I managed to please everyone with my first internship stipend

Name: – Ashish Jain

College: — Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai

Interned at: – IndusInd Media & Communication Ltd, Hinduja Group

How did I spend my 1st internship stipend?

You know how you always wonder about the day you will receive your 1st paycheck; how you will buy everything you ever wanted but couldn’t; and how you will pamper yourself left, right and centre, since it is your own hard-earned money? Well, my first pay cheque was supposed to be about all that and much more until the time I received it and, boy, the entire logic went upside down!

I got 7000 bucks as my first stipend. Blame it on the entire ‘growing-up’ phase or the sheer love for my folks (or maybe the fact that even I was earning money like them, ha!) that I actually asked my dad to not send me my one month’s house rent amounting to Rs 5000  (yes, yes, it’s all about loving your parents, I know!) and paid it myself.

A whole lot of strategy was involved while spending the balance 2k. Now everyone knows how much I love my dearest sister (and no-one knows that she gave me a brand new Levi’s tee from her own first stipend), brotherhood demanded that I return the gesture (read: favour) and I bought a brand new dazzling UCB tee for her (in sale) for 500 rupees.

Next I decided to get a 500 rupee note signed from my internship mentor and get it laminated as a mark of the start of my corporate journey (come on, it sounds so cool!)

I was finally left with a thousand bucks. I mentally went through the list of things I always wanted to buy; sunglasses, watches, clothes, belt, et al; when suddenly I realised how much I missed my white school shoes (the ones we wore during sports lectures) since wearing those and running was the one thing I hadn’t done ever since I started with my MBA. I went online and ordered a pair of impeccably white Converse shoes with a little red border all around them. They cost Rs 1100 but I got a 150 rupees discount and bagged them for just Rs 950 thereby making a net saving of Rs 50.

I managed to please my parents and my sister, whom all said and done, I love more than my life. I had a cool memento signed by my mentor who was no less cool himself. I was happy with my little white shoes that reminded me of my childhood and I was almost on the verge of opening a savings account with the remaining  Rs 50. It was money well spent!

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