysore campus. As we entered the Infy arena through the main gate, our jaws dropped with the phenomenal beauty of Mysore campus. As we advanced through the green terrain of THE campus, the gigantic GEC 2 building came by our way. I thought to myself, “This must be a delegatory meeting office. I wish I get a chance to visit the 'monument' at least once during my stay here.” This enormous parliament-shaped building was inaugurated by Sonia Gandhi. The very next day we were informed, we would have our classes in THAT very grand building. I need not explain the thrill that ran down my veins, hearing this.

The hostels were no less than some five star hotels. We were the blessed lots previledged to have got this Infosys Mysore training. The classroom sessions were grilling and of course fruitful. The exam result days used to be super heated ones. Some students used to manage an A grade always, that would amaze me throughout. I managed to cross this storm of tests and finally completed the project assigned to us.

Architecture at its best - Multiplex in Mysore campus

We went back to college, appeared for the final exam and presented our respective projects in the practicals. After the completion of college, went back to our homes, where in few days we got another call to Mysore campus for ILI trainings.

25 July 2011 – We reached Mysore campus. Attended these trainings for few days and finally got our postings across the DC's. I got a posting to Bhubaneswar. That was not my first choice. Nevertheless I packed up and got ready for a new journey.

29 August 2011 – Landed Bhubaneswar. We had got a week long accommodation in the campus guest house, equipped with facilities. We were to meet our unit heads by 10 am. I along with others in my unit, got ready and went to the building we were called. We had a short induction by our SPM and were allocated different projects and teams. I got my cubicle allocated with my manager sitting in the very next cubicle. This was disappointing for sure, but manageable.

Team outing from Bhubaneswar to Gopalpur sea beach

I had to work for Amex account which has a lion's share in the revenue of Infosys. I was given a couple of forms like non-disclosure agreement and work station agreement to sign, scan and submit to my manager. Some more similar formalities that I do not remember. Next few days I got busy attending some unnecessary Amex trainings which I really hated, but had to complete as a part of getting on-boarded.

11 September 2011- We had a unit outing to Puri sea beach. I was not acquainted with many folks of our unit before that. But this outing for sure got me some great friends!

A team outing in Bhubaneswar

For around a month I attended KT and project training and hence my work kicked off. Bhubaneswar has a hot weather. Outside office, the summers used to be unbearable. This was one and perhaps the only bad, I recollect from my stint in this place. The winters used to be short and pleasant. The Infosys Bhubaneswar DC was a small one, compared to Bangalore and Pune. But I really liked it as the DC head count was just around 4k , which was quite small compared to 25K+ in the other big DC's. 
 

Volunteering Infy-driven Campus Connect programme

I worked on a middleware technology. I was placed in a support project, where our work used to revolve around tickets. We used to get some tickets with different severity, and were supposed to resolve them in the stipulated time. During my stay at Bhubaneswar, I got two wonderful teams to work with. One was my team that taught me the middleware technology and the other was the one where I brought this middleware project for support. Learnt a lot about work and life. Each and every member of the teams I met, left something or the other for me to learn. The managers were great, quite approachable.

Enjoying Cycling in the beautiful Infy campus

In an Amex support project one needs to resolve the issues encountered in live card transactions. The support timelines are strictly followed 24 X 7. The support person on shift is required to remain on-the-toes all the time. I spent a long time in this project with wonderful team-mates that were very cooperative. But after a span I realised the need to change my portfolio to coding and development. For this matter I arranged multiple meetings with my manager, but all in vain. The manager always had a reason to postpone my release from this project. He was probably bound in some protocols which he had to abide. So excused from my end :) !

After an experience of about 2.5 years I got a middleware development project in Bangalore. My manager agreed to my release and approved my transfer. These months in Bhubaneswar were definitely enriching that helped me getting transformed to a new level. But a lot more was yet in line for me, probably waiting at my new destination. The beautiful time with ups and downs had come to an end, leaving memories I would cherish always.

30 November 2013 – Landed Bangalore. Another chapter began. Joined the development team with whom I sometimes used to interact while at Bhubaneswar in the support project. It was the same extended team, but with the coding portfolio. Learnt different coding aspects and SDLC. I do not want to make this look like a CV, so would not elaborate my work and professional learnings here :) .

