Climax

I found myself in the middle of a dense forest. Trees patterned with green and brownish shade partially blocks the stunning view of the waterfalls a few meters away from me. Wait a second...

How did I come here? what is restricting my body motions? How am I able to see with my eyes closed? & where is that music coming from?... I opened my eyes and found a vibrating Nokia on my computer table which is about to fall. I am two cot distance away from the computer table. I closed my eyes again and went into the dense forest again.

Some wild animal moved beside me. I sensed that it should be wild and big hearing to the noise from its walk. Suddenly it started to talk in a loud voice.

 

“Amma, why did you call so early? hmm...ya.. he is here.. but...er... how can he pick? phone was very far from his bed...Don’t call me until I call you back”

I opened my eyes and saw my roommate arun standing very close to the computer table. My dream was right - He is wild and big but not an animal.

“Why can’t you pick it?” His look was very wild & to avoid that I closed my eyes again. Now into next episode to resume from the  “to be continued” spot. The wild animal moved away from me after sometime. Then few seconds an hunter with a heavily built body lifted me up by holding my hands[both] and then inserted a mild wooden log behind my back so that I cannot lie down comfortably anymore.

I opened my eyes again... Now it is the heavily built ananth in front of me holding my hands and then while I turned back I found mathan lying down in my bed in a cross way with my back over him.

“Guys... what to do you want?” I wanted to see the climax of my dream...

“Get up $$$$%%$$$$, you know who is gonna take the First hour” ananth toyed with his words.

“who....”[with a shock] “surya... $$$$... I am not into this...” I had no clue

“Come on..Then it will be double damaka...face this today...” Madhan had his own vocabulary of words...

I had to get up from the bed with all the energy I had. I went to the nearest restroom from my room and found that houseful. Then I walked to my seniors hostel where the water facilities were weak. Finally somehow managed with it and came back to room. Then I had to find my uniforms from the shoe rack which I had put during the last lab class.

“It is day number 5 and already your validity is gone.” Madhan told me when I was dressing.

“I have a booster which will keep me active for few more days buddy.” I told as I was picking my body spray from my bag.

“Madhan, I am serious. Really you want me to come.” I was really worried.

“Fine, Don’t come.... I am going. You should have told me few minutes before. See now, ananth and arun are gone & I have to go alone.” Mathan always want company for everything.

“Machan, even you need not go. I am here for your company and we will start Counterstrike rite now” I tempted him.

“Kidding.” Mathan was not sure.

“No. I am damn serious.“ I stressed.

“hmm... Even I hate that $$$$$$. But only we two..... It will be better if we are three. The damaka will dilute more da...” I was happy that Mathan came down a little.

“How come you guys are still here. It is surya’s class.” a mild voice came from the entrance of our room.

Both of us turned in a flash and found a 50kg tajmahal standing in front of us. It was naveen. We both laughed at each other.

“Naveen machan, We have a problem. Both of us are going to play a one on one counterstrike in a open map. We want someone to decide on the victory” I told him.

“So...” Naveen was about to open his mouth and Mathan jumped and lifted him up in air. I jumped immediately towards the door and closed it. Then I started back with my half done morning job while naveen & mathan were sitting in two systems playing couterstrike. Count was

Mathan - Naveen : 85 - 23

“Poor naveen” I had a thought in my mind. Sometimes when mathan shot him immediately after the start of the match, Mathan hit him on his head & forced him to be concentrating. I was back in the same forest after few minutes of closing my eyes.

Climax I guess. A lion whose face resembles surya sir was roaring and about to jump on me. I had the mild log lying beside me. I closed my eyes when the lion was jumping ahead in my direction but nothing happened to me but for a loud shout from close distance. When I opened my eyes,The wild animal which came in the dream earlier was near the waterfalls watching me. The mild log was lying in the same place and the hunter with the worried look was standing behind the angry lion.

But.....

The 50kg tajmahal toy was broken and was shattered into pieces. I started laughing and heard two voice in chorous..

“Dai chinna.... Why are you laughing...?”

On the way to Heaven...

                                "Mr.Shiva, We are happy to convey you that..." the pause was followed by the applause & the words "You have made it to the heaven."

                                  Shiva felt very proud that he bowed his head to everyone over there. He was holding a gentle & pride smile in his face. The voice continued to say "One Mr.Raghu will accompany you to heaven. Have a nice time over there."

