Does having an orthodox outlook towards culture hamper India?

The term 'orthodox' in itself is very ambiguous. It can mean different things to different people. For some, who believe in scriptural orthodoxy, it is sticking to what is written in the scriptures. For others, it is just following the established and tested path. However, an orthodox approach is mostly linked to religion and India, being the haven of almost all the religions of the planet, will always have orthodox people forming the majority. But, is this approach righteous because after all, the scriptures are written by mortals only? Those people were also influenced by the constrained imagination of their times and society. So can we really afford to follow that approach in modern times?

India is a young country. Our median age will be 29 by the year 2020. This will account for nearly half of our total population. We can't afford to follow the orthodoxy that our earlier generations used to follow. But at the same time, we need to be careful in this transformation. We conveniently adopt things from West, imitating only what we want, without any steady education to keep pace with this change. Consider for example, we want freedom in the way we dress, but we don't have enough gender sensitization which will allow a girl wearing mini skirt to roam freely. We are ready to eat the fruit but not ready to pay the price of it.

Bringing forth the issue of Article 377, can we say that only orthodox approach is responsible for this? If yes, then how can we explain the fact that even a liberal country like US considered homosexuality a criminal offence until a court overturned a ruling in 2003? We can't blame our reluctance to change to an ambiguous term like 'orthodox approach'. Article 377 criminalizes "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" but who has decided that order of nature? Is it our culture which gives us ample examples in form of "Ardhanarishvara" (Lord Shiva whose half is woman) or "Shikhandi" who was born as girl while raised and lived as a man? Even KamaSutra describes sex between all kinds of sentient beings. With so many examples from past, how can we blame this reluctance to change on "orthodox approach".

We have examples of Rishi Vishravas marrying Kaikasi, a Rakshasa and Bhima marrying Hidembe. Are they not enough to justify inter-caste marriages?

I believe that we are using "orthodox outlook" just as a fancy term to cover all our sins that we commit in the name of religions and customs. If we need to grow then we need to stop behaving cowardly and welcome the change. But at the same time, we need to learn from our past because it also is equally important. As pointed out earlier in this article, we need to learn new things from West but also keep our ethics and values intact. After all the nation will grow only if people from every group will grow.

Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't.

What is Fiction? Going by the dictionary meaning, it is something that is invented or untrue, or something that describes imaginary events and people. Imagination is whatever someone thinks in one's mind or something that one dreams of. On the other hand, Truth is nothing but the reality or factual representation of a thing or an event. On a superficial level, we may put these two terms as antonyms for each other. However, the bigger question is, how do we differentiate between what is truth and what is fiction?

According to our infinite number of holy books and scriptures, we believe that everything is unreal except for our soul and God. If we go by this rule, then all our life is nothing but fiction. We are just imaginary characters created in the dream of a supreme being. So what I understand from this is that for Him, we are fiction, while for us, our life is a truth.

Let us look at this from a different perspective. We can only dream of things that we have experienced either directly or vicariously. So basically, our dream will have only those characters which we think may be possible. A play school kid will not dream of landing up a job at a big tech firm. Only things he will dream of will be ice-cream, a fluffy toy etc. In his world, only those things are possible. However, what he will face the next day is truth. He may not have even thought about it. He will have to face it whether it is what he expected or not. So truth has nothing to do with what possibilities mean for a person.

Fiction is based on use of learning from past to draw a certain future. For instance, Jules Verne's novel “From The Earth To The Moon” was proven possible in 1969, when Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon. However it is different matter altogether that whether Moon was similar to what was described in the novel. What Armstrong faced on that time was truth and not fiction.

Fiction may seem to be unrestrained, but is actually not. But truth is unpredictable and when it has already happened, it is blatantly factual.

India, China and an Inevitable Cold war.