\This one was a huge team with around 40 members. It was a different experience altogether. The leads, both at offshore as well as at on-site were brilliant and great to work with. Many in the team were the south Indians who were great to be friends with. Team spirit was high and commendable.

We once also went to a resort nearby and had a hell of fun. We had games, lunch and different team building activities. It was a day long trip and everyone enjoyed to the core.

But within this year many folks left Infy as they had other plans for their future. At the same time we had new folks joining us. It was a great experience seeing freshers catching up with an awesome pace and becoming at par with the seniors in many aspects. Learning from the less experienced too has a different flavour and has its own charm.

Towards the end of the year we had a new team built within the existing team. I was part of it. This team was called 'Loyalty', as it dealt with Loyalty Rewards and Recognition processes of Amex. With around five folks we worked and played together. It was again enriching and worth cherishing. I would definitely miss the team and my best of wishes are always there with them. 

Ethnic Day celebrated with Bangalore team

It's time now to say bye.

But the byes are always good, as they mean there is always a good chance to meet again, some time, with new thoughts and ideas. Infosys, my first company has given me a lot. As they say, once an Infoscion, always an Infoscion. And I am proudly going out with the essence of perseverance and quality, that Infosys has taught me.

It feels nostalgic, at the same time exciting, as a new world is waiting with doors wide open.

Signing Off,

Rashi

LWD in Infosys – 24 December 2014.

They are Free? Not Really!!

Most of the Indian women till the recent times – were the ones considered the compromising ends of family. They served in the form of wives, mothers and 'bahus' (daughters-in-law) who were supposed to abide by the family regulations and 'be within the limits'. In the financially challenged families they were bound to be the 'poor little thing' sacrificing their studies for the sake of their younger brothers, who in the long run would become the proud recipients of heavy dowry. Girls were in fact considered 'burden' to the family, who would have their fathers pay dowry for them, at the time of their marriage. There have been numerous other restrictions on girls like in their dressing and timings outside the house and what not. They have been the pitiable sex for the many said and unsaid reasons.

That was one time. For the rural areas, today the situation is still the same, even worse at places. But with education and westernization, urban lot has opened up to radical and noble thoughts. Women now have learned to take responsibilities other than household works too and they have started coming out of unnecessary rituals. They are now more learned and informed. Men too have learned to respect their female counterparts and they have also started understanding the many challenges faced by the women of all age groups. The mothers-in-law are now more cooperative and empathise with the challenges their bahus face. The 'kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi' concept has started taking shape already!

But howsoever cool that sounds, the crude fact is, even the urban women are bereft of the full freedom men enjoy. There would be no exception to the case that a woman would not have suffered an unwelcomed stare by the stray men on streets. Men on the other hand are blessed gender in this case. The women, whichever class they belong, are still the victim of unwanted comments or indecent looks by some cheap men on streets.

This is indeed sad, as few men have still not come over the barbaric nature within. Education has no doubt uplifted the mass, but there is way more to happen. For a nation to become independent of such handcuffs, education in the form of enligtenment is the need of the hour. First education of child starts at home. So the parents have the utmost responsibility to build a nation free of such blots in future. There is no such law that forbids men from staring at a woman's dress and making her uncomfortable. The sense has to come from the concsious within.

With that said its time now to get things done. This was a small article to cover the scenario of the urban ladies only, who are not that free as they seem. Non-urban women need a bigger space to be covered, shall do that in another blog. Hope for a much beautiful society is up and running.

Bangal Express

It was a long weekend and the weather outside was truly inviting. My body cells were pushing me out of the four walls of my house. I with my friends decided to expend the holiday travelling to a new place. After some permutation and combination we decided to hit the city of joy, Kolkata!

We checked the trains online and found that we had just half an hour in our hand before the best available train would leave. We quickly packed our bags and rushed to the station and found the train, already standing in the platform and whistling to get set go. Tearing the rattling crowd we somehow managed to land our seats safely on time. Within a minute the train set off.

