Internships and Jugad

In this post and the one following this, I have tried to chalk out some key points for any college student who wants to do training or an internship in inter-semester breaks.

For one you can use the age-old, tried and tested, Indian-Jugad (which I used for a 6 week training at Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Bombay to help me out with the mandatory technical training after my 2nd year of B.Tech). Jugad takes you places where you actually don’t deserve to be and makes going around the loops lot easier. I would suggest you to take this route only when it comes to mandatory internships in fields you are not actually psyched up about. So don't use it in fields you feel, you can be good at or at good at, as they have limited scope in terms of opportunities and learning. Remember Jugad is a Jugad and not an alternative for hard-earned, well-deserved position someplace.

Anyway here are some points to help you with "Jugad":
(1) The network: Go through your network and find people who may help. The number will be more than you might actually think. Seniors, friends, Profs, Aunts & Uncles and relatives everybody counts in.
(2) (Jugad) ^2: forge contacts with people who are following the same philosophy, the good thing about Jugad is that it works for a common good, the greater good. Some of your friends would not like to feel lonely; some are even instructed to bring friends along with them. So you can tag along with them and this is the easiest way to go about things in the Jugad world.
(3) After you land up with an internship never-ever admit to having used it to an official. Act as if you deserved to be there, and it is all thanks to the stellar ability of yours. You don't know who may decide to blow a whistle or at a less grave level make a wrong impression about you.
(4) Don't over use it. Nothing kills like overkill. Sooner or later you will knock into someone who will give you a hell of kick ass for using it and even your tungsten balls (read your Jugad and contact) won't save you then. So be wary of using it, even if you are Mayavati's youngest nephew or only daughter of a dear friend of the son of the in-laws of Laloo's brother.

In the next post I will discuss about the Non-Jugadi method, some ways our political class would approve of in the face of media glare.