For a change Anuj woke up before the alarm. There was a spring in his step as he got dressed. His very first day at his very first job!
As he got into his beige trouser and half sleeves t-shirt a twinge of guilt at the money his parents had spent on it hit him. His dad was already waiting for him when he went in for breakfast. This was his moment of pride, having breakfast with his father and leaving for work with him. It was delicious, this moment of achievement.
As the red bus traversed the dusty roads of vadodara, anuj’s excitement grew. Dad wanted him to be independent and it was a joint decision that he would travel by bus. He didn’t mind the journey; he was carrying a book along to pass his time. The heat was a killer as it is in May and by the time he reached his workplace he was drenched in sweat. Thank god for deos, thought Anuj!
A deep breathe in and he plunged into his new office, which was in a residential complex, a normal occurrence with small IT companies in Gujarat. Proudly he marched in; it was no small feat to join as a junior software developer in a leading IT company.
He waited in the reception with a sense of trepidation as Sunil walked in. Sunil, with his hair nicely combed no nonsense attitude, cold stare and cryptic voice looked scary. Hi, I am your PM and you will be working on B & Z client said Sunil as he shook hands. He led Anuj to a workstation and directed him to his desk. Anuj was still staggering behind a bit bewildered at how fast things were moving. As Anuj’s spirit kept ebbing Sunil kept talking.
The first 8 hours of his work life left Anuj bewildered. There had not even been a proper induction. The client coverage specifications had been dumped on him; Sunil spent 20 minutes on each and briskly explained their business. And then he asked Anuj to read the specifications and come up with queries. The drudgery unknown to Anuj had begun.
6 months later
Anuj’s slim frame was hunched over the meeting table (a common term used for the place where meetings with client generally happens). It was 7:00 am in the morning and Anuj just couldn’t concentrate, he had changed 3 rickshaws to reach work as buses didn’t play till 8:00 am, had missed breakfast and his back was killing him because of long hours in front of the computer. But he couldn’t afford to delay. Sunil, his devilish boss would be in anytime and if the prototype (a demo for software) wasn’t ready he would be yelled at, yet again. Last evening he had thrown the mouse pointing the specification at his desk because the UI was looking dirty! Now how could that be his fault, it was the client’s mistake they kept changing the screens and shooting emails as they did not know what they wanted, and clearly the specification had not been updated by the so called boss.
Sunil stormed in at 8:30 am and yelled saying how come prototype is not matching the client’s requirement. Anuj quivered and shifted from one foot to another. He tried explaining that client had not been available to make a comment, but Sunil never listened. The office boys were looking at him with pity. Anuj broke down that day and his confidence was in tatters. He was dreading going to the desk again, it couldn’t be avoided. As he reached his desk he saw a completely new UI’s print-outs and Sunil crisply told him, that the UI’s needs to be completed by tomorrow morning 9:00 am. Anuj stammered as he said Sunil I already have 2 complex pages to make, why don’t we get new developer team (a separate web designing team) to do half of it. Sunil quietly said, I have done this for 5 years as well, and it’s doable. I want the UI’s tomorrow morning.
The bus journey back home was traumatic. The hot August air did nothing to ease out his stress and tension. Nothing in his college days had prepared him for this. Whatever happened to algorithms logic, codes, C++, DFS, database? All those pages full of assignments, OR (maths), Assembly language, MIS sounded like a dream, a lie, a waste. All he did was sit at his desk and connected pen-drive to his machine and started his work. That night Anuj made up his mind, he had to leave. Drudgery at work could be acceptable but constant humiliation was not.
6 years later
Ajay walked into his new organization, his first job, Anuj came out to receive him. As they walked in, Anuj handed Ajay a specification, his induction doc and told Ajay that though they would work together, Ajay’s “buddy” through his induction period of 3 months would be another colleague. Only after spending 3 months in an in-house training program would Ajay be introduced to actual work. Ajay loved his workplace and by the end of 3 months was eager to jump into work.
It was a windy January morning and Ajay and Anuj were headed towards a client meeting. Ajay had been in the organization for 6 months now and loved working with Anuj. Anuj was a dream team lead, patient, knowledgeable, supportive and stern when required. That morning Anuj was particularly chatty and as they got talking Ajay mentioned that his elder brother had been in IT as well and had worked for X IT company. Anuj curiously asked him, what’s your brother’s name? Sunil, replied the cheerful Ajay.
Anuj stared at Ajay and then burst out laughing. Oblivious to Anuj & Sunil’s association and bitter parting, Ajay joined Anuj’s laughter. Their playful banter continued till they reached their destination.
Anuj never let Ajay know of the dreadful time Sunil had given him. And Ajay was awarded the best employee that year.
