Saturday, April 16, 2005

my first interview.. :(

It was the second day of campus recruitment ... It was the turn of a huge company, with BIG market credentials, to woo the students on that day.... everyone was visibly excited... there were hazzaar rumours...

"Oye, i heard that they are coming for mass recruitment da...."
"no da... they will pick a few but they are paying big.. really big ..."
"hey heard they are setting up a new fab in Timbuktoo… they need people …. Might even pick a hundred…"


The pre placement talk was scheduled for 2 pm.. Everyone was slogging since the previous three days preparing for all possible questions the freaks may ask…
Some resourceful fellows even managed the qualifying papers from their friends in IITM where the company had just been before they landed in Surathkal. The typical Krecian Jugaad was to be seen everywhere… the zerox shops had queues of guys tryin to get a copy each of the probable questions… while back in the blocks the control c and control v keys were being used overtime…
When I stepped into to the mess for lunch,it was surprisingly empty… hardly anyone was there… everyone was apparently studying for the qualifiers…. I was wondering if I stood a chance at all…

At 2 pm I found myself sitting in the front row in the ATB…. I was listening attentively to all the crap they had to say..
"We are world leaders in….we can do that … this and the other… we are the best… "
[so??]

After all the ranting about their company, they decided half an hour of bragging was good enough…They finally revealed the package… it was a pretty huge pay-pack by all standards… so we were kinda excited about the entire thing…

Immedaitely after, they announced the rather high cut off which I barely cleared and then they started distributing the papers….
The paper was not the one that everyone had got from IITM… The company had lived up to its name… the faces of the students clearly lost a shade or two… all their efforts had gone waste…. Even I was a little flustered as it was only my second apti [thats what we called it]

Although I cleared the apti paper with ease… the technical section was a total bomb… it was hopeless trying to answer that paper… it was near impossible for anyone to crack that paper…

After an hour and a half I slowly trudged out of the hall.. everyone was clearly disappointed… the long faces said it all…[log long faces... some sight..]

The results were scheduled to be out round about 5 pm… and I had no hope whatsoever of qualifying for the interviews … so I decided to go to the adda… our very own “Krishnas” for my cup of tea…. I didn’t realise how time flew by and before I realised one of my friends came running towards me…

“Abbe tera naam list main hain…”
For a moment I did not undrstand what was going on…
“abbe jaldi chal yaar… tera interview bees minute main hain….”

I was in a state of shock… I had not expected in the least to have qualified…
I got up and ran towards the hostel… somehow I felt that having cleared the difficult test,I would sail through the interview ... [hopes...]

I dressed up hurriedly yet immaculately in my new pair of formals et al… I hurried towards the Placement centre… the light drizzle which was so common during those placement days slowly turned into a heavy shower… when I reached the placement centre I was wet … I did not even have a minute to breathe easy… Before I could gather by breath I realised I was in a small room , wet and panting before a young man who did not look too pleased with my presentation skills…
After briefly introducing myself I told him a little about my interests and my favourite subjetcs… He listened very patiently and then said…
“You are an electronics student eh… hmm… I do not know much of electronics but I will try to ask you something… ”
with this he started my technical interview… he asked me a couple of questions on electronics and then “What are the programming languages you know???”
“C sir”
“only C??”
“yes sir… we had only C in our syllabus”
“no C++ also??”
“no sir”
“hmmm… fine il give you a piece of code … tell me… " blah blah
“ ok sir”… blah blah..
[but I managed to give him the correct answers… and i was feelin really really good now]
“ tell me something about OOPS..”
“Object Oriented Programming sir”,I said with a gleam in my eye…
“what is that???”
“well I don’t know … but …”[WTF?? how am I suppposed to know??]
“u don’t know object oriented programming???”
“no… we dint have that in…”
“ok.. do u know a bit of Java??” [yeah rt!!!! ]
“No sir..”
“PL/SQL… data base management???”
“No sir…” [oye... dude im an electronics engineer]
“What else do u know in computers??”
“I know how to work on matlab , pspice VHDL n verilog…”
“what is that????? But u do not know OOPS concepts eh??”
[not again... ]
“No sir…”
“hmmm……. Where are you actually from??”
I realised that my interview ended there… I did not know what to do… I was so shaken up by the whole experience…
“ sir .. from Bangalore..”
“I am sorry Elwin but we are looking for highly technical computer guys”
I was about to scream, “Do I look like a friggin imbecile to you??”… but I managed to keep it down to a mumble…
“Thank you” I said and walked out….
That was my first interview… the results,negative and the after effects,still showing…

Sunday, April 03, 2005

Answers????

Yesterday my cousin passed away. He was the liveliest of all my cousins… and I still cant believe that he is no more. Some say that it was stress at work while others say that it was a freak accident.Whatever it was,we will all miss this man who always brought a smile on our faces.
He was true to his name ,Joy, ever smiling and armed with a repertoire of underworld jokes... I miss him sorely. Even as I sat at the funeral service, many tens of people: friends, relatives and colleagues walked up and testified the glowing influence Joy had on them.I was wondering what an influence this man had on me... He taught me that life isn’t that bad... that it is NEVER bad enough to stop smiling... He may have joked and smiled away everything but deep inside he was as determined as ever, yet not stubborn... He would not let anyone control his life… He was the master of his life. He taught me how to live life to the fullest.
Even at the grave I was hoping that this was all one big joke … that he would rise up and laugh that hearty laugh which all of us admired…. But it was for real… I lost one of my closest friends and beloved cousin.
After everyone had left, I stood there and wondered, "what next???". Is this the end for Joy??? Or is it the beginning of a new life? Is there anything at all after this??? Does he even know that we miss him so sorely??? I hoped for a sign... but nothing was there... is there life after death??? Is there a meaning to death???
If He is all controlling, then why would he deprive a young life that He created, of the joys of a long and happy life??? I wonder now what our purpose on earth is. Was his purpose fulfilled that he had to die?? What is my purpose ??? Am I actually working towards my purpose??? Does anyone know the answers???

How many roads must a man walk down,
before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove fly,
before she sleeps in the sand?
And how many times must a cannon ball fly,
before they're forever banned?

The answer my friend is blowing in the wind,
the answer is blowing in the wind.

How many years can a mountain exist,
before it is washed to the sea?
How many years can some people exist,
before they're allowed to be free?
And how many times can a man turn his head,
and pretend that he just doesn't see?

The answer my friend is blowing in the wind,
the answer is blowing in the wind.

How many times must a man look up,
before he sees the sky ?
And how many ears must one man have,
before he can hear people cry ?
And how many deaths will it take till we know,
that too many people have died?

The answer my friend is blowing in the wind,
the answer is blowing in the wind.

The answer my friend is blowing in the wind,
the answer is blowing in the wind.

-Bob Dylan.