It's Been 2 Years...
The experience of being in an Internship at Infosys, Mysore was one of the best experiences I ever had. From places to food, to friendships, to bike rides.
Hey friends, It was 2 years ago today that one of the most cherished moments of my life came to an end. It was the perfect mixture of a good place, good friends and amazing growth, and a lot of realizations about myself that made it an unforgettable memory.
I have written about it way earlier and it was more of a starting phase of my writings and couldn't express myself well. So, here I am again trying to make it better than before.
You can check out the first part about our road travel called The 1000km Ride where the entire trip from Our home to Mysore Internship(which I drove completely) was 1000kms.
Melvin Raj
Before Joining:
So, as far as I can recollect, January 20, 2020, was the internship start date and my family planned a road trip where at the end of 19th they leave me at Mysore to settle in, and the rest of the family returned home. As a family that was our first road trip. We planned to travel across Madikeri, Chikmagalur, and finally Mysore as our touring places and each for 2 days. This plan was decided in a week's plan.
On the travel start day, we were excited traveling by car, having our best times by roads, watching windmills from far away from being on the road eating food from restaurants that aesthetically were okay but the food was delicious.
We first traveled to Chikmagalur, booked a room, and after dinner roamed around the local streets to find a different vibe altogether which was nice. There was some kind of innocence, you can say that place which maybe because we are new to that place. The next day we went to the Hirekolale Lake which is this lake in between mountains with a small hut-type architecture that extends on the waterside where people can walk up to.
The next day we moved to Coorg, Madikeri early in the morning and the road trip which we had on that day was quite surreal. We started around 4 am and after traveling for 20km or so we witnessed a full foggy road, no sign of another car coming by just us 4 in our car, music playing from the music system and the road with visibility until a few feet everything else was fog.
We halted for safety reasons and were just amazed to see it for the first time. You see all of our trips were in and around southern states and one that is outer of the four was Goa, where foggy roads were never seen, it was amazing for us.
By the time we reached Mysore, we were exhausted and it was two days before my joining. We went around Mysore, visited the Mysore Palace, ate mouth-watering food from a restaurant about which we sometimes fondly talk about how amazing the food was that day.
Then we went to one of the malls in Mysore, watched a movie, visited a few local stores, Mom purchased a Saree from there as a souvenir from the Trip. The next day was my Joining, we woke up, had our breakfast, moved, I got in, checked in to my room, came back to bid goodbye to my parents and brother. Then began some of my most amazing days. I was determined to be fit, work hard, and be friendly to people around me. This was not a thing I wanted to do but take action immediately. I went the first day to the (I can't remember the word for it), so let me circle back. The first few days they were explaining how everything is supposed to be and a few rules and regulations..... Induction.... yes, the word was Induction where they brief about the entire training/internship. Okay.
Now, on the first day of class, I was excited to be there, mainly because I wanted to be enjoying myself while learning, making friends.
I have written about it in my earlier post Talks, Rides, And A Whole Lot Of Memories. you can read more about it here.
Melvin Raj
After Joining:
You see in my college days, All I ever did was play games, and spend time with only a single group of people who were my roommates. First-year of college, we used to play a mobile game called Mini Militia and Clash Of Clans. In a friends group, there is always one guy who introduces such games and gets everyone hooked not by telling but by him constantly being in that game will give you the FOMO, I guess. So, every day after dinner at around 7:30 -8 pm, my roommates and a bunch of other friends from around used to gather in our room 423 and played for 3-4 hours. It was a wonderful experience we had together. Then in the second year, we went to a snooker club near our college and I was instantly hooked to the game. It was the game of brains and a little bit of logic. I enjoy such games that ask us to be present and think. I loved the sound of the Cue ball hitting other snooker balls.
I was so invested in the game, I used to go play in the local tournaments. I was a regular at the club and also used to give decent competition to some people who used to play amazing.
And from the third year, I must say I got hooked to the Online game called Counter-Strike Global offensive. This was the time when I moved into a house with my friends and started playing long hours, going to gaming cafes, playing one single match of a tournament, and lost so horribly because others were so good and I was a substitute.
Even though I know I wasn't good I played so much I eventually became a pretty good player. Although I didn't get to interact with most of the people from my class, travel, or even do something like writing which I always wanted to, I enjoyed that part of my college days to the fullest doing things I liked and found interesting.
Coming to the Internship, I was told the laptop couldn't be allowed, so I took/ found new things to do. First was I saw the running track and decided I want to run a full 5 laps one day in my time here, then, made friends because it was the second opportunity to be in a place like a college where you can learn and get paid😛.
The final goal was to click good pictures to have. I took pictures from people to buildings, to empty roads, to falling leaves from a tree, to running waters from a stream, and lastly dancing videos from the dance party type thing we had the day before our first test. I failed the exam the next day but it was worth it.
As far as friends go, I met some of the most amazing people who were all coming from different cultures, traditions, lots of stories to tell and I was just there to listen. We used to gather at a spot during coffee breaks with a cappuccino from the coffee machine and talk about how similar or different colleges were, how things were in their places, movies, series, memes, jokes, and a lot more. Although the break was 10 mins, everybody who wanted would come, talk around and leave without being on the phone.
You can see the images and a few of my friends from the internship in the pictures from the post below:
Melvin RajWith regards to fitness, as I said, I decided to jog around the race track for 5 laps continuously and every weekday I used to wake up early morning, go to the track, and just walk for an hour.
In the beginning, I didn't want to overdo it and then stop so, I took it slow. I ran half-track once at the beginning of the walk and once at the end, the rest of the time I was walking.
After a week, I was running a whole lap at the starting and end of the morning routine and in between walks. Slowly day by day, I went from doing half a lap to 3 laps without any problem and the level of satisfaction I got was indescribable. I was more active in classes, more active on the weekends to go out and travel and I was sleeping like a baby.
After that, the news of Covid was spreading and with the factor of how infectious and how to treat it is unknown, the Government imposed a lockdown. Soon, our 4-month training cut short to 2 and half months. Everybody was leaving and somehow, my bus returned because the border was closed between states.
This led me to stay on the campus for the next two months just enjoying being with a few of my old friends who couldn't go back to their hometown and also a few new friends whom I met after we came to know we are going to be here for a while.
This period had me playing Pubg(mobile). Oh lot of memories attached to this game, evening walks with friends, playing badminton, sitting on the food court floors playing ludo. Walking at night. Seeing sunrises at the morning and sunsets in the evening. This phase was both amazing and scary but you know, it was one of my best days. I talked a lot with friends and family over the phone, played, had lots of chai and coffee. Waited to eat chicken for 45 days(I didn't eat any non-veg for 45 days, and I love non-veg. It was hard for me😅).
I have written about it in detail in my previous article The Pause. You can read more about it here.
Melvin Raj
All in all, I wanted to remember the feelings, the friendships, the memories attached to this date, and everything two years ago. So, I wrote a bit more today.
The friendships might be a bit different today due to work, our present situations but few of us still talk to each other and these are profound moments of the last two years.
The whole experience I had will always stay and people reading this who were part of my journey during that time will always stay here in a written format, for you to cherish with me.
I hope we get to have more such experiences in the future, not exactly like these but even more different but worth writing and talking about.
Grateful to be part of such an amazing experience -
Thank you for reading.
