(part 3 of 3)
It was supposed to be a single post to pull myself out of the hangover. However it soon turned into a memoir. As I went on typing, I realised that I had so much to say that it was but logical to break it down into parts. And now after summarizing about the training in general and our routines during the one month program in detail, I feel that the only thing left to be chronicled is a bunch of specific events which turned out to be the highlights of the entire training program.
But before I commence recording the major highlights, there is one small group of people who deserve a special mention with reference to CE!! Actually, I have always been this irritating, over patronizing, intrusive person with respect to my juniors ever since my college days... Well not all juniors, but a handful of those with whom I found a connect!! Here at CE also, there was a group of 3-4 persons whom I referred to as my 'bachchas'... and well I felt that the connect was mutual indeed!! However, I am not going dwell more about this creed in general... they are a topic fo another day perhaps!!
The first event was obviously the outbound training and I have already covered it much detail. It was just the beginning of the program and we were busy getting to know about the basic and somewhat superficial attributes of each other. The return bus journey was particularly eventful where almost all of us were sufficiently out of our shells to be having group discussions about the cultural differences within the organization, between various cities we had been exposed to and generic modalities of our individual work places. There was an event when we started explaining about 'IOCL ke daamad' to some of our colleagues and this topic kind of unified all the refinery & pipeline people present there!! In yet another discussion, we had been discussing about the different cities of India and particularly the traffic situations, wherein an exasperated friend loudly exclaimed 'Madam aap ho kahan se!!' :D
One aspect I would really like to bring to record about the OBT is the Bus driver uncle we had. It was a 60 seater Volvo and the driver was amazing. He could navigate absolutely anywhere. On multiple occasions, many of us thought that lets walk from this point, but our driver was so diligent and had amazing skills, it was incredible. Alas, Gurgaon traffic got the better of him and he ended up bursting a tyre just outside the IIPM boundary. Our sympathies are still with him. We had a couple more bus journeys in later part of the program, however, none could match his potential.
During the IIPM module, we had many classroom group activities, some simulation games, some generic assessments, group discussions etc. However, the first activity which set the gears really moving was a class on presentation skills. The faculty for this class had taken another class in the first week itself, wherein she had established herself as a really formidable person, who could be very blunt if needed and definitely very pushy to say the least. Her lecture made sense, it was relatable, doable theoretically.. but her personality overshadowed everything else! So at the end of her first session with us, when she announced that few days later all of us will have to do a JAM session on any topic of our choice, it set many of us thinking.. As the D day approached (the 1st d-day to be precise), many of our 'group' conversations steered into this direction. We discussed possible topics, shared briefs of what we planned to say, even had motivational discussions, keeping each other's morale up and confidence high.
The JAM was scheduled post lunch on a Friday. That lunch hour was really noteworthy, people ate quickly and were busy doing solo walks/ walking in pairs, going through notes, writing, reading etc. basically doing whatever was possible to calm their nerves. And then there was a group of extreme extroverts, who were busy being themselves. Almost everyone reached and settled in the class earlier than normal, waiting for the doom. When the speeches finally started, all of us listened in pin drop silence. The chilled out CE groupmates really did their best to keep the speaker motivated and in high spirits by being the best possible audience.
The wide variety of topics chosen by the people amazed me and also the fact that we had so many amazing speakers amongst us. As the topics were of individual's choice, therefore the speakers spoke in their respective comfort zones, which further accentuated the presentation skills.
I am not much of a stage person, would prefer to be away from the center stage for as long as possible. Moreoever, I have been having some body language issues since some time now, so I was not really looking forward to this event at least for myself. Moreover, when it comes to work, I am able to speak & present & what not, so I was definitely a little wary of this event which was not work related. However, when I saw so many of my friends really nervous/ troubled by the thought of public speaking, I felt that it would be good starting point where one could start working on their strengths & weaknesses. I decided to play very safe in that event and spoke about gender based roles. This topic is too personal for me, so it came out pretty naturally. However, when I finally sat down after the speech, my heart was really thumping. The speeches were video recorded, but sadly never shared with us! Had we known this earlier, we would have recorded each other's videos and analyzed them ourselves!! Anyways, it was a good starting point in terms of presentations as we had two more to do at CE itself !!
The next & perhaps one of the major highlights also happened on the same evening as the JAM event. About a week before, one of the most calm, composed, wise and sincere batchmates initiated a poll about having a party on one of the evenings!! And after some amount of campaigning & convincing, 28 of us spent a really great evening at a place called MoB in the 'famous' sector 29 of Gurgaon. It was an evening full of everything and a lot of personal firsts for me. We reached the venue at around 19:45 and after about half an hour of social awkwardness, the 'chillpill' started showing its colours...
