Teach For India

I exactly remember why I posted it the last time when I was thinking how life would somehow connect all the different things I am doing and take me to where I am supposed to be. Well, I don’t know still where is it that I am walking towards, but something feels so right. It was during the time I was with Indian Oil, when I often heard a lot of people talking about Teach For India to me. How Tanima di got through the process but couldn’t join it because of this parental pressure. I mean who does not go through that? I don’t! Lucky me..:) and how Tanuj had been there all his life working, watching his mum work in a government school and how he tried to get in TFI and how he did not join TFI later. And I was so sure about me not even qualifying the application. Haha! I have always been unsure, but I have always tried my hand at things I am unsure about. Pretty challenging, it makes me feel alive. So one day as work gets pathetically boring and the weather gets awesome, I open this website teachforindia.org and try to understand what all the news is about. And then something says, lets try this. So i go ahead and start my application. And I just can’t stop writing. The essays are real teasers, they will make you think on what is it that you want to be in real, and why are you here. At this point, I try and question myself, there has to be something that I can connect with in here. So I go back and read through how it’s not just about teaching, but about the overall Development, how the Teach As Leader movement is viral all over the world, and how it is important for the kids out there and for my country. And how I could relate to every thing that the website says. It says 58% of students don’t complete primary school and it is when I know I am filling the right application. Because I have my distant relatives back in Bihar, the place I belong to paternally, who are suffering from this. How child marriage is still prevalent. It is. I have seen it back when I was in class 8. And I tried to hard for her. But it is not about how hard you try. Because it is the social stigma, the problem lies in the roots of the society. This is the generation that wants education more than that needs education. This is the generation that wants to bring about a change but succumb to the societal pressure. And it is so difficult for them to convince everyone out there, how this little effort of going to school everyday is not because of mid-day meals, but because they want to learn. Learn about the way of living. I don’t know about everywhere else, but I see this every time I visit my village. However though, coming back to my application. It took me complete 2 hours to finish it and I submitted it and Forgot About it. I was so confident, that I am never going to hear back from this.

So about after one and half or two months I get a call from a TFI acknowledging my application, and it said I was eligible for a telephonic interview round, 15 days hence which I would, if I get selected, get a call to the Assessment Center. I was like Ok!

Now so after a few days I am off to a random trip to Himachal, right after my CDS exam and on my way back I get the mail which says the telephonic interview would be held on 11th of September 2013, 7am. Now that was exciting, having the first real telephonic interview! And the day came, I was way up before time, reading my application again and again, but it was much much simpler than that. All i had to be was honest with him and say everything that was for real. I remember Mr, Anirbann asking me questions that were very much related to my application and it felt as if he has really called to know me more, not to scare me! 😛

And so from here it went to my selection for the Assessment Center. A midst my mid term exam I could somehow manage to land to New Delhi and be there. Prior to this I had to opt for change of center and these guys are pretty fast in replying, and listening to your problems and resolving. Very solution-oriented. As I enter I see quite similar faces, all smiling and every one makes you feel so comfortable out there. We had this short session about Teach For India, followed by a sample Mock teaching, group discussion- this again is a very challenging one, they give you a problem domain and see how to discuss it to come to a conclusion as a group, and a quantitative problem solving round- this will compromise of day to day teacher analysis more like a rubric, and then they take time to select. After a 40 min break they come up with only 5 names out of 25 present there, and I was the first one to be called. Once again I was so sure of saying bye this time, but no! I was in for the PI. The PI would last for more than an hour, and the TFI personnel would try his best to make you feel very very comfortable. I started by saying how nervous I was and i needed to calm down before starting and the IV went on where he would ask a set of questions based on your application and at the same time keeps noting down everything for records. The most interesting part was the role-play where they check how good you are at convincing and dealing with a situation, I almost sucked at it. The best part about the whole process is, there are no right or wrong answers. Its just you. The entire of you. If you are suitable for the role, they will take you in. If you don’t get selected, it doesn’t mean you lack something, it just means you aren’t what they are looking for. Fortunately, I got selected and now I am looking forward to do a six-month internship with Teach For India before starting my fellowship.

Luckily, I got the opportunity to speak to my interviewer after my selection and take a feedback. And I understood how I need to be more passionate about what I want to do and how little more brushing was required. I will keep this.

