JUDGEMENT DAY

Placements- a word at the back of every final year student's mind .3 yrs of engineering can sometimes stultify the mind and placements come as a great source of hope (of redemption!!!) As soon as the 6th semester exams got over, I made a solemn promise to myself that I would start working for the aptitude tests and interviews after a week of relaxation. One week passed, and then two and then three and one fine day it dawned on me that there were only 7 more days to go for the placements! I spent the next 3 days lamenting over spilt milk and relating my plight to anyone who would be sympathetic enough to lend me a ear (most of the times, my parents were the scapegoats…no one else had that much of patience!) After all "promises are meant to be broken" - Or so I consoled myself! With four days in hand, I chalked out a list of things I needed to do on colorful little post-it notes and pasted them all over my room - glaring reminders of my lazy disposition! I set to work on my aptitude, stuff like time and distance (do the Indian railways take this into account?!...Am sure they don’t, otherwise we wouldn't have so many accidents!), time and work (who'll know this better than me...I realized that I get more work done in lesser time which goes against the basic principles of time and work!). After working out one or two old question papers as well as a few puzzles with a friend, not only did I manage to get tensed but I got her totally terrified too (we felt that our lives were a big question mark and we first needed to solve this puzzle called ‘life’!) And we decided not to look at them again lest we end up becoming schizophrenics (am not sure if its spelt that way...I have been working on my vocab too!) Next was the big task of preparing my resume! Never thought writing about oneself could be this tough! Setting out to write the career objective I realized I lacked clarity and had no specific goals in life. Point blank-I was aimless. I spent an entire day thinking about what I wanted to do in life and did a SWOT analysis (For those of you who don’t know what that means…its Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). I must say this really helped me in the HR interview ‘cos knowing oneself better makes one more confident’. I spent another day honing my not-so-good technical skills and making up my mind about which subject I hated the least so that I could jot it down as my so-called ‘area of interest’. Next was the most difficult task- making myself look smart at least for the D-day! I give all credit for that to my sis who picked out what I should wear. This is in fact very important ‘cos when you look good, you feel great! I also went to landmark and picked up a good display book for my certificates. In spite of all the prep, there were butterflies in my stomach the previous evening and my friend (who was sweet enough to help me do the last min prep) had a very tough time allaying my worst fears! Before going to bed that night, my prayers went on for longer than usual. On D-Day, I decided to be calm and composed. I felt great when I cleared the aptitude. My interview had been a stress interview and no matter what I said the interviewer would say he didn't agree with me or that I lacked clarity in what I said! But I remember I never felt tensed or scared for a minute! It was like a friendly discussion. In the end when I asked him what he was looking for in a candidate, he gave me a very mischievous grin and said just one word-"clarity”. I decided that I was doomed and felt as if my worst fears had come true! I began to think of alternative career options…maybe I could work out more time and distance problems and work under our honorable Railway minister (I’ve been a great fan of his for a long time now!), or maybe I could write a thesis on how the entire principle behind time and work is incorrect! It was a weird experience huddling around with friends at sunset in the boys hostel (which is normally out of bounds for the girls much like the forbidden forest for Hogwarts students). We were sharing our interview experiences-Each worse than the other! We lent each other a shoulder to cry on (while feeding the dogs around the hostel with tit-bits…poor creatures are thinner than kids from Somalia!). I observed that hunger and exhaustion make people behave very weirdly! And after much waiting, the time had finally come for announcement of results! The list went on and on. And with each name my hands started sweating more than before. Then suddenly I heard something that sounded vaguely familiar (hunger makes me suffer from sudden bouts of amnesia!) And suddenly all around me I found people shaking my hands and patting my back…guess God answered my prayers! One last word-Visualization really helps. Every night before the interview I visualized myself doing well. I guess this is what they mean by the power of the sub-conscious mind. I realized that after all the preparation; it pays to stay calm and confident on the D-day. Remember interview is not an ‘interrogation’...it's a ‘conversation’.

(P.S This was the article I wrote for my college magazine)