Somewhere in north Mumbai … August 2004 … rainy evening … 4 Best Friends sitting at a road side chai stall... Discussing life …
“How do we make money yaar??” … Need some way to progress in life... we can’t be growing at a snail’s pace” screamed Rajiv ... Harish, ashish and me shook our head in unison to agree with him …
I was not in mood to involve much in the debate as mind was pre occupied with annual day thoughts ... Annual day celebration starts in 2 weeks and I need money for renting out costumes for my dance sequence... the discussions went on with various business models and plans discarded .. Harish, just nodding at most of them as he hardly understood any ...
The discussion varied from a small scale business to share market to a public sector jobs… this certainly made us feel enough matured about the life though.. Besides, it was too early for students of first year of Bachelor of Commerce at Hinduja College to discuss business models and plans … but being born and bought up in Mumbai always gives you a feeling of competition …
Suddenly Rajiv got a call on his cell phone …” Yeah, how’s you ma’am... how many boys you need… 6 shouldn’t be a problem … what’s budget…too less ma’am ... anyways when is the interview … please text me the address and contact details for interview ma’am ... sure sure ... I would be there personally to ensure that everybody is on time... ma’am, who’s the client... Banking corporate yeah… ok ok … how many days … 6 days... Long activity Nah … no problems ma’am … I will do the needful and call you... Thanks ma’am … bye... Take care...” Rajiv hanged the phone in a flaunting manner …
(Mobiles phones were the current day trend then... I mean anyone who can afford Rs.4 for an incoming call with a pocket money of Rs. 200 for the entire month was considered to be super rich...all of us had one, but Rajiv had the latest Nokia Handset…so he never missed on chance to flaunt one)
“Shit, Man… where do I get 6 boys in such a short notice… that too for 6 days ... Ravi, you want to make some money for yourself ??” … Rajiv questioned.
His question broke my cerebration, “yes why not, but how” I exclaimed!!
“Look this is the current generation job... you are suppose to be a temp staff for a promotional activity for any of the corporate … the activity tenure ranges from 1 day to 1 month … depends how long the corporate wish to do .. I will pay you Rs. 175 per day... The activity last for 6 days... So you can make Rs. 1050/- just for working 8 hours a day … you can rent dance costumes and make some extra pocket money as well… do think about it and let me know … tomorrow 11 am is the interview at the Bank office, Fountain near Church gate” Rajiv explained ..
I liked the concept and said “Well, Sounds good to me… let’s give a try…I mean there’s no harm in trying, what say Ashish??” And shrugged my shoulders at the others...
“Let’s try” all said in unison as we finished our tea and were about to leave for home … all of us promised to meet up at 10.00 am at railway station to reach for 11 am interview or rather selection.
We entered the Bank building which had Marble flooring, high ceiling & fully air conditioned lobby and beautiful receptionist with head phones (I know it’s irrelevant to describe about the Receptionist here, but couldn’t resist her beauty) after a few mins of exploration from locals ... blazers and tie was prominent amongst people running around the lobby with their name badge tied to their pants … it was a different world all together… specially for students like us, it was the first encounter with the corporate world … our coordinator and mediator “Sudhakar” greeted us and started teaching us immediately about how to behave in interview as our teen age look can be clearly made out from our faces and semi formal attire…
Sudhakar called up someone from his cell phone and took us to a plush furnished conference room of capacity of 30 Pax… we all were made to sit in the room and here I am .. Waiting for my first prospective job of the life… nervous and scared …
After a 20 mins of waiting and a conscious round of coffee – cookies (in typical corporate manner, without making the sipping noise), enters a lady with 4 sycophants wagging their tails and practically nodding on every statement of hers … the lady seemed to be at a really eminent post … decked up in Black Armani blazer (that’s one of the promoters comment who had come for the interview)…
With a broad (artificial) smile on a heavy layer of foundation , she began “Hi, I am Christine Mathews from the bank, I have been working here since 3 years now… and we are here to promote our newly launched Mutual Funds … before going ahead can we all share few details about each one of us .. Can we start from you, the guy in black shirt??” All eyes glared to the guy in black shirt seating at the corner seat to hide him as there was dead silence in the room, and the guy just didn’t know how to react …. He was completely new to the culture and taken by a shock!