Some three decades ago when the Cold War era ended, no one would have imagined such a topic would ever be discussed but, such has been the economic growth of two Asian giants - India and China, that world has taken notice of both probable superpowers. Interestingly, both the countries have so much of a history that a mutual harmonious co-existence can hardly be imagined and a sort of cold war is always on the cards. Both have been involved in a plethora of disputes ranging from territorial issues to energy issues and military aggression issues.

China is the world's second largest and Asia's largest Economy. On the other hand, India is also gaining its position in the same list. Both the nations are among top five consumers of energy as well. China is believed to have replaced United States as the largest consumer of energy by a report published by BP. India is also expected to be the second largest energy consumer by 2025.

In order to satiate this humungous hunger, both the countries have been looking for new energy sources and more than often have found themselves in conflict with each other. Kazakhstan oil blocks have been fresh example of this where India was denied to buy a share in US energy major, Conoco Phillip, and instead was given to China national Power Company through Government of Kazakhstan. Similarly, we have been involved in this competitive bidding in African nations also. The African continent holds many minerals along with oil and gas. China has already outplayed India in the race of trade here by over three times. However, India is trying to catch up in the continent by gaining the goodwill of local people and African governments.

Energy consumption is not the only reason which may lead to a cold war, but the growing distrust between both countries is also playing its part. Just some time ago, India was wary of the new Air defence zone set up by China in its South China sea. Similarly, India has opposed China's interference in POK, where it is building infrastructure along with Pakistan. On the other hand, China is not happy with India's oil exploration in Vietnam oil blocks, which it believes, falls under its territory.

No Doubt, that both the countries are trying to actively indulge in dialogue to improve trade and bilateral ties in other sectors, but the element of doubt is still there because of the scarred history. Engaging in an active war may seem to be impossible in this century but inner envy of both will definitely bring forth a cold war era.

Might is Right?

The modern day international society is not a just, rule based society but a society where might has the right. The stronger nations have always flouted international laws or more often, maneuvered those to their own benefits. The use of veto powers in United Nations Security Council can be seen as an example of this. Whenever there's something against the interest of a bigger nation, they bail themselves out by using the veto power vested in them.

The two big powers of 21st century have set so many wrong precedents in this case by not signing international treaties. For instance, US hasn't signed important conventions like UN Convention on Law of Sea, UN Convention on Law of Non Navigational use of International Watercourses and International Criminal Court Statute. China has avoided such treaties as well. These states show unilateral stand on internal rule of law. This unilateral stand can be described as using international laws against weaker states and not complying with these themselves.

Unilateralism has been the underlying theme in US Foreign Policy regardless of the changing governments. Barack Obama even bypassed Congress when US militarily intervened in Libya leading to regime change and chaos. The chaos has converted the country into a breeding ground for terrorist groups. This is just one of many other invasions carried out and justified by US in recent past.

On similar grounds China has also started muscle flexing in Asian region by recently announcing its Air Defence Identification Zone in South China Sea. This ADIZ covers even those parts of the sea which aren't under China's control. This also conflicts with ADIZ of Japan and South Korea. China has also claimed its control over some islands which were under control of Philippines. Philippines has lodged a complaint against Beijing at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Beijing however has refused to attend the proceedings and will surely veto any jurisdiction that comes against it in UN Security Council as has been the case with US many times over.

Now considering the case of Indian Diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, who has been charged with cases of Visa fraud and underpaying domestic help. She was arrested, Strip-searched and cavity searched, despite the fact that she enjoys limited diplomatic immunity. No doubt that the diplomatic immunity only covers diplomatic and not personal acts, but still the actions were nowhere close to being justifiable. Can a minor issue as this be labeled as grave offence which warrants such level of punishment to a diplomat. How would US react if one of its diplomat is meted out such punishment? The reply can be guessed from the actions taken by them when one Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor, shot two men in Lahore. Obama defended Davis by calling him a Diplomat from US.

No matter how much we try to convince ourselves that the present international law provides a level playing field for all, the fact remains that might is always right.

This is India; nothing will change here.

The infamous lines from Aamir Khan’s Rang De Basanti are still fresh in the minds of people from my generation - The Touch Phone generation as they say.

