First Day Fiasco!!

The anticipation, nervousness, excitement were all giving me the typical butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling. As I geared up for the D-Day, waking up unusually early, and sending out thousands of silent prayers to the Big Gun up there, I could sense a gush of emotions surging inside my system. The run up to the first day of internship was disastrous to say the least.

The plan of taking a train, to get used to the early morning blues went haywire, because of the motorman strike. If that was an ominous start, I was completely in the dark of what was to come! As I rushed with my parents to catch the “BEST” bus, I could feel the strap of my almost new chappal snap. Damn! I dragged along my chappal, cursing the Janpath guys under my breath, for having made a fool of me; selling me a chappal that couldn’t survive the first day of the Mumbai struggle.

The possibility of being late on the very first day scared the shit out of me. I was nervous and freaking out! The silent prayers were bearing fruits..I managed to reach on time. What followed was a long and indefinite waiting process at the HR department, time that me and Aaheli utilized to get my chappal fixed and get her recharge done. Once we entered back the magnificent heritage building where our new office was nestled, we bumped into fellow TSJian Sunanda. Leading her on to the HR, we had another short session of the irritatingly tedious wait.

Feeling a mild hunger pang, me and Aaheli decided to check out the canteen, which boasts of food that adequately fits into the bill of “aap ke zamaane mein baap ke zamaane ke daam”!!! With astonishment beaming on our face, we munched on the delicious food. Half way through our lunch, we were summoned by the HR female. The assistant to our RE allotted us our particular departments: I got sports and Aaheli bagged business… lucky girl, she had her team around, who assigned her with work on the very first day itself. Someone described that as “first day, first show”! Apt.

With none of the sports guys turning up till 4, I had a miserable time for four hours that seemed to last for an eternity. Reading and re-reading the paper for four hours at a stretch, with no one around to have a word with, it was excruciatingly boring! When the team finally arrived, confusion was scripted all over my face. With Aaheli off on her first venture, I felt lost and hopeless!! Looking at everyone around, seemingly working on something or the other, I got a loser feeling!

With a cool editor and a fun loving bunch around me, I felt a little bit at ease. Chatting with Karthik also helped to a great extent. My editor tried explaining the outdated and obsolete tes thing to me, half of it was registered, and the rest of it shot miles above my head!!! The team was bowled over when I learnt about my plight. They exclaimed that I looked “fried”!! My considerate ed let me off at 7. Aaheli told me that waiting for her would be futile, with the strike playing spoilsport again.

My first taste of the typical Mumbai local train crowd was scary. All the locals running way beyond time, I had to stand for a painful 45 minutes, before the train finally started moving, inching towards the destination. Figuring out the stations was difficult. The crowd in the train and the rush on the station coupled with poor vision all helped the cause. With the hyperactive women pushing me on to the right station, I couldn’t thank my stars enough that it was over. And almost successfully. Apart from the pinching fact that I wasted a day…doing nothing!!!!

The first day was weird…and nerve wracking too.. hope the days to come are not a sad repetition!!!!