Transition

Did you ever feel numb due to so many emotions at once, so many people, so much happening around you and to you, so much that you have to do, so much that you are responsible for, including people that you stay away from writing your thoughts down, that you think it might be unhealthy for you? A less pensive me would have called this  stage "Happy". But now that I am looking at things in a different light altogether, I refrain to describe this phase of my life as "Happy" or "Busy".
When I came to Mumbai, I had taken a vow not to go about life the same way that I had gone about when I ventured out to Delhi from Calcutta. I did things differently this time. Things had to be different too. I came here to work.
I will start from the very beginning. After my fourth and final semester got over, I practically had no break. The Sealdah Rajdhani was running late as usual, we got down at Durgapur and not Calcutta, went to Dad's bungalow and was in continuous tour mode as it was my Dad's last stint outside Calcutta. When I finally reached Calcutta I had only two days to go for Mumbai. Only two days to pack, to find out all my contacts in Mumbai, to listen to people's suggestions on how to live in Mumbai, prepare myself for the next phase of my life, to say goodbye to everyone. Couldn't complete everything on my checklist, but I made a fairly good job of it, i'd like to believe. I was going to Mumbai with mom and bon 7 days before my date of joining. This was for two purposes: 1) To look for apartments, hostels and 2) To search for internships for my sister. We were betting everything on a city that three of us had never set foot in, in our not so long lives. The city didn't disappoint us. Bon got through a fairly good firm,I found a fairly good place to stay at least initially. Dad came to complete the rest of the job. He dropped me off at the 5 star hotel in Pune where all the supposedly elite Chrysalis B-school(we 3 from DSE were the only non-MBAs) batch for the year 2013 would have a 5 day induction program. When dad freshened up in my very posh hotel room, for the first time in my life I think I figured a look on his face that told me that he is actually happy that I am where I am. He is generally very disapproving of anything "corporate".
The induction was a very general overview of all Business Units of the Company("the most popular IT company") and the Consulting people( us and 30 others like us from the A,B,C B-schools) were all lost in the Technology part until the last day when our BU was explained to us. We were relieved to have had a break from the HR and engineering stuff. Bonding with the rest of the 130 MBA grads was a bit difficult, given our non-MBA backgrounds, but at the end of the week, some became really close. I guess when you go through the same ordeal, you can't help but become friends. Some of the MBA people had packages so high, that we were dumb-founded when asked ours and muttered something back like "privacy policy".
We came back to Mumbai and we were allowed to stay in the guest house for a about a week and that was the week all the Chrysalis batch did their house hunting. I was relaxing back because I had the hostel booked and had no intentions of moving to an apartment immediately(yes I'm saving a lot of money, that the rest of my colleagues aren't).That weekend was the the rainiest, just like this one.
Office first day was not that scary. Our manager, seeing the "timid" look on our faces actually asked us whether we were missing our classes, that consultants should be confident. I felt happy, distinguished as I was the only one who got a laptop on the 2nd day itself, the only one to get a laptop in the first week of joining out of the Chrysalis batch of 134, just imagine! My team was already decided, I was to be in the predictive analytics team, which had a very efficient, a very bengali team leader, who is from the same undergrad college as me from Calcutta. There are other team leaders from IITs, NITs. On the 3rd day itself, we were bombarded with a data set and had to give analytical insights(using SPSS) to a mock client on the 5th day. We had just one laptop, one day to learn SPSS, prepare a PPT. We somehow managed to present some story.
That weekend I shifted to my hostel, found rather amiable people there. We have a 5 girl gang group(including my sister) and we stay in each others rooms so much that people confuse our room numbers.
Working can empower you in ways more than one. The grand architecture, the reverence, your handsome and pretty colleages, the team work, the parties, the cafeteria. I am just a one-month-experience-old fresher, still being trained in softwares,still being given only mock consultation projects, so can't say much on how it is when you have real work pressure, but as of now,office seems pretty cool. I don't expect much but to enjoy and love what I do.
I still can't conclude whether this phase is "Happy" or "Busy" or neither or something else altogether. Just that a lot happens and it numbs you.
The city is friendly, the sea numbs you again by its vastness, the people helpful( an autowallah came all the my back to my hostel to return my Company ID Card), the undulated roads give you the feeling of a hill-

View of Vikhroli Hills from the Conference Room

station, the city is beautiful when it rains as long as you are under the shade, the green-hills from our office are picturesque, SRK's Mannat rather disappointed me(I had expected something more grand), Antilla, the Ambani Villa, I found gaudy as well.

Crazy things that I did/do:
1) Posed as a TISS student and got special discounts from a beauty salon.
2) Ran after a very rare bus with my heeled formal shoes, fully clad in formals.
3) Lost my phone, purse all at one go, got it returned on the same day.
4) Refused a date with a much-sought-after guy.
5) Wore skimpy outfits and make up just to impress myself.
6) Bought a 10K watch with my first salary.
7) Sent 10K home(so i'm broke now).
8) Decided that I will stay and manage in the working women hostel even though all my Chrysalis batchmates have taken luxurious flats.
9) Laugh out so loud in the Office Cafeteria that people ogle.
10) Laugh out so loud in the hostel room that whenever I'm silent or thoughtful my girl gang thinks that something is wrong.