The law firm’s name instantly reminds you of the production house of the legendary Ramayana series on television ( Read : Ramanand Sagar ). And soon enough, the partners at the firm make sure you have a first taste of how gruesome the 14 year old exile would’ve been for Lord Ram, and how much endeavours the Vaanar Sena put into the successful completion of the Holy Setu. And this is where my knowledge about the holy Hindu text ends to draw any more analogies.

The firm’s generally not a happy place. For convenience’s sake, picture your house when you’ve just told your folks that you’ve flunked. The vibes have an uncanny resemblance. The probability of finding happy faces is inversely proportional to the top brass of the firm’s hierarchy. And most male associates don’t smile back at you unless you’re some big fish in the pond or a really hot intern dressed up in skirts that leave nothing to imagination. With just 100 bucks in my pocket and that fidgety creature just besides the same pocket, i realised that i was neither. Boys don’t always have all the fun. NO. NEVER. NOT. :p

A little shaky, i make sure i wish everyone who has an air of attitude around them, even if its the library staff acting pricey because you’ll be sharing their desk with them. Deja vu ( Read : first few weeks in college). Yes, you are seated in the basement, where even the Vodafone pug shall fail the Emotional-Atyachar commitment test and the network would never follow you. After being addressed as “ma’am”, my fellow intern stops my “wishing spree” of sorts. She gives me a lowdown about the firm, about the people and places generally and which associates/partners come with a statutory warning. You can’t help giggling when she takes the help of her lawyer friends for her research and makes a phone call in Punjabi amidst a largely English speaking firm. Punjabis and the English language, have never shared the most romantic relationship between them. To all those who take offence, i speak only for myself.

Just like a goat is fed well before being sacrificed to the holy powers, the firm treated us to non-veg food on Wednesdays and Fridays. We would fear joining the demi-gods on the same table because you always had a feeling that your meat shall be fuelling them the following week owing to the poor research you’ve been doing for them. And moreover, it just felt really cocky to be munching on a tandoori-leg while they told you about the Tata’s claim in the 2G scam which opened the gates for  conversations which were uncalled for. On one such bizarre ice breaker, one of the associates asked me to wear a pullover to work from tomorrow because global warming was yet to impact Delhi winters so much. “Sir, i am kind of accustomed to the Delhi cold”, i thought would be a smart answer. “BOSS, i am from Himachal. And Delhi, right now, is COLD”. His speech was colder, the mercury suddenly dipped around me. And you know it wasn’t a smart answer when he addressed you with the typical salutation which people use when they want that holy cylindrical bar of salvation. ( Read : “BOSS, cigarette hai ?” )

Just as things start settling in, they decide to shift the firm’s operations to a place which is at relative proximity to the high court and we’re supposed to attend the Havan ceremony. 15 lawyers suited up in black robes around the divine fire to inaugurate the new office is an astounding site. You don’t know whether your eyes are shutting down because of the smoke from the fire or from the high intellectual concentration in the room. You have a feeling that one of the partners might actually accuse of not knowing all the religious sermons and you shall end up researching on more than just law. But you forget it all when a really hot associate offers you Kaju Barfi as the Prasad. That, i assure you is the sweetest Barfi you’ve had in a really long time.

P.S – Because of an extremely disturbed childhood, the writer has dyslexic/cynical orientations. The firm otherwise is an extremely good place to intern.