Summer Internship with SIEMENS – Piyush Jain from NMIMS, Mumbai

Daily Winner for: –  17th August 2013

Name of the intern: – Piyush Jain

Institute: –  NMIMS, Mumbai

Organization interned with: – SIEMENS

My internship was not only an experience but it was about a complete change in perception about life. What an internship meant for me was the fundamental change in terms of widening of scope of thinking, facing difficulties in life head on, believing in yourself and developing a never say die attitude.

They say “Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths” and struggle came knocking at my doorsteps even before internship began, it was the last day of 5th Semester i.e. Dec, 2008. I needed an approval letter from college authorities prior to leaving for internship so that I could save travel of 2500 km. It appeared an easy task but it was not to be, it required 8 hrs of persuasion finally resulting in letter from college.

Finally crossing 4 states, 32 hrs of train journey from the green fields of Punjab across the sand dunes of Rajasthan and industrial powerhouse of India i.e. Gujarat I reached my destination, a truly cosmopolitan city, Bollywood capital, India’s financial hub and the city that never sleeps i.e. Mumbai, reaching Panvel to my distant relative’s place was again a struggle, as this was my 1st visit to Mumbai but one thing I knew about Mumbai local –seating capacity:actual turnout ratio was 1:10, thanks to India’s ever increasing population. To add to my woes was a concept called Sunday’s MEGABLOCK, which I had never heard of. But somehow I managed to reach my destination safe and sound! Really Hats off to people who travel daily in Mumbai local.

Now, the real journey began from waking up in the early morning to walking 2.5 Km towards the station to catch a local train namely 7:57, 8:13 and the last 8:29 in case I got late. My 1st day at Office was a bit unusual for me waiting for 4 hrs to meet the HR person and then again 3 hrs to meet my mentor. This ended my first day, I got a glimpse of corporate world and how climate change so fast in a matter of few days. The same continued for 15 days and I was not able to make out what I was doing here? Why am I here? What will I learn? Why I have come so far (1500 km) leaving aside comforting home? I finally reached to my mentor and conveyed respectfully my above feelings. Firstly, we was very angry on me as an outsider how can I say anything so blatantly to him but then he understood that I was not there to just to kill the time or remain idle like this and so he assigned me a senior (Amit Sir) and introduced me to new GETs some of them went on to became one of my best friends. Slowly but steadily I began to learn the basics of my work division? What work seniors do? How they do it? I voluntarily offered them my help in their work. This not only helped me understand things better but also gain confidence of the people at work. Day’s passed by and I was learning lot of new things at the same time enjoying corporate world. All these efforts were paying off as I had become apple of everyone’s eye and everyone appreciated my work .After all I knew “Attitude determines altitude”.

After having gone through the basics of work & a few hands on things, I was eager to do something worthwhile. That is when I got the opportunity to work on a project to develop a lift system for one of their clients. Considering my expertise in the electronics field and persistence for live project my mentor began to take personal interest in my project’s progress. I was so involved in this project that no one believed I was just an intern here for 6 months. Apart from work I learnt Table tennis and I became one of the best players in office. Table Tennis has now turned into a passion for me.

I wanted that my summer’s project be the best till now & times to come. For that I needed dedication & help from my mentors which sometimes was difficult because of heavy workload on them. This stressed me out but I understood their situation & somehow tired to manage by extending my stay back at the company. After extended work hours came my personal life. It was as if the struggle at office was not sufficient, there was home. I had a very different personal life staying with my cousin family, very indifferent relatives with no concern for me whatsoever, for instance when I reached early I had to roam around at a nearby parks waiting for aunt to come because they never gave me the key of house. Dinner was again a big problem, I had to sleep many nights without food. It was more of a rest house to me where I came only to sleep. I had very sound sleep due to my tiring routine and not due to the soft bed I had to sleep upon. Actually, I slept on floor. Although my relatives were not so supportive but I never let that affect me or my behavior. I spent the weekends trying to learn some new skills or roaming in the streets of South Mumbai and during this period, I visited almost each and every street and fort in South Mumbai on foot just to get away from my relatives. This in turn not only allowed me to see each and every monument of south Mumbai in detail but also understand the rich culture of Mumbai. Thanks to my callous relatives, I can now talk to anybody about culture, monuments, places in Mumbai which even a Mumbaikar would find difficult to do.

Towards the end of my internship I suffered from high fever and delusions. Even in this period, my relatives thought I was just joking and never paid heed to me. Finally, due to god’s grace, I became somewhat well again and completed my internship. The best day of my internship came on the last day when my mentor told me – “What you have learnt in six months, people aren’t able to learn even in two years! I want you to continue the same way throughout your life and I am sure you will go places”. These words reverberate even today in my ears and I feel so motivated and fulfilled that my sacrifices and struggles bore rich fruits and if I can survive in these conditions I can survive anywhere, anytime.

In that phase of life, I felt I was in a place worse than hell but now when I look back I see that due to that experience I have become much stronger, I can face any situation in life head on. And above all, struggle is for your good, not bad. The best teacher of life is the experiences you have and the true winner in life is the person who learns from his/her experiences.

As I share my experience with you I can proudly say – “I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.”

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