In few minutes Mr.Raghu was followed by shiva & they were climbing the stairs.

"Whats your age shiva?" Raghu asked casually.

"21 & urs..." Shiva asked.

"25" Raghu told the following words in a milder voice "when I was dead & 10 years since I came here."

Shiva : "Good. Married?"

Raghu : "Ya. Actually both of us came here together. Road accident... " <Silence> "While returning from honeymoon"

Shiva : "Sorry" <Silence> "Even I died of road accident. Brand new pulsar bike..."

Raghu : "Are you a student?"

Shiva : "ya. Final yr Engineering. EEE"

Raghu : "oh. Fine"

Shiva : "What do we do in the weekends here...?"

Raghu : "The same what we do in the weekdays"

Shiva : "oh. So what do we do in the weekdays...?"

Raghu : "Nothing"

Shiva : "What? No shopping malls or theatres here."

Raghu : "No. We have to wear uniform all the time & they give off only on sundays. No time for all those"

Shiva : "KFC, McD"

Raghu : <Weird look>"No dude"

Shiva : "Ok. At least will raja be here"

Raghu : "Ex-Minister. Joking. He will be in hell"

Shiva : "No raghu. I am asking about my roommate raja"

Raghu : "No"

Shiva : "Why? He was with me in the bike when the accident happened"

Raghu : "But he escaped with a mild injury"

Shiva : "Shit." <A long pause> "What's your work here?"

Raghu : "Many people come here daily & If they are mapped into Heaven, I will take them to heaven"

Shiva : "Whats your package?"

Raghu : "18 lpa & will get onsite allowance if I go to hell for some official work"

Shiva : "Great." <With a broad smile> "And that is why - You call this a Heaven......."

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Think friends... What is heaven? What is the meaning of life if you have a lot of money & no ways to spend it.

GOA…… GOA……… GOA…………

Mohan was sitting near me in a small beach side hotel when I asked him “Machan, if suddenly some girl jumps and sit over you when you are lying near the beachside, what probably you will do?”

There was a pause from other side for almost 10 seconds. After that, when he was about to talk I interrupted him saying “Rite machi, so I understood what you will do…”

Mohan asked in a mild voice “what did you understand?”

“I understood that after the girl sit on you, you will pause for 10 seconds to think what next to do....?” I told in a loud voice and all our friends started laughing aloud…………

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This happened in a place called GOA.

GOA…… GOA……… GOA…………          =   HEAVEN…… HELL……… (No synonym)……

I always enjoy writing something related to my college and this time, again it is one more posting related to my college IV. IV stands for Industrial Visit but the place decided for our IV was GOA. We were all given a threat of some disease spreading in Goa and so we were in Goa for 3 days with the getup shown in the photo below……

There were many joyful moments which are unforgettable and I would like to write few of those here……

1.       Ananth and I :

23:55

Few people were playing cards in the room and few others were sitting around them watching them play. Ananth and I were not interested as we were watching TV. There was a glass in between us which might have had some 5 tea spoons of vodka in it. I think that, it was left by someone in the room. When I took my eyes to TV & back to the glass, nothing was left in it. I was confused. Only both of us were near that glass to drink it in that short span. I know that both of us don’t have the habit of drinking.

I asked ananth “Mama, where is the vodka left in this glass da…”

Ananth’s reply was “I don’t know. You might have had a illusion or someone might have drunk that. Who knew… Even I could have drunk that…”

2.       Galatta at Goa bus stop :

Few of our boys [Not interested in giving the names] were drunk and not in full conscious. They saw a girl sitting alone in one of the bus stops in Goa and these guys [let us call them “Vodka boys”] were interested in fun. Four of the vodka boys went and sat near or you can even call around her. She was afraid of these guys. They got up when she got up and they moved with her when she moved. She was struggling to get away from these guys. Finally she started to run away from the place in total panic to escape from these guys. All were laughing when she ran away from that place.

3.       Thanni thotti thaedi vandha Neps Mama:

Just in few seconds after the bus started back towards the Margoa station. Neps mama [is how we call him but his name is Nepolion] was in full mode [hope you guys understand]. When the bus started with the song “Thanni thotti thaedi vandhu” from “Sindhu bairavi”, he was out of control. Got to the centre of the bus and started dancing for the song. Our professor who came with the family was sitting in the front side of the bus and unable to resist the act but also didn’t do anything to stop the enjoyment. He danced for the entire song in the bus and I would say he was better than the sivakumar in original song.

