And so we break!!

Its been little more than a month at I-Cope now. Ah!! Lemme do that
again. AAAaaaaaaahhh!!

Well, today's the last day before we close for Christmas vacations (1
week to be precise). But you know what- our floor (the VTM one) is
almost empty, save for a few fresh trainee souls. Hmmm, I wonder who they
could be!!

We had Christmas celebrations along with the monthly birthday bash. We
did a bit of carolling and confetti-throwing, followed by plum cake
(damn!! no wine!!)- Or else I'd be shaying shings like shish!!

Office reopens (office reopens?!!) on the 2nd of January, and hopefully
exams should kick in by then too.

We're a family now

They say bread and butter always go together. Our desi version would vouch for dal and roti. Well, I've got news - I-Cope is going with Trivium Inc, USA. People, we're merging!! We'll be looking for a new office and moving to some new place soon.

We had a party on Saturday to celebrate the merger at the Chancery on M. G. Road. Meeting was at 8.30 am, since they held a video conferenced meeting with the top officials of the mother company in the US of A. Frankly speaking, I've never got up so early for a party.

Then we had a formal chat on what the merger would do for us and the company and where we'd be positioned a couple of years from now, and after that lunch.

So now instead of 'Guten Morgen', we'd be saying 'Yo - whad up, homie?'

All this is so maggi!!

Into the third week at I-Cope and we've been reading up about our project. I have to admit, its tiring!!

Barnabas finally declared that all the stuff he'd read was maggi!! What he was referring to was Maggi Noodles, you know, like its mixed, mashed and crumpled up, but not in two minutes. Aye for the lion!!

Speaking of which, Ganesh was so bored with the reading that he finally took the mouse, put it in his lap and held it like he'd hold a baby squirell from escaping, and scrolled up and down with his index finger. Praveen, thats the 'Heights of Boredom' for you.

Sunil went to sleep in between a seminar we had, and even though he was sleeping, he kept nodding his head to whatever was being said. That was real funny. Interestingly, he used to keep doing that in class too.

Food's good, and so is the view from the open top cafeteria. Only it gets sore considering its the same view, every time. Much like mariage, I'd say.

90 hours and still going strong

The second week at I-Cope's up and we're still going strong. We've clocked a little above 90 hours at the office, most, if not all, of which have been spent reading documents for our project.

I met Ms. Balaji last Saturday when I came to college, and when she found out I walk to work, she was happy, gave me a 75mm smile and said it amounted to a good deal of exercise. Whoa... Waitaminite!! Did we just miss the point there? I walk to work (2 kms to be approximate), and then sit for 9 hours in front of the system. There goes my exercise.

Life's cool here. One thing's for sure - we're putting on weight, what with having the cafeteria right above our heads.

Last week, Barnabas went for the dessert and said they've got sponge. I looked at Ganesh quizzically. 'Rasagulla', he replied. Later on, I found out why Barnabas called the rasagullas sponge - because it was exactly that. Far from being soft, this thing was sure to get me dentures if I chewed on it for long.

And another week ends with the next one around the corner...

First day, first show.

My first day at icope (read work) went pretty well. We got a long induction from just abt everyone in HR, followed by the do's and the dont's. Then the bank form, followed by lunch, and then we were allocated our cubicles and our systems.

We went through the company roster to find Devasia Kurien was VP of I-Cope for around 3 years. Interesting. and guess what - he dresses in exactly the same manner as he does when he comes to class: light trousers and a neon / dark shirt (Asian Paints brand ambassador).

Went for our first meeting yesterday with Krishnan and our senior Jose. They discussed our project, what they already have and what is to be done.

I-Cope is divided into 5 floors and we occupy the 3rd floor. In fact, the whole of the 3rd floor is the VTM (Voice Telephony and Messaging) people. And right above us is the cafeteria (dont have to walk the distance to the students center like in college).

The guys here picked me up on my birthday, gave me a card and also had a monthly birthday bash, where we had all the guys whose birthday was in Nov come up and got a birthday song sung.

Its pretty cool here (so far), where we have the Java people below our floor and below them we've got the MD and the support staff.