To be precise, the whole process of selection is a lot of learning in itself. It made me look and reflect more into myself than I have ever done. It made me question myself a lot more intricately, a lot more of this convolution inside me was uncoiled. Everything you do adds to you. Make sure you do it. Who knows what lies ahead of you and there is always a reason. 🙂

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• Finally a Teach for India Fellow! (carvaan.wordpress.com)

As facebook says-Feeling determined.

In a state of complete bliss. I have finished it now. My aleatory entry to Indian Oil left me as a guardian to all of my uncontrolled doubts regarding becoming a programmer. I was so unsure. But I would always remember this one person before even saying it was Impossible. He is a person of persistence, of values, of great will. I have never been close to him, but I have always observed him. He would struggle through every tricky code just as us, but the difference lied in his way of approach, he would never quit. Akash Barik, this man has the power of shrewd ratiocination, modest as always, so unpretentious. you have made me see my capability, because you believed in me. I will do justice to your faith. A month of honest struggle and consistent will, was enough to pull me through. For me, finishing this project was very important. Because it was not for anyone else, but for me. I needed to make myself believe. And this small success, brings so much happiness. Way before time, I am done with this Web Application. Now i look forward to learn more.

Meanwhile, a turbulence of thoughts so importunate, and so vague, clamors. It starts with a dimension, and switches roles. I am now gruesomely pondering on the vastness of nothingness  that I have been through. I remember , I was in class 6 , when i went to this market near my place during Karvachauth. I saw people crazily buying Henna cones and design booklets. The cones they sold at 5 rs. and booklets for 25 rs. So i made my own small business plan. I came back home, did a proper research of all the cost included in making a cone and i thought everybody loves to get something extra when they buy. I thought I would give them my Henna design collection with a free cone for 35 rs. For a month I struggled to make my own design collection and then one day I knew the day has come when I’ll have to ask my dad to sponsor my idea. So after dinner I sat down with my whole miniature Business Plan. I told him everything right from the printing cost to quantity and how i see it growing from one small market to every other market of Kolkata. The amazing thing is I was only in class 6 back then, and an entrepreneur. Back then it would have taken me maybe a week to spell the word correctly. I never could however convince my dad to invest in this plan, he was more of a businessman than me at that time.-_- Nevertheless, somethings changed from that day. My dad started involving me in this business affairs, he started seeking my opinion and when I would give my point of view, he would give me different perspectives to think from. Now when I think about those times, I don’t think he did all that to really seek opinion, come’on he could do even without my opinion, but he saw my interest that day. He saw what I could be good at, and he started polishing me for all the good reasons. Three years away from this place, I have used all that polishing to derive new idea, flop ideas, good ideas, worst ideas, but i never stopped creating ideas and I never will.

There has been a toggling. I choose to become an engineer over my will to become a Business-Woman. I have never quite been able to answer this to myself, never been able to justify. But I have this feeling, all the time with me. Every body here is born for a reason. Maybe this is making me go a step ahead to meet my reason. Only time can tell. Until then, keep creating.

Internship with Indian Oil Corporation Ltd

The 1st week contd/-

The next day, I met the person who had an assignment ready for me. We are given to make an application that would support the   working of all the units in coordination with each other and make the work easier for ERPL employees. The task is to make an Additional Facility Management System through which the ERPL employees can automatically check the updation status of a an ongoing project granted by ERPL to other units, updated from time to time by the other four units. This needs to be a web application which will work on their intranet. Now to be very honest I have no idea how to make the head or tail of it. Although I have done the J2EE course the previous year, I am clueless about how far i’ll be successful in getting the whole thing ready in the next 3 weeks. With this less time, and less knowledge ofcouse, I don’t want to fail. So what i decided is to take help. So I have my best friend’s boyfriend working on the same platform in Cognizant. And he is currently acting as my mentor. The first day i bought requirements from the Managers, which were not that clear to me myself! And I almost panicked and with the excel sheet of paper which was given to me for reference I ran to Nishit. And he somehow explained that 60% of the Software Development Life Cycle is about getting the Requirements right and analyzing it. The rest is the cooking part. So the following day all i wanted is to understand what actually they wanted me to do for them in the application. With 2 hours of detailed discussion I was now more confident about what was required. Being done that, I decided to make the wire frames so that it becomes easier for them to visualize all what I have in my mind to offer them. In midst of everything else, I have my usual short-term fights with my best friend, how could i not mention you till now! Let me introduce the most important person of my life, after my parents, Preety Sharma. She has been a constant source of enlightenment and inspiration for me. Preety, if you ever read this, don’t fly. So in the weekend I have I am almost dead. I lie still in my bed, trying to sleep and I am thinking about how to go about the whole internship thing, when i get a call from her. As random as ever, she wanted me to come over for a party this Saturday night. But i knew I wouldn’t be able to make it, since random decisions as these are not tolerated at my place. For once I though I missed  a happening night, exactly when the next thing she tells me is,”We are coming over to your place”. All I want you to know is Preety, no mater how much ever we fight, the one thing that has always been constant in my life is you, and it is you who shall be forever.

