An Exciting Industrial Visit

Aug 27, 2010

It was a breezy evening which marked the beginning of the spring season and I was excited about going for an Industrial visit to Mumbai with my classmates. Let me brief you the characters of my book. Krishna is blessed with a height of 5’ 11’’, chiseled jawline, blue eyes and makes himself comfortable in his own skin when it comes to meeting new people. Rahul is short stature, fun-loving and persuasive guy. Shiva is a handsome, brave, play boy of MIT - known for cheesy pickup lines and adept at maintaining girlfriends. Viswa is a jovial, confident, charming, live-in-the-moment and optimistic guy, who firmly believes a man’s thoughts decide the future. Last but not least, I am a happy-go-lucky, brave, enthusiastic and down-to-earth guy, blessed with a lot of friends, cousins and a sweet family (Loving Mom, Caring Dad, Best brother, Loving Sister-In-Law, sweet, Charming, Supportive and lovely girlfriend). Hold on, I could read your mind readers (Where is the girl dude?), I will explain about my sweet heart shortly. It was a pleasant Thursday, where Krishna was busy packing his baggage for the much hyped industrial visit to Mumbai. The whole ECE department folks [3rd year] had been pretty much excited all the morning, as we were all set to leave for Mumbai. It was a six day trip and we had planned to board the Mumbai Mail, from the Central station. As we were all set to leave from MIT, Shiva rolled out a 10000 wala fire cracker and lighted it, in front of the MIT gate and the rest of the folks cheered along as the crackers were bursting. We screamed in an ultrasonic pitch, “Here we go!! Let’s enjoy life to the fullest! ECE- 3rd year!” We reached central station around 9 pm and got split into three groups, as there were three sections namely, A, B, and C. The train had arrived at 10 pm and got into the respective coaches. As soon as we had settled down, Shwetha, the chatter-box of our our class [ECE-A] pulled out a delicious Choco-truffle cake, topped with cashews and etched “ECE-A Power Elex Terrors”. It looked so yummy and we were bit hungry then because most of the folks skipped dinner. Soon after having the cake, we had started screaming, “ECE- A Mass. Let’s rock this trip. Mumbai, here we come!” Our screams had disturbed the passers-by on the platform and they were pretty much amazed at seeing our celebrations. The train had departed at 10:40 pm sharp from Chennai Central and Shiva, being the IV rep of ECE-A, did a quick head count. We were in no mood, to hit the sack, so we stayed awake and everybody had gathered at the center of the coach. “How can we make this IV, an awesome and memorable one”, Shwetha exclaimed jumping off her seat.

“Let’s come up with a list of entertaining activities!” Shiva enthused raising his index finger like a school kid.

“Let’s spice it up by playing Truth or Dare,” Viswa jumped into the conversation.

“Dumb- C, Anthakshari and Name, Place, Animal, Thing,” I added.

“Hey, duffer! You are not a kid! Let’s skip Name, Place, Animal, Thing activity,” Shwetha teased me.

“It’s a good game dude. Ok leave it; we don’t have paper and pens,” I replied flexing my arms.

“Cards [Ace, Literature, 7 cards],” Rahul screeched like a bird.

“Common let’s play all these games tomorrow because we are going to spend the next 24 hours on the train. As of now, let’s pair the boys and girls in our class!!” Shwetha concluded the debate and garnered the eye balls by snapping her fingers.

Everybody was game for it and we were all ears.

“Dinesh and Karthika!” Shiva shouted offering his hand to Dinesh to stand up.

Dinesh was quite surprised on hearing that and the class cheered along with some exciting pairs. It was like a confession event. It went on for 30 minutes and then some folks decided to foot-board. Around 1 am, all the lights in our compartment were put-off. But we five of us were still wide awake.

“Are there any college students, accompanying us at Reliance Industries?” Viswa and I screamed popping up from our respective berths.

“Yeah! Buddy, VIT [Vellore Institute of Technology],” Shiva acknowledged us with a hi-fi from the upper berth.

“WOW!!! VIT girls look so gorgeous, so it’s going be a visual treat for MIT boys,” Krishna’s eyes have lit up like the floodlights at a football stadium.

