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Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Microsofty Life

The summer break is nearing its end, and so is the internship at MSR. 10 days from now, I'll be back to my home grounds at IIT Delhi, and as I look back at the last 2 months, I realise the striking contrast between IIT (Delhi) life and MSR (Bangalore) life. So, an attempt to list a few as a memoir to the Microsoft experience. (Keeping a count on the positives and the negatives)

Food (yes, for the foodie I'm, this deserves to be the first point):
The regular Paneer Tikka at Mezbaan couldn't find an equal match here. But the variety and delicacy of Idli-Dosa here made me fall in love with Bangalore in a few days. The 'sasta, lekin sabse achha' award clearly goes to the Southie food here. I'm not sure whether the Idlis of Holistic or the Dosa of Sip n Bite would be edible for me anymore. (+1)

Accomodation:
The first week at Bangalore was spent in uncertainty of our resting place for the next 2 months. Finding a suitable place, affordable yet providing satisfactory services, became a heated affair (thanks to our Police Officer (retd.) landlord). While we faced some harsh consequences of being in a language-hostile city, the realisation that however inhuman be the living conditions in our hostels, the life is much smoother and hassle-free there. (-1)

Weather:
This one undoubtedly goes to Bangalore. Never during the whole period did I feel that the internship is actually 'Summer' internship. But, sadly, when I was enjoying the pleasant evening breeze in Bangalore, some of my dear friends were burning in scorching Delhi heat. Our rational Deans and Diro turned down a very valid and popular demand to allow coolers in hostel rooms. (+1)

Getting a bit long, eh? Some quickies now :-
OS: Windows 7, never missed Ubuntu (Jaunty or Lynx). (+1)

Music: Winamp playlists earlier, it's Grooveshark, Pandora or Shoutcast internet radio here. (+1)

Internet: High speed corpnet with no blocked sites and no limits, proxy quota is a forgotten concept. (+1)

Email client: Experienced the beauty of Outlook, bye-bye Thunderbird. (0)

LAN: No oDC to grab all kinds of pirated (or dirty) stuff in minutes; no LAN gaming, despite the (work)stations equipped with powerful graphic cards. (-1)

On TV: Football (World Cup was a phenomenon). Cricket-lovers virtually non-existent here. (+1)

Sports: Football, yet again, and because I can run, I'm not that bad at it. Missing volleyball though. (0)

Snacks: Besides the 5pm snacks with infy variety, the perennial pantry supply helped me about 5 kgs weight in about a month. (+1)

Score, anyone? +5, right? Yet, I missed IITD so much at many ocassions. So, what did I miss out above?

LIFE:
Yeah, there is no substitute to campus life. When I joined IIT, some wise man (no offence to the ladies!) said that the coming years would be the most cherished time of your life. Live it to the fullest, while you can. In this brief stint of corporate office life, I entirely realise the truth in his words. Going to office every morning, sitting in the same chair, working on the same project invariably on each day - the monotony of life couldn't be broken even by the lavish Lab Retreat at Lalitha Mahal Palace, Mysore. Life is too smooth here, with some department dedicated to solve every problem of yours (except the research problem you're working on). What makes IIT life worth living, despite the various negatives listed above, is the variety of challenges encountered regularly - from getting a letter signed to winning an inter-hostel competition; and the irreplacable friends that provide you strength to stand tall in every challenge. Though I met some wonderful persons here, I couldn't help missing the always cheerful WindT and the wonderful company I enjoyed there. Anupam and the SPICY gang deserve a special-mention, who are now accessible only at long-distance. A few long-distance friends became even 'longer-distance' due to switching of time-zones, and thereby, restricting the communication options. Without some people, even in the biggest software company of the world, life feels small. The countdown has begun. Can't wait to get back to IIT Delhi.

PS: @Interns at MSRI or elsewhere: Help me to add more points that come to your mind.

5 comments:

  1. Did you go to Mysore, Ooty, Pondicherry or Hogenakkal?

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  2. Mysore, Cochin and Coorg only! I visited Pondicherry when I went to IITM for inter-IIT :)

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  3. Oh my God!!! You write very well:) I could imagine most of the (non techie stuff :P ) you've described! I agree, without a doubt, that college life really has no substitute. These days...full of reckless abandon never come back. The friends you make here are the ones who see you go through ups and downs that our four years of engineering would be incomplete without! Its good yaar...a really warm and sensitive post.thanks for sharing something this wonderful:) byee

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