Saala Mein to Sahb Bann Gaya (Part-III)

I can never describe my days at B&D with these two words of english language "sailed through". That's because I was challenged at a regular basis. This was the most exciting part of my internship. I was questioned time and again to produce something different. Whenever Rohit asked me to tell me that think something different, I kept wondering about what was he actually expecting? How can I do something different when there is a fixed pattern these people must be following. Just teach me that and I am good to go."

Yes!!

That was my thinking and even while expressing it right now, I just want to go back and hit this knucklehead hard and show him what I have gained because of the brain scratching. Rohit and Naval gave me a hard time around. Whenever I used to ask them about anything, "Search on Google" was the only reply I got. Ritika and I shared the same look "Why can't they simply answer the question when google will tell exactly the same?".

                                                             *****
I actually learnt something about human psychology from this. Whenever we watch a movie where the protagonist is shown having sleepless nights and questioning himself again and again, we are very much excited with the idea. We enjoy watching their struggle.
But when it comes to us, we chicken out. It is something really common in us. And me not being any different, got infested with the very same rodent of "laziness and follow fixed pattern-ess".
                                                             *****

I still remember that night when I was sitting all alone in the office trying to give my best shot at work and the very moment Rohit saw my work, you have produced crap is what I get as his response.

Isn't this how life is!! From being hero to zero. At one moment, you feel so good that you have grown up and are spending sleepless nights in office and the very next moment your boss says that your work is utter nonsense.

Now just rewinding a bit....

I was having gala time with my buddy/companion/best work buddy Ritika. Everyday, we used to drink two cups of coffee. One at around 12 and second after lunch at around 5. So, we were having fun time during 5pm coffee break when Rohit marched in. He came to me and said those 3 magical words to me
"Show EBIT today"
(for the people who don't have a finance background, EBIT is the earnings of a company before we make adjustments named as   interest payments of loan and corporate tax payments)

Ritika was looking at me with those eyes "Tu to gaya yaar!!!(you are screwed buddy)". I went back to my desk and started working on my model. She came back and still kept laughing stealthily.

Slowly, by the end of the day, everyone started leaving the office. Ritika came to me and asked whether I'm done or not and without even waiting for my answer, she winked and left.


Now I was amongst the last few people in the office. I was getting calls from my dad asking about my whereabouts and the only reply I had to those questions was a simple "I don't know". And like this, I was the last one.
Now I had all those horror movie scenes going around in my head.  The only guy left in the office... All dark and empty around and out of no where a guy comes in front of me with an axe.

Phew!!! It was hell scary.
I felt the chill down my spine and just closed my laptop and ran to the metro station. Luckily, I was almost done before the spookiness made me do this.


The next morning was the one when Rohit labelled me as a dumb-head. Although I produced the right results but I wasted two hours on something that could have been done in like 15 minutes.
This was the time I actually heard my brain getting back in shape and ready to open the doors to new thoughts. (that sound of keeeeeeeeee....).

Saala Mein to Sahb Bann Gaya (Part-II)

Sitting at my work station, in front of my laptop,  I was thinking that when would I get over this "About the Company" part of my internship. It was pretty boring to go through pages and pages about B&D. It is very rare that even a full time employee would know the name of the founder of the company, year of start of operations, number of offices leave alone sections like number of division, management style etc and I was just an intern so you can imagine the boredom!

But the best part was when I looked on my right.

Guess what!

I found Ritika half-asleep with the project overview file in front of her. Looking at her made the situation even worse because for the entire time I kept thinking of switching with her and getting an opportunity to read something related to my work here. But I just discovered that the game was even on both the sides of the table.

But this moment was also like a revelation to me. I had a rush of blood within because I felt so proud of being part of the very same institute where we can dare to sleep on the first day of our internship while sitting right next to the mentor. This means that we are unbeatable when it comes to boring lectures and tortuous professors in big lecture theatres. That is like the best lullaby a student can ever get and the sleep is so satisfying at such times.

That's the spirit Ritika!!

Suddenly, Naval came by and broke her dream by saying
"I am watching you are doing. Wake up guys!!"

But the best part of the day was yet to arrive in the cafeteria during our lunch time.

We went inside and saw a coffee machine with "Cafe Coffee Day" printed all over it. It was like the company left no scope for any other advertisement on its coffee vending machine. The coffee made us feel much better.
We sat together when I saw Naval opening his lunch.

"A bowl full of american corns"

Although it is good to eat healthy but for a guy like me, who lives to eat and is taught that no meal is complete unless it is given a perfect polish of unhealthiness all over it, it was perfectly justified on my part to presume that this is not his usual meal. So, being a punjabi, I asked him
"Sir, are you on a fast today?"

He negated my question but his lunch over the next seventy four days more made it very clear that there are people who believe in eating healthy and not everyone is crazy for tasty food items like me.
Till date, Ritika and I share a good laugh over this incident when I showed my hungry-for-tasty-food-demon.

***                                                          ***                                               ***

My initial stint at B&D got more interesting with each passing day. It was mainly because I started learning the nitty-gritties of financial modeling on Microsoft Excel.

