Updates From My End

First of all, I'm really sorry for not blogging since long. Got so busy with other things that the time slot I kept reserved for blogging got occupied by other activities. What's new on my side??? First of all, I've got a job in the Energy sector at a company called G.S.P.C. Ltd. (Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Limited). The profile I've got is that of an Offshore Drilling Engineer. So I'll be working on the rig floor in the middle of the oceans, exploring Oil & Natural Gas. A very adventurous job indeed.

Since the inception of office-life, I've stopped staying up till late, and if you guys must have noticed, most of my posts were written around 1.30 - 2 AM time slot. That is the time I'm generally at my best. I did wish to sit down & write at other times as well, but after coming back from office, I spent the remaining time catching up with friends or finishing off some other pending work.

There's a sudden transition in the lifestyle and a lot new experiences have come my way. If you get the right kind of work environment to begin your career with, it really helps you groom your personality. And I feel I'm fortunate to be a part of a company that pampers its employees and makes them feel special & wanted. Inspite of being a government firm, there's nothing government-like about the place. The office building represents work of modern architecture, with plush interiors and absolute cleanliness. The fully air-conditioned company bus picks you up and drops you at stops allocated in such a way that they are pretty close to everyone's respective places. You need to flash your access card in front of the door to enter any department. In my department, there're atleast 20 expatriates of different nationalities, so my department resembles a global workplace. The canteen has 70 inch plasma screen for the employees, and there's Table-Tennis, Carrom and a gym for re-creation. The wash-basin & wash-rooms are fully sensor equipped and they have hand dryers & tissue papers as well. I know all this description sounds kinda stupid but the basic idea I'm trying to convey is that there's nothing out there which gives you a hint of a quintessential government building.

I was out for training last week. It was called P.S.T (Personal Survival Training) & H.U.E.T (Helicopter Underwater Escape Training). The place where it was held was a small port area in Andhra Pradesh called Kakinada, where all the major E&P companies have their foothold. It was a great experience, learning all the emergency survival techniques, going to the port, getting onto huge Vessels (Industrial Ships), having a look at the company base, meeting all the international service providers who have their yards out there to cater to the companies. I was busy the whole week and so didn't realize where time flew by. Language was a major problem with the localites as they didn't understand Hindi or English but the experience of going to a new place was great.

And hey, I got a chance to travel by air for the first time in my life. But yeah, it wasn't so exciting as I had thought it'd be. The first five minutes - when the plane took off upto when I saw the sun rising across the horizon were awesome. Then the excitement was all over. Maybe because you cant realize the speed with which you're going from inside the cabin. And ya, my ears are way too sensitive for a flight. Next two days are really bad. That also added to the turn-off for flights. One more great experience was to board the company's chartered flight while returning home. And yeah, the excitement of traveling across the width of the nation in a couple of hours was definitely there throughout.

Now that I'm back, I've been sent to yet another precious training certification course for a software that the company uses. So far I've been on a learning and observing mode and have been getting myself used to the office life. It's not like there're no cons here. The office politics is pretty much prevalent, but since I'm a trainee, I've not exposed to it so much as I shall be in the time to come. Till then, I guess I shall have got a fair idea of that as well.

But then ofcourse, my job is also equally tough n laborious, and once it starts, I'm sure I'll come to know why is the company providing so much facilities to me. But the learning is all on my own - how I grasp the working and fundamentals of offshore drilling will pave my way for the future. With optimism and good hope, I'll sign off. hope things work out great for me in the time to come as well. Will try to keep in touch regularly from now on. Peace out!!