CodeZap Guru - Final round – Bangalore: Part2

VENUE

It was HOT. And I don’t mean cool. We had been asked to report at gate 13. we did so. The chaps there had no clue. We weren’t allowed to get in. 3 seniors from college came to meet us. I will not repeat the things they told us. I don't want them to lose their jobs. I don’t want to get sued. After much persuasion, we were allowed to stand in the shade of the gate. The security personnel at wipro are ruthlessly effective.(don't sue me)

After 15 mins

We were made to walk all the way to gate 10, no pavement. Dusty. Hot. Over there, the seniors from college left us at the “place where they give you an ID card”. By now we had explained to 7 people at wipro about our event. The card making was fairly easy. They took a pic of u with the Logitech camera, printed a form, stuck it in a plastic badge and gave it to you. Of course, they took liberties with the spelling and the photo looked more like ET than me.

2 female wipro employees whom we had noticed at the breakfast area herded all the contestants there to the desired venue. Tower 16. Did I mention b4 that it was hot? We walked...

There were 3 big elevators there, but nothing seemed to be available. Gives you an idea of the sheer volume of traffic. This portion of the building seemed slightly deconstructed!

We reached the comfy room where the test was to take place. We met Mr. Ram, the organizer. His face was to haunt me for the next 3.5 hrs as I tried to figure out where I had seen him before...rather who he resembled.

I needed to use the restroom. You need a Wipro employee id card if u have to leave the room. I finally managed to secure exit and entry thanks to Ms. Shobhana Menon, who we later found out was also Ms. Rajagopalan. The test had been outsourced to Devsquare.

Most of my test was spent looking at the counter so I could be free. Finally, when my test was over I started eating cookies. We weren’t allowed to leave. So I started playing minesweeper. The earlier records were credited to PARUL. Of course, I trashed her records. But things became boring again. Finally, we were given bags and caps. I must confess, the caps were really unwearable : White with an electric blue bill.

Chris had some problems with the software (everyone did, but hers were the worst) so she had to stay back to finish her work. We left for lunch.

There was a wide array of food to choose from. But most of the stuff was oversalted. I ended up forcing the jeera rice down my throat with buttermilk. Sherin had to dump her full biryani – she said she’d never seen it like this before. Oh! But the paranthas were really nice. Amazingly, the fussiest of us all, Rohit, ate everything!

We went to a room labeled the HAND WASH. There were no mirrors thus, you cannot wash your face. I went and showed my hand for the water to flow. I got fully drenched. The super-faucet!! I walked over to the other taps. By now, I had definitely washed more than my hand. I saw no tissue dispenser, but there were dustbins.

Chris joined us soon. We were taken to the place where we would try have Fun and Games. (like, when was the last time some1 told u : now ul have fun. And u actually did?!)

We had to walk a lot. Cuz the gate nearer to the destination was Entrance only- no exit. So we marched to the exit. I saw a boy, around 10, sitting on a moped.