Our 6.5 hours of journey to Kolkata was full of excitement and fun. The classic card game Uno added to our laurels the Uno championship one by one. Booking tickets in the eleventh hour had given us the luxury to enjoy the non-AC coach, where there was a non-stop chain of entertainers passing by, giving us jam packed fun. Entertainment included free magic shows, vendors trying to sell off their local products in the most amazing tunes, the physically challenged beggars drawing our ears to their melodious tribal songs, and finally a Bengali family quarrelling among themselves over something we couldn’t decipher (but we enjoyed that)!

We reached the station right on time. The city I tell you, is hell crowded. We ventured to a friend’s place in Dunlop, a location far from the station. The weather was hot and tacky. But we managed to keep ourselves engaged discovering the old city, admiring its architecture and vivacity. Our taxi driver was a Sardar, a rare sight in Kolkata. He added to our ongoing amusement with his superb Punjabi accent.

This good friend of ours had prepared mouth watering dish and we wasted no time pretending decency and we jumped into the dishes like gluttons.

After a couple of hours of rest, we were set to taste the all new flavor of the city. We were suggested to start with a nearby mall. When we stepped out of the house, a friend pointed out that she could hear the roaring clouds and that we might be trapped in rains. We looked up, saw a clear sky, ignored her warning and moved on. We rushed to catch the earliest local train from a nearby station.

The wait for the train in that scorching sun was troublesome. It was fifteen minutes but seemed like hours. We watched numerous local trains passing by, before we could see ours, coming finally.

It was my first (and I wish the last) travel by a local train there. The train stopped and we were instructed to squeeze into the door as soon as possible as the halt was a mere 45 seconds long. F-o-r-t-y f-i-v-e seconds.  It was like a nightmare, believe me. We looked out for the ladies coach and figured uncountable ladies hanging out from a door. Looked like they would jump off before the train stopped. As the train reached the platform, we waited first few seconds for the doors to clear off. But to our greater amazement, the zillions of figures hanging at the door were standing there like statues, not at all tending to come out. In the very next few seconds we realized that we were supposed to barge in to the same doors, make room for ourselves there and become just another count of the hanging figures.

We did exactly what we were supposed to do. This is still a mystery how I got that vigour to enter the mad crowd and freeze myself in.

As the train moved, I heard a shriek. I somehow managed to turn my face to discover the source of that sound. It was a lady shouting as her little child was left behind on the platform while she was pushed into the stream of ladies and the train had already started.

Freezed. This is what best describes me in there. Each part of me was tightly packed in that jam. While one of my hands was holding the handle hanging from the top, tight, I could not feel my second hand at all. My left leg was resting under a lady’s air bag and my right leg was safely lost somewhere, I didn’t care at that time.

I was a little behind the frontier, trying to feel safe with my friends around.  We had to get off at the station next to the coming junction. And of course my next challenge was to hold myself tight in that box on the coming station. As the train stopped, I felt my energy reserve coming to action as I forced myself in against the out-streaming crowd. One of my friends failed to keep the grip and flowed out with the swaying stream. But fortunately we managed to pull her in somehow.

After a grand ropeless tug of war, we reached our destination junction. I was more than happy to jump off the pack. But only when I was about to thank God for ending the misery, here came another one --  A sudden downpour that was already predicted by my good friend in the morning. We strode into the nearest shelter and waited for about half an hour for the rain to pity us. The shelter was a thick black plastic that had started to sag. Had we spent few more minutes under that thing, we would have ended up getting drenched by the water burst out of it. As the rain thinned down, we managed to park us into an auto rickshaw that took us to our destination of the day – the shopping mall. Needless to say, mall was fun and relaxing. We took a taxi to come back by the sunset.

We had an upcoming festival in our city, where we were supposed to wear ethnics. So we decided to shop the next day too, assuming we would get a better variety and cheaper price there.

Our next destination was New Market - An ultimate shopping hub. The arcade is spread in quite a good span. The businessmen here are the blessed lot. Pick any shop and you’ll see swarm of shoppers humming in. A good thing is, think of anything and you get that here.

We enjoyed picking some Kolkata special items, had some street food to our tummy full, took some crazy candid snaps and moved on. The best thing this day was the weather that was cool and friendly.

The challenge ahead of us was again the travel. We decided to take the metro train that was stationed just near the New Market. The station was Esplanade. Nice name.