“Dei [Informal way of calling your friends, like dude or buddy], your flirting tricks will not work on VIT girls, because those girls hail from a wealthy background and moreover they will put over scene da,” Shiva tried to shatter Krishna’s confidence.

“Buddy! I am confident, that I would get at least one VIT girl’s mobile number. How much bet?” Krishna replied patting Shiva’s shoulder.

“Machi! [Informal way of calling your friends] be careful, VIT girls would be wearing high-heels and I would give you Rs. 500, if you are able to get the mobile number of the girl whom I point,” Shiva smirked at Krishna once again.

“I will get it for sure!” Krishna retorted confidently.

Next morning, the class was all set to play the games that were discussed last night. “Come on guys, let’s play truth or dare!” Shwetha shouted out loud.

“Truth or Dare?” Shwetha called out Saranya and asked her.

“Who is the smartest guy in our class?” Shwetha inquired like a CBI officer.

Saranya’s mascara filled eye lashes were on the look-out for her crush after a few seconds she blurted out, “Saravana!”

Saravana’s face blushed after Saranya’s confession. It was quite strange, to see a guy blushing, may be it was a pleasant surprise for him. Saranya looked down shyly, squeezing her lips between her teeth trying not to smile.

We were shocked because Saranya was the most silent girl in the class. It was nice to see my friends speaking frankly and trying to get to know each other.

Saranya chose the next participant as Viswa.

“Do you have a crush on any one of the girls in our class?” Shwetha continued tucking her thick black hair behind her left ear.

“No. But I have a huge crush on a girl, from ECE- B,” Viswa replied sheepishly.

“Viswa! Great! Who is that girl?” Shwetha asked astonishingly.

“I cannot reveal her name, because I am yet to propose to her,” Viswa quivered a little.

“Come on, spill the beans, Viswa”

“Her name starts with C,” Shiva hinted in a shrill tone.

“Hey, is it Catherine?” Saranya took a wild guess.

Viswa escaped unanswered.

The game went on for two hours. I was eagerly waiting for my turn, as I had a crush on one of the beautiful girls in my class.

“Guys, Let’s have lunch and resume the game,” Shwetha uttered in a hungry tone. I had a long face when Shwetha halted the game. I was shy to ask her to call out my name.

“Do you have guts to reveal your crush’s name in front of the whole class?” I murmured to myself.

“Yeah, Harish! You can! Don’t miss this opportunity!” My heart boosted me.

The train halted at Sahabad junction for 5 minutes and a couple of Trans genders stepped into our compartment.

One of the Trans genders was staring at Krishna for a few minutes and demanded, “Give me Rs. 100 Handsome!”

“Paisa nahi! I am just a student,” Krishna replied coolly.

“Theek hai! Marry me then!!” The transgender frowned at Krishna.

The class laughed out loud, “Machi! Great! Don’t reject this proposal,” Rahul and I pulled Krishna’s leg.

“No Way! I am too young to get married,” Krishna said twirling the ends of mustache.

The transgendered didn’t budge from her decision and ordered, “Handsome! Marry me or give me Rs.100”

“How can we get married in Train?” Krishna replied pleasantly running his hands through his hair.

We were shocked on hearing on Krishna’s surprising reply.

“Adapavi! (OMG!),” Shiva and I exclaimed in unison.

“Here is the Mangalsutra, let’s get married handsome!” The transgender pulled out sacred yellow thread (Mangalsutra) from her dirty hand bag and giggled.

Krishna was awestruck on seeing the Mangalsutra.

“Hey, Krishna! I will chant the mantra! Marry her!” Nandita, one of the prettiest girls in our class added fuel to the fire.

Finally, Krishna pleaded the transgender to leave him and gave her Rs.100.

The transgender pinched Krishna’s cheeks and gave a flying kiss to him while leaving the compartment.

Shiva recorded the whole drama in the camcorder.

“Machi! How did you impress the transgender? Give me some tips buddy,” Rahul added salt to Krishna’s wounds.

“Ada pavigala! (OMG) Leave me alone!” Krishna was shell-shocked and laughed.

