When I went to Dosa Land...

Why Chennai??

coz Chetan Bhagat inspired me.. Mumbai/Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chennai and now Mumbai...
coz Karan Bajaj inspired me.... to take risks... only to find yourself in the course...
coz parents are cool enough to let me loose...
coz i was bored and wanted make friends in possibly every city of India...
and not to mention,
the internship profile looked coolest... who wants retail when you get brand management summers in FMCG????

i dunt really know... may be just to check if all risks are worth enough...


Work life in Chennai
the best maintained employee relationship.... which company takes interns this seriously... to let their project come in reality.... give them mobile sims... feed them lunch everyday.... unlimited cups of awesomely aromatic coffee and tea and snack every evening... encourage to perform better...
there have been times when i sit and did nothing, but that killed me... i was so full of energy, i just wanted to work....
not to forget, I was happy working on weekends too....
:D
though the first week sucked big time... riding with sales executives who dunno what you are talking... meeting retailers who thinks you are an alien coz you worn ankle-length formals... the sun-burnt as if he is angry for having to rise everyday...

Finding Stay in Chennai
ehh... you really need to be a rocket scientist to get a decent place with good food, ok locality, fine crowd and close to your workplace... thats never gonna happen, the combination is crucial.. you gotto compromise somewhere, specially when your stay wont stretch beyond 2 months...
I got one with electricity fluctuations and servings of rice 3 times a day... lil away from office... but thankfully no dirty gowns (i saw girls wearing them everywhere but here) and the only place you were allowed to wear shorts... :P

Finding friends in Chennai
call all your friends first and ask them for their friends who stay in chennai... Shiv was the first friend i made through shikhar.... My fellow workmates were vultures.. never felt need of finishing food in 2 mins sharp before... my hostel mates Shalini and Ruchi were like angels to save me from hostel food... making Friends, Friend's Friends and their Friends was all I initially had gone to chennai... and i did good i feel... :)

highlight of internship
Chennai - Mumbai - Pune - Delhi - Chennai... freak journey... everywhere by train...
almost 80 hours spent traveling... alone... in AC.... one of the best times of my life.... sometimes read books, sometimes just sat of pavement and watched running farms and darkening clouds... sometimes spoke to fellow travelers.. sometimes just spoke to myself...
work was being done simultaneously... but that dint put limit to fun... Colaba with Rudzo, Bandstand with Jess and Arnaz... Awesome ride from BMC traffic controllers, never-ending conversation with swapna, Man U cafe with jojo, continuation of lost conversation with sumit, Red Fort, Jama Masjid, Akshardham temple with ruku and amit... meeting Suku and Gary.. trip to gurgaon...

Final presentation
couldnt have been better.... mutual likeness...
:)

Journey back to mumbai
Ticket dint get confirmed... book flight at midnight... next day morning 9, m back in Mumbai... hee hee... the internship was over... on a happy note... :)

but adventure is still not over... :)

Chennai Insights
- Its more of rice land than idli dosa land...
- people are most modest here, but they have saree and jewellery shops of 5 floors...
- the new chennai is full of IT and old chennai has rest...
- the tamilnadu film industry produces 10 new films every week with the most funniest captions in the world (e.g - if you take out L of Lover its all Over... :D)
- autowallas are not hard to deal with.... say amount you are ready to pay and walk away... they bargain... :D
- no wonder bharatnatyam is so famous... of you dunt understand their language, focus on their hand gestures... (wont tease ruku for her state of life hand gestures.. :D)
- dosa is costlier than 1 ltr. water and half kg. rice
- if you have leftovers, burn a bucket full of sambhar
- lizards are everywhere



Vote of thanks who made my stay possible...


Parents - for believing that i wont quit n come back...
RCM 5 - for well known reasons...
Shikhar - for having a friend in chennai...
Shiv - for picking me up from station, burning petrol, tolerating my tantrums, finding hostels, for taking me at Zaras...
Pao - for coming all was down to chennai only to meet moi... you are my hero...
Ryz - for meeting... Finally...!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bharati - for proving my theory of pals of same sun sign...
Diwakar - for making me a vulture... :P
Richa and Kripa - for your encouragement...
Jagdeesh - for giving me stipend on time...
Shalini - for lending me your emergency light and taking me to Murugan Idli Store...
Ruchi - for being my dinner partner...
Rakesh - for taking me to the saree shop and the football yanks...
Jo - for booking my window seat in one min...
to everyone who filled my survey sheets...
Swapna, Jess, Riddhi, Jojo - coz i cant get away without mentioning your name...
and the most important,
thanks FB for helping me pull this through.... :)

and,

the hostel landlady, the tamil autowalas, tamil film industry, all retailers in chennai, the dosa corner owner, grace mart and more, pizza hut @ kodambakkam, every hotel on cathedral road, marina beach, bessant nagar beach, tiruvanmyur beach, radio mirchi event, hot breads (special mention), HDFC ATMs, Mocha...

---- for making my stay awesome in chennai...

As i said, Risks are always worthy if taken as experience... :)