Project Allotment

The very next day Karthikeyan called us – the people who had cleared the exams – for a meeting. “Congrats on clearing the exams … From Monday onward you folks will start work on real-time projects for real-time customers … You will need to report to the Sozhlingannalur office effective tomorrow ... I have the list of names and the ODC’s to which you will start work effective Monday!”

In another 5 mins, I found out that myself, Ram (one of the two guys who passed the exam on Day - 1), Premma (an ugly looking babe with a horribly receding hairline), and Meenraj (a guy who passed along with me on Day – 2) were informed that we would be working for the Pespi project.

Could it get any better??? I was getting to work for one of the largest Retailers in the world.

(Little did I know – I was jumping face first into a Pool of shit!!!)

But as they say – Ignorance is bliss – and at that moment I was uber happy that I would start “working” effective Monday!!!

The Exams – Day 2

This time, I was determined not to fail. And with an extra ounce of effort (translated to – staying up to 3 am in preparing from every nook and corner of the book), I head out to work the following morning.

Another 2 hours … I clicked on the Submit button, and wait for the system to tell me my fate…

You know, it’s a really weird thing - that when you’re anticipating and waiting for an event to happen, it seems to take forever to happen. It was the case with me too. I kept waiting for an eternity (or so it seemed) for the results and finally, it was there:

“YOU HAVE PASSED !!!”

Score: 88/100

I was elated. I had passed…. Yipeeeeeeeeeeee !!!

I let out a yelp of happiness. The invigilator (Karthikeyan) gave me a thumbsup and a grin. I gracefully left the hall and waited outside for my friends to come out.

Again … I saw a sea of upset and unhappy and tear ridden faces (Krithika included). But, heck, I had passed, and at that moment, I didn’t care what the others felt – I was on the TOP OF THE WORLD!!!

Yahoooooooo … Time to hit a pub … Booze myself insane …

The Exams – Day 1

The D-Day arrives, and thanks to a helloffa lot of preparations, I am confident, albeit a little nervous, about crack the exams.

After a gruesome 2 hours of the online examination, I await the results (which is displayed as soon as you submit your paper) – I see the message –

“YOU HAVE FAILED !!!”
Score: 78/100

My mind was racing … “There must be something wrong with the system!!!”. But, then I turn around and see a lot many more disappointed faces in the class. All of them – except 2 – had flunked.

One of the girls called Krithika even broke out crying. Actually quite a few of the girls had a tear in their eyes. But, she was a cutie pie… And because of that I cared about her enough to want to calm her down!!!
U never know when u can score a few extra points with someone. And hey – I had just flunked an exam for the first time – I had to make something out of the relatively “lost and grave” situation didn’t I…



With a bad temper and the shame of having failed an exam – I return home !!!

Training Ends

After a hectic – albeit fun and frolic filled – 6 weeks of training, we needed to clear our exams to be herded off into different projects (or ODC’s as they are called at Diapro).

Just to be on the safer side, we ask Karthikeyan (oh … btw – he was our Point Of Contact for anything and everything during our training days) – “Karthik … What happens if we don’t pass this exam”. Karthik replied, “You get 3 chances to crack the exam. All you people here are very bright. I am sure all of you will clear it in the first attempt itself!”. Not happy with the answer, I decided to push the envelope and asked him “What if we flunk in all 3 attempts?”

An obviously flustered Karthik replies “Well … In that case, there are two options. Option One – your bond period is extended by an additional 3 months – i.e. from 15 months to 18 months. And also, your stipend period extends by an additional 3 months as well – i.e. from 3 months to 6 months. Option Two – you can leave Wipro and your bond amount will be refunded to you”

Wow … What a relief … they wouldn’t throw us out if we didn’t pass the exam. What more could I ask for. (In school, if I flunked in any exams – My mom would cut my pocket money for the rest of the year (financial sanctions!). That was besides getting very nasty and grounding me for good (playing the supercop!). And since I knew this was the scenario at home, I prepared extra hard for every exam I took, and thankfully, never ended up with a flunk on my hands)

Batch Splitting

A week after joining, we were informed that the new batch would be split into different streams. One consisting of Java and associated Web Technologies, and the other to consist of people who would go into C++ and Telecom domains. Thankfully, I got sifted in the first group (no idea what was the logic behind that decision. But I was very pleased with it – given that it was the most happening technology of the time.)

