HeyMath! Scholar: Charchit Agrawal
Article 1
Some 4 months back when I was busy preparing for my exams, I asked my mom to get some backdated editions of 'THE HINDU' news paper which were about to be sold of to the 'kabadiwala' !! The reason being that I had been out of touch of what is happening in the world around because I was studying my text books all the time! And I could not have imagined in the wildest of my dreams that it would become the cause of my two-months wonderful stint at a wonderful company called "HeyMath!" (Mind it - the exclamation mark is a part of the name of the firm! Remona, you missed it in the cake on 14th July!!).
Yes, I was just going through the 'opportunities column' of the Paper when I saw this striking name. I had been looking for doing something exciting in Mathematics ever since I switched to Statistics!! The day I 'betrayed' Maths, I fell in love with it!! And so I immediately went to the nearby internet cafe, and applied for it with a long covering letter and my resume of course! Well, the last date was already over 2 days back and so I had no hopes but still I liked the concept of HeyMath! so much that I decided to appreciate the idea at least!!
And lo, behold!! One fine morning, I get a call from a number that starts like +91444... - I knew it was someone from HeyMath! I was elated! And after the usual formalities, I was informed that I can be working in HeyMath! during my vacations!! I was really very happy! At the same time, as this was going to be my first internship at a place where I had no acquaintances, I had some reservations as well, but then I think it was the magic of Nimmi's voice that I could not but come here!!
Finally the day arrived when I landed in Chennai and Veenus came to receive me at the airport, and as it is said 'First impression is the last impression' - after meeting Veenus, I got an impression that I am going to have very nice colleagues in office!! And that indeed was to be the case! From the airport I drove straight to 'Hotel Green Park' where the company had organized a 'Corporate Theatre Workshop'. When I entered the hall with some 40 odd new faces, I was a bit hesitant, but then a nice voice greeted me and introduced me to the group! And it was none other than the 'Chinese singer and dancer', Sheela!! However, I think there was something wrong in the air in the hall which led to my name being taken as 'Churchill' though I am sure that Sheela announced 'Charchit'!! It took a week I think before everyone knew my correct name!!And poor me - till date, in the e-mail account I have here, my name is Charchil only!! Anybody listening?? Venu??
And in all the new faces, there was one face which seemed very familiar! I was thinking all the while - "Where have I seen this person?" I was too shy to go and ask the person in his face that I have seen you somewhere - do u know me too? But I could not figure out the link! This face was none other than my nasty Tamil teacher - Harish (Podadey Madiya...hmm??). I finally asked him one day as to whether he has been to Delhi sometime when I saw him - he said he has never crossed MP! Well, there is certainly some link Harish as Neha also felt exactly the same!!
And then the first person to have come and talked to me was our dear Matthew! He told me that I would be staying with him and Daniel (and he only told me who Daniel was in the crowd, though his tresses made me think that the 'word' Daniel fits only him!) I was told that I would be staying with a Chinese student, which had excited me, but alas Matthew told me that it was not the case! (But thanks to Gopal, I got to stay with Chu finally!). And the second person to meet me 'warmly' was Chu - he started with talking about the Statistical Analysis he has been doing and that I have to take over it and work on it further! For the first time I realized - Oh! I have to deal with something other than theatre too!!
The two days in the workshop were probably the most unexpected days of my life till then!! Theatre and fun all the way! I came to know everybody in a 'non-corporate' way, even though it was a 'CORPORATE THEATRE WORKSHOP". I dint know many names then, but now I know that some of the people in my teams were Bhavya, Jaya, Kashmeera, Harish, Niel, Chu, Priya, Lakshmi, Sankar, Naraynan, Karthik, Deepa, Nimmi, Harsh, Soumya and many more that I might have forgotten!
And the scene now moves to Century Center! Till date I have been working under the pen name of Swetha!! And so Nimmi, if there is something wrong in what I have done, u can't sue me! It's Swetha who has 'legally' done that! Ha ha! And I still wonder if this is actually an office?!! Everyone here is so nice and approachable that I am yet to get the 'office' feel! The 'birthday celebrations', the 'Vada party', Lunch at 'Kabul', and the yummy desserts at 'Amethyst' (well, few of you might be jealous by now!) - I don't think I can ever forget these two months at HeyMath!
