another month has passed away!!!!!!

hmmmmmmmm

just a while ago i was writing about how i spent the fisrt one

month as an IBMer and yestday marked the end of the second month.

I intended to post about all that's happening. 2 months have

passed and i'm still writing about the initail days. now either

i'm a very slow blogger or the time really flies...

well whatever..

the initial few days were amazing as i've already mentioned. A

li'l bit of learning, ceaseless surfing and chatting and loads of

fun. We IBMers have this gr8 instant messaging service called

sametime, and we make the most of it. the emoticons collection is

awesome and is different in every system. It was gr8 fun

exploring all of them. But the best use of ST is during the

'test' time.how? i'm not telling!

And after that came the big bang! our class was being broken

up!.. As in, we were being put into different classes. Judai! we

were separated and put into different competencies.

I got Java! i was really glad coz i'm quite fond of it.only

neha, I and gouse were in java2. A whole load of strangers were

streaming into our class. I was lookingaround for familiar faces

when Ramana walked in.Ramana(Rumz) a very good friend of mine, is

a bindaas fun-loving, gud-to-be with guy.And there was Chaitu

too.


I keep meeting the others, Teja,Vivek,Renjith,Srirag and others

during coffee breaks, though.




And then... TRAINING started. Had a string of sessions of which

even a word didnt really register. U kno wat, during this

training i hardly found any difference between going 2 work and

going 2 college, except for the fact that i cudn't bunk when i

wanted and that at the end of the month, my bank account got

credited!!

After some boring, some interesting, some useless sessions actual

Java started and we all saw the monstrous side of Java. It is

huuuuuuuuge... and the learning process is going on..

one day..

During those initial days, one of the sessions which was not boring was bt 'Culture Clash'! why? coz we were shown movies!
Ok, bits of them, but still... These IBM training rooms are very gud for movie -watching!Switch the ceiling lights off, switch on the projector... heaven!
Neha and I wanted to watch Dashavtaaram dis way, but thought dat one particular bald man( lets call him Bee) would have a heart attack if he came to know. (now this Bee is quite an interesting character n u'll be hearing more about him shortly ;) , or maybe any of u can do it in your comments)

Nyways, getting back to 'Culture Clash'- it was how we are working in a global environment and have to interact with people belonging to different cultures... BLAH BLAH BLAH.....the movies we were shown were pertaining to this idea- one had an Australian cowboy kinda guy who visits america and totally goofs up n all...

well, we had a full session about how we need to treat the foreigner guys who come over "respect their privacy, understand..blah blah.. give them their space(in the elevators n all).. they dont like ppl crowding..blah blah..

The very next day, I was in the food court waiting while my sandwich was being made.An American guy turned up next to me.Thanx to that session, I stepped away to give him his "space". then imagine my surprise when he actually moved closer ("oi! didnt u have CC sessions? wat abt my space, huh???" ) with a super worried look he
whispered-"what's dat weird thing he's putting on my sandwich??" he was referring to the pudina paste the vendor was applying. d poor guy was so damn freaked! and wat did i do? there was a whole lot of possiblities- i cud've told him it was crushed chillies that could burn his tongue, or bitterguard paste or maybe snake venom( yeah
wild imagination!), anything to freak him out! but no, like a good boring gal, i said "it's ok, it's just mint leaves' paste!" and when the vendor was adding the spices, garam masala n stuff, our firangi was almost jumping in agitaion.. "NOW what's he doing?" i was like- Is it your first time in India?" he made a face as if it was the worst thing to happen to him.

This bloke reminded me of something i read somewhere "there are a lot of ignorant dunces abroad who still think India is a land of tigers and snakes." hey and by the way, a few days ago I and my friends actually saw a snake slithering away happily into the grass just outside the D3 block, followed by really rattled security people.

lol!

The post's grown too long and i'm bored, so bbye!

The first 2 days......

The first 2 days were pretty much fun. New places, new faces!

Saw video clippings, some singing praises of IBM, others telling us how IBMers solve the problems of the world.(one had a voice over by George Clooney)..

Apart from the videos, the sessions were boring. Extremely sleep-inducing. IBM values, teamwork.. blah blah..n 2 words Innovation and Collaboration were hammered into our heads ad nauseum!

The trainers were so sure we’d fall off our chairs that they assigned some group activities- a range of crazy activities ranging from building towers outta newspapers to treasure hunts to downright silly ones like ‘man-gun-bear’ and ‘buboi-bahay’ (No! I’m not patient enough to describe those..)

I’ll mention the story one though… dat was when I saw the psycho side of my colleagues. 1 person had to start a story and pass it on 2 another who continues it…
It started out as a horror story, turned into a love story, then a tragedy, and then everyone lost it and it turned into Ram Gopal Varma style crap!

Dunno if we learnt stuff we were meant to learn, but these games made it a load of fun! Gotto to know loads of people. There was a clear cut case of herding earlier..hyderabadis in a group, keralites bunched together, maharashtra people together and rajasthanis bunched up. And it wud’ve stayed that way if we hadn’t been randomly distributed in those games.

And in my story, which is going on at Manyata Embassy Business Park, there are many interesting characters I’d like 2 tell u abt..

ANIL- the crazy, exuberant charmer

NEHA- the chirpy,sweet,funny gal

GHOUSE- is sitting next 2 me right now, and preventing me from typing anything abt him

VALLI and ABHIRAM- the sincere programmers

AMIT- the IITian

CHETALI- the one who always smiles

RENJITH- the one who never does
(which is a pity coz it’s a really cute smile)

Others will make an appearance shortly……...

the beginning..

A month has passed! Me, as an IBMer.
It’s been the fastest 1 month ever.. one day I’m leaving for Bangalore, and another day I’m writing a blog about how this MONTH has been!!

A month back, got this email from IBM, asking me to pack my bags and leave for Bangalore, to report there in 2 days!!

Shock, excitement, wild glee!!

But it happened soo fast that there was no time to reflect on stuff like “oh my God! I’m going 2 work!!.. life is taking a drastic turn turn---- WORK!....when did I grow up?!?”
All that melodramatic stuff that would have normally come into my brain!

Instead, it was more like shopping, packing, a 1000 phone calls –goodbyes to frnz and relatives, and to fellow IBMers “did u get the MAIL??” a blur!


That’s how it all started.

We reached Bangalore. The onboarding session was at a 5* hotel ‘Le Meridien’..fancy name, grand place.. but before we could appreciate the beautiful interiors, we got drowned in the hundred thousand forms that we were required to fill up. It went on all day, punctuated by good food and desperate jokes- almost 10 hours of writing our addresses a 100 times, parents details n stuff, even gruesome ones like ‘whom 2 contact in case of your death’..

The lady who was giving instructions(god bless her patience) was Gorgeous and the guys at least had something to make the ordeal less boring. Some of them still talk about her smile..

It’s been a great month, had fun ,learnt loads… and met many interesting people..

And I’m going to tell u all about it..

Lots of mad stories coming up, so ppl, watch this space!!