MY FIRST DAY AT OFFICE

It was the sixteenth place I dropped my CV. I even waited 2 hours to meet the MD who never showed up. I wasn’t completely desperate yet, so I decided to return home. No longer had I reached, my cell rang with an unknown number. The MD wanted to talk, next I heard was a soft and confident female voice. It took me a while to figure out that I was being asked to join without any interview. Finally, a month of idleness would end. I was proud much to the fact that it didn’t involve any form of nepotism. This restored my faith in fair recruitment.

Getting back to the main topic, it was a sunny Sunday for me although the weather would disagree. I was ready for my first day at office. I set off in jeans, Tee and a pair of converse. For someone with a reputation of strictly not being punctual, it was a big thing to reach 15 minutes earlier. I was asked to meet a senior engineer who happened to be late. So, after waiting half an hour outside the gate, I was escorted in and introduced to other staffs. Many faces were familiar; the 2 hours wait the previous day was long enough to print some faces in my memory.

The office looked ordinary to say the least. I was temporarily given a computer which I managed to hang several times before realizing that I should open one file at a time to avoid potential mess. I was seated next to two ladies who never bothered to care what the new staff was going through. May be they were not in their own world; probably they were giving me some space amidst the awkwardness. It seemed to take a long time before the office broke for lunch, a much needed one for me. There were five of us sharing the table. I ordered what everyone else were having and it was Noodles. Until that time, I was on a No-Wheat diet for more than 2 months. Before food got ready, there were several uninteresting conversations about Batman, Superman and Mahabharat. For obvious reasons, my ears had to work more than my mouth. After the food got served, there was a pin drop silence. The other four ate as if they had never tasted anything more delicious. Funny that I could not finish everything, it was far from tasty for me.

We marched towards the junction – a temple at five minutes’ walk. Thanks to Rishi Dhamala, mocking him evoked laughter and fun for the first time in the day. With further conversations, I came to know that I was offered job as someone else was in the verge of leaving in quest of better opportunities. It was half past two and everyone walked together to the office to resume work. Things were going smooth when suddenly a girl came rushing towards my seat and stared at me in dismay. I soon realized that the seat belonged to her. I stood up like a gentleman, offered her the revolving chair and wandered in confusion. I was shifted to a different computer beside an old man this time. We chatted casually in bits and pieces. Meanwhile I was assigned the task of estimation of a building. To be fair, I was way below par in work rate. Soon the clock hit 5 – time to disperse. I did not enjoy the day at all, so wasn’t sure I wanted to continue. Nevertheless, I convinced myself that it can only get better in days to come.