Unfortunately the office is divided into two floors and so I did not have much interaction on a daily basis with the people on the second floor, but yes, someone on second floor has been conspiring that it rains on the day of my marriage!!! (Any guesses who?) And then there is someone who is always very regularly sharing the fan with me!! Oh it would not have been fun with two fans Bhavya - don't you think so?! And the first Hindi voice I heard in the office was from Kayathri! (Our Ice Cream was better than SriVidhya's and Matthew's Ice Cream!). And the hand-made pakodas at SriVidhya's place, the much talked about 'Pulav' that I am going to make for the 'pot-luck' in the office, the numerous 'unsuccessful' efforts by Sandhya, Bhavya, Harish, Priya, Naraynan, Sankara(I forgot the counting Sankara!) to teach me Tamil, the wonderful time I spent 'off-stage' i.e. at home, and my irritating questions about the places to visit in and around Chennai to almost whoever I could lay my hands upon (with special focus on Harish), the detailed information about visiting Madurai(which I did not visit) from Jaya - all form a indelible part of my memory!
I can keep writing some 10 more pages describing it all, but I can't! (God, who made the editors??) Towards the end, I would like to thank each and every member of the HeyMath! team with special thanks to Bhavya, Harish, Sandhya, Sheela, Matthew, Daniel, Sri Vidhya, Sankara, Sudha, Kashmeera, Lakshmi and Venugopal who made me feel at home in this place. Sorry if I have missed out any names - the deadline to submit this article is tomorrow - and so I am writing under pressure you see! ;-) But each one of you contributed in your special way to make this an unforgettable 'internship'! And very special thanks and regards to Harsh and Nimmi, who were constantly supportive and caring. God willing, I would be writing an article for the next issue of this journal as well! Au Revoir!
Article 2
Hi! I am pursuing MA in Statistics from the University of Delhi and I joined HeyMath! as an intern for two months during my summer vacations. Honestly speaking, these two months were really very fruitful for me in terms of the exposure I got and the new things I got to do and learn here!
I enjoyed working here each day and every other day I had something new to try my hand at! I think it depends upon the person as to how much he/she wants to gain from working at HeyMath! There is a lot to learn and do here. The work here ranged from cooking rice for the office party (yes - you can't get to do that everywhere!) to making sophisticated Statistical Analysis about the impact of HeyMath! lessons on Singapore School students' performance.
I was involved in making online test assignments for the students who have subscribed to HeyMath! and in doing a quality check on the assignments prepared by the other tutors - both of which sharpen your skills and serve as a good refresher course for the school level Mathematics which we all tend to forget after school!! The most interesting part was, I think, preparing lessons in macromedia flash - software which I learnt upon joining HeyMath! It is simply fun to use innovative ideas for making the Mathematical concepts easier to understand by using animation.
Company had provided me with a very comfortable air-conditioned (a must to beat the Chennai heat) accommodation which was just 7-10 minutes walk from the office. There was a maid who came for washing clothes and doing the utensils thrice a week, and so no tensions on that front. My flat mates were students from Cambridge, and staying and interacting with them was indeed a wonderful experience!
Chennai is an interesting city and the people here are really nice and the people in the office are extremely nice!! The fact that the company is very flexible about the timings made me very comfortable - no swords hanging on your head to reach the office at 8:30 am sharp! I have a traveler's foot and so I visited many places in South India like Pondicherry, Kanyakumari, Kodiakanal, Bangalore, Mysore and Mahabalipuram to name a few!!
Overall it was a very good experience here. I would recommend HeyMath! to students who are sincerely inclined in contributing towards making Mathematics more fun to learn. In fact, if you are looking for something exciting, challenging and most importantly, different to do, then HeyMath! is an ideal place to be at! I am happy that HeyMath! happened to me!
