It is 11:30 in the morning on this cold tuesday monrning and I am right on time standing in front of PVR Rivoli in CP waiting for my friends to come. Atul had planned the reunion as he was coming from Australia after a long time. When I reached the PVR there was no one, so I thought of waiting for an hour atleast. Mean while I could see all new faces meeting at the front gate of the cinema hall rushing to get in as the new movie in the town was going to be screened at 12:00.
A few street shops lined the front side of the PVR across the small but broad pathway. The sellers were shouting and telling the prices of the clothes that they were selling. I tried to pass my time for a while sorting and looking at some Tshirts, but soon got bored. The cool morning wind was still rushing towards me once in a while trying to play with my fine and short hair which I had shampooded pupously for the meet. I turned towards the main gate and again started to look at the aimlesly walking crowd of busy people. Some how I was staring at every face to find if they resembled my friends. In this process of reading faces I saw a face in the crowd, a pretty face to be specific. She was again and again looking at her watch and trying some number on her cell phone. No doubt what she was doing was same as to what I was doing, 'waiting'. She also spotted me waiting for my friends. But we only glanced at each other for a fraction of second and then we againg got on to our jobs. The time was passing and my friends were still not there. By now her boyfriend had arrived. He was like any rich lad of this city of amazing people, wearing a rudraksh in his right hand and having his hair straightened. The girl hurriedly handed over the tickets to him and lined up for the security check. I was still standing straight in front of the entry gate and watching her from one corner of my eye. As soon she was about to disappear in to the darkness of the hall, she turned for a moment and glanced straight into my face from across the broad path way which was sparkling due to the sun's rays. And then she disappeared in the dark like any second face disappears in a crowd.
Soon my good friends came at 12:20 pm and we finally met after a long 2 years break. It was good to see them after such a long time. We wetnt to CCD and talked and talked. Most of the time Atul and Amit were busy talking about how their lives have changed and how things are now. I ordered for one Tropical Iceberg cold coffee, they orderd for an Ice tea and a sandwitch. Some more juniors came in as Atul had called them, though a lot of my friends didnt turn up as they were busy in their working schedule. As I talked to them I came to know that not everyone was happy from their work in hotels. They said that they were getting their ass screwed by working for long hours and getting a meager 14 or 15 thousand bucks in hand a month plus incentives. I suddenly thought of myself at this moment and felt good and bad together, good for my decision and bad for my peers not being happy with the working. It is a reality of the hotels no doubt and I knew 2 years back that this is how things will be as they were now.
I remember my days of deciding as to whether I should take an year off and not join the industry and prepare for CAT or whether I should not waste the year and join. I must swear it was tough to decide and why will a person put a whole year doing nothing after graduation and just preparing for an entrance exam? What if I didnt end up getting a good percentile, what if I dont get a job having scrwed the exam after an year's prepration. I did bad when I first appeared for the exam getting just over 64 percentile (in final year of graduation), and this added to my loosing faith on the harsh and tough decision that I was to take. At that time my sister showed faith on my decion and supported me, my parents left everything on me to decide if I wanted to join and take up the job in ITC Wills Lifestyle as a customer facilitator (my first job) or just go for the preparation leave. I was getting around 8,000 per month from the job (can you believe that; howbout comapring it to some of my friends in IMI who are getting 80,000 per month). I knew if I go for the job then I wont be able to prepare for CAT because all the time and energy would be consumed in the daily job.
Today when I retrospect and think about the decision I took I believe that it was one of the best decisions I have ever taken. MBA has given me a lot in terms of knowledge, whether tangible or intangible. I got the opportunity to work with all kinds of people here, got to know what politics is, how people can be mean and selfish where they do not see any thing but themselves, how they can smile at you and say please do this for me while saying at the back of their mind (as said by Ricky Ponting) I dont care a shit about you but I am saying this as I have to. I also got to know another kind of people who were amazingly opposite of what I just described, they knew how to give but never knew how to take back. May be because they got satisfaction just by giving, who were so trustworthy that one need not even think while telling a close secret to them, who were so sweet that one would never ever like to loose them in their life time. I sometimes wonder how can people with same skin, eyes, nose, hands and legs can differ so much. I made few friends here who now fall into the second category of people, the amazingly opposite ones (though there were others also from the first category but their real self is now revealed and they are no more entitled to my personal space). On one hand I think of retaining the old friends (the one I met today) and on the other I think of keeping the new ones also but with placements approaching very fast, I am now having a fear of loosing them.
The reunion was a great fun and we all shared our past experiences. Atul was now working in Marriots, others were in Oberoi, Maurya, Imperial, HDFC and the like. With every thing looking same, one thing was missing which I used to find when we were in college. My friends were now more concerned about work life, money, family and what not somehow the friendliness was missing. They were not the same friends as I left them 2 years back. They were changed personalities alltogether.
I wish I could hold the sand of time and want for more of this MBA life which is with me now. But time never stops, sooner or later every one will join the so called 'corporate life' and in times to come they will also be concerned about their own work life, money, family and so on. They will be more on professional relations with each other than the social relation and that too if the need be. Is this how the future will look like. We will meet in CCDs and have Tropical Ice Bergs and sandwiches, talk to each other for a few hours and then some one will look at the watch and say' hey listen guys it was nice meeting you all, but I have a meeting to attend'.
The sand has started to fall and the bell will soon fill till the neck chokes. The first time I sensed the fear of loosing was when I heard about the PPO of one of my good friend. I was among the happiest of all when I got to hear the news, she got a PPO, good company and an awesom package. But the very next moment I thought that soon she will join the corporate world and then we will not be in touch and then she will forget or have a blurring memory in her mind after a couple of years and probably this is how some of her words may be- yes I remember there was a guy one of my batchmates he used to study with me. We might meet at times in seminars and summits and exchange cards and shake hands and then talk about the lates HR measurement tools used by XYZ company ltd. and how the ABC compay went about doing the restructuring or we will just pass a glance and then disappear in the dark like any second face disappears in to a crowd.
Reunions are not a good concept neither I want to meet my friends in a summit or a seminar and exchange cards or just disappear in to the dark, as if we never knew each other. I dont want to loose on that, its creepy but it is true.
Sooner or later every one will get placed and then in the next 3 months we will leave. Can you believe that! we all were together for 2 years and then how can we leave (moments of silence- ps: but the time is still not stopping I am still trying to catch the sand).
Most of the strongest bonds of friendships have already broken and I can see the corporate culture already residing into the system, where we blame, we fight, we cry, we get accused and also get caught guilty. Where we see each other and say 'hi' just for the sake of keeping the professional relation with the person and while we are saying 'hi' we are simultaneously calculating at the back of our mind if the 'hi' is worth the future returns that 'this' approaching person can give 'me'. It is hard to believe but who can deny the truth.
My fingers are crossed and I wish that what ever I have written is just a dream....
But dreams come do come true...
(reader's comments are welcomed :)
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