Joining – The Journey Continues….

[Please Note: Majority of the incidences in this article actually happened with Mr. Arun Khandelwal, one of my colleagues.]
[This article is a sequel to my previous piece: Placement or Joining: What matters the Most?? I recommend you read the first part so as to fully enjoy this piece]


26th Dec 2009, 2.45 pm

BPO jobs are rilli tough to accomplish… especially when you are addicted to sleeping…I was in the initial stages of my sleep when a call from an unknown no. entered the red zone…Normally, I keep my cell on silent…Oh, GoD…Who is it Now??...Smhow I managed to pik it up…Hel..l.lo…I garbled…Hello, Can I talk to Mr. Amey Mahant…came an awake voice…Ya, speaking…I responded…Amey, this is Kalpesh here and I am calling from ABC Infotech… [Those words entered with a bang into my ears…I don think so…I have ever left my bed in Mom’s one call…This is different man…It seems to be ABC Infotech…If I’m not dreaming… :-)] Yes sir…speaking…I sat down on my bed… Hi Amey, this call is with regard to your campus recruitment with ABC Infotech…We are planning to induct a new batch in a couple of days…Are you interested in Joining? ... I thought, He is jokin man…This is the moment about which I have been waiting for so long… and he is askin, I want to join or not… Of course, Sir… I will join… Ok, than I would request you to report on 28th Dec, 9 AM at Mumbai… What???... He must have mistaken man…I confirmed… He repeated… It was not 28th Jan man…it was 28th Dec… Is there any problem, Amey?... He asked… Yes sir… I am working here at a BPO firm and I need to inform them before leaving the organization…Can you give me a couple of days more… No, Amey…I am sorry… But, if you have to join…you need to report on 28th Dec itself… Let me tell you that the other trainees are reporting tomorrow… But, as I gave you the call today… So I am giving you one more day…Ok… What Ok sir…I said…It’s not possible… If this is the case, than I don’t think so that I would be able to join on 28th…I explained…Can u give me any other dates??... I can’t tell you right away… But, you can possibly get a joining date of March 2010…This month has a lot of bad memories… March 2009…this was written in the letter which I received in Dec 2008… I was in a fix…not able to make any decisions… I was almost bathing in my own Sweat… despite of the fan at its bloom… Can I call u in sometime…? I asked hesitantly…HR ppl are not those, whom we make, calls in & out… Hmmm…Okay…But inform me ASAP…bcoz if you refuse, I had to call other candidates…Sure, sir…I said… He disconnected the call… I was not in a position to do anything….Last 10 min. were simply unspeakable…. My hands were shaking…not able to figure out what to do… my fingers automatically called the Dad’s no….I don’t know how many more nos. I will dial…I don know what I will do… What I know is only this… In the next few minutes, I am going to take one of the most difficult and important decisions of my life….

26th Dec 2009, 3.35 PM

Tring…Tring…Tring…Tring…It happens always…When the call is important…Wait is even longer… Hello…Finally, he picked… Can I talk to Mr. Kalpesh…Speaking…Hello sir, this is Amey here…Yes Amey…tell me… Sir…I thought for a while… I would not be able to join on 28th…I am sorry…Can you please give me some other joining dates… Umm…As I told you earlier Amey…I would not be able to give you any other joining date right now…But possibly…March 2010…No…Please don’t say that man…I thought…[By the way, this decision was taken after hundreds of calls at thousands of locations and millions of suggestions ]…[The problem was leaving my current job required a lot of procedures… and obviously those procedures stopped you from leaving so easily….U come today…Disappear tomorrow…not possible…]…Ok sir, than I will wait for your next call….Ok, bye Amey….Bye Sir…Thank you…He disconnects…I didn’t know what, why and how I spoke for the last 3-4 mins…I put my cell on the bed…Might be a bath would help… As always, ur phone will always ring at its loudest… when you are in the weirdest position…Smhow managed to pik it up…Hey Amey…Did u get ur joining???... No man…it just passed thru…I said… Stop jokin man…I am not joining man… WHAT??...yelled my Trainer-cum-friend… Manish…who trained me for the process… was shocked by my reply… But, Why??...They are asking to join on 28th and that too in Mumbai…I can’t do it…You know our procedures man… Don’t worry about that man…there are some procedures which exist…but are never told about… Come to office ASAP…I will explain it their itself… I disconnected… Got ready with the ‘Rajdhani-speed’…Where’s my ID card, man…Why do they give those IDs man…Can’t we work out without it…Ohhk…there it is…Finally…..I am on my way to office…3 hours before my shift….


