Summer of ‘06: A sneak preview

March end just before the exams: Hurray it is about to be exam time again at IIMA but this exam unlike others is a fight for independence. The dreaded first year is coming to an end. But thinking back it was not so bad, I mean I had my share of fun, I had made great friends and yes I had got accustomed to sleeping at 4:00 am and getting up at 8:00 am in the morning (okie okie ya I do sleep in the class too). In the past year I had seen my eye color change from white to yellow to blue to red and at the end of it all can’t help feeling I SURVIVED FIRST YEAR AT IIMA.

April 1st week: I can’t imagine that I was the idiot who said hurray a week back. Today was the second day of exams and I am a walking zombie. My mind is pretty hazy now, goddamn it, the only thing that is coming to mind right now is the Modigliani Miller theorem. Looks like its going to be a long fight for independence.

April 2nd week: Have you ever felt like fighting to reach the top of a mountain but when you reach there you do not know how to react. I had the same feeling, the exams were over and I had been waiting for this day but all I want to do now is sleep for a few hours. But ohh ya who has got the time to think, I am packing my bags for my two months of summer training with a MNC in Chennai. Hallelujah I will be going back to office again after a year’s break and more importantly I am dead broke now and my mind lights up like a 100 watt bulb at the thought of the color of the money which will be paid to me as stipend.

April 3rd week: All those nightmare stories about the scorching summers of Chennai told to me by my seniors would have made Alfred Hitchcock proud, but Chennai does not seem to be so bad. The heat is bearable and the sea breeze some times makes it even pleasant.

April 4th week: I have always wanted to live by the beach, feel the wind across my face, walk in the sand barefooted holding hands with my soul mate and when the night falls lie down on the beach with a beer in hand by a campfire and listen to the never tiring waves. Wake up dumbo leave my hand alone!! I hear my roomie shout. I can hear sound of blasting horns; the morning traffic must be at its peak, well so much for idyllic dreams. Time for office.

May 1st week: Ever heard the oft repeated dialogue “It is getting a little too hot for comfort”. Let me tell you it sure was becoming an understatement in Chennai. I could actually see mirages of my seniors with a smirk on their face saying “I told u so”, Man Chennai is HOT AND HUMID. As an would-be-MBA a thought flashes across my mind, solar cookers would be an absolute failure in Chennai, people can just cook their food by putting their vessels out under the sun.

May 2nd week: I am yet to receive my stipend for the month of April. Nowadays when I travel by bus and see people’s wallets bulging out of their pockets my hand kind of instinctively makes a move for it. It takes a lot of control and I have to keep reminding myself that my cheque is on the way. I feel sorry for all the guys in the finance department of my company. What, with 29 summer interns hurling ill wishes at them it is a miracle that they still turn up safely for office every day.

May 3rd week: All of you must be wondering it has been six weeks into my summer training and I have not mentioned anything about my work in office. That brings us an interesting topic. Here are a few cardinal sins you might like to avoid. I kind of learned this the hard way; don’t ask me about the details

Never ask girls about their age, weight, waist size, dressing sense, pimple on their face etc etc etc. In short never question a girl, all you have to do is nod your head and say “Absolutely, I totally agree” “Yes honey, you look beautiful in the new dress” “No, you don’t look a day over 18”
(Phew I can see all those footwear being hurled at me)

Now when it comes to guys you just have to remember one thing never ever ask about their work, because if you do, their super inflated ego starts to work overtime and for the next 10 minutes you would probably hear about their top secret, confidential, top level strategic project and probably the company would go bankrupt if the project fails.

So I will spare you all the details of my project as you will all have to get security clearance to know about it.

Future: Now for the final salvo “The philosophy of life”. Two more weeks to go, I miss my college. I am sure that in a months time when I am back in college I will be telling myself “Venky, you duffer, you had this easy go life, was getting paid for your “top secret work”, and you didn’t have a single care in the world. And the only thing that you could think of was that you missed your college”. Yes, my dear friends that is the philosophy of life, wherever you are whatever you do you always miss your college life J.

PS: I wanted to write about the weekend trips too I made during this summer, but then again there is always another time.