4.       Shanmuganathan kadalai poduvaana………?

While returning to shoranur in train, boys and girls were playing dumb charades and the guy leading the boys team was shanmuganathan. Few were playing cards in the next compartment not involving themselves in these activities. One such was mathan raj who had the cell phone of shanmuganathan with him. Shanmu was playing seriously when he had a call from his house. Mathan was trying to call him from behind but he did not respond. Mathan was even pulling his pant from behind but there was no response. Finally he turned and shouted at mathan for disturbing him.

Visit Goa at least once to ‘LIVE THE LIFE WHICH YOU DREAM TO LIVE’ – because people over there don’t worry about others.

Life in Metro

14-09-2011

“Raju, listen… no more arguments… I have had enough of your drama… please don’t call me again… One more call and I will change my number…” Malini saw a kid picking something from the ground and taking that towards his mouth while she ended the call. Suddenly she pulled the hands of the kid and made him drop that thing. The kid’s mom thanked malini but the kid gave a look of the action heroes in the climax scenes of tamil cinema.

Malini smiled at him and turned to see the others in the train. Local train was not crowded that day. Malini’s office is in katpadi and her house is in arakkonam. She travels by the local train daily and today she is late due to extra hours in office. She is known for her boldness from her school days. She loves her parents and her life is similar to that of the serial heroines where everyone except the heroine is cruel minded.

She saw a young couple romancing at one end of the train. She smiled without her knowledge and turned the sight away from them to eliminate the embarrassment. Then she saw a lady with orange bag trying to sell it. She saw few college boys teasing one among them using a girl’s name. She also saw a husband and wife arguing at the peak of their voice about their tomorrow.

And how can I miss these extra-terrestrials in the train. Yes, there were aliens with the head phones on talking feebly or tapping the foot. Malini enjoyed these sights, but also at the back of her mind raju was flashing. She was not able to keep him out of her mind. Again her phone vibrated and she attended the call with great anger but before she spoke, raju told “Last time – Last time I would like to see your face. Please get down at chiteri station. I know you will…… bye” The call went dead.

Chiteri station is 5 minutes away. She has to make a decision now. She called up her mother and informed that she will be late. The train came to a halt at chiteri and when she was about to get down, she felt like someone is pulling her from the back. She turned back and found that kid (action hero) pulling her shawl from back. Then she got down and the train moved away in slow motion while raju came near her in slow motion.

Raju was about to open his mouth before which malini told “You want to see me. You have seen. Let me go. Good bye.”

Raju came running near her and told “Sorry for everything. Love you dear…” After that they had a heating argument for almost half an hour. Then finally she told “Give me time raju. I have a family. I will tell you tomorrow.”

Raju now smiled and told “No hurry… dear”. Raju saw his watch and told “It is very late already. I will give you a drop in your house.”

Both were about to move while many people came running from inside the station master room and police station. Raju stopped one of them to ask about the panic. The man replied “Few minutes back did you see a train crossing this way to arakkonam”

Malini repied casually “ya, I came in that train only”

The man gave a weird look and told “That train met with an accident few kilometers from here and according to the reports already 5+ people are dead and 50+ people are injured”

Hearing to the last few statements malini fainted and fell down. After few minutes she got up lying on the lap of raju in the chiteri station. She thought of the young couple, orange bag lady, college boys, fighting pair and the action hero…… She got up to her feet but was still shivering.

Malini’s eyes were wet when she told raju “Raju, Ladies were there in the train, young children were there and you know - even handicapped people were there…… I cannot digest this raju…… Whose mistake is this? Come on tell raju… whose mistake is this?”

Malini was literally shouting. Raju cleared the tears in her eyes saying “It is not mistake…… CARELESSNESS”

What can Anna Hazare do?

“Say No to” A loud voice from the group of people shouted and it was followed by a louder chorus “CORRUPTION”. 

This was getting louder and louder as everyone on the road near the Total mall in madiwala, Bangalore turned to see what was happening. It was the 5^th day of Anna’s Fast and People were growing in anger as they were violently trying to be Non-violent. The youngsters turned up in large numbers with a common T-shirt saying “Say No to Corruption”.