On one fine day, entered Rohit.
Before I start sharing my experiences with Rohit, let me give a brief description of him.



Rohit was my mentor during the summer internship. He is a perfect replacement of Shahrukh Khan in "Rabb Ne Bana Di Jodi",someone who believes in working hard and simple living.
He was quite focussed on his work and liked perfection in the financial models. He used to call me "Zoo-Zoo" and it was always fun to sit around and have chit chat sessions with him. So, luckily, I got a mentor who is also my friend now.

So, Rohit came and the things around me changed. Till then I had finished one financial model of a solar power plant project. This model was already completed by Naval and he gave us the needed information so that we could build our first financial model and learn its working. Rohit asked for my model so that he could figure out that how much did I learn about model building.

He looked at my model and entered a few number here and there. He was baffled by the model and asked me about the total time I took to build it. I thought this was the right time to get a first good impression so I proudly answered "Three".

"You don't know how to build a model. You just made sure that all these numbers are similar to the one built by Naval."


It was just the start of his feedback and was followed by a good amount of confidence thrashing words. I got to know one thing that the next two months won't be very easy with him. But little did I know that it was just one side of him.

To be Continued...

Saala Mein to Sahb Bann Gaya (Part-I)

Okay...

So, first I have my Advisory and Consultancy class. And then later in the day, I just have one Corporate Risk Management class. Then I have an hour’s gap between the two, in which I would have my lunch and grab my today’s issue of ET.

With all these thoughts occupying my mind,I headed towards the first floor.

As everyone I know was preparing for the last trimester of MBA, I was preparing for something totally different which included my plans for the day. I kept thinking that what the hell will I do today and in what order. While climbing up the stairs, my eyes met a pair of eyes looking towards me with a big smile. Those eyes reminded me of a day; not long back that too at this same spot.

And my mind suddenly travelled back in time to recall the event when I last noticed her eyes all glittery with excitement.

***                                                    ***                                                      ***

What!!!

She got placed!! That’s a great news man.

So, here it begins; my fellow summer intern got a job in an awesome organization. It seems just like a couple of days back when we used to walk back to the metro station together and I used to pull her leg like anything. And here she is today, standing in front of me with her big twinkling eyes and the biggest smile I had ever seen on her face. A very bright future filled with a lot of new opportunities is now waiting for her.

The more I look towards her, the more nostalgic I get. Remembering that blue wall with a bright name of my company on it,those white marbles that guided me from the main gate to my desk and that brown desk/work station (the name I like more) waiting for me with a label of ‘Zu-Zu’ on it. All those memories are still so fresh in my mind that it feels like I will be going back  to the office in a day or two.

Aaahh..

I just want to go back in time and stay there. But the very next moment my mind gets filled with the thoughts of growing, learning more, exploring new things and getting out of my cocoon. After seeing her, I just wanted to submerge with this feeling of nostalgia once more.

***                                                    ***                                                      ***

"So, where exactly is the NSIC building?"

I was drenched in sweat and still was literally running in excitement because it was the first day of my  summer internship. I finally got into one of the leading Financial Institutions of US to explore more domains of finance. Being from a science background, it was very important for me to get into finance company because I had just discovered my inclination towards the subject. On the way to my office,I  saw this man walking towards the shade probably to save himself from the heat when the mercury was boiling at 45’C. I ran towards him and asked about my desired address. He directed me towards the building and even offered me his bottle of water. I plugged in my earphones and started walking towards my destination.

While walking towards my office, various thoughts occupied my mind.

" Am I aptly dressed?"

"How will I introduce myself?"

"Will I be able to perform and give my best?"

I shooed away these thoughts and started focussing on the time which was running out of my hands. Finally I saw the logo of my company which was enough to fill my mind again with various apprehensions. Without even realising it, my speed automatically increased. I was nervous but excited, tired but energetic. 

I asked the security guard to further guide me to the main building and on being asked I told him that I am a summer intern. He asked me to wait and I sat in the lobby. That was the first time I saw the same pair of eyes I was talking about.

“Hi. I am Ritika. We’re from the same institute. Do you know me?”

I saw her face and tried to search in my mental directory. Although I did not recognise her in the first place but by not letting her know this, I warmly greeted her.

“Of course I know you. Hi, I am Rupish.”

We were in the middle of a random conversation when the guard called out her name and handed over a phone to her. She came back to me and said that she has been asked to come in and I have been called on the line. I had a brief conversation with a lady who turned out to be my mentor’s boss. She asked me to join Ritika and start the work. I entered the office and started searching for Ritika. I saw her in the third last row sitting next to some guy (who turned out to be one of my mentors). I walked towards them and introduced myself to him.

“Hello Sir. Good afternoon. I am Rupish Saldi. I am also an intern and have been asked to join Ritika for further proceedings.”

“Hi. I am Naval. I am not your line manager but I work along with him. He is not in town and is stuck with some client. Until he is back, I will be there to guide and help you out.”

To be continued...