“Yeh Desh Badlega, hum badlenge isey. Politics join krengey, Police ya IAS me bharthi honge, hum sudharengey iss desh ko.”

These lines were followed by the angry response - “Kuch nahi badlega iss desh me, yaha aisa hi hota tha aur aisa hi hota rahega. Yaha tum kuch start krne chaloge aur udhar tumara THE END ho jaayega.” The lines were the bitter truth of today’s India. A country where politicians and people set new levels of foolishness everyday, where every single politician plays communal politics and still some are branded ‘Secular’. A country which fails to differentiate between an analogy and direct comparison (Modi’s puppy comments).

You must be thinking that this is just another blog bashing politicians for everything that is wrong in our country. NO, this is not. We as citizens of this country are responsible for all this. Why would we want to change a system where we can pay few hundreds to get driving license in a day or a gas connection illegally or a fake case registered against anyone or  a professional degree seat  by paying lakhs in donation. These privileges won’t be there if we have a proper system which we need to stick to. We take full benefits from this flawed system and still cry over its inefficiency.

Now coming back to the main point of this blog that why will this country never change. Till some time back, I was a firm believer of the above quoted lines and believed that atleast our judiciary or bureaucrats will keep our country from completely falling into the hands of our political demagogues. Parliament passing ordinances and amendments to overrule Supreme court judgement is a daily fixture. And, its amazing to see how every political party, despite of all the hate and venom that they spit against each other, comes to a consensus and pass amendment in a single day. We have parliament amending RTI law to keep Political parties out of the purview of law. We have R R Patil, Home Minster of Maharashtra, saying on record that his government will not let Dance Bars open in Mumbai even after the final verdict given by Supreme Court. To counter the verdict given by SC to quash ban on dance bars, Patil suggests bringing in an amendment to change the law. According to Patil, “Dance bars are degrading to women. Our decision [to ban them] was for the betterment of women and for the young generation,”

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/maharashtra-firm-on-dance-bars-ban/article4984021.ece

The biggest erosion of supremacy of the highest judiciary is Governments decision to pass an ordinance against SC’s verdict of barring convicted politicians from the electoral process. Kapil Sibal, Law Minister, defends the decision saying that the parliament is supreme and any effort from judiciary to supercede it will create chaos in the country. These voices of “Supremacy of Parliament” and “Democracy turning into chaos” have been coming in past during various uprisings from Anna Hazare movement to Delhi Gang rape protests.

As the general elections are coming closer, we have been watching absurd comments of politicians doing rounds on news channels everyday. The “Tunch Maal”, “Dented Painted”, “Chowmein khaakr rape hota hai”, “Power is poison” doesn't bother us so much now. There are kids of politics who want to come into Political arena in “KHILADI”  style and thus make comments like “Modi pyaara hai toh Mumbai chodkr Gujarat chale jao”. To people like me, these comments don’t make sense at all. It’s like saying that all the NRIs should either come back to India or stop praising India at all. But our politicians know that people who understand their foolish comments are not the ones who will vote. The people who will go to vote have been shown the bright dream of “Some Gandhi” food security bill which eventually may never ever come out on ground (due to WTO commitments and other issues http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-shaky-geopolitics-of-indias-food-security/article4978574.ece).

Our politicians are capable of dividing people on religion, region, caste and almost everything, Telangana being an example of that. Congress waited 9 years for a suitable time just before general elections to get more seats from the region and also to win a probable merger with Chandrasekhara Rao’s Telangana Rashtra Samithi. Though there may be nothing wrong with making Telangana as smaller state is always easy to administer but the vested interests were still there.

There is nothing wrong with our politicians playing all these dirty tricks as they also know that we all suffer from Short term Memory Loss. We forget how government curbed our rights by shutting down metro service during Delhi gang Rape protests and Anna Hazare movement, how they sprayed water canons when we were fighting against reservation for OBC, how they looted our money in various scams ranging from some lakhs to thousands of crores and how they compromised our defense by all those defense scams.