“Dai! Where are you going? Going in search of that transgender?” I too pulled Krishna’s leg.

“Harish, I am your best friend!” Krishna replied back with a funny tone [Like Tamil comedy Actor Vadivelu dialogue].

The whole event was a visual treat for the class and Krishna became the comedy piece of the class. It turned out to be a memorable event for us.

A few minutes later, Shwetha took the center stage and suggested us to play Dumb C. Since we were totally 70, Shwetha divided us into 5 teams. We decided to enact the movie names.

Shwetha called out Viswa and whispered him a movie name [Siva Manasula Sakthi]

Viswa enacted by taking out the mobile from his pocket and showed us an SMS.

First, we were a bit clueless, after a few seconds Shiva screamed in a high pitch, “SMS – Siva Manasula Sakthi”

“Bravo! Bravo!” Viswa cheered.

We enacted almost all the new movies and it was really fun the way, our buddies enacted it. It was played like a serious competition because Shwetha was calculating the points scored by each teams. Meanwhile, we were gorging on chips, biscuits and wafers. ECE-A girls were so generous, because they had been our snacks supplier throughout the tour.

After a few hours, we got bored of playing Dumb-C, so we thought switching to Cards [Ace]. Since there were only 1 pack of cards, so Cards was ruled out. So we rested for quite a while. We had enjoyed the train journey to the core, even though we were travelling in 2nd class Sleeper. When your friends are around, comfort can take a back seat.

Krishna and Viswa made their way to foot board and recollected the transgender incident. Krishna was busy counting the number of tunnels we had crossed.

“How many tunnels did we cross?” Viswa asked Krishna curiously.

“12!” Krishna replied instantly.

“Even though you were harassed by a transgender, How come you kept track of the tunnel count buddy?” Viswa giggled.

“Concentration Machi!” Krishna cheered with a hi-fi to Viswa.

We got tired by then, so we had stopped playing games. Instead the class started making fun of Krishna. Krishna didn’t lose his temper, instead he too laughed out loud on seeing the video. Then we had dinner and dozed off, because the train would reach Mumbai, next day on the wee hours [4:30 am].

The train had arrived on time and we checked in Hotel Alankar, which falls under two star hotel category. The manager of the hotel welcomed us with a smiling face. The hotel was illuminated with dim lights installed overhead, creating a yellow haze of vision.

Each room was shared by four students. Shiva pleaded us to get ready within 8:30 am, as we got to visit Reliance Industries Pvt. Ltd at 10:00 am.

Somehow we managed to reach the Reliance Industries on time. We were waiting at the entrance for the gate pass; meanwhile we started clicking pictures, trying out different poses. As Shiva had already said, VIT college folks were also waiting with us at the entrance. We guys were literally drooling over the VIT girls.

“Machi, Remember the bet?” Shiva slowly turned his head towards Krishna.

“Yeah Buddy. I will get it,” Krishna’s sheer confidence was evident in his response.

“Go and get her mobile number,” Shiva said pointing his index finger at a hot looking girl.

Krishna went straight to that girl and started chatting with her.

He was speaking with her for more than 15 minutes and Shiva’s jaw almost hit the ground, “Adapavi [OMG], Krishna is really a brave guy!”

Krishna had got that girl’s mobile number as well.

Krishna walked back happily and gestured with thumbs up sign!

“Superb! How come you hit on a complete stranger dude?” Shiva responded complimenting with thumbs up sign

“Machi! If you speak confidently to anybody, they would reply you properly. Moreover she is college girl. So it was easy to hit on her,” Krishna chuckled.

“What the hell did you speak for 15 minutes?” Viswa and I asked surprisingly.

“Hmm! Let me tell you the complete conversation,” Krishna replied heaving a sigh of relief.

We were curious to listen to the whole conversation.

“Hi. Good Morning,” I greeted with a gentle smile on my face.

“Good Morning!” She sang sweetly.

‘I am pursuing B.E, ECE at Madras Institute of Technology’, I introduced extending my hand for a hand shake.

‘Cool! I am pursuing B.E, E & I at VIT. ’ She started shaking her silky soft hands with mine.