There were college students, Old men, Small children and also family ladies in the group. Many guys in the road watching this started to join the group and it was growing bigger and bigger. The government will surely notice this as a big issue was the thought in Mahesh’s mind. He was a great admirer of Anna Hazare but he doesn’t know why he admires him. [I think that there are many Indian youngsters who want to do something for the country but ends up in supporting Anna Hazare or people of that kind believing them]

Mahesh was in the group shouting at the peak of his voice. When he turned to check his friends he saw a familiar eye in the group a few meters behind him. Then he checked the person to whom the eyes belonged. He stood there motionless seeing jaanu in the group. It was almost 3 years since both met each other. Jaanu’s eyes also met with Mahesh. Both heard a similar dialogue in the back of their minds.

“By the terms of law in Indian government, I hear by declare that your divorce is accepted” Judge hit hard the table with his tool which shook both of them.

Almost three years after that day, both met each other. They have taken different paths in their life. Mahesh was working as a chief cameraman in TV 9 and Jaanu was working as a nurse in a home which takes care of the old people. Mahesh wanted to talk something with her but hesitated and it was the same case with her also. Mahesh somehow managed his ego and was about to go near her when suddenly he was pulled by his friend to the front rows of the group.

Mahesh moved with his eyes fixed on Jaanu. “Anna Hazare ki, Anna Hazare ki” The same loud voice was shouting and the others followed with the chorus “jae, jae”.

Janaki (Called as jaanu by her closer ones) was thinking about the days with Mahesh. She didn’t get out of the shock from seeing him again. She was thinking whether he is still in love with her. Mahesh had similar thoughts. Janaki thinking of this missed to see her dress catching fire by her own firewood in her hand. Suddenly she saw that and shouted as loud as she can. Mahesh realized that it was her voice. There was a sense of Panic in the crowd while Mahesh madly came running to her and helped her out of the fire by hugging her and going rounds of revolving in the road.

Jaanu has fainted because of the shock. When she opened her eyes again, she saw Mahesh holding her on him and also saw his eyes wet. She was feeble in her voice when she asked “Do you still love me.?”

He nodded his head like a small child and burst out crying.  Jaanu kissed him on his cheek and told “I saw you because of Anna Hazare…….. Should thank him mahesh”

“Jaanu….. I need to tell something to you which I have never told you in the way it has to be told” Mahesh was so emotional with his last words

“I Love you and Life is nothing for me without you” Mahesh told with great soul in it and hugged her.

Sheela ki Jawani

April 2020

Mohan was looking into his office files in his bed room and he heard a song from his daughter kalyani’s room. The song was the greatest hit of its time.

“Sheela ki jawani” was the song and mohan entered the room asking “Dear, How do you get to know about these old songs”

“Dad, I always like good songs……don’t care whether they are new or old.” Kalyani spoke and that song helped mohan sail back 11 years to his college 2^nd year.

===================================================

July 2009

Three guys were walking in the college ground as slowly as they can. Three guys had very similar looks with very minor difference in their heights and color texture. The Moon was brightly up lighting up one side of their dark faces. The first button of all their shirts was unbuttoned and that means……. Ya, I get your mind and of course they are from the mechanical department. All three were silent for the last few minutes.

“Mama, why did we take mechanical Engineering da?” Mohan was the first to talk.

“Our second year classes are going to begin from tomorrow and why do you think of this now?” Arun spoke and turned to Praveen

“Maybe we took this course just because all the heroes in the tamil movies are Mechanical Engineers.”Praveen told and others started laughing.

“I want to tell one thing and I want your full concentration…….” Praveen told and others made gestures to show that they were listening.

“I spoke with one of my friend in GCE,salem and he told that there is a transfer from their college to ours.” Praveen stopped to check whether they were listening and continued again.

“The name of the girl getting transferred is Kalyani and she is into mechanical department” Praveen told kicking a small stone in a fashion of kicking a football.

“A girl to our department….. I think last time we had a girl in our department was in 2005” Arun spoke with more energy now.

“Ya. Since then for the last three years, it was only boys.” Mohan also spoke with more energy.

“Any other details” Arun asked Praveen.

“No da. We were in a chat and he told that there is transfer & the name is kalyani” Praveen told the others.

