Hey I got a 'B'

Just one month was left in my completing a year at Infy and boy, there are no words in the universe that can explain the anxiety that I was feeling. 'Anxiety', because I din't know the confirmation grade that I would be getting.

I had worked hard. I might not have done something exceptionally great but I had done many small small exceptional things. But the problem was: Would those be noticed, would those be remembered??? Well, the odds against 'yes' as an answer to this question were many.

I had worked under five managers, one of them out of the company now and two of them onsite. Who would stand for me? Who would convince the SPM that I deserved the better grade.

Actually it's not about grades, it's about the satisfaction you get when your efforts get noticed.

And I was damn sure that mine would definitely not be. Besides, the other ppl who were getting confirmed with me were also gud, and everything was relative. So... :-(

Then one fine day I got to know that Seema would be finalizing the list of ppl based on how they fare compared to each other. And I said to myself, shit man, she has worked with half of them and knows what good things they have done, but she has no clue about the good things done by me.

Then we had a meeting in which I was told my strengths and weeknesses. And lo and behold, Sandeep (one of my managers) said that I needed to put in more effort for knowledge sharing. And beleive me Sandeep I felt like giving you a punch in your stomach. (I hope Sandeep will forgive me for being so childish, but thats me :-)))

By this time I was convinced that my chances of getting a B were nill, none, '-infinite'; so I decided not to think about it and concentrate on other things.

But I am a human being after all. So, I came up with a list of all the arguements that I would place in front of my SPM when I get a C. And all the crap things that I would do.

Life moved on. I was prepared for the cruel reality that I will have to face in the first week of October.

On Sept 30, I was eating the stale pizza of Toot-C when I got a call from Debu. He said that the grades were out. At first I thought that he was kidding but then, Neha called and told me the same. She offered to see the grade for me but I refused as I wanted to see the grades myself (Yes, I am very very superstitious).

I thought I will finish that pizza and go to Infy. But the pizza just wont get down my throat. I threw it in the bin and got up to leave.

At that moment the last straw in me gave in. What was the point in going so far just to see the C grade. So I called up Neha, gave her my password and asked her to check my grade.

And she said 'Tera B hai' (yours is B). I thought I had heard it wrong so I asked her to repeat. And this time I thought she said it wrong. So I asked her to say it once again. And this time I thought she had seen it wrong. So I said, 'Arey kya keh rahi hai, theek se dekh' (What r u saying, see properly).

She said, 'haan haan tera hi dekh rahi hoon, its B'. I screamed with joy and boy, was it loud. It was total numbness and ecstasy. My effort had not gone wasted. And a mile long smile got pasted on my face. My mind stopped thinking. It was complete bliss.