“Which year?” She probed me.

“3rd year, You?”

“Me too!” She replied back in a childish tone. It was nice to hear.

“Sounds good! Btw what is your name?” I kept the conversation rolling.

‘Sorry, I am Swathi. You are??’

‘I am Krishna. Is your native Vellore?’

‘Nope. I am a Chennai girl.’

‘Fine! My native is Vellore, but we got settled in Chennai!’

‘Oh I see. So how long is your tour?’ She asked me

‘5 days!’ I replied

‘Hey. I want to participate in VIT cultural,’ I asked her

‘Sure. Are you a singer?’

“Yeah. How did you get to know?” I replied excitingly.

“Your voice sounds good. So I guessed it,” She said winking at me.

“Good guess! It was nice to meet you.”

‘ ’ She smiled back.

“Hmm..er..Could you give me your mobile number? So you can let me know about your cultural events in advance.” I asked her clearing my throat.

“Haan! Smart da, Note it down,”

I happily noted down her number and gave her a missed call. She too stored my number.

‘Bye Swathi. I got to go!’

‘Bye, Krishna!’

Thus Krishna narrated the whole conversation.

“Dai. Are you a singer?” Shiva teased Krishna.

“She asked me if I was a singer. So I just nodded my head. It is actually true; I am a good bathroom singer. You Know?” Krishna replied.

‘Liar! Liar!’ Shiva said in an angry tone.

“Buddy. Culturals itinerary are usually posted on the college’s website. So your reason for getting her mobile number is not convincing,” I raised a logical question.

‘Buddy, Leave it. Don’t think too much. Even I knew it but I spoke convincingly’, Krishna managed it.

Finally, we got the gate passes and a beautiful lady welcomed us in. We were wondering who she was. A few minutes later, she took us to an auditorium, which was scented with sweet fragrance. Then she introduced herself, “Hi Guys! I am Adithi. I work here as HR. Hope you guys are doing Good. Welcome to Reliance Industries Limited. “

“Dude, She is hot!” Rahul was the first one to comment about Adithi.

“Damn Sexy!” I too complimented her.

“Yes, buddy. But she had worn a lot of make-up,” Krishna agreed.

“It is okay man. It suits her,” Rahul retaliated.

Adithi took the center stage and asked us to settle down.

“I am going to walk you through a quick presentation,” She said turning on the projector.

The moment she opened the PPT, we looked at the count of slides. It was 50! We thought that she was going to bore us. But she presented it in an innovative way. Her accent was mind-blowing. We were glued to our seats for 20 minutes.

“Dude, we should score good CGPA and try to get placed at Reliance!!” Rahul asked stretching his arms.

“I think you are eager to hit on her!” Krishna said

“Not only because of her. Reliance is a nice place to work,” Rahul said staring at Adhiti.

“Best of luck,” Krishna grinned.

Adithi was boasting about Reliance’s Achievements:

• Domestic Leadership in Petrochemicals

• World's Largest Producer of Polyester Fibre and Yarn

• Fifth largest producer of PP and PX in the world

• Ninth largest producer of PTA

Thus she ended the PPT. Adithi told us, “I might have bored you guys. Let’s head to the cafeteria and have a sumptuous meal. Reliance Industries serves highly nutritious and delicious food to all the employees. You guys will eat well I guess, as you might have skipped your breakfast.”

Oh hearing the word food, we woke up from the boring lecture and headed to the cafeteria. We were surprised at seeing it, as it was the first time we saw such a huge cafeteria. Moreover, it was a buffet, so it was a double bonanza for us. We tried all the cuisines in the buffet, as we were damn hungry by then.

Soon after having lunch, Adithi took us back to the auditorium. She said adjusting her saree, “Guys, I know it’s difficult to stay awake, after having a heavy meal. I will try to make this session interesting, by asking you some questions, so that you will stay awake.”

Adithi opened the PPT and started presenting it. We literally dozed off because we haven’t had a sound sleep last night.

Adithi concluded her presentation after an hour and asked if we had any questions for her.

We didn’t even utter a single word. Adithi said flashing a cute smile, “Thank you for being with me!”