Summers Diary : Recovered from Laptop

Day 1

Touchdown at Bombay. The rather undecipherable cackle of the captain over the intercom announces it’s a warm 34 Degrees outside.

This city has this amazing way of making me feel completely at home and I guess it’s a feeling shared by many. If you ever feel alone and lonely in the streets of Mumbai, then you better visit a shrink. Every time I visit Bombay from Delhi I wonder how 2 cities can ever be so contrasting. Bombay is ugly, full of slums, and has a very functional look to it. There is no attempt to beautify the city; there is no gloss around it.

Delhi, on the other hand is beautiful and neat, parts of South Delhi look right out of a majestic European town, and there is an extravagance of wealth all round it.

Yet the average guy you meet on the road is cold, pugnacious, aggressive and rude. The vastness of city, the abundance of space, the lack of pedestrians and the harshness of the weather cover it with a blanket of ice (sometimes literally).

The town of glitz and glamour, on the other hand, has ironically very few dreamy people. Bombay’s gentry have their feet firmly on the ground, their head firmly on their shoulders and there is earnestness behind that hardworking attitude that is commendable. Believe me you, the city of dreams is still alive with dreams, but the people are not dreamy. Everyone’s too busy charting their destinies to daydream. They know that before their dreams come true, they have to work their ass off.

Training center at Gulita is awesome; unfortunately Infy has spoilt my frame of reference. The other interns think I’m a big show-off when I say I’ve stayed in similar facilities for more than 4 months at the Mysore DC.The view is awesome, nevertheless.

There seem to be too many girls among the 50 interns. I know that must sound stupid or gay or both. But a quick calculation of the average B-school sex ratio shows that the company’s sex ratio is far more women-friendly than that. You are free to make your own inferences.

Have a nice time in the evenings walking along Worli sea face. Armies of Xlers and IIM-A guys have turned up.

Day 2

Day full of talks from the legends at the organization. I wanted to join this company for its people and it has not disappointed me. The head of Sales is awe- inspiring.

This company takes its summer interns seriously, and it shows. Half the people we meet have been summer interns. (Statistically more than half of Management Trainees are PPO candidates).

Day 3

First day at work. Invited to a Monday meeting about the week’s targets and forecasts.

I am more sold on an FMCG career. I don’t think you can get a more exciting life in any other profession. You can get stressed out, burnt out or completely exhausted from this line of work, but you can never get bored. Ever heard of a soldier getting bored from war. Fed up, yes. Tired, maybe. But a boring life. Never. That’s enough for me.

Decide to stay with dad and commute from Andheri everyday. I think the Bathtub, and the Jacuzzi apart from the air-conditioned guesthouse might have had something to do with the decision..

Summers Diary : Contd

Day 4

Brand Re-launch at Marriott. Relaunch of FAL, POCT, PADDOC, and WALP. Figure out these brands yourself. Feel very important and privileged to be part of something so big. Load my bag with free samples.

Day 5

Holiday. Lunch with guide and brand manager of S**f. Very Enjoyable.

Day 6

Day Long meeting with the ASM task force for my project. Am amazed at how everyone is concerned about how much the summer interns should learn. It’s a great heritage, interning here and joining the company. Almost everyone around knows how it feels to be an intern, and they take great pains to make sure our stint is mutually beneficial. The project is planned with a major part of the work allocated to us. A helluva lot of money is riding on this pilot and everything depends on our inputs!!! Most of the ASM’s are women, surrisingly.The company is consciously trying to increase the number of women in the system. Understandable, considering most of their products are oriented towards women and even those that are not are those whose purchasing decisions are made by women. I cannot see a bunch of guys running a L***e, FAL, or even a S****k.

Dinner on the house at Marine plaza. Blow up a cool 9 grand. Delectable desserts. Try to walk a bit down Marine drive before catching a cab back home to burn away some of the guilt.J

Words of wisdom from my guide, whom I have quite come to like.

“You can have a job that involves your mind, your body and soul. But this is the only one that involves your b***s.”

Day 7

Holiday. Sleep most of the time, go to Juhu Beach in the evening with dad. Convince him that traveling by locals will not kill him

Day 8

Watched with pain and agony with the entire nation the Indian team botch up yet another series. Nariman point in the evening.

Day 9

Public holiday but went on the sales stint.

This wholesale market in the heart of Bombay. Null bazaar.

Amaaaazing experience, but to be fair to the salesman, only for a week or two. The dude’s been doing this for 12 years and I can only feel for him. Makes some of us who quit plush jobs in air-conditioned comfort, because it wasn’t “challenging” or “stimulating” look like a bunch of spoilt brats.

Day 10

Sales stint in Buleshwar. Downmarket are. This time with the chemist’s outlet.

Chemists in Bombay are by and large less organized, but have not explored the entire city, to be fair to them.

Day 40

Well, day 10 is all I got to till I could sit back and maintain my diary everyday. Today is day 40, I am mostly done with the initial study, reports and recommendations. We have given our first ppt to the task force which will be driving this project ahead nationally. It’s been a tiring, breathless and exhausting journey. But it’s been exhilarating. I’d take that any day.J Everywhere the term management trainee is used interchangeably with summer intern, much to my relief. Has a good ring to it.

If you ask me one word to describe the internship here, I would say “Empowering”.

The interns are the blue-eyed boys of the company. You are treated like royalty. You are given a car wherever you go. You fly all round the country. The R.S and the salesmen treat you almost like a brand manager. (I was the guest of honor in a particular event organized for the sales force in Bangalore and had to distribute prizes!). But that’s not even close to why this place is the best place to intern at.

Summer internship here is a great tradition. It’s part of the culture here. You are assumed to be competent and qualified if you are an intern. Most of the people you meet have been summer interns here. They know what you are going through. They know the initial insignificance you consider yourself bestowed with, they know your fears and apprehensions and can empathize. But again that’s only part of the elegy that this post is turning out to be.

You are treated part of the system. YOU ARE NOT INDULGED. Your suggestions and inputs are only as valuable as the logic that is backing them. They do not carry the baggage of coming from a novice, neither is there an artificial attempt to humor them if they suck.

“I’M JUST AN INTERN”. This does not exist in this company. The logic is -

“ You have been selected from a rigorous process that we trust. You have been given the greatest opportunity to learn. We back you to come out with good inputs. If you do, you will be appreciated. If you don’t, do not expect to fall back on I’M -JUST –AN - INTERN line”.