My first encounter with working lifestyle

Till now I was living in a very well guarded world. My boarding school in Ajmer was like a fort; I was not allowed to go out neither could someone just come in, so my interaction with the outside world was very limited. Then came my high school in Delhi. It was a place with relaxed rules. I could go in and come out, we had day scholars, we had people from different backgrounds; so my interaction with the outer world increased. Finally came my college. College as we all know, places almost no restriction on you. It is assumed that you are now mature enough to decide what you want, to distinguish right from wrong. Here I chose my set of friends. My life was again going very smoothly. My parents kept meeting my demands for money and I never faced any difficulty as such.

It was towards the end of my fifth semester that the thought, "Life is not a bed of roses", rang a bell. I started to wonder that for me till now life has been more or less 'bed of roses', with only minor hiccups here and there. It is then that I decided I need to experience first hand how life outside the protected walls of my college is going to be. How it is going to be after I am forced out of my comfort zone.

So armed with 126 credits (thats what you get for clearing every subject in your course even if you don't understand a word of it) I went looking for a place which would be kind enough to offer me training. In time of recession, when people are finding it hard to retain their jobs, finding a place willing to offer training was surely a tough task. Here also I was again saved the hard work as a place was found through 'contacts'.

So we(me along with two of my friends) reached Mumbai, all set to experience the working culture, thinking about how I will manage when I have no support! The experience started right from the time we got down at Andheri Railway station. Looking for a place to stay was not only very confusing but a big hole in pocket too. Finally we found a place and decided to stay over there for a night.

The next day we were supposed to go to the head office of the company. The ride in the local Mumbai train is a experience in itself. When I saw the building which housed the office, I was awestruck! It was so huge and beautiful. Excitement took over me. The person I was supposed to meet was very helpful (contradictory to my belief that no one treats college students seeking training nicely)!

My training was to start from the next day. I was supposed to go to Vashi which is very far from where I was staying. Again the local Mumbai train came to our rescue. I admire the person who gave the concept of local train. It would have been so difficult without it!

I was expected to reach office by 10:00 AM and by the time I reached it was already 11:30 AM. On my first day at office I was late by an hour and a half! So you see things didn't exactly started as planned. To be honest I was little scared cause I didn't know what to expect. After waiting for sometime our department head came to us. He was a very helpful person. During the entire course of training he never made us feel as if we were trainees and took really good care of us. We were treated very nicely.

Everyone in office seemed to be busy with their own work. A few of them I guess where even surprised to see three undergraduate students walking in the office. All my fears vanished soon. The next few days were decent enough. Other than the fact that we had to travel more than three hours everyday, everything else went fine.

The entire experience taught me few things. They are :

• Once you go out of college, life is not easy. I saw people working there. They probably reached home late and slept cause they have to wake up again next day cause they can't afford to be late.
• Discipline is a must. You should be disciplined in whatever you do
• If you are good to people, they will be good to you

So friends I would like to say one thing, don't get scared. Go out and have fun. Its not an easy world out there but its not that scary also. Remember who you are and don't get lost in the crowd. 

Cheers!!