The ‘Interview’

I had an interview recently at a place I have dreamed of going to for the past 6 years. Surprisingly, I was neither scared nor tensed. That would have been a good sign, had I felt the least bit of confidence to go with.
I had to travel day in advance becoz of the timings and so I left office at noon (much to the annoyance of my project manager ) went home, packed, had lunch, and left.

The bus was late so they cancelled it. (I din kno they could do that!! Wonder what they were planning to do with 40 or so extra passengers spread out across the city). But I was packed in the next bus which was an hour later and which was to take a route that I knew not. It then took us on a tour of the wonderful ‘Punya-nagari’ and managed to reach the express highway another hour later, to find one more bus with not one but TWO punctured tyres. So we became generous and gave them 20 minutes of our precious time and our spare tyre.
The journey in itself was uneventful as we were running late and hence nonstop, till we were near chembur.
There had been an accident. A huge lorry was terribly disformed, and the road had a heap of rubble that the lorry had been carrying. The 4 lane drive was suddenly transformed to a 1 lane drive. And the competition to get in that particular lane was intense. Then after a battle of horns and “@#$%$#” we finally found ourselves free of the traffic and the big windshield of our Volvo suddenly found itself free of the holder and came crashing down in front of the driver and ‘kinner’ (cleaner). All those poor sleeping souls were suddenly brought out of dreamland and asked to shift to another Volvo which, miraculously, was just behind us, and completely empty!!!

I reached campus at 8 and was told there’s only 2 places left in the hostel (confirms my habit of reaching ‘just in time’ for anything). The room was small, bare, and had a fan without a switch-off button. But it had a window, and wasn’t as stuffy as I had expected it to be at first glance, and was quite clean. In any case, it was much better than the TV room where all the ‘just a little too late’ candidates had to set up their bivouacs. :) The mess was closed, so thanks to the ‘didi’ at the canteen, I ate a delicious uttapa with tomato ketchup and a kitkat to go with And ventured out to see the campus.

The powai lake had almost dried up but the weather was pleasant. I searched the department where I was to report the next day, and found two dogs guarding the door. I couldn’t actually SEE much of the campus as it was real dark by then, and yet I was much at peace when I returned to the hostel… I guess the campus does that to you :D

The next day, there were not more than a hundred people for the test. (I had expected at least 5 times the number) the first test was IQ and they short listed more than half for an interview. I had chosen design as my area of expertise ( ‘expertise’ ??? ROFL!!! ) and was to be interviewed by ‘Committee 3’. A long, boring wait and suddenly I found myself in front of 4 people who, seemed to me, were simply trying to find a reason to reject candidates. Me working in an IT company as a S/W Engineer for the past 2 years did not help and they sent me to another committee that questioned me about networking (which was precisely the field I was trying NOT to get into). So, they never asked me anything of what I knew very well, and I couldn’t answer anything of what they wanted. It was, in the simplest of words, a complete disaster.

I checked out of the hostel (The caretaker seemed happy to get the key back); went to ‘Mocha’ with my best friend and we celebrated her successful presentation/lecture in trivandrum with a Chocolate Avalanche :D and managed to disturb at least 2 couples there. ;) I caught a bus for home; again ‘just in time’ :) and only to find that they were playing ‘Lagey raho Munna Bhai’ again. :(

I was just about to settle in for some sleep when I realized that I’d left behind some stuff. Id left behind forever the campus that has been my dream for so long; left behind Scattered and blurred memories, shattered dreams, and a past that would see no future. I wondered if I could do without all that, whether I could find new dreams, whether I had the courage to find a different future... pointless questions all, as there was no going back. And there were clouds in the sky and thunder shook a blurred world ... and then it rained.

Waiting for the sunshine,

Madhura.