P.S. I Love You

Story of my life, since 2011.

It all started with a mail from the authorities late in our third semester, which required us to do a preliminary registration for the only structured course that we do in the summer holidays. This form required us to fill in six city preferences. It was the decision of a lifetime. Amidst (possibly true) rumours that choices filled in this form make absolutely no sense, there were secret meetings held in every wing in the hostels, on how to fill these choices so as to end up in the same place, preferably away from home (:P) and have the summer of our lifetime.

That was all we heard about our course BITS C221 “Practice School-1”, unarguably the most hyped up course in a BITSian’s life. And just about the time all of us concluded that the PS Division had forgotten about it, we received another ‘root’ mail, stating it was time to fill our preferences. What followed was complete mayhem. This was the first time the preference form was released online; and let me assure you, I have never seen a more @#&$%! – up website in my life! The list was arranged in an alphabetical order, with some 300-odd companies. Apparently all we had to do was fill in the number at which our preference was on the list corresponding to the preference number we wanted in on. All they forgot to mention was that the webpage timed out automatically in 15 minutes flat, and if you refresh the page, all the choices get erased. Worst of all, you couldn’t even ‘save your progress’. So the only choice left was creating a spread sheet, and taking help from other carked souls and type in numbers as they dictate it to you.

In order to end up in the same city as most of other friends, we sat and filled the choices together. This hope of spending the summer together was highly facilitated by the fact that we were in the same CGPA range (for those who are unaware, another famous rumour is that the PS Division sorts students in companies on the basis of their CGPA). In the column demanding us to fill in places where we can find ‘acco’, we ticked in all the cities we had a chance of ending up in (provided PSD sticks to its principles). One of the cities I marked was Delhi, where my dear sister worked.

The first Delhi choice I filled in was at preference number 25, which was pretty much out-of-range, considering the choices I had filled higher up were known to be in my CGPA range, and mostly in ‘cooler’ cities like Bangalore and Mumbai. It was a confirmed fact that girls get PS only in the cities they marked regardless of their CGPA for security reasons. So, not worrying about the outcome, I decided I’ll be the agony aunt to the people who are actually tensed about their PS.

The thing was I was completely unaware of my on-going Shani ki saadhe-saati. PSD is known to follow the most complicated algorithm known to mankind. So, against all odds, I got my PS at Tata Power, Delhi, which was the preference number 26 on my list. The worse news was that even though we were all in the 7.5±.25 range, not more than two people of my wing ended up in the same city, let alone the same station! But we soon found some others reporting in the cities we were in. All people who had their PS in Delhi soon started calculating the probability of meeting in the Metro, depending on their prospective area of accommodation. My PS in charge, to top it all, had a unisex name, and it took a lot of thinking to address her (as we later found out!) in the professional conversations. But as the news of the other PS allotments spread, I thought, my condition wasn’t that bad. At the very least, I had my sister for company. And my PS Station was a well-known place, unlike many others on the list.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. The worst was yet to come.

The day the grievance changes were announced, I got a call from my sister telling me that she got a new job in a certain Jagdalpur, and was soon going to leave Delhi. Well, this meant that I was left without acco, and I had no opportunity to get my PS station changed. I gave in to fate, and decided to live with my cousins in Faridabad. It wasn’t bad, you know, considering staying in Mumbai would also mean I had to travel. There have been days on which I have travelled for a time span longer than what I spend in one week at the company. Most part of my summer was spent in the metro, or in a place which the power suppliers thought was ideal for load shedding at any point in the day.

It could have been very, very bad; in fact, much worse had five new characters not stepped into my life. There was Hero, the guy who could make you smile in the worst time with, as some others put it, his invincible charm. There was Mr Impression, who inspired all of us to work in the ‘lite’ atmosphere of PS1, while teaching us more about the company than the employees would have ever managed. All of you must have heard of mamma’s girls, but we had Auntie’s Girl, with fascinating daily stories of her dearest aunty and her experiences at the Costumer Care. As for Shit Wit, he was easily the most laughed at person, all because of the mystery expression on his face which we still cannot comprehend. And last of all was Lost. I have never seen a person who thinks so frickin’ much before even deciding what to react to the situation! All in all, this was the best I could have asked out of my PS1. Industrial experience will come and go, but this I something no one could ever give me before in my life.

thanks guys!

As I was writing this post, I thought, why such a clichéd title?

I just decided it is what it was meant to be, because P.S., I really love you.