Bitter-sweet symphony - the Final Year Industrial Visit

It was exactly a year ago on this day that I departed on a 10-day trip that not only produced some of my most cherished experiences, but also moments that have taught me valuable lessons about life, people and reality. This was, of course, an Industrial Visit to Delhi and Dehradun during my Final Year of Engineering. As one of the main organizers of the trip, the 3 months leading up to the trip and the trip itself constitute the most turbulent period of my life thus far without a shadow of any doubt. Although it was a trip that all of us (us => EXTC Batch of 2008) thoroughly enjoyed, it is indeed unfortunate that this was a trip that I will always remember for the stressful times I faced in dealing with my college authorities, rather than for the amazing fun that we all had during the trip.

Acting as mediators between my classmates and the department/college management, my colleagues in the “organizing committee” (if one could call it that) and I were forced to make radical decisions due to circumstances that surrounded the trip. Whether it was the “unavailability” of faculty members to accompany us for the trip, the eventual postponement of the trip from March to April 2008, the endless exchange of mails and telephone calls with companies convincing them to allow us to visit their facilities, or the haggling over the individual monetary contribution for the trip, my colleagues and I were constantly on our toes, dodging road block after road block in order to make the trip possible and a success. The final straw, though, was dealt by our college management, with just a few days to go before we departed for Delhi. I would rather not divulge any details here, but the situation that they left us with nearly reduced me to tears. It may sound like an exaggeration, but I honestly felt I was betrayed by the higher powers in the college at that point! What they had asked us to do was unthinkable, and downright inconsiderate, yet we were left with no choice. Relaying this news to my classmates was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do in my life. Though they were outraged, and rightly so, they agreed to co-operate and go ahead with the trip. It was indeed a testimony to our resolute will and determination to make the trip a grand success, which eventually, I am glad to say, we did!

All right, now that I've finally got that off my chest, time for some of my favourite memories from the trip. The train journey was typical, with a large number of people waking up in the morning with toothpaste and what not on their face! People were distinctly baffled by my ability to sleep peacefully with the light on right in front of me shining in my face!! The highlight of the visit to our first company on Day 2 of the trip was not the presentation, or the tour of their facilities, but in fact all of us pouncing on the cold drinks and cookies in the cafeteria as soon as they were offered to us. We didn't really get an opportunity to have lunch, and so we savoured anything and everything we could get our hands on at the time!! Later that night, on the terrace of the place where we were staying, we went on to play probably the best and most hilarious game of musical chairs I have ever played in my life! Kudos to the likes of our HOD and Roshan for livening the game up!! That night was a seriously awesome night!

The next day saw a trip to Gurgaon, and then on to the Railway Museum, Connaught Place and a late evening stop at India Gate....took some really cool snaps there, with the India Gate lit up in all her glory. Day 4 was tourist day, as we went around catching the sights and sounds of New Delhi, including the magnificent Akshardham temple, a ride in the Metro, Jantar Mantar and the Memorials of some of our great leaders. How can one forget the VVVVVIP treatment vetted out to a certain Ms. (soon to be Mrs.) Kavita Shinde!! So much so that some onlookers at places like Akshardham actually turned their heads around to have a look, thinking some Bollywood actress had arrived!

We left for Dehradun by bus early on Day 5. Here I must mention one thing before anything else......if you ever want to travel in and around Delhi, don't travel by bus even if ur life depended on it!! The strict rules prevalent there force the buses to travel at an agonizingly slow pace, and this applies to the tourist buses plying from Delhi to other cities as well. Thus, a journey which normally should not have taken more than 8 hours, took well over 10 hours eventually. It didn't help matters that we had no choice but to proceed straight to our first company in Dehradun without getting a chance to freshen up and have a proper lunch. As a result, during the presentation, one could literally count on their hands the number of people awake! But a quick trip to a nearby spring named Sahastradhara refreshed us all. Two more company visits, a stop at Malsi Deer Park (with no deer in sight) and a walk around the central market comprised the itinerary for Day 6.

We embarked on yet another frustratingly slow journey from Dehradun to Delhi early morning on Day 7, stopping over for a quick dip in the holy river of Ganges at Haridwar on the way. A detour to the Fr. Agnel Balbhavan in Greater Noida provided us the most satisfying and heartwarming experience of the entire trip. Home to a number of young orphans, we had a memorable time interacting and playing with the little children, who were clearly thrilled and excited with our presence there. Later that night, we left Delhi for home-sweet-home, Mumbai. The best part of the return journey was a marathon 8-hour game of Business. We played the game like it has never been played before, with partnerships, deals being made, loans from one team to another with mutually decided terms and conditions and what not. I am pretty sure we had created some kind of a record there for the game!

Looking back on the trip, I would just like to say one thing - a big THANK YOU and a thumbs up to my entire class for firstly, for their support and co-operation in making the trip possible, and secondly, making it as awesome as it turned out to be!

Until the next...