26th Dec 2009, 5.12 PM

[After rethinking on my decision…and knowing about the procedures from Manish…I made a call to Dad, Dada, Friends and GFs ;-)] Tring…Tring…Tring…Tring…As I told you, the wait is longer…Hello…Sir, this is Amey here…Yes Amey…He seemed to be in I-am-not-angry mood…I wanted to ask you something…Go ahead please… Can I join on 28th…? Sometimes, the questions are so demanding…even the seconds (or rather fractions of seconds :-))…feel like centuries…But, you told me, that you can’t join… Yes sir…But now I have changed my decision… Can I join on 28th sir? ...Ok…But I hope you would not change ur decision again…No sir… this is Final… I want to Join…Ok, then…. I vil send u the joining mail…U’ll get all the details in it….Thank you very much sir… I can’t explain how I felt at that time…. You are Welcome… [“Joining Today is Joining……Who knows Joining Tomorrow might be No Joining…….” Manish said it right…Thanks Manish…]

27th Dec 2009, 11 AM

I called up HR ppl at my BPO office and explained my situation… I contacted my TL… But, as we know… Neither joining nor leaving any company is Easy… there were some expected… and some unexpected issues creeping in… I was told to go from one building to another… traversing the complete campus around 2-3 times… Had to get in touch with those guys whom I never saw… I was required to provide an explanation… for leaving… bcoz it’s a shame on their part… that ppl are leaving…or atleast they show it… HR told me, I need to talk to Center Head… I thought… I was not a great employee… that they are sending me to meet to the Center Head… It’s a normal procedure…said the HR… Oh.. That’s what I too thought…I said to her… She laughed… But, I need to concentrate on my relieving letter… Finally met the Big man… convinced him… HR said I need to wait… After waiting for around 3 hours… she came up with my relieving letter… I rushed for the Stretch Cab… which was about to leave in next 15 min... Gave a last look to my office… old office… to be precise… got into the cab… probably for the last time… Cabs normally start on-time…Waiting for the security to blow the Whistle……

27th Dec 2009, 7.23 PM

It’s only when you leave a particular place…u feel…how much u loved that place…Bangalore is a beautiful place… I will miss this Climate man…Mumbai is very humid… but Mumbai is Home…I am not afraid of my Home [Source: The Terminal ;-)]…It is only Varun who will disturb you in these moments… Amey…Amey…Where are you man…What happnd Varun….Why ru shouting??... Every flight to Mumbai is full…No seats man…Now, it was the time to come out of the soothing-climate-thoughts… What??... I yelled… I have told Chirag to enquire about any other ways you can go to Mumbai… Varun explained… Why don’t you consult your Dad? Ya.. That was a rilli gr8 idea… I called Dad... Dad explained that if I can board the train form Bangalore to Hyderabad…. This will probably leave at 9.30 PM… than I can catch a morning flight from Hyderabad to Mumbai… We targeted that train… As always, Chirag’s call was on waiting… Yes man…Did u come to know any other route… I explained Dad’s proposal to him… Yes there are some flights tomorrow morning from Hyderabad to Mumbai… I will book one of them and call you…Chaos was predominant………Varun was busy looking for someone who can arrange last minute reservations for me in the train…Chirag was busy looking for Flights…Mom and Dad were searching for any more routes… n Prannoy…my bro…was busy telling ppl that I am finally joining L&T Infotech….

27th Dec 2009, 9.31 PM

Anyone who is reading this piece with concentration can guess what happened…. Ya, you are write…I missed my train…Normally…Our Indian trains consider poor ppl like me… But some Drivers are rilli cruel…very cruel…Now…. I was standing with printed air ticket in my hand… flight leaves at 10 in the morning… and I am standing on Bangalore station without any clue to reach Hyderabad… Buses are those means of transport…which always comes to rescue for prompt ppl like us… But it seems, today they also deny me the “Right to Join”… My active friends… are busy searching for Buses when I spot a local truck about to leave…I went ahead and asked him… It felt as if God appeared in the form of the Truck-Wale-Bhaiyya…I boarded the truck and was guided towards the Driver’s bed with Royal reception… Struggling with the old, sad and obviously poisonous old Hindi songs initially, I adjusted to the surroundings soon… Now the Bhaiyya was playing the Hindi songs which I proposed… He might be thinking…I look well educated… My choice would be better… After some time, He got fed up and started playing Kannada songs… and I preferred to sleep…or rather try to sleep…