Now coming to more recent events revolving around Durga Shakti Nagpal, the brave young IAS officer, who was still unadulterated, in some sense, took over a corrupt system by staying in her limits. But, who can survive the traps set by scores of experienced leaders who are always ready to cash in on any communal issue to stir more vote bank in their favor and in this case, leaders had double benefits from suspending the officer. One, they served their mining friends, who would fund their election campaigns, and second, the minority voters. Joining this list of officers being expelled, transferred or suspended is Ashok Khemka and couple of officers from Rajasthan, who were either suspended or transferred on various grounds for looking into Robert Vadra’s land deals. Of course, how could they snoop into private life of the Son-in-law of this country without permissions from either Crown Prince of the country (Rahul Gandhi) or Mother of this country (Sonia Gandhi).

If you are a BJP or Bhagat Singh fan like me, then you would definitely be baffled over my last line, giving titles of mother and son of the country. But don’t find it that much outrageous because we Indians love to have all these titles given to anyone supporting Gandhi surname. Unlike other great nations who won their freedom and call all their freedom fighters as “Founding FATHERS of the nation”, we just have one person as FATHER of the nation because we don’t think that Bhagat Singh, Sardar Patel, Udham Singh, Subash Chandra Bose, Rani Laxmi Bai, Tatya Tope (to name some) were worthy enough of this title.

When Mr. Clement Attlee, Prime Minister of United Kingdom, in June 1947, introduced the Indian Independence Act in the British Parliament, Sir Winston Churchill, war time Prime Minister of England, argued:-

"Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues, freebooters; all Indian leaders will be of low caliber & men of straw. They will have sweet tongues & silly hearts. They will fight amongst themselves for power & India will be lost in political squabbles. A day would come when even air & water... would be taxed in India."

Churchill was able to see future coming even 65 years ago but we still ignore it. We still feel that one RAMBO (Modi, ofcourse) will come on a horse a clean up every gutter of non-sense in this country. If we really believe so then GOD only can save India.

Democracy and its imperfections have taken a toll on society’s morals. And because we ask nothing of our citizens — not sacrifice, not restraint, not moderation — we have ended up creating a morally unappetizing divide between the haves and have-nots: under instigation from the bogus vendors of “good governance’ the haves have started asking why they should pay taxes if “their” wealth was to be wasted on giving food or medical care to the poor. A most extreme version: why should we pay taxes to a government that we have declared to be “corrupt?”

This is part of an unending and ever expanding narrative of the Great Helmsman. Instead of stressing the importance of collective and individual responsibility for looking after our schools, neighborhoods  public transport, rivers and forests, we insist on searching for a great transformer who will magically fix every broken pipe and fill every pothole.

Narendra Modi is no doubt a very good orator and presents the only ray of hope. But, is he really the man this country needs? How many of us know that ‘Vitthalbhai Hansrajbhai Radadiya’, gun-totling MP from Porbandar, infamous of pulling a gun at the toll post operator for stopping his car for inquiry, joined BJP before Gujarat State Elections in 2012.

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/gun-toting-former-mp-vitthal-radadiya-is-bjp-s-candidate-from-porbandar-for-lok-sabha-by-polls-366890

If Modi is such a great leader and so clean then why did he take in such a goon into his party? Reportedly, Radadiya was with BJP in early 90s and then joined congress and now has returned back to BJP. This is just a single proof of why all the politicians in this country are corrupt and no single one of them is an angel. No doubt that Gujarat has developed many folds under Modi and he’s a true Gujju in a sense that he sells his product very well, but shouldn’t we be skeptical about his stand for keeping political parties out of the purview of RTI? Surely something is amiss when ideologically diverse political parties reach a consensus on anything in quick time. Modi should have taken a stand against the amendment that even his party is supporting. If Modi wants GREAT POWER then he has to take GREATER RESPONSIBILITY as well. Modi may well be the best of the lot but he certainly is no angel. As Napoleon Bonaparte once said – “A leader is a dealer in hope.” Modi is just one of them.

