Pehli Naukri...

dear blog
What an important day yesterday was! I got my first ever job offer!
My day started with the sound of my alarm, which had probably been ringing for the past five minutes. While in deep sleep, i dreamt about being stuck in a traffic jam. I was the only person in my car-which i now remember only vaguely. The steering of the car was triangular shaped. Sitting in the driver's seat, I was sweating profusely. My car was on the zenith of a beautiful flyover. But, there was an endless line of cars, lined up bumper to bumper, till the horizon. Then i looked back and saw an equal number of cars lined up behind mine. The dream appeared so real that at that time i really wondered how come i was there. I tried to recall whose car that was, where i was, doing what, going where!!. Unable to recall, i banged my hand on the steering. A loud, noisy sound of a horn followed. which blew the air out my ears. My horn received an overwhelming response from my 'neighbouring' cars, who too blew their own trumpets. The combined sound of various horns seemed to come from every direction and it became louder and harsher with time. It then i realised that it was the sound of my mobile's alarm, and the alarm of my timepiece, ringing together. I woke up, beginning to realize that all the previous "movie" was a dream. I just don't know what that dream meant. But it was quite an unusual one for me.

as soon as i got up, i got to know that the TCS presentation is at 1 pm. so i started revising basic concepts of c++. it was while dressing up in formals that i realized the gravity of the situation. at about 1:15 pm, dressed in formal attire, complete with a tie, all of us left MMH, marching ahead, still uncomfortable in formal shoes. It looked like a whole parade/ FashP of executives.The auditorium was filled with air of excitement, nervousness, anticipation and calculations(by TPRs).Soon, there was an informative presentation by TCS people. this was followed by the results of the written test. on hearing my name in the list of those selected, i was overjoyed. Out of 115 students in the written round, only 32 had made it to the interview round. then we were given a TCS form to fill. then we were led by our TPRs to the adm block of our college, where the interviews were to take place. i was the third person to be called for the interview. first there was a technical interview. i answered some questions and didn't answer some. but, overall, i wasn't happy at all with my performance in the interview. i thought of mine to be so bad that i had lost all hopes of being selected.

but, just two minutes after i came out of the technical interview, i was called in for the HR interview. I did not have any time to relax in between. so, i was a lot tensed. but the young lady interviewing me made my tension evaporate with the words- "Hello Prashant" . i also drank the glass of water on her table , when she offered it to me. there was no table between us.talking to her was fun. It did not look or sound like an interview. It was just like talking to a friend for about fifteen minutes. we chatted very frankly. there was no such thing as she asking me a question and me answering it. it was just a chat.. with equal participation from her and me. after some time, i even forgot that i was in an interview! it was when she said "Thanks a lot, Dear", that i realized that the chat had an essence of an interview. i thanked her too and walked back to the door, smiling ear to ear, for no reason. she was such an amazing HR manager that even an introvert like me felt at home with her!! kudos to her amazing personality!

this was followed by the interviews of the rest of the people. at about 6:30 pm, all of us were told to be seated in the conference room. soon the head of their team announced the results. earlier he had made it clear that the names of the selected people are in any random order. still, my name was the first one to be announced among those of the selected candidates. first i couldn't believe it. i looked around to see if there are any other "Prashant's " present. assured that its me, i tried to get up. as luck would have it, precisely at that time, my right leg sprained. i felt a sudden sharp pain. i tried to delay my movements as much as possible. But, as all of the eyes in the room were fixed on me, i had to be quick. i got up went over to their leader to receive my offer letter. on the way back to my seat, i acknowledged the applause given to me by TCS employees. i was overjoyed. i felt proud. but my mind was still blank- i didn't know what to do, what to say to whom and how to react! when the whole list of 12 people had been announced, there was a funny situation. nobody looked happy. nobody was even smiling. It was when their HR manager commented on us not being happy that we all smiled. The joy of being selected was yet to sink in.

what followed was frantic phone calls by all the selected people to their loved ones. Dear 'loved ones' , thanks for all your support!!