28th Dec 2009, 8.45 AM

“Every Journey has an End”… my father always says… this too… ended… much to my disgust… as my father scolded a lot for missing the train in the night… The other half of the Mission was still to be accomplished… I boarded a local taxi…He told me initially…It will take around one hour from here… I proposed 200 Rs. Extra… He touched the Hyderabad airport at 9.30 AM… 15 min for Rs. 200… a good deal… I thought… I went rushing into the airport… However…I can only make somewhat faster… due to the luggage I was carrying… I can’t miss this one… I asked one of the airport attendants to help… Checked in at the fastest speed… Made sure that pilot knows I didn’t board yet… as if I am any VVIP… Finally Boarded the plane… 9.59 AM…
28th Dec 2009, 12.30 PM
ABC Infotech welcomes you….read the Board outside the Reception… I asked for Kalpesh sir… I was given a visitor pass and I entered the ABC Infotech Campus… Right foot first… as our elders say… When I reached the Multi Purpose Hall… there were already some ppl sitting there… Amey… this side please…One person called me…My name is Kalpesh Mathur… How did u recognize me???...I asked, astonished… I was only expecting you after 12 today… Kalpesh sir replied…. I took a seat on one of the round tables… there was a tag with my name there… Amey Mahant-SET… After completing the joining formalities… Kalpesh sir handed me the Appointment Letter and the Temporary Id Card… I gave a first read…it was written there… ABC Infotech…in the next line… Amey Mahant… in the next line… Software Engineer Trainee…and in the last line…
Date of Joining: 28th Dec, 2010….

[PS: Special Thanks to Arun, for sharing his experiences and becoming the motivator for this long-awaited article.]

Writing an Article....

Hi Guys……..It seems to me that it has been a millennia since I wrote anything…..So thought of writing something……Now…..there was no topic….as always ….So thought of writing an article….on….”Writing an Article”;-)……Seems a lil different idea….I know……But with ppl standing on ur Head to catch up the Cyber Café seat….Sidd calling on ur phone…some unknown language songs playing @ ur back (maybe, Telegu)…..its difficult to dig in a Paul Krugman-topic:-)……..

Writing an Article….according to me is firstly need/req/hobby/compulsion for some ppl…….Bt for the ppl like us…..Who have many imp tasks already @ their disposal ;-)…….it is rilli hard to take time out for writing an article……. It has always been my reason…..and I believe sm of my frnds also…..We write for ourselves…..U knw…ther’s where the problem starts……Bcoz….after writing, we distribute it on the network to read;-)……For some ppl who don’t read….they are either dragged to reading……or have to face the uphill task of reading 2 at a time…….as the second articles gets released bfor they read…..

Writing an Article has been one of the favorite past times for many ppl…….If ur doin smthin n suddenly u feel tht urn t doin nethin imp….Write an article man……..Why to waste time……My frnds were always surprised for the amount of facts and figures I included in my articles… But I know very well……they were cursing internally for taking them thru piles of data….as if they don read newpapers……Its better to read Hindu, Frontline, Economic Times and Business World together…..rather than going thru this piece…… But as I said……..u need to complete 1 task @ hand before ur made responsible to complete the two…….of the same kind……..

Writing an Article is also the usage of our Freedom of Expression……. Right provided to us by Our Constitution……I am afraid……that….all of us… who use it in plenty in our blogs….Would be able to use it with our Wife?? ;-)…….Bcoz Women power naturally goes above any Right…….Nari Shakti….you see…..Its better to use this Right as much as possible before getting slaughtered (Married;-))…..who knows……Which Article is Our Last……Bcoz…..after that……We will not write anything…..Instead the Living Reponsibility (Wife) will write……I know What you Wrote Last Summer?? ……....

Writing an Article has also been a good source to vent out all of the frustration, anger and Killing Hatred in ur life…….bcoz Whatever u write…….Ppl will read that….between Mon to Fri………[obviously, if they have access to blogs (not like us )]…… its only bcoz…..all the most imp things are always done in the office ………

Writing an Article is also doing nothing…….but simply putting all tht comes to ur mind at one Go (you see, Mind is so powerful)…..and giving it the form of an article…… Sometimes there are no issues…….no bomb blasts……no Political problems…….no recessions…….no World crises….no stories….and obviously……No Need…….But You simply wanna stay in Touch with your friends and ur Pen…….Hi Guys!!!!!!!