Putting an end to this never ending topic, the larger issue still goes straight to the heart of one of the major failings of our democratic quest: we have collectively ignored, that too at our great disadvantage as a nation, that the rites of citizenship entail rights and privileges as well as Duties and Obligations.

P.S: We are the same people who can’t stand straight and show respect to our national anthem for 90 odd seconds before a movie and still believe that everybody else but me should change.

Whatever happens, Happens for good!

For many of us who have read this story in their text books, know that once a King cut his finger by accident and then later escaped a threat to his life only due to that wounded finger and for rest of those who haven’t heard of it, here’s my own story on how I realized this fact.

Sometimes sitting in my room alone, I start thinking over various times in my life, one of the many reasons for me loving to live alone rather than having roommates etc. Just today when I was in one of these lonely situations, I was working on my laptop and started thinking on how I started working on my website and how, for the first time in my life, I was doing what I loved. Then I started thinking of my laptop that I lost in January this year (Rest in peace L ). How I lost that first love of mine due to my stubbornness. Then a strange thought struck my mind. If it weren’t the loss of that laptop, I would have never started reading those novels and if I weren’t reading those novels then I would have never came across Rashmi Bansal’s “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”. And, the whole idea of starting this website came from that book only.

After all this pondering, I was sure that it wasn’t me who  lost the laptop that day, It was God who wanted me to lose that laptop so that I could stop wasting my time and utilize my skills to reach my goal “Change Atul Gupta to ‘The Atul Gupta’.”

I didn’t stop right there, I started thinking of past incidents as well. How I managed to score good in CET after not so good performance in national level ones, or how my being of small height and childish looks helped me make friends with my seniors, or how I could manage to perform well in that FIITJEE test after a full night of crying after my class 10^th result.

I started feeling so good after all this thinking. Then I said to myself 

“If it weren’t this neck pain that I’m having since yesterday, I would have never bunked office today and never realized this fact”.

So long story short, whatever happens, happens for good. Believe in him and most importantly, believe in yourself.

Meri Mumbai Madness

Time flies, but the memories collected along the way can never be replaced. ~Random

The day has finally come when I complete one year of economic independence and professional life. It is amazing how time flies by; one year back I was just a college pass out and now I am a professional. This one year may well be one of the best years after super cool College life as for most part of it, we were always treated like college students only. In this one year, life taught me so many things. Some were learnt the easy way and some were imbibed in the hardest possible ways.

The thing they taught us on first day of CORPORATE LIFE was “Be Friendly with everyone but, Friends with no one.” This line alone should tell you the bitter truth of corporate life.  The life which I chose myself over many other options, just because I wanted to work, wanted to innovate, wanted to utilize my intelligence, etc. But, one year down the line, I know that corporate is nothing but doing the same thing over and over again or just sitting all day and sending mail chains. This sometimes make me think, was this really what I wanted for my life.

Unpacking my new Dell Inspiron 14R

One of the biggest disasters of this one year was the loss of my laptop (R.I.P). I never was so careless in my life, even to lose a single pen, but this time I lost one full bag carrying my lappy, hard disks, photon and other stuff. This really came as a shocker to me and almost ruined the joy of going back to my home and meeting my parents. However, I became much more responsible after this and saved money to buy a new Dell Laptop.

Another bad moment was that of DIWALI, 2011 when I was totally alone and literally cursed myself for choosing this IT sector when I could have been with my family. That day and the person responsible for it will always remain glued to my deepest memory cells.

The other bad times would include frequent fights with roommates & a disastrous committed life.

This one year was not all bad; I found so many good friends & mentors in the same time. The project team from the first project was so friendly that we never felt like new guys. Most of the team was young and thus it was like college all over again. I found few mentors in Prajakta Kamtekar (My integration Testing Lead), Bhushan Waghmare & Kalpesh Bhanushali (Superb Critic). Prajakta would always had confidence in me whenever she assigned me anything and that helped me a lot. Kalpesh was always a critic and I always wanted to prove him wrong about me. Bhushan really helped a lot, both inside the office and outside it. Be it boarding the bus or settling in the project team or the occasional beer parties; he was always helpful. Hope he continues giving parties to me J.

