Well friends, for a long time…I was searching for some topic to re-invigorate my blog
site after a long dead period. Well, I am pretty happy to discover a legendary topic on which I can speak for at least 1 whole day continuously…Yeah..that topic is not actually is a topic, but is a platinum period of my life(with some rusted iron patches)…Yes….that period is my Mysore life….in that so-called heaven- “Infosys-Mysore Campus”.
Well, let me tell you I may be having doubt about calling the campus as heaven but I am damn sure it will not be an exaggeration to call that life an “Angel-Life”, which blatantly is possible in a heaven only.
So, let me tell you from the very beginning. We entered the campus on 12th June 2011. The first outside view of the campus from the bus that we traveled- in was worth appreciating. It was looking like some group of great architectures of Rome or U.S. or some other foreign country….having pure exotic flavor. Well, after little formalities we’re allowed to enter in the campus for registration. After registration, our luggage was loaded in a separate truck and we’re loaded in a carrier to be reached to our hostels. Well, from the vehicle we were seeing the picturesque views of the campus…the stain-free gorgeous parks… the impeccably clean roads ………..the giant and beautiful glass buildings…none of whom were made like the regular cube shaped buildings…each building was having a different style ………these were some of the things that we were crawling like crazies…..It was seeming like we’ve entered into a different world altogether.
Well in some time, we reached hostels…there were several hostel buildings standing close to each other, each of them were like some 5 star hotels.
Well, the most luxurious thing was still to be watched…it was the room which was allocated to each person to stay during the training period, as soon as unlocked the room…the amount of happiness that came on seeing just a glimpse of the room was so much that even a drop more of it could have caused me a heart attack. Well, it was a room which I had not ever even imagined in my dreams. It was a room with all the amenities possible on earth. A.C, bed, LCD TV, Luxurious Cupboard, tables, lamps, a heater for making tea, tea and coffee packets, a white towel, Mysore sandal soap, bathroom, crème colored curtains, one full side of wall made from glass, the view from those transparent net curtain….Well, it was something more than a dream come true. The most important thing was I was alone to be using all these amenities.. no one was sharing it with me.
Well, in the evening, the awesome food in those giant food courts, and that giant structure of the dome (multiplex) were the things that provided elation to mind and soul. Well, from the next day onwards, we had to attend the 5 day long induction program to be held in the multiplex. The first night on that awesomely creepy bed is still one of the best nights of my life. I had never seen such erotic and beautiful dreams in my whole life as that night. Well, I was just thanking god from the core of my heart to let me enjoy this level of living about which I have never even dreamt of. Anyways night passed, sun appeared, the little sunlight from that glass wall passing through two layers of curtains just struck my face and it was time to wake up.
After a warm-shower (this is the specialty of Mysore-weather…you need to have a hot water shower even in the middle of June, and you can survive with a thin-blanket even in the middle of December.), got ready just in time and at sharp 8:30, we were outside Multiplex standing in the queue containing 600 plus fresh engineers waiting for the induction program. Well, standing there in the queue for around 2 hours from the scheduled time, I realized I am still on earth in a country called India…Well, even after entering in that giant multiplex after severe checking of your dress-code, we were just seated in that hall with no one attending us for around 2 hrs., I guess that was because we were the pilot batch of that session. For that whole time, the “Infy song” was continuously played to increase our torture or we can say ‘to increase the capacity of ‘how much we can take’ ’. Well, for first 15 minutes, I liked the song, but after I spent the next two hours with listening that song and practically doing nothing else, I learnt a lesson…i.e. no matter how much u like a song , when u are compelled to continuously listen to that song for 2-3 hrs, that becomes a very peculiar form of mental torture termed as ”Infy Induction”.
Anyways, the same sort of story was repeated for the next 5 days primarily aimed at telling us about the etiquettes in Infy Campus and specially ASHI . Well, this “thing” is not so voluptuous as it sounds, as it stands for “Anti Sexual Harassment Initiative” by Infy.
Nevertheless, the actual training activity of Infosys started from next week which is so-called very high level and difficult to undergo and all that…..Well, the thing about training is that which makes it so special is it’s properly structured, performed by highly trained faculties, done in highly sophisticated facilities and heavily competitive environment failing which a student has to undergo the same exams and training again and again. Moreover, the passing percentage for each of the exam is 65, the figure at which most universities in India award a first division. And, this is the bare min passing percentage, if you have to live a respectable life there and avoid repeating the courses similar courses again, you have to score at least 85 p.c in each subject. Well, no offence, but If I’d have scored this much p.c. in my college even once, I’d have topped and would have got a pretty good company to work with. Well, the irony is that then I couldn’t have enjoyed this Infosys campus of mysore: the heavens of heavens.
