Thats how it all started

(--= This is a three part blog. Please read "The Second Month" and "The Last Days" which follow this post =--)

Life has given me some unforgettable memories..some pleasant, some not so. On this occasion I wish to recount one which transformed me...ofcoz this is not about a rendezvous with the spirits, nor is it about a meeting with a living GOD, but is about my training days at Turbo Plus (hereafter referred to as T+), when I was transformed from a greenhorn to a professional...hehe....built up all the hype and let u down aint I??

Those of you who are not pissed off, continue...
Turbo plus is the training center of UST...oh, and btw, UST is where I work. Even before joining, I had heard a lot about its tough schedules...But I was never prepared enough for what lay ahead.

My first days - I remember vividly my first day. I had put on my best blue and had planned on reaching T+ well before 9am. Luck had it that I got an autorikshaw late, and that guy did not know the exact location. He left me half a km adrift of the actual place. Thus I had it that I had to run all my way to the place, with my formal attire not helping things in the least. By the time I reached T+, it was just about 9. I had the good fortune of having friends in the batch, and so did not feel out of place. We all were bundled into a room. 37 nervous wrecks sat there awaiting further instructions. At this point, the team from UST piled in. Niketh was there, along with Viju and Asha. Pleasantries exchanged, welcome extended and they were gone. A very fair lady then stepped into the room and asked us to get the stuff ready. Never realized at that point that, Bindu chechi, as she became later known to us, would play an important part in that transformation. But more on that later, coz I was at that time frantically searching for my passport-size photographs. I searched in vain, only to realize that I might have left it at home...When it was my chance, I gave her my best sheepish smile..she had seen a lot of such cases I presume; she simply said, ok bring it tomorrow...Gawd..Wasnt I relieved...Once it was all done, it was time for some other faculty from T+ to give a lecture...and my o my....a lecture it was...and that was when I first heard of "push technology". Sanu did really have a talent for that...he said, he was always shy of public speaking, but he overcame it by constant practice. one always wondered if he ever did. But then, like Bindu chechi, he too was to become part of ..yea..u guessed it...transforming...

Our first introduction to Rajagopal sir took place the next day. Confidence oozing from every pore, he amazed us with his ability to teach. I learnt that day that learning to code was going to be interesting...To this day, I cannot pass a day without wondering about the role he had in shaping us for the inevitable. He was such an amazing man, that everyone respected and loved him. He taught us only C, C++, Java...but in teaching them, he also taught us what passion could do...

The first month was a real eye opener for us...Drooling in the comfort of having got a job, we were thrown against the harsh reality of actually having to pass the training before we could join...It was as if a time bomb was ticking and we were sitting on top of it, hoping the fuse would be pulled out before it reached the end. Being from a non-IT background, a lot of us found the going really tough...It was only the strength of our relationships that helped us see through these tough times..and in hindsight, it was good that the situation was really tough, coz it gave us the chance to foster some relationships which continue to this day. And so one month later, we had learnt a great deal, and failed in almost all exams...and hence were all far off from the 70% that was needed to see us in UST.

But one month later, we had certainly progressed in our lives. More wonderful friendships, more angles of looking at things, more professional..hmmm yes, the transformation had started...as we progressed into the second month, it was time for retrospection...of putting in more to get to that magic figure of 70%, of finding out where we went wrong and putting things right..