Aamchi Mumbai - Part 1

6 months!! Whew that’s how long:

i) I have been out of my home sweet Coimbatore
ii) I haven't had regular access to parents' love or "cat love"
iii) I haven't seen my friends.
iv) I haven't eaten home food like idly, vada, dosha, etc
v) I HAVE BEEN IN MUMBAI!!!!

Well and since Mumbai has been my "hometown (temp)" for the past 6 months, I thought I should give it a small literary acknowledgement on my blog (plus get off my lazy butt and start writing!!!
:P)

Well I think I will start off with Mumbai: Part 1-----How I landed in Mumbai in the first Place!!!


On the 7th of May, 2010 ended my ever so sweet (which I now realize) college life. No more projects or periodicals or vivas or anything else which makes us crib (Yipeeeeee ) On the other hand, no more canteen trips with friends, no more “stealthy” hostel visits to see friends, no more sms-ing under the desks during class to the people sitting 5 feet away from you (SOOOOOOB). Well no more college – period. I had a job offer at hand and a few links which will lead me to modules and modules and more modules which would help me train myself to do my future job better. A job I knew I wasn’t good at (my friends don’t think so). I dint work hard and earn my silver medal and be the university topper in POLYMER ENGINEERING for a job in PROGRAMMING. But the pay was good and I made up my mind to do my Masters a few years down the lane. So started my initial days out of college.

May 12th, a Wednesday. Wednesdays have always been the luckiest day of the week for me. On this particular Wednesday, Dow Chemical International Private Limited was coming to our college to recruit a couple of graduates for a techno-commercial role. I was excited. Dow was an MNC and its history went way back and one of my seniors was in Dow and he encouraged me to do my best.

It was always my wish to give an interview in our college guest house. But never happened. Finally my wish was coming true. My interview with Dow was supposed to happen at the guest house. I dressed for the occasion –
*neutral colours – check
* tiny “almost invisible” accessories – check
*literature review – check
*mental preparation – NOOOO

I was scared out of my wits. I mean, I have attended interviews but my confidence just crumbles if I think of facing interviews. I steeled myself and sat for the pre-placement talk. The Dow team were 3 people – 2 gentlemen and a lady. They looked like they meant business. And so started the pre-placement talk. I was very impressed with what they were showing and I was really excited to be getting on board with them and I promised myself that I would try my level best and give the best interview I have ever given (out of the 2 :P)

I was to be the fourth person to give the interview and became a nervous wreck waiting for my turn. There were rumors flying all around about the level of difficulty, type of questions they were asking and what not.

My turn came and I went in – after a deep breath. I was standing in front of the two gentlemen. I offered my file with my resume and certificates but they dint take it cuz they had a copy of my resume and some forms in front of them. They started off by asking me to introduce myself, after which I was at ease. Some technical questions and we were done. They found my email id very interesting and asked me to explain, which I promptly did. They told me that the job would be based in Mumbai and there would be a lot of travelling and HINDI involved and I nodded my head along. DONE. Next came my HR interview and I was interviewed by the lady I had seen earlier and the questions that followed were what I could only conclude were routine questions. We were through. Then came the hard part – waiting for the results. I knew I had done pretty well and all but one cannot conclude what the other person has perceived or judged.

Days passed; my exam results were out and they were good. Me and dad decided to celebrate my grades with pizzas. On my way out, I got a call from a frend of mine who made one of the best sentences I have heard in my life – “You got into Dow and you are going to Mumbai.” Must have been one of my luckiest days :D I was ecstatic.

Then came the news which threw me off balance. Another rep from Dow got into touch with me a few days later and told me that I had to join on the 1st of June and I only had a handful of days left to savour my time at home. The next few just flew by like a blur. I went to Chennai to get a couple of pre-med tests done as required by the company, met a couple of my friends, did a whole bunch of shopping and bought my first ever flight ticket from CJB to BOM – Coimbatore to Mumbai.

The plan was to leave for Mumbai on the 31st of May and stay with my relative till I get settled in this hostel that I had found for myself. My dad was to accompany me and stay for 2 days.
And so the D day came and I had a whole load of luggage. The permitted luggage per person was 25 kgs per person and I think I had 50 kg – all weighed out :P. Good thing my dad was with me of course. And so I set out to the airport (after a whole lot of tears from my mom and a whole other lot of consolations from me). Surprisingly, I dint cry (no idea why). My wonderful friends; Hariish, SG, Vignesh, Karthi, Hariprasad ,to name a few, came all the way to the airport to see me off and the time came to board. I dint know when I would see my parents or friends next. I still dint shed a tear, very very weird. I got my bags checked in, my boarding pass done and moved to where my mom and bro and uncle were sitting. Bid them one last goodbye (still no tears) and proceeded to security check. All this was a fresh experience for me and my dad and after a few silly mistakes (hey! Nobody is perfect) we were all buckled up inside the Kingfisher Red flight.



I gotta say, you guys, travelling by flight is by far the most amazing feeling I have got in my life. The feeling lasts only for the first two times, after that it becomes like “oh sure, what else is new!!!” :P :P The bundles and bundles of clouds that you feel you can just jump onto, the way the river looks like a thread weaving across green plains and coming closer down you feel its like this huge blue blanket, the way buildings look like tiny coloured boxes, I could just go on and on. In short, it was great!!! :D

I reached Mumbai mid afternoon. The flight from Coimbatore to Mumbai takes about an hour and 45 minutes. The Mumbai airport has two terminals and I got down at 1A and it was huge considering the fact that I have only been to 2 airports in my life. My dad and I went out to meet my relative. The bags were put and we rolled the car out of the airport and the first thought that came into my mind was this “OH MY GOD!! Look at the crowd!!”. The place was bustling with activity and everything was either too small or too huge.


And just like Dumbledore tells Harry, I got myself prepared to step out and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure!!! :D