The Internship Diaries: II

Living the 9-5 is no easy feat. It requires sacrifices. On one hand I can't help but think of the carefree life that once was; when summer vacations meant sleeping in everyday, going out on family excursions and the only source of agony was that dreaded pile of homework (which would eventually be completed with assistance from our dear mother). On the other hand, these eight hours truly make one realize and be appreciative of how our parents have been managing to do the same for so long. That too without complaining.

For me each day is a struggle. Each day begins with battling the urge to stay in bed, sleep a little more. Sacrificing sleep time has never been easy. Each Monday I wake up consoling my sleep deprived self: Just five more weeks and count it down. I can't bear to think about how I'll manage to get out of bed once I get a job. Just five more years doesn't sound too motivating.

Once I'm dropped off, I take the longer route to my office (shortcuts seldom appeal to me), walking all the way past the trees and the ponds. The 15 minute walk gets fresh air into my system and by the time I arrive at my desk, I feel ready to take on the day. Yet this energy is all but lost because of the absolute zero temperatures of our office. To survive here, you need to keep moving every once in a while so that your joints don't stiffen. If arthritis develops, well, the hospital isn't too far away :p

During my initial days, when there were no other interns and little work to do, I got a tour of the premises upon my insistence. Mr.Z who sat at the neighboring desk agreed to be my guide. Now Mr.Z has been working here for a couple of decades so he knows the place and its people quite well. It is said about him that when the foundation for this organization was being laid, he had popped out of the ground that had been dug :p

So off we went through the administrative offices, the bank, the gymnasium, the various buildings and the warehouse. At each stop his familiar face was greeted by a number of people. It was a good thing that people knew him well because that way no one questioned our presence at the sports center without a membership card. I felt ecstatic once inside the gymnasium, to see the basketball court, the arrangement for table tennis and the bleachers. Mr.Z pointed towards the basketball lying idle in one corner. Encouraged I walked towards it, picked it up and tried to shoot. Years of lack of practice weighed down on me as it was after three or four attempts that I finally managed to get it through the hoop. Swoosh! The sound was magical.

We then walked around and I was shown the tennis and squash courts, the sand court for volleyball and the swimming pool. Upstairs there was a room for snooker and other rooms for board games. We went up on the roof too where he pointed to these metal rods up there and asked if I knew what they were. I shrugged.

'They're lightning rods,' he informed me.

The rest of the tour continued with Mr.Z telling me about the various other buildings enthusiastically, why they were named so, why they were colored so (all the buildings are coated with a pink colored substance for insulation purposes) and what were the common jokes about some of them. The tour was entirely on foot which made it all the more enjoyable. By the end of it, I was exhausted and had lost any sense of direction I may have had. I had no clue where our own office was located and if it weren't for Mr.Z I would've probably walked on my own to gate 2 and texted my brother to pick me up from gate 1 -_-