Ntrance Diaries : 1...Training Days

“So what do you want to opt for, Truth or Dare?” Dustin’s voice echoed across the bay and everyone was taken aback. Dustin was the Quality Assurance Leader (QAL) who had been given the responsibility to train new joinees for a 100% voice based process named Helpline.

Dustin was a self-obsessed individual who had no qualms in offending anyone. His consistent practice to engage people in embarrassing discussions was the talk of the town. He took utmost pride in being disliked but little did he know that people despised him because of his I-know-it-all-attitude. He had excellent communication skills and he knew very well how to capitalise on that. He was good at his work so his inner eccentrities were ignored by others, but as he would know later, not for long.

Nine faces beamed at him, ready with an answer. Nine mere mortals were being trained to go live and take calls from customers based in UK. They felt proud after being selected in the first voice process of XNS Xtrance, a leader in BPO. The company’s offices were located in the first tower in a picturesque society called Gamarpatta City at Sadaphar, Pune.

“Truth and Dare” game was being played to make the team members comfortable after a long day of learning the facets of Insurance and UK culture.

Sanuj answered first as usual by opting for “Truth”. He was always a man in hurry. He had prior experience in a BPO and he felt he had an edge over others. So far so good. Sanuj was more close to the supervisors than the process or process knowledge. He vehemently made attempts to remain insulated from the rest of the members to show that he was not interested in gossips or personal talks and to make others feel that he was different. Different he was, as time would tell.
After the shift, he sent sms to girls late at night and those sms’s were definitely not related to the process. He would stare at girls and make them uncomfortable. Anu was his latest victim and it would freak her out after getting those sms’s so late in the night. The last thing she wanted was lessons about friendship and love, when she was feeling sleepy.

Anu would have done better in a secret organisation. She could keep secrets till eternity unlike women. She was a practical and matured girl who had a no-nonsense attitude. She would laugh restricting herself as if it would attract undue attention. She had a flirtatious smile which always gave wrong hints to guys like Sanuj. However her eyes could not hide a hint of sadness. She was very selective in choosing her friends and quite secretive with her life. She abhorred the likes of Sanuj and their small talk. After saying “Truth” which was almost inaudible, she looked at Shlok and smiled.

Shlok’s songs were the first binding factor among the nine joinees. It helped everyone to unwind themselves after the trainings. Anu would often request him to sing one of her favourite Jagjit Singh’s songs. Shlok had an effervescent personality which had room for every person. A positive individual to the core, he was liked by everyone. He was a gifted singer and an intent listener. He was the most decent guy of the process. He was a true friend, and an earnest confidante. Being adorable, he could have won every girl’s heart. But some girls are like Granite rocks. No amount of metamorphosis can change them. After 3 years Shlok could very well understand this phenomenon. Before Shlok could say “Truth” or “Dare”, Neetu was jumping and hopping on her chair, ready to give an answer. After Shlok said ”Truth”, Neetu could not decide what to say and was silent for a moment.

Neetu was quite a bubbly girl and tried very hard to be the cynosure of all eyes. Sometimes she would shed a tear or two to attract certain amount of attention but everyone was used to her tantrums. It gave her a natural delight in cutting a sorry face for trivial things. Though her exterior persona was that of a little girl ready to be pampered, her interior reflexes were that of a matured and sensible girl. She was helpful, compassionate and had the urge to go extra mile for friends. She looked at the ceiling as if some supernatural force would make her decide what to choose. Then she called Dustin in her nasal voice and said “Truth”.

Dustin was hovering around the bay and looking at others who were yet to make up their mind and said, “Hey Guys, no one for dare. Are we all scared?” His eyes scanned every face and settled on Urvi. No one was surprised when she said with a confident voice, “Dare”.

The first signs of Urvi’s presence were her flamboyance, fun-loving and never-say-die attitude. Boys were attracted to her like bees to beehives. Not that she complained and often made subtle remarks about them. She was a reservoir of confidence and positivity. She pain-stakingly spent a lot of time making up her hair and wearing different lipsticks matching her dress. Not to mention, the deodorant top-up after every hour. She had an infectious sense of humour, not to be found in majority of girls. She was more compatible with boys than girls. Her deep faith in spirituality often irked Sanuj. Her lifestyle didn’t quite support her inner beliefs. Though she would long to attain the path of self-realization, she would also crave for a cigarette. She missed the serenity inside the sanctum sanctorum of a temple with the same intensity to that of a flashy, colourful, smoke-filled, noisy environ of a pub or discotheque. She could be the best of friends or worst of foes, depending on which side you are. She was a fearless individual and her helpfulness and kindness kept her intact amidst her ordeal of a complicated life.