After initial rounds of mocktails & cocktails as per liking, the five of us (females) couldn't restrict ourselves to the couches any longer. The DJ was playing really good songs..and so the five of us ended up on the dance floor. We even shuffled a few tables and seats out there to maximize the space.. After some time few guys joined us (a little hesitantly to begin with), but in no course of time we were a large single group grooving to the music. DJ Correctly judged our generation and played 'our' kinda songs!! Unbelievably I danced for almost 3.5 hrs non stop, I danced and sang and shouted and really went with the flow. There were other groups out there as well, since it was a weekend and in fact after an initial tussle for space and shuffling of chairs, things were good to go.
Moreover, it was an official setup that bound us at the backend and the mutual friendships that had developed over the past two weeks, things seemed really simple at the party. There were a couple of instances when some particular outsiders tried to be extra friendly or overly intrusive with our dance group...the way the guys of our group handled them was really heart warming.. Those persons were shown their place without getting into any kind of conflict. Moreover, once the crowd started thinning post 22:30, 'our guys' took special care to ensure that the five of us (girls) were within their eyesight at all times. In fact many of the guys stayed back just because they didn't feel it right to let out group size reduce lest some exigency comes up. In any case NCR is infamous for all the wrong reasons!
We had reached the venue by public transport plus one car. When it was time to return, it was decided that the girls will return in the car. The car owner had not taken a single drink, still he was cross questioned and scrutinized by at least 3-4 persons separately before we were 'permitted' to leave with him. The way people cared for each other was really touching!
After this party, we started getting into the closing groove, with field visits and pre-assigned group activities. We had been divided into 6 groups and every group had to do a book review presentation and a group project about some aspect of IOCL's business. All kinds of group dynamics became visible during the last ten days. From really cohesive teams like Gp 6 to really incoherent ones like Gp 4, from too much of freedom of opinion to really organized teams; all aspects & stages of teams could be witnessed during the last phase of training. Even the theory that 'everyone bonds with everyone' also began to finally fade away during this phase.. but it also implied that the ones who did got along well developed deeper and closer friendships!! In fact, it was discussed and concluded that it was a good thing that pre-set groups were out of our comfort zones, else we might have worked even less and 'gapp-ed' even more!!
The presentations went well but we were a little let down by the way we were evaluated!! Book reviews weren't evaluated at all. No firm feedbacks were imparted. It seemed more like a 'To-do list' tick box activity for the faculties!! The group projects were half cooked efforts from many of us. Also, the issues seemed so mammoth to be tackled at our level, that we didn't really work towards solution. However, on the final day of the concluding, the reviewer of the projects took really stern stand at all the gaps we had left in our work and it was an overall demotivating ceremony!! which added to overall melancholic environment as it was the 'last day'. The so called 'last lunch' was followed by a prolonged farewell and photo session.. And then, the Goodbyes started!!
However, those of us having our flights on the next day, still had an evening to spare!! Two friends deserve an special mention at this time. Both of them were placed at places 2-3 hours from IIPM and had originally planned to depart on Monday evening itself. Its just that, we requested/ coaxed/ cajoled them to prolong their stay by one night!! And these people actually complied to our requests!! Kudos to them and especially their families!! The last evening at CE, all of us 'leftovers' at the hostel decided to have a second celebration!! Prior to that we went out in groups big and small to places all over Gurgaon just to while away the evening. My little group unintentionally ended up at Crosswords!! My friends didn't realize, but they had actually taken me to my safe haven.
Thereafter, we ended up at another MoB kind of place at Sector 32, but this time it was all empty (Monday evening!!). In any case, presence of outsiders didn't really matter to us any longer. We were a group of 14 people, with a really compliant DJ.. and that was all that was needed. Moreover, with one month of CE training behind us, the friendships and the farewell like environment, this last get together seemed like a really fitting closure to the entire program. We returned to the hostel way past midnight.
The next day morning was all about farewells! As people started leaving for their respective locations... mixed feelings filled the air.. obviously everyone was happy to be going back home, yet we were going to miss the CE vibes too. Add to it the fact that since most were posted in unrelated places & roles, chances of meeting again were (and are) really grim! So with moist eyes, heavy hearts and heavier bags we departed as per our respective flight schedules. I was one of the last ones to leave as I had an evening flight. Thankfully, one of my closest pals at CE had similar departure time, so we didn't have to process being alone at IIPM.
After reaching home and joining office, for many days, I kept drifting off to the CE atmosphere in my mind. Moreover, it was (and is) very difficult to explain to others that what was so special about CE. The missing was real and felt inexpressible. For a few days I kept on feeling as if I had left a part of me out there at the training... it took me quite some time to realize that no I had actually carried a part of CE with me and its still there... safe & secure in a deep corner of my heart!!
It was indeed an amazing experience. And even though I have written 5000 words and three posts about the entire process, I am still convinced that I have not been able to capture what I truly felt! What CE 43 truly meant for all of us and for me!!