(Sudhakar had promised Banking Corporate to get experienced guys for this promotional activity, we realized this at the later stage, but it was too late to react)…
Looking at the “What the F**K” reaction of the guy with black shirt, the lady interrogated “can we have someone who can speak… “
(Corporate people can be rude at times in their very own diplomatic or rather corporate ways)
Everyone started describing themselves in a one liner and shared their previous experience of the industry, and finally it was my turn to speak up for my first job of life... though the job meant only monies for costume for annual day celebration for me, it was very important to make it for the job … I was feeling more confident now, because I had enough material to bluff from the experience shared by others...
Finally, I commenced towards first job of my Career “Hi, I am Ravi Mehta, I Reside in Bhayender… I am a student of first year of Bachelor of commerce from Hinduja College of Commerce, Charni Road… I have done brand promotions & sampling earlier as well… (What am I saying, I am a new bee to the industry… the thoughts started hovering around me with the last statement)
“Ok, could you please share your experience about one of your last activities??” asked one of the sycophants adjusting his tie and sipping coffee without making eye contact with me….
“Sure, I said and I have done sampling activity for Maggi Noodles at a Hamara Bazaar Super market... Basically, there was cook in every super market who used to prepare noodles on site and we used to serve the customers and take their feedback”… I concluded and glared at the room … Christine broke the muteness and said “very nice Ravi, can we have the one to begin please”...
(Where did I get this experience come from, I lied towards my first job… just couldn’t get out of these thoughts.. later on these were washed off with Sudhakar’s complements … I thought everything is fair in love and war … and this was war where I had to win against others who came for the interview ….)
We all met at our regular chai wala at 7 pm as always and started sipping the tea … Rajiv Broke the news of me and ashish getting selected for the activity … next day morning I got ready with a complete formal attire and tie to complete the new look … after all, it was my first day of job …
Day 1 – Santacruz branch...
I reached half an hour before the banks opens for public to be briefed by bank officials ... Cubicles, formally dressed people with fake smiles, security guards getting ready, Housekeeping guys cleaning the place was the peculiar scene I could precisely notice… finally bank manager arrives at 09.30 am... a typical south Indian guy with heavy accent and moustache ... I went to his cabin and greeted him ... I introduced myself and waited for his response... he straight away came to the point and began explaining me my entire day’s agenda & work profile for next 6 days ... it’s so different to be in a bank as a worker.. I have always been a customer for them …
Canteen staff served me tea along with all other staff ... I started going through mutual fund manual...it all sounded Greek to me ... still managed to get few leads by the end of the day ... finally day comes to an end and Sudhakar calls to check day’s feedback and at the same time he broke the news that day 2 onwards I had to report at Charni road branch ... there was change in the plan, as the guy at Charni road branch backed out from the activity… I was more than happy shifting because my college was very close by...
Day 2 - Opera House branch …
I went to college early in the morning, and reported at Charni rd branch after attending my college lectures ... the same process again as day 1...the bank manager briefed again because every branch has different set of customers... the day began …
It was lunch time now, I couldn’t afford to sell out monies at Sukh Sagar (a decent joint close by), and so I chose to eat at LIC canteen next to the bank meant for their employees only after some tricks… Day went out swiftly and got few extra leads than day 1... Whoa... I was happy... I had already started enjoying my work …
The same process repeated for next 4 days... And the activity came to a successful end ... my coordinator was satisfied with my performance... just when I had started enjoying and bettering my work the activity came to an end...
That’s about it about my first event ... I thoroughly enjoyed the tenure... 6 days went off like 6 minutes it seemed... got my monies in next week ... and yippee I rented out my costumes with my own money without disturbing my pocket money .. I gave half the money to my mom as a token of my “Pehli kamai”
There! Began my journey through events... It’s been a super successful till now… looking forward to progress rapidly here on ….
- Ravi Mehta