This metro train again was overcrowded but I somehow managed to get a seat. The entire metro route in Kolkata is underground. In that ephemeral moment of rest in the metro, I was wondering how diverse the lifeline of Kolkata is! On one hand you can see the age old tram strolling in the already congested old

network of streets, and on the other, the ever busy local passenger trains whooshing through the quiet railway tracks. On one hand you witness the pain of hand-rickshaw-pullers carrying by their angelic limbs, some fatsoes, while on the other hand these superb metro rails leaving all the other means behind!

During our travel we also visited the posh Salt Lake City area which is also a major IT hub there. It is a planned satellite town of the state. It was developed in the early 60’s to accommodate the mushrooming Bengal populace.

Every good thing comes to an end. And so did that weekend. This time it was an AC coach well insulated from all the adventures and vividity of the passers by. Luckily it was a night travel; there was anyway no room for any intruder to our sleep. Our journey finally came to a smooth end with the alarm buzzing under my pillow at 5 in the morning. We quickly got ready with our luggage when the train decently stopped and we stepped down, welcoming ourselves to our very own town.

These two days were not enough to explore the diversity galore. The experience though was refreshing. The Bengali family treated us with warm hospitality. Machh bhaat(fish-rice), roshogulla, sondesh andother peerlessBengali sweetsare still lingering my mind. 

I wished we had a little more time to savor the effervescent life of the mighty Kolkata. Had I got few more days to explore the place, I would end up writing a thick novel that would have a full Bangla tone!

घोंसले की आड़ से

घोंसले की आड़ से  

देखी जो भीड़ को परे  

एक सिहर सी दौड़ी इधर  

मन सहम सा उठा डरे 

अपना जो बिस्तर था नरम  

और प्यार भरी ममता जो थी 

जब सब कुछ धुंधलाता दिखा 

एक चींख अन्दर से उठी 

अब वक़्त आया पंख से 

तैरने का इक नया गगन 

नयी टहनी पे बसरने 

छोड़ अपना ये आंगन 

उन टहनियों पर नव नवीन 

जो पंछी कर रहे बसर 

उस नए गगन की राह का 

है उनके संग करना सफ़र

From a Little Boy for His Sweet Crush..

   O girl,

I see you daily 

In assembly hall

You talk with girls

And smile like  doll

You no see me

Why you no see me

I make spikes

Wear Gucci gogs

Shine my shoes

Walk round you

You no see me

Why you no see me

I solve the math 

And raise hand first

I turn around

And  look at you 

But you no see me

Why you no see me

I become class head

Keep everyone quiet

But when you talk 

I look and smile

You no see me

why you no see me

In my birthday I bring 

Sweets big and small

I give you big candy

And see you smile

You also see me

And give cute smile

I very happy smile

I give you more

You take and sit

And laugh with friends

Again you no see me

Why you no see me !!

Through the Timeline

I hear the tick of running clock

I see the sand passing through

Time – the master -- gliding by

With a steady silent move

I see the faces big and small

Happy sad all size and shape

Some festive with the love around

Some gloomy blaming their bad fate

With all the feelings high and low

The timeline keeps growing by

What matters in the end of all

Is the imprint left behind

When a hard time comes around

I see the passing sand and clock

I ask myself will this matter 

Years to come down the line

Let the trifling worries be shed

Let the thread of life go loose

Let the kite fly higher 

Against the strong wind passing through

A Sunday

With my eyes set on the target pins, I rolled the bowling ball with the thrust just apt enough to knock down all the pins in one go. All the other pairs of eyes were moving in sync with the sliding ball. The silence was what could be called a pin drop one. Only the sound produced due to friction between the ball and the floor could be heard. With the ball approaching its target, my heartbeat got louder and so did the thrill that rose exponentially with the moving ball. I had to win this time to become the champion and to self-applaud the player in me. It was the tenth game in the row that I had to knock down all ten heads in a single blow. This would decide my name getting inscribed in the champions list that was displayed in the hall.

The ball was just about to hit the target pins that a bell rang. I ignored and refrained from getting distracted with my eyes still fixed on the target pins. I had to confirm that all the pins are down in that very shot. Suddenly it turned to a slow motion scene in which the ball started touching the fore pins one by one and the pins started falling in a rhythm. I started counting – one-two-three-four-five-six -- as the balls were falling. Finally three balls were left to be knocked down that the bell rang again. I ignored. Seven-eight- damn it! The ring again. It was very distracting. And the very next moment everything went off the scene. What was now visible to me was a cream colored ceiling with some floral design in it. I closed my eyes tight and opened again to understand what is happening. I discovered that I just woke up from a dream -- a super exciting and thrilling one.

