My foray into the corporate world – post prologue

I promised I would be back after the search for accommodation and I have kept my promise. If you don’t know what I am talking about, click here : My foray into the corporate world - Prologue.

As expected, it wasn't easy. Nevertheless, it wasn’t the worst either. Thanks to my friend’s friend and another friend’s dad’s friend’s friend, life became a lot simpler (however complicated it might sound).

On day one, we had a car at our disposal and a “localite” friend to help us out with the language and location. 

I discovered two really interesting things

1)      The prices of real estate in the areas around the training centre, varies with the training period at TCS, Chennai.

2)      There is no such word as “localite” in the English language. I can see a lot of Indian eyebrows going up and saying “NO! That is not true. What is this useless fellow telling?” But it’s true. I didn’t know it either till I saw this little red line appear below my text. I checked up Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries to confirm*. How often do we use this word? Wow! And they say Indians cannot innovate. YES WE CAN (Obama style).

I apologize for the digression. We repeatedly hear that we are in the Information Age today and I got a taste of how true it is. I met a broker whose first question to me was, “TCS aah”. Oh by the way, “Aah” is the Indian phonetic version for the symbol “?”. So I said, “Yeah. How do you know?” To which he responds, “Full area only TCS. SRM aah” Well, I am from SRM University and I was getting a bit suspicious, so I slowly respond, giving him my special suspicious expression(see picture) and saying, “Yeah!?” He smiles knowledgeably and answers, “500 students SRM coming. After 2 weeks, new batch coming. TCS calling training prices going full high”. I was surprised at how well informed he was (though the figures weren't right) and looking at the Pulsar he was riding, I knew he was doing well.

Apparently, the prices shoot up to almost double when a new batch comes in for training. Initially, I was pretty happy that we were being given an HRA (house rent allowance) during the training period and optimistically thought that I could probably save a little from that for my pocket. How naive of me. Let me just put it this way: if my HRA and basic pay columns were to switch; only then could I afford a decent place to stay.

Luckily for me, I had a place booked through a friend, who was called for training a little earlier. It sounded like a fancy place. Television, AC (that too split, which is a pretty big thing here), lockers and attached bath for a price which would tempt anybody. I went to check out the place. It looked like any other PG/hostel to me, which I am okay with because it’s only for a period of 3 months. Anyway, my friend opens the door and I take a step in. That is where the room ended (and the place is called a “Mansion”). In the most brilliant and ingenious display of area management, they could fit in all that was promised and in a way that, you could reach any corner of the room by just taking a step in that particular direction. To its credit, it was a pretty clean and well maintained place and with its price tag looming over our head, it was too tempting to let go. So we decided to pay the meagre advance and book the place.

However, we decided to call this place “Plan B” and look on further with the hope of finding something better. Not today though. It was time for a nice dinner and end with that.

Day 2 started with the same enthusiasm but with a new entourage. To give us company we had a chauffeur driven car and another “localite” to help us out, thanks to my friend’s father’s friend’s friend. This time, we decided to make use of the ads on the local paper instead of a broker. We saw some really beautiful and some uninhabitable places but nothing seemed to work out. After an onerous task of house hunting (we saw 2 houses, 1 good and 1 bad), we decided to end the day at that. So we went for lunch, saw a movie, dinner and wrapped it up with another movie.

Day 3 began for M at 6:30 am and for me at 10 am. M had some other things to attend to and wanted to check out a few houses after that. I reluctantly offered to help him, which he refused since he had other company. Disappointed as I was, I lay in bed in an air conditioned room watching a movie on the LCD screen all day, while the others were busy house hunting. I get a call from these poor friends of mine in the evening to let me know that nothing has worked out. With that ends operation accommodation.

So looks like I will be moving into plan B for the next three months. That is not something I am looking forward to but I am pretty excited about something else, My First Day at Work and as you have guessed it already, there will be a blog post on how that went for sure.

Cheers!

* There are a few online dictionaries which say it is a legal word. But since the reputed dictionaries and Ms Word doesn't list it as a legal word, I am going with them. 

Disclaimer: This is strictly based on my experience and I am in no way complaining about the facilities or remuneration being provided to me by my employer. As I said before, I still LOVE you. Muah!