Shivangi was already getting uncomfortable with the whole exercise. It felt stupid for her to play a game where your integrity will be put to question. Being married, she had lots of things to worry in life than wasting her time for a meaningless game. She was a focused woman who knew where she was heading. She was quite blunt sometimes and everyone took her seriously and rarely anyone made fun of her. She was cordial with everyone and always thought that her views were right. She didn’t like anyone opposing her as she was the eldest of the lot. Her bespectacled look added to her intelligence and she had a very pleasant demeanour. Reluctantly she said “Truth”.

Saakhi could sense what Shivangi was thinking. Saakhi was born with a smiling face. Come what may, she would always spread her infectious smile. Being married, she was quite matured in her thoughts and actions. Like Shivangi, she also didn’t approve of such games but didn’t show in front of everyone and surprisingly opted for “Dare” like Urvi. Saakhi always made it a point to smoothen up the atmosphere. Like a true ice-breaker, she would often get indulge in theatrical gimmicks. She was down to earth and a perfect acquaintance. She was also a good listener and could lend her ears to anyone’s problems. She was a good person to talk to and anyone could share their problems with her.

Dustin looked at Sania for a little longer than required and asked her choice, nodding his head. Sania’s perfunctory choice as “Truth” in a lackadaisical way left little doubt that she neither wanted to say “Truth” or “Dare”. Sania was a determined girl who rarely opened up with anyone, not even friends. She would not allow anyone to enter her inner sphere. There was an outer sheath of beauty coupled with a courteous smile whereas her inner world was an unfamiliar territory for everyone. She was not at all animated and had an expressionless face; it was easy to decipher Da Vinci’s Monalisa. She was caring for her friends and though didn’t gossip about anyone but still wanted to know about others. She was also a little materialistic and was very conscious of her looks. It would have been an understatement to note that she was beautiful; because she was a paragon of beauty. Such was her beauty that heads swivelled across the entire area when she was present and the waves of emotions crashed and swelled, crashed and swelled. Though it was not required for her to check how she looked but time and again, the window panes of the office were better used as mirrors to check if any strand of hair was not at it’s place, or the lipstick crossed the outline, or the kajal and mascara were at their respective places and the foundation intact.

Sandesh was the odd man out of the group. With no prior experience in a BPO, every task was new for him. He took time to understand what the game was all about and after hesitating to ask, Sania came to his rescue. Dustin looked at him in a disapproving manner and waited for his answer. Sandesh was a hardworking and perseverant guy. He was very nice and gentle to people. Initially one would misinterpret him to be a little underconfident, but he was intelligent and sharp. He took more time than others to master the neutral accent required for the process but he made it up later with a solid understanding of the process knowledge. He rarely flaunted his talents and skills and often people would be surprised by what he had achieved.
He was strong headed and adamant on certain things. If he didn’t like anyone then he made sure it was conveyed. He could not hide his emotions and was an open book to read. He was quite opinionated and often formed his own impression about people and deliberately made no attempts to see their other side. He had quite a spat with Sanuj and Dustin during the training period. But he was trustworthy and friendly to everyone. He also opted for “Truth”.

By the time everyone had made their choices a lot of commotion could be witnessed as the game had already started getting on the nerves of certain people. Dustin waved his hand like a magic wand to silence everyone. Rather than making everyone comfortable, it embarrassed few people and some took it with a grain of salt.

Much to everyone’s respite, the Team Leader of the process had already walked in and interrupted everyone by saying that an emergency training will have to be conducted so the game could wait. The Guru of Neutral accent had paid a short visit to the company and since he had a tight schedule under his belt, everyone had to rush to the training room to get enlightened with his views.

Dustin’s dreams were shattered and he was disappointed as he wanted to know how the joinees would react to a funny and embarrassing game. He yelled at everyone, “OK guys, the game will be played sometime later”. But it never happened as heads would roll.

These nine people formed the second batch of the process and proved to be like the nine jewels in Akbar’s crown. As it turned out later, every day in Helpline was worth remembering and worth treasuring.These Nine people became inseparable through their times of happiness and distress.

The training period was for two months and everyone had a blast during that time. The story of being in the shop floor and taking calls was a bit different than what they had anticipated. Hunky dory days of training were gone and serious days of taking calls and being judged and monitored had come.

A whole new dimension to friendship was formed amongst few people during the training and afterwards, that was cherished and admired. New alliances were formed and some were broken.
Amidst the seriousness of the business and work culture, a strong bond was created that left its mark till date.

(It is worth mentioning that Alok Kumar Jha made a huge contribution in helping me to define the characters above. Thank you as always Buddy)




Disclaimer : It's a story of fiction based on facts. It may not be entirely true as it's based on memories of several people which might have been clouded in the due course of time. The writer is not responsible for any untoward meaning that can be derived from this story.