A dream called Citi
The chronicles of a summer intern.
After having gone through the rigorous screening process, it was finally the time to join Citi for my 8 week summer internship at Pune. Excitement was at its peak as I boarded the flight from my home town Amritsar to Pune on May 19, 2019. After landing at Pune, I was transported to Westin, Koregaon Park, a hotel which boasted of its excellent hospitality and international cuisine. The Citi office in Pune is located in the Eon IT Park, sprawling over 45 acres of land in the suburbs of Kharadi. With the hustle-bustle of employees entering and exiting the IT park every now and then, the environment feels very lively and energetic.
The on-boarding process for the interns was a bit hectic and it took a couple of days for us to get our systems and everything up and ready. Meanwhile I rapidly started to learn about the role of technology at a company which was primarily a banking firm. Days in and I was assigned the project that I was supposed to work on in the upcoming weeks. I worked on developing a Distributed Automated Test Execution Framework. Although I was pretty familiar with core Java, I was relatively new to the open-sourced Java frameworks such as Spring Boot, Apache Camel, etc. The main problems tackled with the framework were reduction in the speed of test execution along with no need for reinitiating on failure.
During my time at Citi, I also met other interns, all were from different colleges and different backgrounds but yet everyone had gleamy eyes and undeterred will to prove themselves. I had a very healthy dynamic with my manager and my fellow interns which helped me get a better insight of the work.
I was diving deeper into the workings of the corporate world, understanding what is expected of an employee along with polishing my professional and technical skills. With everyday passing by, I was getting better at work and my efficiency increased manifold. One of the big lessons I learnt was that there will be days when you won’t be productive, you cannot always stick to the plan. Things will not always go the way you wish them to. It is absolutely alright to fail, but what is more important is what you learn from these failures and how you proceed forward.
While the weekdays were spent working laboriously on the projects assigned, as Fridays approached we rejoiced ourselves to embrace the upcoming weekend. Not a single weekend we spent lazing around and doing nothing, every weekend was planned with some activity or a short trip somewhere around Pune in the lush, green western ghats. As the monsoon approached we began to experience the freshness of the entire region and the earthly petrichor. I could very well write a travel blog for the trips that I took during this time, but I will try to keep this brief.
While Pune itself is not by the ocean, a short drive from the city landed us in Alibaug for a peaceful and a serene trip. As we lay on the sand bed watching the sun set over the vastness of the ocean, all the tiredness from work wore away.
Lonavla was yet another milestone trip for us. We had rented an Airbnb in the foothills of Sahyadris by a lakeside. Our tiny little cottage was surrounded with lush green valleys and blooming meadows. During evening we visited the sumptuous Pawna lake, with its crystal clear appearance. This was not a very touristy place so, except us, no one was there. We played cards by the lakeside and enjoyed the freshness of the dew drops falling from the leaves. I also visited Bombay during one of the weekends to meet my relatives. I was dreaded by the Mumbai Monsoon, but luckily everything went fine and I managed to visit the well known, Taj Mahal Hotel and the Marine Drive.
Everything was hunky-dory until we realised that we were approaching the end of this intern season. The nerve-wrecking presentations awaited us. While it was not a herculean task to present the project my team had worked on, it was tough to reconcile to the fact that this dream was getting over. I would no longer be able to see the faces of my teammates. The ones who made living in a new city feel like home would be separated and who knew when I could meet them again. With the ticking of the clock, my fondness for my new found friends increased. All of us relied on each other for emotional support, which none of us wanted to end.
All the bad things in life come to an end, but so do the good things. How much ever you want something to continue, you are made brace the blunt reality. The last few days of the internship were spent cherishing the absolute bliss that this internship was. At this stage of my career where the foundation is being established, Citi has helped me strengthen the roots, so that I can soar and achieve everything that I dream of. I took back with me the best of work ethics, the infinite learnings, but more than anything, I felt fulfilled and a sense of achievement made me proud of myself.
It has been seven months since the internship ended. Now, I am sitting on a different workstation in a different company in a new city with new peers doing my second internship which is again starting to feel like a dream that I never want to end. Time flies by and it seems like it was yesterday when I appeared for the interview with Citi. Though the time has progressed long enough, but the memories of everything are still so fresh. I can still feel the dew drops on the leaves in Lonavla, I can still feel the water rubbing against my feet in Alibaug, I can still see the kaali-peel taxis moving around in Bombay and more.
Thank you Citi.
#SummerAtCiti