But is it that simple??? Let me explain you the lesser-bright side of it. The weekdays are like the life of the local train users in Mumbai, you just get up early, get ready, get to the food-court fast because if you are going at the peak time, there will be a long queue at every counter and also you won’t get the cycles to reach there in time. I don't know at what time other people used to leave from hostels, but for a 9 A.M. class, even when I left the hostel at 7:30, all one thousand cycles (placed in the parking of each hostel) were gone. Well, I don’t think, I ever enjoyed the pleasure of reaching the classroom in cycle in the morning after the first two weeks. And, if you are lucky enough to get a bicycle even after 8 A.M., let me suggest you, immediately go and invest in the MCX market all you have got and you will become a billionaire overnight for sure.
Well, you have to rush, reach food-court fast, eat fast, and get to the classroom even faster if you are short of time. While going to the classroom, you see thousands of engineers walking in front of you, all of them in the same direction, and same pace(unless those having exam that day), same footpath, none of them on the road. Well, the pace of the herd (yeah, I mean it) varies according to time, if the time remaining is less, the walking speed is more than the normal running speed of a normal person. Depending upon the speed, I bet I can tell the exact time up to the precision of a minute if not seconds.
Well, after reaching in the classroom building(GEC-1 or GEC-2), you have to swipe-in and finally reach the class “BEFORE” 9 A.M…because even if you get into the classroom at precisely 9 A.M., you are on the mercy of the trainer whether you are going to earn that day’s salary or not. Well, for this particular salary-loss thing, there are other sophisticated ways also, like you can accidently miss a swipe, or make a wrong swipe, you can miss one attendance etc etc. If you are caught playing counter strike or any game or even listening songs with headphone…..beware….u could be fined heavily. Anyways, you get into the class, give your attendance, learn your stuff till noon, go out for the lunch, again stand in those mile-long queues, get your food, get back to class, complete the practical exercises by the end of the day. If you want to save something, you have the luxury of storing it in your huge “10 MB” capacity outlook, because every other place in the hard-drive gets formatted every day.
This routine is the normal routine of a CS-IT guy who manages to get home by 6:30 to 7 P.M.. Now, if you are a non- CS-IT guy….may your soul rest in peace…I had some friends from non CS-IT, poor guys, some of them just used to go out from room in the morning 6:30 A.m to their classrooms., used to returns around 9-10 PM..sometimes not used to return at all..doing night outs in night labs. Most of them used to go to GEC on weekends also. This all labor was done just to get passing marks and still, very few of them used to succeed to clear all the modules in the first attempt. Well, I can say for sure, if there is non CS-IT guy who has completed training from Infy, there is nothing in this world that he/she can’t do, nothing else in life they will find difficult or tedious or obviously laborious.
Well, the thing is that training life in Mysore is something that could be called as the best of your life that you can ever have. You get the opportunity to have a life that is challenging….aka “Toofani” and those weekends that you ‘earn’ after striving hard for those 5 crucial days every week, you gotta enjoy them…every week, 2 hours before each of the 6 shows of movie, you get the pride of standing in a well organized, punctual long queue(containing around 1500-2000 engineers: perhaps the longest queue in the world for engineers….i don’t know why infy hasn’t claimed for Guinness book of world record yet). In the morning you just get up, wearing trousers and t-shirt and a small bag may be having TT bat or swim suit( which I used to have) and u just get out…don’t know what you will do today as there are hell lot of choices like to play every sport I can know of, and any leisure activity you can think of like, watching movie, food, swimming pool ,guitar classes, TT, lawn-tennis, badminton, pool, bowling etc. etc. etc…….
I don’t know how much changes that training brought to me technically, but socially, Infy at least made us to learn a couple of things …the first of it is to become a good citizen of India. Some times I feel like every politician in India before entering into politics should have a 4 month training there so that they should learn to honestly follow the rules . In Infy, the way management team performs the management of these 25k people, the country can learn from it. Regarding everything, there are clearly defined rules, and for every rule, there are clearly defined people who are responsible that those rules have to be followed. E.g. people use cycle to commute themselves from one place to another within the campus. Well, there are speed limit boards that are place every 50 mts. And if you are exceeding the speed beyond that limit (usually, that limit is 10 kmph), the guards are there to put an obstacle with their clear signals in your leisurely ride that u are having. One thing is really special about Infy, even if some place is there where oxygen or light or any earthly possible thing can’t be reached, I can bet on all my salary that the security guards will be there. Guards are omnipresent there, I know it’s difficult to hide yourself from GOD…but if you’re able to find a place where you miss the sight of all the guards of the campus, well…you’re more surreptitious than “Batman in stealth mode”.
Well, this is the point where I want to stop myself from creating another epic in the history of India :), because one thing I know about it is that..I will never be able to explain it…because Mysore life is like having a roller-coaster ride…”YOU WILL KNOW IT ONLY WHEN YOU’LL LIVE IT”.
