Unplugged – My internship experience!
Hi, I’m Batool. Here I am reminiscing the 4 months I spent at Internshala as a content writing intern!
The text cursor blinks impatiently at me as I sip the last of my (second) cup of coffee and stare at the ceiling to find the right words in an attempt to boil four months of my life down to mere paragraphs. It is called the team diary, and I intend to take it literally.
I came to Internshala with almost nothing, just my backpack and a love for writing. I had no plans and no experience. Actually, I did have a plan: take things as they come and don’t expect too much. Turns out, I shouldn’t have worried. Almost every day at Internshala was unexpected but somehow comfortable. I spent most of my internship with earphones in, music on high. It wasn’t all smooth sailing though! The past few months required plenty of adjustments for me—talking to people, asking for help, and actually writing for a change! Internshala didn’t care about my hostility towards novelty; despite my childish resistance, I found myself evolving, much like a Pokémon! In the past four months, I learnt many exciting things like how to wake up at 6 in the morning, how to initiate a conversation, and how to write emails. Jokes aside, not a day went by when I didn’t learn something new. Researching for topics that I hadn’t previously given a second thought about made them twice as interesting as before. I was constantly asking myself and others all sorts of questions; people here have a fondness for asking “Why?” to everything. I also learnt how to write; I realise that this might read as a joke but it isn’t! Prior to this internship, almost all my writing apart from essays in college was limited to my myriad of notebooks that never saw another pair of eyes. Here, I learnt to convert content writing into creative writing, as my mentor puts it. Another big aspect of my job was to read. That’s it, just spend at least an hour or two a day to read blogs, think pieces, reviews, basically anything with text in it. In essence, my work consisted of listening to music, reading, writing, and around twice (sometimes thrice) a day, drinking coffee. For someone like me, that was the rêve ultime.
If to err is human, then in that regard at least, I am very human. I suppose Unnatti knows that better than anyone. Still, after each of my numerous mess-ups, instead of fixating on the mistake, I was made to focus on why it went wrong and what I could learn from the mistake. During the times I got frustrated with myself for not having performed as well as I thought I should have, I was always reminded that it wasn’t the end of the world and I could always try again and try better. It changed my entire perspective on failure. I’m reminded of a quote from a TV show I watched recently – “People make mistakes. That’s why they put rubbers at the end of pencils”. I found myself in an environment I had needed and longed for in school and college. I was surrounded by people who couldn’t help but dream big and were addicted to growth and learning. Everyone’s unceasing creativity even and especially in the face of deadlines was contagious. At Internshala, for perhaps the first time in my life, I saw people who were not only good at what they did but genuinely enjoyed it. I found my notion of a 9 to 5 job tilting a bit to the left.
Four months, several articles and stories, countless emails, one doodle-ridden notebook, and infinite cups of coffee later, I prepare to leave the place where I very literally spent more time than my own home. I don’t know if I have become a better writer but I do know that I have become one.
Editor’s Note: If Batool’s term of joy makes you want to work with our content team and explore your love for writing, apply here.
