I always felt that I should keep a note of my happenings in life. U know, its a great feeling to read about your past life as they have passed by. So here I go...
Since this is my first post, I would like to make a brief introduction to my past.
Born in Kolkata, I was brought up in Jamshedpur. Father used to work with TISCO. And wasn't it a great pleasure to have spent my childhood in the Steel City!!! Did my schooling from Loyola, Jamshedpur - More than my schooling, it is my association with the Institution that I cherish the most. After having passed out in 1997, joined Presidency, Kolkata to further my graduation. Post graduation, MBA was a dream for me but I always wanted to have some work-ex before going for MBA. And so I started my MCA preparations, in parallel with my graduation. After graduation, got through MCA after clearing UPMCAT. Took up MCA in HBTI, Kanpur - passed out in 2003. Years 2001-2002 were the dark years for the industry with slow-down setting in. It was by sheer God's grace that I was amongst the chosen few who grabbed a campus placement, inspite of the Industrial downturn. And, by jove!, I was placed on the 13th of August, 2002 - Lucky 13???
Took up my first job with Newgen Software Systems, New Delhi. Joined co-incidentally on the 13th of Jan, 2003 - 13 Again????
The first few months in my job was a mix of ecstacy and tension. Still remember the first stipend that I received (Jan - Jun, 2003 was my training period). However, there were days when I used to tirelessly work for long hours, apprehensive of what would happen if I were to miss out on the committed deadlines. And in the process, I took up some very stiff deadlines as well. In parallel, I started my MBA preparations after borrowing some amount from my senior. But preparing for MBA in parallel with the tremendous work-load in office was a very demanding task indeed. Somehow, prepared for the exams and appeared for the same. But by the time I was home from the exam center, I got to know that the paper got leaked and exams were to conducted afresh. And wasn't I crestfallen!!! During the period of my preps, I had a one point agenda to study for MBA while many of my colleagues left my company for greener pastures. I grew envious
of them but never had the bandwidth to prepare for an of-campus placement. But after the cancelled exams in Nov, 2003, I got a lucky break with an interview call in Hughes Software Systems (currently Flextronics Software Systems), Gurgaon. Converted it impromptu. And guess what was my interview date - 13th of Jan, 2004 - i need not point out anything this time. So I left my previous company and joined Hughes on 27th of Jan, 2004. Hughes was a much bigger and better company than Newgen. It had a corporate look and feel and I felt privileged to be a part of this organisation.
But soon things would not be the same for me anymore. On the fateful day - 9th of Feb, 2004, I was in the midst of a project meeting when I received a call on my mobile. I rejected the call, not to be disturbed in between the meeting. But the cell phone rang again and when I picked it up, I got the shock of my life.... My uncle (mamu - maternal uncle) had rung up with an urgent tone asking me to take a flight for home asap since my father was very ill. The scenario was not alien to me since I had heard of some of my class-mates getting similar calls from home, only to find out later that one of their near and dear ones had passed away.
Somehow managed to take a Jet back home. Reached home at around 8p.m. in the evening only to face the inevitable. Held back my tears so as to lend moral strength to my grieving mother and brother. My heart cried but I did not let my tears come out. Soon left for the crematorium to perform the last-rites. It is there that I wept my heart out. One of the important chapters in my life had come to an end.
However, life had to go on and it was definitely going to be very different for me from then on. During my stay, I had to go through all the documents in the house, separate the important ones from the others. And then I realised how helpful were my father's meticuluous ways of maintaining all records. The Herculean task was made lot easier for me.
I departed for my work place on the 23rd of Feb, 2004, leaving my mother and brother behind with my relatives to look after them.
It has been a long and eventful journey since then. I had missed out on my MBA re-exams that were scheduled in Feb, 2004 because of this mis-hap. So I started all over again for my preparations. Work at Hughes was not as hectic as in Newgen. I found a new way of life at Hughes and made some very close friends as well. The company changed hands in May, 2004 and soon it became Flextronics Software Systems.
Another good thing that happened with me at Flextronics was that I found quite a few Bengali friends of round about similar age-group. We formed a small bong group in FSS. And how did we come together is 'Junk' - which probably a fellow FSS'ian can only understand. Its been a real pleasure to have spent time with them and have enjoyed every outing in their company - The trip to Manali is still fresh in my memory.
Meanwhile, my MBA preps continued until it was exam time again. The CAT had a surprise in store and the unsuspecting mouse(myself) fell for it - scored 92 percentile - looks good on paper but not enough to give you a place in the top notch colleges. I had serious thoughts about further attempts but (may be its just an excuse) I always felt that for such preparations, you always need a calm n quiet atmosphere around you. That was just not possible staying in a shared accomodatio0n with collegues. Plan to do an 'Executive MBA' but that too is on hold because I am not sure where I will be for the next 3 years. Would have preferred to go back to Kolkata but that is only possible when more companies come up and the job situation stabilises out there.
With the Left scoring an out-right victory in the current assembly ellections and with the reformist 'Buddha" @ the helm of affairs, I have plenty of expectations for the state of WB.
In the last couple of years, I feel that I have matured a lot with more responsibilities on my shoulders. I have had to curtail my ambitions to a certain extent but I have no regrets. After all the fruits of your labour is directly proportional to the happiness that you give to your family. And to keep my family happy, that's a small sacrifice from my side.
