Page 31 - Love Story of a Commando

Shit! Speaking of warriors I was again reminded of Virat but I shook
my head vigorously to register my protest against that rebellious thought and
that name which had nothing to offer but agony. I had already spent many
sleepless nights and meaningless days thinking about him, when he was
nowhere to be found. Why did he ever come to me? I had been happy, at
least content with my life. And now? A weird numbing sense of expectation
from a stranger who never meant anything clouded my days.
No! Not him again! I have to focus on my career.
There was absolutely nothing happening on the job front. The
Human Resource department was on some sort of secret mission of
tormenting the newly recruited trainees as long as we were in their grip.
Every day our pride at being employed there was being replaced slowly by a
feeling that we were slaves. Our jobs ranged from bringing coffee for HR to
attending to their daily grocery needs to working on their PowerPoint
presentations and excel spreadsheets. No assignment was given to us even in
two months and we were subjected to regular quizzes and surprise tests
evaluating our various technical and interpersonal skills just like in college.
Swami being the nerd that he was turned out to be the brightest star
of our batch of newly joined employees. He was the only one memorizing
the pile of boring manuals thrown at us. Though his popularity among HR
guys was directly proportional to the hatred among the trainees, it did not
bother him an ounce. Some genius from the HR department came up with
the very original idea of introducing morning yoga to our batch which looted
its peace. They believed yoga would help us focus better, gain confidence
and strengthen our corporate ethics.
Once we also swept the streets in the Dharavi slums as an initiative
by our company’s ‘Swach Mohalla Abhiyan’. The head honchos of the
company truly believed it would connect us with the locals. But we saw
them laughing at us while we collected garbage with constipated looks on
our faces. One five-year-old kid even had the audacity to pee openly on our
collected garbage and run away instantly. Don’t believe in shining India ads.
It’s not all that easy. Though the corporate managers of various departments
were supposed to participate, at the last moment, they decided to send the
batch of new trainees to help them gain some exposure to community
services. They knew we had no way out but to dance to their beats.
Also it is important to mention here, while we acquired the status of
‘Sharma ji ka Beta’ back home finally, we did everything our parents and
relatives never imagined we would.
In short, life sucked!
But there was a silver lining amidst the black clouds. We grasped the
pulse of the city and loved every moment in Mumbai. It would never stop
mesmerizing us.