Even the managers from that team were very nice and showed a lot of confidence in my abilities.

BMS Team outing to Silent Hills Resort

The next episode in my life was the Deadly Bench. The only ray of hope during that time was Prabhu Padayachi (my mentor from FARMERS). He was always mentoring us so selflessly that one could not help but admire him. We could always see that he wanted us to do something other than that boring MS Excel, which is usually bestowed upon fresher community.

Then the time came for a new project & new team. The whole team welcomed me open-heartedly with the person leading the celebrations being Shruit Bhopi, one of the nicest persons I have ever met in my life. All the other team members also helped me in getting hold of things and concepts.

Apart from office ki life, there was choti moti si personal life as well. In that life, I made friends like Bikash, Arijit, Ajay, Amrendra, Nanditha, Chhavi, Abhishek, Ankur, Ritesh and many others.

Bikash is like the other Milan Pal Singh from college, you can always count him in for any trip. Nanditha, the bindass kudi; Arijit, the DRAMEBAAZ; Ajay, the body builder and Amrendra, the Bade bhaiya.

Dashing Dapoli Trip

One of the best things of this year was that I found something that my heart always wanted. The thing that I always wanted to have, JK Naukri. The life really changed after starting this. I really became more focused about this with each day passing and now it has already started making baby steps towards success.

The Official Logo of Jk Naukri

I would always count this one year as one of those years which taught me so many aspects of this practical life. I use this term practical because, no matter how much close you are to a person or thing, there comes a time when you have to leave it and then few years afterwards, you won’t even recognize that person or thing. This is the bitter truth of our lives. However, I wanted to end this one year on a high note so here it goes…

Time for Celebration

Sugar Free Diwali

P.S:: This following Blog is not for those who had a very nice Diwali and also not for those who don’t love festivals.

Ever celebrated Diwali alone???

Ever had your dinner alone on a festival??

Well that’s just to summarize what this Diwali brought for me.

Not so long ago, when I used to write those long essays on DIWALI, I felt some lines really funny n wondered how that could ever be possible in real material life. Some of those I quote below

“Is din hum sab apne sabhi dosto (friends) se milte hai aur sham ko sb ek saath milkr lakshmi poojan (Prayers) krte hai. Is parv ko hum bahut harsh aur ulaas k saath mnaate hai.”

Till my last Diwali (2010), I always had my dear ones, Parents and friends close to me and thus never gave importance to these lines. But now, when this Diwali (2011) was on the shore, i started realising the value of parents and friends. You can never imagine how much it hurts to be celebrating any moment when they aren’t with you. Actually, instead of ‘celebrating’, the word that I should have used in my previous line is ‘pretend to celebrate’ as celebrations means happiness and how could you be happy without those dear ones.

This time I was not excited for Diwali like i used to be earlier but still, I love festivals (Holi and Diwali being favourites). I like to celebrate them in my best possible way. I started the day with watching the first day opening show of RA.ONE (Big SRK n BEBO fan). The movie was nice. We had our breakfast n came back to our flat. After cleaning up the mess from my room, I started getting ready for visiting friends. Byom (colleague) arrived n then me, Goverdhan n Byom (BUM .. i like to call him :P) went out for lunch. After having our meals, we set out for Vashi malls. Two more friend, Bikash and Happy joined us there. After roaming in the malls for some hours, we decided that we should return. 

Just when everything was going right (if not perfect), DEAR GOD had already something else in that big brown kitty for me. 

Goverdhan along with Happy decides that he has to visit a friend. Opposing his idea, I argued that we have to get back home as its a tradition to offer Lakshmi Pooja in the evening and also light some candles there. 

