THE HOLIDAY break is about four and a half months but for three months, every student in their second year and above is supposed to do internship. At the beginning of the holiday everyone is sure they will work at the place of their choice until of course a month and a half goes by and only three months are left. Panic then sets in and they start looking for internship anywhere. I went to one place myself and gave the classic pitch every boss wants to hear; “I am interested in the knowledge, not the money. I can work for free and it will still be a win on my side.” The manager was impressed and gave me the job. I shouted in excitement in the ears of all my friends, telling them just how good my internship was. Everyone expected drinks on me at the end of the month. They were going to wait a while for that to happen. Come end of the month, everyone had their phones vibrating; messages coming in from the bank, while mine stayed silent, without even WhatsApp messages coming through due to lack of credit. The next morning all I could do was look at the manager with the “what about me” look. She smiled and greeted me like everything was fine. The next day I showed up in a very old shirt expecting her to be concerned and put me on their payroll. It was all in vain. Instead, I bumped into the girl I have been meaning to say hi to and she asked me if I was one of the janitors. I ran back home to change. I had to borrow money from people to keep up and now, I am one of the most wanted fellows around. Even the guys who think I owe them a drink are looking for me. They don’t know that I have been making very good use of my legs and finally getting into the fitness programme I have always talked about by walking to work.
