...exclaimed a friend, sniggering, as I got hold of a pink Lady bird to rush to the classroom.
NOV05LC1. That was the name of our training batch which joined Infosys on Nov 7, 2005. After being blown away by the mesmerizing 337 acre Mysore campus with supercalifragilisticexpialidocious [checkout @Jimjambot on Twitter on that note] facilities & 5 star level room amenities, we were subjected to a grueling classroom training program which meant (the occasional) dozing off during trainings (some of the trainers allowed it), long nights of trying to finish assignments & midnight runs to the laundromat among other things.
The learning center was near the entry gate of the campus & hostels were in the interior. There were cycle stands across the campus for use to go from one point to the another. "Not a problem, we can easily walk this up in 10 mins" we all thought. The first few days we did walk it up but eventually we realized we had to use the cycles to save some time & energy. There were limited cycles available, so if you got a bit late, you'd have to walk it up. Or run, depending on how late you were.
There were 2 types of cycles. One, which guys usually ride [for lack of a better way of explaining, not trying to be sexist] & the other, which the ladies ride. While I do not recall the brand of the guys' bikes, the one for ladies was "Lady Bird" - I guess that was the only known brand those days. Obviously, we guys took the bikes meant for boys, however, we did notice many boys preferred the lady birds instead. It was an amusing sight - boys of all shapes & sizes pedaling a lady bird. It did not take us long to understand why some blokes preferred it. The campus was windy & had a few stretches that went uphill. We realized the boys' cycles were heavy & took more effort to go uphill, especially against a breeze. So we eventually tried the ladybird & found it much quicker & easier to ride. While some picked the ladybird due to the ease of riding, some ended up picking it coz those were the only ones available when they reached the stand. After the first couple of days of awkwardness, we got very comfortable with the ladybirds & used it for most of our 4 month stay there.
Given a choice, one probably should choose what suits one best & what aids one in attaining their goal/happiness/joy. There is no point enduring a struggle to avoid possible societal stigma or to avoid being judged by the onlookers. Pick that ladybird in your life that you've been looking at, wanting to try but have been shying away from trying due to "log/rishtedaar/dost/colleagues kya sochenge". Who knows, you might enjoy the ride. And if you do, you won't even have the time to look at those looking at you in bewilderment.
Yes, the snap is a bit embarrassing 🙈. There were no smart phones then, most of us had bar/basic Nokia (running on Symbian OS) so snaps were clicked with digicams/roll film cams.
Click Here to read this on Linkedin.
No comments:
Post a Comment