Goverdhan: Arey jaldi laut aayengey yaar

Me: bhai, we can’t return before 11 P.M atleast n that won’t be a right time to do the Pooja

G: yaar, tension na le pahunch jaayengey.....hum kounsa jyada der bethnge

A: Goldy, aaj bahut traffic hai...even if hurry up still it will get us beyond 11 or midnight.

G: Acha toh fir u go home n do the Pooja, I’ll be back soon.

A: Yaar, you want me to celebrate Diwali alone??....Fine...ok with it.

                With the most frustrated mood ever, I started returning. Now I could very easily feel that my eyes were getting wet. I called up my parents n pretended like i was very happy. But parents just know everything about you. They figured out everything in no time. This made me feel more guilty as i ruined their Diwali along with mine. 

After celebrating Dusherra all alone, Diwali was also no exception. I guess this is just the GOD’s way to punish me for whatever I wished for in my life. I always wished to get a job far from my home n parents. But now, i have started asking myself that if it was really what i wished for? 

A Lakshmi Pooja where i was sitting alone n reciting aarti from my Laptop (lol i figured out that i never learned it, always used to copy mom on that) and also lighted up some candles.

A broken heart (yeah my girl friend wont’ trust me) & a loner (yeah i miss those bitches Ishan, Manik, Milan & Rahil) is all that I feel myself to be at the end f this all.

Please GOD clear this fog in my head n show me what I truly wish for.

1st Day as an IT Professional

The college has ended and the cruel world has called me to wake up for the professional world ahead. It just seems another big transition in my life.  The heart stops merely on the thought that there will be no more bunks, no more last night studies and no canteen pranks. But as they say “Life goes on”.

 I, like my other friends, was busy in enjoying my last vacations after completing the college when my mobile rang one afternoon and whoopee, I received a call for joining CAPGEMINI. Unlike planned, I had to prepare to move to Mumbai with just 3 days for preparations. So I got my air tickets done as soon as possible and started shopping the very next day. Done with everything, I kept a day reserved for my family and all the closed ones. Final day, 11^th of August, 2011, at Jammu, I bade good bye to Milan Pal Singh (my best buddy, wingman, bro). Some more good friends were there at Airport to see me off.

I was very much excited for my first air travel, but it all ended when I got the news that the flight is delayed by more than 2 hours and that we have to spend rest of the time doing nothing at the airport. Finally after a long wait, we got our boarding and I along with Goldy and Divya were sitting on the plane and reached Mumbai at around 10 in the night. We rented a room in some hotel nearby and had a nice sleep.

And finally the D-day had arrived; we had to reach office in time for our joining. It was a whole new experience seeing everyone in formals going for their work with badges hanging around their neck. We were looking straight into our future. The joining formalities started at around 10:00 in the morning and went up to 7:00 in the evening. We experienced some problems in completing the formalities as, unlike every other university in India, our final semester results were not out yet. At first, they asked us to wait while other new joinees were completing their bank account forms etc. Then, after a long wait, our recruiter came to us and apologized for the delay. She asked us to return back to our home town and come back for joining as and when the results are out. We went furious. We asked her to let us talk with the management and that they can’t do this to us as we had informed about this condition prior to our travel. First she refused but then, after we insisted a lot, she asked us to wait in a common area while she discusses this issue with the management. We started calling HRs who were in contact with us when we were informed about our joining. They assured us that there ain’t gonna be any problem and that we should feel secure. After a while, the recruiter returned to us and said “Abhi tak kitni gaaliya de di Capgemini ko. Lo maan li tumhari baat. But you have to sign a legal agreement that you have to produce results by end of this month and your employment is subjected to you scoring more than 60% in final sem.” We were finally happy and started jumping in joy. The last couple of hours was like we were protesting against Britishers (Although company is French :P). Finally we got our formalities completed and had the joining letter in our hands. We also made some friends on the first day and then returned back to the hotel room and had a good heavy dinner and felt asleep. The 1^st professional day had finally ENDED.