Thats quite a big summary, I guess. So thats it for this psoting. More to come on specific events later on.
So long till then....
Since this is my first post, I would like to make a brief introduction to my past.
Born in Kolkata, I was brought up in Jamshedpur. Father used to work with TISCO. And wasn't it a great pleasure to have spent my childhood in the Steel City!!! Did my schooling from Loyola, Jamshedpur - More than my schooling, it is my association with the Institution that I cherish the most. After having passed out in 1997, joined Presidency, Kolkata to further my graduation. Post graduation, MBA was a dream for me but I always wanted to have some work-ex before going for MBA. And so I started my MCA preparations, in parallel with my graduation. After graduation, got through MCA after clearing UPMCAT. Took up MCA in HBTI, Kanpur - passed out in 2003. Years 2001-2002 were the dark years for the industry with slow-down setting in. It was by sheer God's grace that I was amongst the chosen few who grabbed a campus placement, inspite of the Industrial downturn. And, by jove!, I was placed on the 13th of August, 2002 - Lucky 13???
Took up my first job with Newgen Software Systems, New Delhi. Joined co-incidentally on the 13th of Jan, 2003 - 13 Again????
The first few months in my job was a mix of ecstacy and tension. Still remember the first stipend that I received (Jan - Jun, 2003 was my training period). However, there were days when I used to tirelessly work for long hours, apprehensive of what would happen if I were to miss out on the committed deadlines. And in the process, I took up some very stiff deadlines as well. In parallel, I started my MBA preparations after borrowing some amount from my senior. But preparing for MBA in parallel with the tremendous work-load in office was a very demanding task indeed. Somehow, prepared for the exams and appeared for the same. But by the time I was home from the exam center, I got to know that the paper got leaked and exams were to conducted afresh. And wasn't I crestfallen!!! During the period of my preps, I had a one point agenda to study for MBA while many of my colleagues left my company for greener pastures. I grew envious
of them but never had the bandwidth to prepare for an of-campus placement. But after the cancelled exams in Nov, 2003, I got a lucky break with an interview call in Hughes Software Systems (currently Flextronics Software Systems), Gurgaon. Converted it impromptu. And guess what was my interview date - 13th of Jan, 2004 - i need not point out anything this time. So I left my previous company and joined Hughes on 27th of Jan, 2004. Hughes was a much bigger and better company than Newgen. It had a corporate look and feel and I felt privileged to be a part of this organisation.But soon things would not be the same for me anymore. On the fateful day - 9th of Feb, 2004, I was in the midst of a project meeting when I received a call on my mobile. I rejected the call, not to be disturbed in between the meeting. But the cell phone rang again and when I picked it up, I got the shock of my life.... My uncle (mamu - maternal uncle) had rung up with an urgent tone asking me to take a flight for home asap since my father was very ill. The scenario was not alien to me since I had heard of some of my class-mates getting similar calls from home, only to find out later that one of their near and dear ones had passed away.
Somehow managed to take a Jet back home. Reached home at around 8p.m. in the evening only to face the inevitable. Held back my tears so as to lend moral strength to my grieving mother and brother. My heart cried but I did not let my tears come out. Soon left for the crematorium to perform the last-rites. It is there that I wept my heart out. One of the important chapters in my life had come to an end.
However, life had to go on and it was definitely going to be very different for me from then on. During my stay, I had to go through all the documents in the house, separate the important ones from the others. And then I realised how helpful were my father's meticuluous ways of maintaining all records. The Herculean task was made lot easier for me.
I departed for my work place on the 23rd of Feb, 2004, leaving my mother and brother behind with my relatives to look after them.
It has been a long and eventful journey since then. I had missed out on my MBA re-exams that were scheduled in Feb, 2004 because of this mis-hap. So I started all over again for my preparations. Work at Hughes was not as hectic as in Newgen. I found a new way of life at Hughes and made some very close friends as well. The company changed hands in May, 2004 and soon it became Flextronics Software Systems.
Another good thing that happened with me at Flextronics was that I found quite a few Bengali friends of round about similar age-group. We formed a small bong group in FSS. And how did we come together is 'Junk' - which probably a fellow FSS'ian can only understand. Its been a real pleasure to have spent time with them and have enjoyed every outing in their company - The trip to Manali is still fresh in my memory.
Meanwhile, my MBA preps continued until it was exam time again. The CAT had a surprise in store and the unsuspecting mouse(myself) fell for it - scored 92 percentile - looks good on paper but not enough to give you a place in the top notch colleges. I had serious thoughts about further attempts but (may be its just an excuse) I always felt that for such preparations, you always need a calm n quiet atmosphere around you. That was just not possible staying in a shared accomodatio0n with collegues. Plan to do an 'Executive MBA' but that too is on hold because I am not sure where I will be for the next 3 years. Would have preferred to go back to Kolkata but that is only possible when more companies come up and the job situation stabilises out there.
With the Left scoring an out-right victory in the current assembly ellections and with the reformist 'Buddha" @ the helm of affairs, I have plenty of expectations for the state of WB.
In the last couple of years, I feel that I have matured a lot with more responsibilities on my shoulders. I have had to curtail my ambitions to a certain extent but I have no regrets. After all the fruits of your labour is directly proportional to the happiness that you give to your family. And to keep my family happy, that's a small sacrifice from my side.
Thats quite a big summary, I guess. So thats it for this psoting. More to come on specific events later on.
So long till then....
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