Always late to class..

My father used to keep telling me that anyone who wants to succeed, it’s not just the hard work but the punctuality and the dedication one puts into his work really matters. He always insisted on waking up early in the morning and added that it is one quality that every successful individual has never lacked.

During my school days I used to play cricket every evening and tire my selves up so much that I slept without any difficulty in the night and wake up late. By then I was stoic to all the reprimands that were showered on me! Mummy used to take my side all the time and never woke me up earlyJ

But this habit of mine proved detrimental when I reached college. I was selected to the college athletic team. I was forced attend the practice sessions very early in the morning. But by then I had already earned the sobriquet ‘Lazy Latif’. Similar was the case when it came to attending classes. I used to start from my hostel room to the mess only some five minutes before the bell the bell. I had the rare distinction of being regularly late to the first class everyday.

This didn’t stop then and there. Now that I have joined my first job, I have already gained a reputation here for getting up really late and running behind the bus daily just like Shaggy. Everyday I forget taking something or the other. Sometimes I miss my pen and the other day it is the cell phone. Today I was late as usual and couldn’t manage to find any seat in the bus. I simply got down and waited for the second bus scheduled to leave after five minutes. It was half an hour and no bus. Yesterday there was a strike in Muniguda and the roads were blocked. So, as a precautionary measure the bus started at 6 in the morning. The second bus didn’t come and we had to take a rickshaw.

If I had woken up early today I could have saved 50 rs. Apart from that I could have taken a smooth ride in the cushioned seat of our company bus………

My first weekend off

Today was my first non-working day at Lanjigarh since the time of joining the new job. We work almost through out the day starting right from 7 in the morning to 8 in the evening. Not that I work for 13 hours at the plant (I am not that good an engineer yet!), but the fact that we share two toilets amongst 7 of us in the same room can give a better explanation.

Last Sunday, which was supposedly our first weekend off, we went out to a nearby town for some window shopping which is at some 80 kms from this place. The whole day was wasted in traveling. So this time we all decided to utilize our time fully.

We had purchased a cricket ball last week which came handy this time. We started our game right after our breakfast. We made teams of 5 each and framed our own rules. We have a nearby paddy field which has some patches of flat surface here and there. We made one of those parts as our pitch.

Since it was the first time that we all were playing cricket together, nobody knew how each one us play the game. I was the first one to come forward and form a team. Our team won the toss and elected to bat.

I opened the innings. Everyone had lots of expectations from me as I had already told them about my athletic feats. The very first ball I faced was declared wide. Since the pitch had some uneven patches in it, the second ball I faced turned awkwardly and clearly deceived me and hit the stumps. I had to give the bat to other fellow and sit at the backside. I just came up with this excuse that I was out of form for quite some time to cover up my poor game play. But even in the second game, I didn’t survive more that two balls. Looking at me wavering at every other ball I faced, everyone was convinced I was just a minnow in this game. This time there was no excuse, I had to accept that I had the same knowledge as the person leaving in Antartic about horse riding. Luckily for me, it started raining heavily and we had to return to the guest house.

In the afternoon session of the game, nobody wanted me in their team because of my poor play in the morning session. But I had made up my mind that I would play much better and win my team. I got into one team after a bit of criticism. Even this time I insisted on opening the innings. They all agreed because they knew that I would not last for more time. I played really well and our team won all the matches that we played with me being the lead scorer in each game.

At the end of the day I was feeling nice that I could make an impression with my game. The lesson we learnt today was that, we can never under-estimate anyone just because they played poorly initially. But we were all sad that we had to go through the same old hard regime of going to the office the next day. After all it is a vicious cycle that we all have chosen to be entangled with.

First Aider

I have this special tendency to note down the common mistakes which people commit while speaking English. There are lots of things which people hardly recognize and it remains unnoticed.

Recently we had a workshop organized on “First Aid” by the St. John’s Ambulance team in our company. The doctor who was lecturing us had this typical Oriya accent while speaking. Every now and then he came up with some Oriya proverb to explain us better, but every time he used to end up with some funny quotes. Though he didn’t mean any of them, all of us in our batch made it a point to note down his interesting comments..!!

We had a competition amongst our selves as to who would note down the maximum number of his wrongly used sentences. Here I collate some of them…

·

• Don’t be ego with you while attending any casualty.

  Be remember that you need to fill the form first.

  Just time pass this session is not taken.

  He has spent many times for you, kindly listen to him
  carefully.