“Why don’t you ask him other details …” Mohan was disappointed with only these details.

“I liked the curiosity inside me after hearing to that and I want that to continue at least till tomorrow da…… so I acted as though I showed less interest in that matter.” Praveen spoke with shyness now.

“Ya. True……..This is a great feeling” Mohan told as they reached the auditorium entrance and decided to go to bed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning mohan was sitting in his bed laughing to himself…….His roommates came to him (Arun and Praveen) and asked “Machi, Whats the matter da.”

“Machi, I had a dream da. ‘Sheela ka jawani’ song da……….. I was akshay and the new ‘kalyani ’was Katrina da” Mohan told with still a smile in his face.

“How was she looking da?” Arun asked him while Praveen hit him hard on his head saying “It is just a dream and he has not seen her like all of us da….. Get up guys……it is getting late”

“Ya ……enough of the wait and lets go & face the reality” Mohan told and jumped from his bed.

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Classes started and it was almost two periods over and no one turned up to the class. The three were sitting in the same bench and looked at each other for every five minutes. The wait was getting longer.

By 11:30, when the classes were going on, a fat, dark boy who looked like the tamil comedian ‘senthil’ in his 20’s came in. The professor collected some paper from him and referred it. Then he spoke which was a great shock to all of us

“You have a new classmate and he is from GCE, salem. He is a student of transfer for his merit and his name is KALYANARAMAN”

All three gave a look of shock at each other and in few seconds all started laughing. In few minutes, Arun and Praveen laughed at mohan saying “your Katrina is so beautiful da……..”

Mohan felt really disappointed in one way and at the same time shyness for all that he had in his dream and what happen at the room. All those feelings together gave him a loud laugh which made all his classmates look at him including the ‘KALYANI’ [sorry ‘KALYANARAMAN’]

===================================================

“Papa, why are you laughing?” his 7 year old daughter asked him. He hugged her and told “I also like this song very much and happy about you listening to old songs too”

Arun spoke from behind him “We know the reason for your liking towards this song…….”

Mohan turned and found his college day friends Arun and Praveen standing behind him. He hugged them all and now Praveen spoke “We also know the reason behind your daughter’s name”

“Papa, what is the reason?” She asked with an innocent voice when all gave a weird look at each other and started to laugh…….. Thinking of the KALYANARAMAN – KALYANI - & - Sheela ki jawani………

My First Love Letter

All the characters subjected to this letter are imaginative and any coincidence to real life is very unfortunate and Highly Dangerous [ for me :P ]
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Bangalore,

16/08/2011,

My dear Hema,

This is my first love letter, not only first to you - but first in my life. I am weak in my English as well as expressing my love directly to you seeing your eyes. So, I have decided to write a letter. But, now I am feeling this is harder than that.

I don’t know the meaning of love, but “I am in love with you” - This is how people tell after ‘Varanam Ayiram’ movie. I am not a good poet as every lover is expected to be, but I can express my feelings about you.............. “I feel like listening to an ilayaraja melody when you talk with me. I feel both summer and winter with a cool drizzle at the same time when you are near me. I feel my mom’s love for me in your eyes, when i see you. Totally,...... I feel heaven with you in my Life.”

I am a great fan of Simbhu [T.R.R.Silambarasan] and so, I don’t care about you being three years elder than me. I know that you are not my caste, but I promise you that I will never ask your caste or religion. I know you are superior to me in Education and as well as Salary but I don’t give a damn about that. I know you are taller than me - That is not my fault and If that is the reason for not accepting my proposal, it is so silly.

whenever I see you, this song plays in the interior of my heart

“Aval Apadi ondrum azhagilai, aanal adhu oru kurai ilai.......”

I can convince my parents and I think we can convince your parents as well. I don’t know actually how long this letter should be and so, I am stopping here with a question mark - literally

?

Now the ball is in your court...........I will wait for your reply and not REACTION   ;)

Yours Lovingly,

Balu

P.S :

If you don’t like me or my letter [or both], Please consider the matter dropped and return the letter to me. I request you not to take any action on me using your position of being the PROJECT LEAD........ to me...... :P

Neyveli - Mustache Guy - Old Lady

Please don’t look for logic. As I am not able to write in Tamil, I am writing this in English.

