SUMMER TRAININGS-A FUN PLACE MORE THAN LEARNING!!!!

WELL, I AM BACK AGAIN… LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING ABOUT MY COLLEGE DAYS AT C.E.T., BHUBANESWAR… SUMMERS ARRIVE AND WE STUDENTS WOULD BE SUBMITTING FORMS IN THE ELECTRICAL COMPANIES TO PURSUE OUR “SUMMER TRAINING”… FOR EVERY COMPANY, THERE WOULD BE EVERYONE GIVING FORMS TO THE COLLEGE FOR TRAINING, AND THE WHOLE T&P CELL WOULD BE OVERLOADED WITH FORMS :D :D :D… IN MY TENURE OF 4 YEARS, I DID TWO SUMMER TRAININGS (FOR NAME SAKE) IN TWO COMPANIES, OPTCL (ORISSA POWER TRANSMISSION CORPORATION LTD.), AND THE OTHER ONE WHO IS THE FATHER OF THIS, NTPC/TTPS (NATIONAL THERMAL POWER CORPORATION/ TALCHER THERMAL POWER STATION)… LET ME TALK ABOUT THE INCIDENTS ABOUT THESE TWO PLACES…

LET’S START WITH MY FIRST TRAINING, AT OPTCL, WHERE WE DID IN THE MONTH OF JUNE, 2009… THREE OF US, WERE ENTITLED THERE FOR TRAINING, TO THE SAKE OF A FRIEND WHO HAD CONTACTS IN THE COMPANY… BEING THE FIRST ONE, WE WERE TOO EXCITED AS IT WAS OUR FIRST EVER TRAINING, GOING OBEDIENTLY TO THE PLACE WELL BEFORE THE TIME, BUT AT FIRST COULDN’T FIND WHERE EXACTLY WAS THIS LOCATED, AS WE WERE WANDERING ALL AROUND TO FIND THAT SPOT, ASKING PASSER-BY WHERE IS THAT PLACE, WITH THAT ‘HAAN’ TYPE, AND HE WOULD SAY SOME OTHER DIRECTION EVEN THOUGH HE MIGHT HAVE SEEN THAT PLACE ALL THE TIME HE IS PASSING BY THAT ROAD :D :D :D… FINALLY SOMEHOW, WE FOUND THAT GRID, AND ON THE NEXT DAY READY TO GO TO THE PLACE FOR TRAINING…. THE FIRST THING THAT WE DID WAS TO MEET THE TRAINING PERSON, WHO HAD TO TRAIN US… WELL, YOU PEOPLE HAVE HEARD OF ‘CHAIN SMOKER’, HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF “CHAIN ‘PAAN’ CHEWER”??? :D :D :D… WELL, SO WAS A PERSON WAS HE… HAVING A BULKY FIGURE, WITH A ONE BIG PACK, AND JUST CHEWING BETEL (PAAN) ALL THE TIME, BEFORE THE ONE GETS COMPLETED, HE POPS ON ANOTHER ONE :D :D :D… WELL WHEN HE TALKS, IT SPITTED OUT SOME AMOUNT OF BETEL ONTO THE FLOOR… SO WHILE TALKING, WE USED TO STAND ATLEAST TWO HANDS AWAY FROM HIM SO THAT HE DOESN'T SPIT IT OUT ON US :D :D :D… ON THE FIRST DAY, HE ASKED US TO DO WHAT IS CALLED THE “GRID DIAGRAM”… WE DIDN'T UNDERSTAND FROM WHAT POINT TO START AND END, AS WE WERE JUST DRAWING THE WHOLE DIAGRAM IN ROUGH FOR ALMOST HALF-AN- HOUR OR SO… FINALLY WE HAD COMPLETED OUR GRID DIAGRAM THEN, BUT COULDN'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING OUT OF IT… THE MOST FUNNIEST WAS WE USED TO BUNK A HELL LOT OF CLASSES, AND AFTER THAT WHEN WE AGAIN CAME, HE USED TO AGAIN SAY THE SAME THING REPEATEDLY… THE PERSON WHO WAS GIVING THAT TRAINING ALSO SAID “WHY YOU PEOPLE ARE COMING EVERYDAY??? JUST COME WHEN YOU FEEL THAT THERE IS SOMETHING HERE, OTHERWISE GO AND SLEEP IN YOUR HOMES”… WELL, MOST OF US ALSO WENT ON FOR A TRIP IN THE MEANWHILE, TO SOME PLACES OF THEIR RELATIVES AND, AT LAST, GOT A CERTIFICATE PRINTED WITH THE LOGO OF THE COMPANY…