That night we had a detailed discussion at my place as to how to best utilize the little time I have before placements to prepare. I am right now in a state where I have no idea where life is taking me. I am taking it day by day. My short term goal is to successfully complete my internship and let me not go into my long term goals as I don’t just have one, there is a big list. So it’s a rainy Sunday today, and a hectic week lies ahead. Feeling determined. 🙂

Internship with Indian Oil Corporation Ltd

The 1st week

Yes, you could call me lucky. I am not the one who deserved this, but I am glad I got an opportunity. I needed this chance to prove the worthiness of being a “going-to-be” software engineer. It’s been a week now. The first day was not that exciting as the person i had to report to was on a holiday, and I spent the entire 6 hours surfing internet. I thought it’s going to be like this every day. The first day has its own charm, getting ready the best way you can, carrying all the necessary stuff, most importantly the Internship Confirmation Letter, checking and re-checking, preparing your introductory speech, reaching on time, well i was 20 minutes before time, and off all my curious dad calling me every 5 minutes to make sure i get jitters! Ha ha! He would ring me up every now and then and say, “It’s going to be a tough thing, give your best!” and i would say,”Why are you doing this to me!”. So this day I meet a very warm gentleman, who tried to make me comfortable citing the fact that i’d have to wait until the next day for my assignment, and the other intern has been coming for a week now with no task as the authority concerned is out of town. This news relaxed me a bit, as i knew that now i have a day’s time to be comfortable with this environment and i tried to communicate with all the employees i met, which was hardly 2 or 3. And i realized that these IT engineers where employees of other companies like Simoco and HCL, working for Indian Oil. The day ended with a brief introduction about the working of the Eastern Region Pipelines and all the units working in coordination with it. I came to understand that all the crude oil supply made in different parts of India by Indian Oil is spread over 10000 km and has  a capacity of 77.258 million metric tonnes per annum of oil and 10 million metric standard cubic meter per day of gas. Their are men out there in the desert and in places where this pipeline is going through and these men walk more than 8 km every day to check for any leakage or other issues associated with the lines. Indian Oil has an internal GPS system to track the movement of these men monitoring the pipe lines. The entire working of the organisation is based on a Single Point Monitoring System, IT being the backbone of the kind of amazing work this organisation is doing. And that’s when i realized I am in the correct place. However, unlike a lot of my friends I didn’t get the opportunity to train myself in a core software company, but now i realize nothing is more exciting than having to make an application for a real-life scenario which will be used and is made at the discretion of my ideas and choices. I love it here, specially with the unlimited internet. 🙂

Time is a Hopping Bitch.

Like a scrape I wanted to peel off that dirty wall of stagnate from my life. There comes a point in my life, when wanting is no more a choice and the choices that i have is not what i’d ever want to be. College seems to gloom into a routine of stressed hours, with nothing new to do. Efforts seems to slag its pace. Mind stuck into a coagulation, unveiling from which never seemed possible. But pulling yourself out of this distress was becoming a mandation, because life is too small to be wasted in hours of threadless thoughts. Possibilities are vague, but in the light of reasoning i found my reasons to believe. I believe in the power of self-rejuvination. It’s all inside of me. I am capable. I try to hold on, but i let it loose just when it requires more tighter a grip. But now nomore. To all those who have helped me grow. I owe you this, you’ll be proud. I’ll make you proud.

 

To mum and dad.