  Hold it central (while demonstrating how to use the bandage)

  Suppose a person has been taken poison

  If a person cuts electricity never neglect

  The lost has been there already

  Inspire first and then expire (he actually meant inhale and exhale)

  Raise his legs to the up

  The food will go to the up

  Will you not getting comfort?

  Suppose a person has been caught fire

  The gas cannot be gone into the nose

  Anything get enter into the body harms the life

  RBC will go on die

  You will crazy for a A/C

  Ultimately person can safe

  Entertainment displacement will be there

  In last august 12 students were fell down

  You can do good bye to the society

  The diseases cannot be contaminated to the others

  I will remove my right leg first

  Exactly correct
  

After the session each one of us compared their points with one another and had nice time imitating that doctor. It lasted for two full days. The session included even the practical performances. We had demonstrations on how to tie the bandages and how to rescue a person engulfed in fire. In addition to these, there were discussions on dog-bites, snake bites and drowning. I was asked to enact as a dummy in one of those sessions, and I was the one who had caught fire and had to shout out for help. The other person who was to rescue me literally kicked and rolled me over the floor. We had to repeat the scene to make it more realistic. Initially he asked me if it was fine with me if he kicked, but I was not in favor of it. After all who would like to be kicked?? I asked him to give me a slight push so that I can fall freely ;-)

At the end of the day, it was all fun...

Just another day at the plant.

We had been to a nearby Town yesterday for some window shopping. Though everything is available at Muniguda we visit nearby towns for a change every sunday. This time we went to Bhavani Patna, the district headquarters of Kalahandi District.

Some went on to buy some clothes while others vented out their frustrations by going for a movie. My very purpose of visiting such a distant town was to withdraw some hard cash from any ATM. I was happy to find one there. I could also buy a new BSNL sim card.

We are feeling better now after receiving our punch cards. A nice feeling to hang it around the neck..:-) :-) after week long time when every other person used to interrogate our identity.

Today we all have been assigned a particular unit which we are supposed to supervise and we are supposed to report by tomorrow to our respective unit heads. We had a small informal chat today with our unit head. He says we being engineers are expected not to have even a speck of dirt or grease at the end of the day.

Time for Lunch... C ya

Straight from Lanjigarh - II

It is said that ' The Idle mind is a Devil's workshop'. I am cribbing for some work here. All the GETs here are feeling sick doing nothing. Only job we do is eating-traveling-sleeping-chatting. But the seniors here say that once we are allotted a unit, we wouldn't have any time to even scratch our butt. I don't know if thats true. Let me see.....;-)

Today we were all excited to hear that one new girl has joined as GET. We happened to meet her at the reception but she was not alone. She was under the watchful eyes of her DAD. No prob, we 'll have enough time to know each other better.

More people are expected to arrive in a day or two. New faces and new talks. hmmm. At least then, we can have some better chats in the bus.

Abhishek, my room mate, missed his breakfast today. Even I was on the verge of missing mine, but managed to stuff some idlis at the last moment. I had to accompany him back to the staff colony. And guess what we even got to read yesterday's newspaper.. woala...!! Yes, here the only source of entertainment and news is the INTERNET.

There is one guy from Jamshedpur, who seems to be new into this cyberworld. He somehow fell into this Orkut mania. Since then, his only form of diet has been scrapping and making friends. With his typical bihari accent, he is just capable of being another entertainment source.

Today we met our Process Engineer Mr. Rajiv. He was in a mood to take us for a ride. He just couldn't digest the fact that we are doing nothing. He says he shall press the HR people to take us through the so called Induction program as soon as possible.

Now its time for Lunch. Abhishek insists so.... C ya

Straight from Lanjigarh - I

Cattles blocking the road. People bathing at the small rivulets. Kids running behind the cars.. farmers busy ploughing their fields. Yes all these things we would have seen only in those anil kapoor type movies. But I am now proud to tell you all that the place where I am right now, has all those things which I've just described. Yes I am in a village called Lanjigarh, which is roughly about 60 kms from Rayagada district of Orissa.

The moment I got down from the train at the station, I was little apprehensive of my decision to join a group of people working in such a remote location. I found half naked people, mostly women, carrying the firewood brought right from deep inside the jungle waiting at the railway station to reach a nearby town to sell them and earn a living. I found those mini buses carrying at least half the capacity in excess and the rickshawallahs waiting for some out-station customers for a living.

I moved to the company guest house near the station. I was allotted a room equipped with all the basic amenities which can imagine in a village. A little more than that though. The vehicle comes early in the morning to pick us up...

To be continued..................