NEXT WAS THAT OF THE NTPC/TTPS, WHERE THEY CALLED US FOR TRAINING AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 6^TH SEMESTER EXAM… SO THERE WAS A SPECIAL REQUEST SENT TO THE COMPANY TO SHIFT OUR SCHEDULE TO THE NEXT MONTH, AND SO THEY AGREED… TWO OF US OUT OF THE THREE, WHO JOINED FOR OPTCL, ALONG WITH THREE OTHERS, WERE CALLED FOR TRAINING… THESE GROUP OF 5 PEOPLE WERE THERE AT THE PLACE 5 DAYS AFTER THE EXAM :D :D :D… IT TOOK US A WHOLE ONE DAY TO GET THE GATE PASS FOR ENTRY, THE SERVER WAS DOWN, AND IT WAS TOO HOT IN THAT SCORCHING HEAT OF THE PLACE… IT HAD TWO TIMINGS FOR THE TRAINING, WE CHOOSED TO DO IN THE MORNING HALF, AND TAKE GOOD AMOUNT OF NAP IN THE AFTERNOON HALF… A GUY FROM US GOT A NAME IN THIS PLACE, “THERMAL CHOWK”… THE REASON WE CALL HIM, AS IT HAPPENED TO HIM ON THAT PLACE, ALL THE MISHAPPENINGS (HAADSA) ON ONE DAY… WE STAYED IN A LODGE WHICH WAS 5 KMS AWAY FROM THE PLANT… SO HAD TO DO SHUNTING EVERYDAY, BY ANY MEANS OF CONVENIENCE AS IT WAS A COMPLETE REMOTE AREA… ONE DAY, IT HAPPENED THAT WE HAD GOT SOME GUEST HOUSE WITHIN THE PLANT ITSELF… SO I AND THIS FRIEND OF MINE WENT ON TO THE PLACE TO CHECK IT OUT… AFTER TRAVELLING 5 KMS FROM THE LODGE, WE WENT TO OUR FRIEND’S RESIDENCE WHICH WAS A STONE THROW DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE STOP “THERMAL CHOWK”, AS HE KNEW WHERE TO GO THEN… HERE STARTED THE SERIES OF MISHAPPENINGS OR”HAADSA” WITH THIS GUY… ON OUR WAY TO HIS HOME, HE CAME IN BETWEEN A BULL AND A COW, WHERE THE BULL WAS JUST RUNNING OUT FROM A DISTANCE TOWARDS THE COW, AND HE WAS JUST IN BETWEEN THE TWO SPECIES :D :D :D :D… HE ALMOST GOT ESCAPED FROM BEING HURT… THEN, WE WENT ON TO THE PLANT TO SEE THAT PLACE, AND ON OUR WAY BACK, SAW A LOADED TRAIN ALMOST RUNNING AT BULLOCK CART SPEED… I AND THAT FRIEND OF US MANAGED TO RUN TO THE OTHER WAY OF THE RAILWAY CROSSING, AND WAITED FOR THIS GUY, AS HE WAITED FOR THAT TRAIN TO CLEAR OFF THE CROSSING… HERE COMES THE SECOND HAADSA, THE TRAIN STOPPED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CROSSING AS IT HAD TO UNLOAD COAL AT THE PLANT… HA! HA! HA! COULDN’T STOP LAUGHING!!! AS HE HAD TO MOVE ALONG THE REST HALF OF THAT ANACONDA SHAPED TRAIN TO MEET US :D :D :D… WHEN WE MET, WE COULDN’T STOP LAUGHING EVEN THEN ALSO :)… THIS WAS TOO MUCH FOR THAT GUY :)… NOW HE DECIDED TO MOVE AHEAD AND CATCH AN AUTO FOR US… FORTUNATELY, AN AUTO STOOD THERE, AND HE CREATED HIS THIRD AND FINAL HAADSA… STANDING ON THE THERMAL CHOWK, INSTEAD OF ASKING HIM WHETHER HE WOULD GO TO THE DESTINATION PLACE, HE UTTERED “WOULD YOU GO TO THE THERMAL CHOWK???”… THE AUTO DRIVER LOOKED SURPRISED AND ANNOYED, AND THEN REPLIED WITH A SMILE,”NO SIR, BECAUSE THIS IS THERMAL CHOWK”… WE COULDN’T STOP LAUGHING; OUR LAUGHTER BECAME MUCH MORE LOUDER… FROM THAT DAY ONWARDS, WE USED TO ADDRESS HIM AS “THERMAL CHOWK”, AND ALWAYS LAUGH REMEMBERING THAT MOMENTS…

IN BOTH THE TRAININGS, WE USED TO DO A HELL LOT OF FUN AND FROLIC RATHER THAN GAINING SOMETHING ABOUT THE TEACHINGS FROM THE TRAINING THERE… AS STUDIES AND TEACHINGS WOULD BE THERE, NO DOUBT, BUT THOSE ARE HARDLY REMEMBERED, THE MOST YOU REMEMBER IS THE BEST TIMES YOU HAVE SPENT WITH AND CHERISHED WITH YOUR FRIENDS, WHICH MAKE YOU LAUGH ALL THE TIME REMEBERING THOSE PRECIOUS MOMENTS…