The Internship From He(L)l

I was excited out of my senses about my summer internship at one of the world’s largest banks ("the world’s local bank", to be precise!!!). It began quite well with me shuttling from L to Delhi first. I took a flight, a luxury permitted only because the bank was paying for it. Instead of reaching Delhi at 8:30 in the morning, I reached at 12:00 noon thanks to delays and congestion at the airport. Another 24 hours later I was back at the airport boarding my flight to Mumbai. The bank required all trainees to troop down to their training centre at Mumbai (Bandra) for a 2-day Induction Program. Out of 13 interns, I was the only one placed at Delhi while the others were working in Mumbai. The odd one out, I was put up (on the bank’s expense again) at a nice cozy guesthouse in Bandra. All this time I felt quite important about myself. After the 2 days of pretty useless training, I left Mumbai with a few cursory friends and huge expectations.

I reached Delhi at midnight and prepped myself for work the next day. My office is about 45 minutes to 1 hour away from where I stay. Office officially starts at 8:30. I diligently reached 5 minutes early, only to be greeted by a deserted office. The guard told me to wait at the reception. An hour later I was still sitting waiting for the person I was to report to. I decided to be a little assertive and approached the first man I saw in formals. He passed me on to another person, who was excited to see me as he is an alumnus of L. I thanked my stars as he gave me a workstation to sit at and advised me to read up on my project. He even handed over a book about the bank’s business in the area I am working in. I had my laptop; they provided me with a lan connection. Other than emails and chat software being blocked by the firewall, I had complete freedom to do what I pleased.

It’s been a week now since I joined the Delhi (oops, Gurgaon) office. I have nothing to do. My project guide is non existent. She is not yet an employee of the bank and will be on board next week. I guess she’ll take about a week to settle in and that makes 3 weeks out of my 8 weeks of internship absolutely useless. Add to that the fact that I feel like a liability at this place. No one is willing to guide me about my project for fear that my actual guide will want other deliverables. I have been pushed and shoved from one vacant workstation to another and have finally ended up in a small conference room by myself in one corner of the office. I don’t think anyone notices when I come or leave. I don’t even think they’re bothered. 2 days ago, the security guard of the building refused to allow me to park without authorization. I brought up this issue at work and all they did was shrug their shoulders, refuse to authorize my car (because there weren’t enough parking spaces for themselves) and told me to fend for myself. Today I parked at a shopping centre close by and walked down to the majestic building I call my office. Lunch is another thing that is not provided here. I bring my lunch from home and have to heat it up here in the pantry. Today some random guy, from the systems department I presume, came over to my room to "order" me to disconnect my computer from the lan. He was the same guy who configured my laptop so that I could access the internet, but today decided that my machine was not authorized. I told him I’d need a PC to work on and he told me that could happen only after my boss submitted a written request. Surprise!!! My boss isn’t here yet!!! The people here are weird too. I have barely spoken to 4 people (2 are alumni from L, one is the dude I was supposed to report to on my arrival, 1 is a lady I am supposed to ask for help, though I don’t really get any). Everyone else looks at me in a condescending manner, including the man who sits in the pantry the whole day. While coffee is being served to everyone, I am conveniently avoided. While everyone’s food is heated for them, I have to do it myself. I am not averse to doing things on my own, but a little bit of politeness can’t be too much to ask for.

People may say that all this is part-and-parcel of a summer internship. But I beg to differ. There are 2 more interns here. However, they are not here through campus placements, or even through official channels. They know people who know people who know people at the bank. Their mouths fell open when I told them I was from L and were even more surprised to hear that I was getting a stipend. But all that is in vain when it comes to treatment. Because they know people here, they have workstations with PCs and seem to be doing some concrete work. While I come at 8:30 and do not leave before 6:30 at least, they saunter in after 10 and leave at 5. They work 5 days a week while I hang around for 6. In the end, I think they got the better deal. They have no PPO to run after. They can do as they please. Even if there was a PPO for them, they would most definitely get it the way they got the internship in the first place.

I don’t really think I want to work at a place like this. For all practical purposes I am an employee here. Never would I recommend this place to anyone. I’m rethinking the PPO myself. I may rather slog my way through next year and put myself through the ordeal of sitting for final placements. PCOM are you listening???