Summer Internship with RBI — Rajesh from K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research
Wildcard Entry for: – 31st July 2012
Name of the intern: – Rajesh
Institute: – K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research
Organization interned with: – Reserve Bank of India
If, for a few, the stay at any corporation during their respective internship period was remarkably amazing, for me it was so right from the day I had got shortlisted for the internship selection process. It took me a week to actually digest the fact that I had been shortlisted for the interview and I would get a chance to step in to the same organization that I dreamt to work in, ever since I decided to take finance as my career option.
I would need more than words to explain how, the feeling of witnessing the dreams coming true was! The sudden influx of confidence after the final selection was remarkable to say the least. That sense of recognition for the effort that was being put in for more than a year to enrich my knowledge base was quite akin to steroid induced energy levels.
The moment I stepped in to the Asia’s best central bank’s central office building, the breeze brought along with it a sense of privilege to be a part of the organization and work along with the best brains in the country. But the thoughts didn’t end with just that. Deep inside me, I was afraid and I questioned myself if I really deserved to be there and manage to meet humongous expectations.
The first few hours into the office were striking as the work culture on the first sight looked so atypical to any government organization. The next few hours taught me that it would be two months in which I couldn’t afford to miss even a minute. And the next few days turned out to be days which were like I was putting myself out into the rains where knowledge showered with no signs of stopping.
So, it was Financial Markets Department which I would be a part of for two months. It was quite an experience to witness people do things which you read only in financial dailies. How was one supposed to feel to learn that the dollars were being sold in the room very next to yours to protect the rupee’s fall against the dollar, a news which one reads only in newspapers? They were those two months in the office, when no direction was a wrong one. Turn any side, I was sure to be bombarded with a flock of information. So all I had to do was to keep my ears open, and everything else would be taken care of automatically.
For the first time, I was witnessing an organization where the employees seemed to have completely forgotten about cribbing about their work. An ideal work place, I thought. And I could not have asked for a better manager who was more than willing to sit just next to you and teach the interns on topics which no textbook could possibly teach. It was next to impossible to witness employees, whose enthusiasm towards work and learning matched that of any possible school going kid. I just had to prepare myself to be floored by them, which I obviously did. I wonder how I was supposed to feel to realize that I along with the fellow interns would be the very few hundred in the entire country who would have visited the so called most sacred place, The Dealing Room of the Central Bank. I stood there amidst tables where millions of dollars and pounds were traded every second, amidst people who breathe numbers and amidst the people who arguably boast the best job profiles in the country. The atmosphere had something so remarkably unique that it immediately provided me a sense of direction of where I wanted, deep inside, me to go!
Thus, on the whole, my internship at Reserve Bank of India was simply a dream which lasted for two months. If there would be anything that would stay forever etched in the lanes of my memory for the quality of learning and extent of sheer amazement then that would be this. A few events help one to set a standard and a few more would help to raise the standard and there would be very very few which would make one realize that standards virtually have no boundaries. My internship was one event which was quite like the last.
Read last year’s winners’ (Sakshi‘s and Apurv’s) entries about interning at the Reserve Bank of India!
Was this interesting? If yes, please like the post on Facebook (below) and help Rajesh become winner of the week and win the prize (Rs. 1,000/-) that he truly deserves!
