Monday, November 12, 2012

The journey of an Infoscion Part 2 - preparations for joining Infosys


click here to know about my interview for Infosys placement



Once we got a campus placement situations started to change.  I felt like I was getting some confidence about my future, after all I would be an Infoscion soon after my college life. But that confidence lasted only for three to four months. A word ,which I had never heard in my life before, hit the whole world at that time. No, it was not about Tsunami, which happened on 2004. This new phenomenon was called ‘Recession’. Situations started to change. Rumors were like Infosys would cancel appointments of everyone, No one would be able to join till 2011/12 etc. So I put my dreams about Infosys in a small chamber inside my heart and locked from outside. It came out only when I got the official mail regarding the joining date on Infosys. I would be joining there on 11th January 2010!!!


 It was followed by another mail, which explained  about the heaven which was waiting for me at Mysore. The Gymnasium, Multiplex, Swimming Pool, AC accomodation, GEC 1,2 etc etc... After reading the mail, I felt like " If there is a heaven in this world, It is at Mysore, it is at Mysore, it is at Mysore" . It is the only fact which I still agree about my Infy life.Mysore Campus is a heaven. But there is a hell inside that heaven!!!! (will be explained on following parts)
 

The mail also included the list of things which I needed to do before joining there. It included many things but now I remember only a few. It included 

1.       Passport
2.       Medical test – chest X Ray, Sugar and Pressure checking, Elisa test.hepatitis vaccination, chicken pox vaccination etc
 
Till now I don’t know what was the need for both things.

 When they told to take passport, I thought like it would be to send me to some places outside India, which I have seen only on world map and in some channels like National Geographic Channel. But they had never asked about my passport after my joining date. It is now taking rest inside my table for last 2 years. May its soul rest in peace!!!


Regarding the medical test, I really don’t know what to say. Infosys had given a list of hospitals and we were supposed to do test only in any of those hospitals. I did those tests on Cochin Hospital. After spending almost Rs .1500 for the tests,  they said that I was not fit for the job!!! They invented that my pressure is 130/ 90 and so they could not give a fitness certificate. I would have killed the doctor at that moment if I had a gun or knife in my hand. However, I realized that in case my health had problem, I needed to make it correct. I took ECG and all other things from other hospital , only  to realize that everything is normal for me. But the doctor in Cochin hospital was not convinced!! Finally I met another doctor in same hospital, who took my pressure and said everything is normal. By that time, I had spent almost Rs.3000. 


In between, my classes had got over and results came. I became an engineer!! (But, till now I never got a chance to use anything that I had learned from my college. I really don’t know why there is a branch called electronics and communication in colleges in India. Lot of Engineers, but no job!! ) Date of joining was becoming closer; I really started to feel the pressure- A pressure of excitement. 


Shopping: that was the most important thing that I had to do before joining. And to be honest that the only thing that I hate the most!! I bought seven sets of dress and two ties. Then 2 pairs of shoes and a trolley to carry all those things mentioned above to Mysore. I had bought 2 ties. But the most funny thing was I didn’t know how to wear it. I would explain ‘how to wear a tie’  or ‘ how I had wore it during my Infy days ‘ on next part.


We had a community in Orkut in which everyone who were joining Infosys on January 11,2010 were members. (I really don’t know whether that community is alive now. I haven’t checked orkut for last 1.5 years). Thus GauriKarthik BalaSundaram, Sandeep Devdas, Sivakumar Kailasam, Sridhar Kandasamy Ramasamy, Anuja Lakayil, Deepika Srivasthava ( she passed away in a bus accident at pune on 2011. We miss you Deepika(Gunjan) ) and Raksha Srivasthava.    (If I have missed any names and incase those people happen to read this,  please pardon me.)


Finally , on January 9,2010 Kanyakumari – Mumbai Island Express left Ernakulam Railway station with a set of people, who were so excited to be Infoscions. Arabind Ajayghosh, Arun Bose, Sandeep Devdas and I were a few in that. (I think at least thirty people in the train were actually going to Bangalore and then to Mysore to join Infosys, as I saw a few of them at Mysore campus on next day).


The next morning , we reached Bangalore and caught a bus to  Mysore. Around 11 am we reached Mysore Bus stand. Kiran,Sherin,Ajin,Anish joined us from Mysore bus stand, and by 1 p.m we reached Infront of GATE 1, where we had to report. We all would become Infoscions in another 5 minutes!!!

to be continued...

6 comments:

  1. "and incase those people happen to read this," LOL

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  2. ha ha Praveen I have no complaints :D

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  3. IMO, the medical tests were for the insurance thinggy...

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  4. Sumodh.. i was not a part of that Orkut community. Only after my training n getting posted , I joined it :)
    And please spell my initial correctly yaar .. its Lakayil :D

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    1. Initial changed.. It was a typo..

      Now only I understood that you were not in that community.. I felt that our gangs friendship started much before we joined Infosys and you were also a part of it.. :) Anyway I don't want to edit it.. I like to believe that we all became friends before joining Infosys... :)

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