The End Is Near, My Friend

With the countdown already started, I have just two more days to complete my internship. Throughout this journey, near and dear ones have asked me how I found my experience working at the Indian Express. I could never answer them in just one word back then but now I can – ‘unexpected’.
Nothing about working at the Indian Express was like what I expected. Before joining, I thought that I would have to be very formal and business-like, just do my business and get out. I didn’t think that I would be treated any better than a peon from the stories that I had heard from other interns. I thought I was going to have a miserable time.
On my first day at office I was asked to cover an exhibition which was surprising because I had told them that I had no experience whatsoever in the field. But my lady boss, Preetha, told me that she was confident I could do it. I covered the event as best as I could and went back to the office to write and submit my article. This would have been around 1:30 pm and I thought that I would have to hang around till 4 pm, which was when the feature-writing department closed down. But upon seeing me aimlessly typing on the computer, Preetha explained that I was only expected to do my work and that as soon as it was done I was free to leave regardless of what time it is.
On other days, when I used to wait to get my next assignment, the casual air in the office struck me. Everyone was relaxed and joking around, taking break almost every half an hour to chat and gossip. Snacks and tea was served at regular intervals throughout. They were like a family and they accepted me very easily, treating me very much like an equal and not an intern.
The assignments I got, made me meet different kinds of people and made me learn how to interact with new people, how to be inquisitive without being intrusive, how to be friendly and yet professional, how to meet deadlines without feeling harried or stressed, how to be creative while writing and yet be short and to the point. It also taught me how to utilize my time when I’m jobless, for example, I am writing this post while I am in office waiting for my next assignment.The reason as to why I really loved working here was that it was never a waste of my time. I was never stuck in office doing absolutely nothing, or if I had nothing to do I was sent back home. It was a complete polar opposite of what I faced in my NGO internship and it definitely is an experience that I am not going to forget anytime soon.