Day 4: Routine

As I walked out of my house in the morning, my first thoughts were that it would most definitely rain today. I could almost feel the blessed drops kiss my parched skin as I made my way through the overcast skies to the plant. For a change, the secretary wasn't scowling. And Sarkar was smiling very gladly at me for some reason. The day had begun on an exceptionally bright note, and promised to get better as it progressed. The temperature inside my office, I noticed was at an all time low of 27 degrees, much to the delight of Sharmaji. Mr B was present to greet me today, and I enjoyed a 10 minute informal chat with him before commencing upon the day's work.

None of the operations taking place around the plant were a novelty to me now. I just went through the motions, visiting all the places, conversing with the workers, making notes (both mental and written) and grasping in all the facts. I walked the walk with Mr B and talked the talk with Sharmaji and Rajbeerji.
There was another workman present in the spectroscopy lab today, a random character whose name I'm still missing. He hung around me all the time to satiate his curious fascination for engineering education and its students, especially those from the IITs. He asked me everything he could think of related to it, proving to be quite a bit of a chatterbox but a useful companion nevertheless whenever things got dull. Apart from that, today was also a day of special bonding with youngest worker there, Prateek, who worked on afternoon shifts each day.

Walking around the plant, I would see many labourers hard at work, and each of them in turn would stare at me with keen probing eyes. I was a stranger to them, and hence a source of intrigue and wonderment. I met a young engineer near the furnaces while ambling through the area, a mechanical engineering pass-out who was in charge of the plant maintainence. He seemed extremely frustrated with life, and hard at ease with his work and surroundings. I lent my ears reluctantly to his doleful whining for a while, before shaking hands with him and moving on to the truck delivery area.

That is where my eyes fell on the first female I had seen inside the plant. She was just one among the labourers, and her broad shoulders and sturdy gait made her look most manly. I thanked the heavens for this feeble attempt at gender parity and went home having gained another day's worth of metallurgical enlightenment and having made many new friends with hard-working and respectable men.