Oh this is terrible. I was on the brink of getting the victory. I was about to become a champ. Damn this awful call bell. And it rang now for the fourth time. I felt like murdering the person standing on the door,who spoilt my fanciful dream. I sprang up from my bed and strolled towards the door with my eyes half open. I opened the door and guess who I found. No one. Yes, there was no one standing out. Probably the person ringing the call bell had got an intuition of my semi murder plans.

I looked all around again but no one was found. Thinking it to be a prank played by the neighboring kids, I was about to shut the door when my eyes fell on an envelope lying outside. I picked it up and found something penned on it in red. I couldn't read it as it was written in some script resembling Chinese.

 I flipped the envelope and found that it wasn’t sealed. I raised the flap and pulled out the light yellow paper kept inside. I unfolded it in order. It had a strong lily fragrance that was refreshing. There was something written in it in blue. But there was no way that I could help myself reading the letters as the language was completely alien to me. Perplexed, I turned to my room and started thinking what it could be. Also I wasn’t sure that the letter was intended for me.

I kept the letter back into the envelope and put it aside. I decided to approach my friends in case any of them knew the language. I quickly got ready, had my breakfast, gave a final peep into the mirror, took the envelope and set off to one of my friends’ home on my scooty.

It was a cloudy Sunday with a soft breeze on -- Just perfect day for an outing. I reached my friend’s place in few minutes. We had prior plans to go out shopping. My friend was ready, all set to leave with me. But that day I was more excited or curious per se, about the letter, than about shopping. I asked my friend to hold on for a while. Though I hardly had a belief that she would in any close way be able to make out the inscribed words of the letter, I showed her the thing. Her mocking reaction was, “Oh a love letter! So you got a Chinese boyfriend!” I rolled my eyes and told her about the mysterious letter. She took a deep breath and said, “Hmm…so the matter looks grave! Let us consult a linguist. But before that let’s go shopping. And I will drive!” I agreed. Both of us wore our helmets, I sat pillion and we set off under the overcast sky.

For the first time in my life I was disinterested in shopping. In few minutes I realized that I was just following my friend behind her through the mall. My thoughts were dangling through the letters inscribed in red and blue. And finally the shopping and billing was done. We came out and as decided, we were to consult a linguist.

We had a friend who knew Kanji(Chinese), Italica(Spanish) and Arabic(Urdu) scripts apart from Roman(English) and Devnagri(Hindi). We quickly approached him to decode the letter. He looked at the envelope and said, the envelope reads, ‘Doh je sin’, which means, ‘Thank You’.  All of us got amazed and our curiosity grew. He pulled out the letter and read the lines to himself. I constantly kept staring at his face with my jaws open, waiting for him to read through and translate. He smiled, took a long breath and started..

Hello,

By the time you read this, I would be far away. I am a 10-year-old Chinese boy and saw you at a tourist place with some of your friends last Sunday.

Last Sunday I had visited an old fort with my friends. And yes, there was a Chinese group too! What could this little boy secretly have written to me?

You seemed to be indigenous so I thought of sharing this with you. I’m sorry I followed you that day to know your address, as it’s an urgent matter. So here I go!

My name is Dingxiang. I came to visit your place. During my tour, I saw a sweet girl of your land. Must be of my age. Her mom called her ‘Lara’. She was with her mom and dad throughout the trip. Her black curly hair was very cute. I can hardly find a girl back in my school with a curly hair.  In fact she also saw me and smiled looking at me. I think I am in love. I need your urgent help. There is a neighbor of mine back in China, who likes me and is after me. But I don’t like her. Please save me. Please help me and convey my message to Lara. I really want to talk to her. At least find her number and pass it on to me. My number is +86-9934562215.

I will always be thankful to you if you do this. I will also send you Chinese chocolates from my pocket money. You look kind and I know you will help me.

Waiting for a phone call from Lara,

Ding.

There was a short silence after my friend finished reading the letter. Then we looked at each other and burst out in laughter!