We also are informed that the Java stream would have their classes at the Guindy office whereas the C++ stream will continue their training at the Sozhlingannalur office. It couldn’t get any better than this. Now, I needn’t get up at 6.30 so that I can catch the bus to work at 7.05. I could sleep to my hearts content, get up at 8 and go to training by 9.



Life was just perfect.

20th June 2005

“Auntie … I’ve got to go … I don’t want to be late… Its my first day you know!!!”.

Its 7.30 am and I’m already dressed and ready to go work. Actually, even today when I think about it, I surprise myself. Getting up at 6 o clock without any alarms whatsoever, shaved and showered in a record 10 mins, ironed my clothes and dressed to impress. Wow …

Oh … If you’re wondering what’s the Big Deal? Well – If you knew me from college – Then you’d know. Since you probably don’t – Let me take you a couple of months back – when I was still in college.

Its 8.00 am on a wonderful Monday morning, and the stupid alarm goes off. The first thing that comes to my mind is – kill him!!! But, I settle for turning it off and then dozing off to sleep. Around 11 am I come to my senses, wash up, go to the canteen for a coffee and bun, and wait for our Mess (dining hall) to open. After a lovely lunch, I decide to play Quake 3 for an hour. Anyways the next session is at 2.00 pm. Plenty of time left…

2.00 am – I join my friends and walk leisurely to class and settle down in the last row in class. Our professor (a nice guy called M.L Joy) comes in and he decides to talk about whom all has attendance shortage and what they plan to do about it. He takes out his roster and the first name he calls out is – Sharath Kumar … Roll No. 60. Since it was something I had expected, I wasn’t too shocked. I stand up giving him a very warm smile. He returns the favor in kind. Then he gives us facts and numbers. “Sharath … In this semester, of the 46 classes I have taken, you seem to have turned up for only 20 of them. Any particular reason as to why you didn’t make it to the remaining 26 classes???”

Ooopsss … Now that was something I didn’t anticipate! I start of with my “Sir … I was sick … Grandmother not well …” et al. Knowing me pretty well (he has taken class for us for 3 of my prev semesters. And in each of those papers I had attendance shortage, and every time I had killed an uncle or aunt or grandparents to escape the punishment), he just laughed it off. I guess the rate at which my cheeks were flustering red was fun enough for him. Thankfully there were a few other people who also had the same issue. And anyways, he was a nice guy. He manipulated the attendance records so that none of us had any attendance shortage issues. Thanks sir … I will never forget you!!!

And also, I’m the kindda guy who doesn’t give a shit about how I dress … Trust me – For real - I dress baaaaaaaaaaaaaad …

I have this really sweet junior in college called Annie from college – who nicknamed me “Chappals” (I found that out when I tried calling my phone from her cell – the lil devil had stored me under that name) – which she revealed was cause of the fact that I always wore my bathroom chappals to college, movies, luncheons, et al. And my brother (who also went to the same college as me) used to tell me that his batchmates used to call me a bear -> Thanks to the rag like clothes I wear (also, I must give due credit to my Herculean (read as a big fat oaf) build!!!)

Now, back to the main story… Imagine a guy with that sort of a background - wearing shoes, a well-ironed full sleeved shirt, trousers, matching socks and shoes. Hell – I even a handkerchief in my pocket (you get the picture!!!)

After a rushed breakfast, me, my uncle (and that dappa scooter of his) head out to Diapro’s Guindy office. There I meet the guys from the previous day. I say my ta-ta’s to my uncle and board the Diapro bus heading to their Sozhlingannalur campus. It was like being on cloud 9. I was so ecstatic at finally being a part of the Diapro family.

Well … Before I get too melodramatic, lets move on. Another hour later, we arrive at the campus. Man … It was awesome. Let me take a min to describe the place. Firstly, it was huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge!!! And it was plush with greenery, fountains, so many buildings, so many open spaces, so many cars and bikes. In short – the works! It added to my ecstatic state.

Shortly, after getting our entrance passes, we were hoarded to classrooms where our training was scheduled to start. The classrooms were state of the art. Nothing like what I had seen in college. Shortly, we were told that the first couple of days would be orientation session – read as sessions where senior HR folks would come and blow Diapro’s trumpet, as to why it was the best place to work, and the career growth option provided to the employees, etc etc etc. Basically, a lot of fart !!!

Well … The first couple of days pass in a similar fashion. Nothing major or memorable happened in those days. So, I won’t bother writing about those initial days.