:::: 2009 Summer Holidays :::::::

This is Neyveli. If you have not heard of neyveli, I can give you a clear picture. This place which can be called as ‘Thar Desert’ of Tamilnadu has few hotels which give something very similar to food, few buses which have a look more or less like a bus and few theatres which are neither touring talkies nor decent film screens. The temperature will always be greater than 42 degree. The Unlucky students of Electrical branch come for IPT (In-plant training) to this Desert. [Only for the Certificates…  :P]

You cannot survive there without the Fresh Juices and coconut water. Two boys were standing near a coconut water shop (also called as ‘coconut juice’). One looked like a future MLA with heavily build body and doubtful expressions in his face. Other one looked like a soft guy with a thicker mustache which gave him a look of an elderly person. Those two were among the group of Electrical students who came for the In-plant training to neyveli.

The people in the shop looked like aged people. They were two and looked like couples fighting for the daily survival. The old man was sitting at one end of that small shop and the old lady gave the coconut juice to those boys. Meanwhile, the guy with the thicker mustache had a phone call.

“Ya amma. Had my dinner. Hmm…… so…..ok…and ……ya…..just drinking now……brought bananas as well” He was busily involved in the call. MLA (Let us call him that way…….) was inquiring about the hotels nearby. The old lady was looking at the mustache guy when he was talking over the phone.

“amma. Had your dinner? ... Hmm……take care….. I will be back in 10 days…everything is ok. Convey my love to appa…… mm……ok……will call you tomorrow…eat all three times a day…..don’t skip food because of work……ya ………bye……. Love you Ma...”

The old lady was laughing sarcastically. The Mustache guy was disturbed and asked her “Why are you laughing?”

She gave a dirty look at him and started to talk “In this age, every son loves his mom and family, but not after the marriage.”

“I am not like that.” He told very strongly. “I don’t believe anyone after the ignorance shown by my son after marriage.” She gave a stronger answer.

MLA was touching the shoulders of the mustache guy and asked him “Shall we go...”. “One minute.” He told him and turned towards the old lady.

“Here is the money for the coconut.” He gave her a 50 rupees note. When she was returning the balance amount he spoke again “Ok. You need not believe my words. Since how many years you are doing this business.”

“This is our family business and we are in this business for the last 4 generations.” She explained with pride.

“Ok. Let’s have a bet. Will you be in this business at least for another 15 years?” Now he was sharp in his words.

“Sure.” She was doubtful about the boy’s reaction. “Today my age is 19. I will comeback after 15 years. Probably I think that I would be married by that time. I will come back here with my mother and family after 15 years. What do you say……. Are you ready for the bet?” The boy asked.

Her expression totally changed now. She gave a smile and then didn’t talk for next few minutes. Then she went down towards the coconut and took one. She gave it to him and told “have it.”

“I…. I don’t understand……. I have paid for what we had and this one….. no…… ” He was fumbling with words while MLA from behind told “Have it. This is a token of love from her.”

She was looking at him [It was not looking, but staring]  and finally when they were about to leave she asked “What is your name?”

He turned towards her and asked “What is your son’s name?”

She hesitated but told after a while “Dhanapal”

“Mm……..Call me Dhanapal, amma. I will come here for another 10 days. Consider me as your son. Bye. Good night. Take care of your health and also that of appa’s…..”

She stood there motionless for another few minutes....

Angamuthu Solutions

Hi friends,

I would like to talk to you……… from my heart. I have been a regular follower of many blogs and I always wanted to own one. But the time has come only now….. I thank everyone who is supporting me in this journey of scribbling… (You can say that rite) whatever comes to my mind. I have seen many bloggers write about their interview experience but I would like to write about my experience with a company as a Placement Representative [Substitute].

Our PR had a personal commitment and wanted to be in his hometown deliberately. So, He asked me to take care of the Interview Procedure as I had the experience of being a PR in my 3rd year of college. The name of the company is Angamuthu Solutions (Fake name….. Sorry I cannot give the name.) And the number of persons cleared the first round were totally 80+ from our college and 9 in our class.

The second round was scheduled to start by 12:00 and students were expected to be there by 11:45.

Our College’s computer science department was the venue and it was the decent building of our college which itself looked like a dirty bungalow which can be used for the climax scenes of Rajinikanth movies. There were 25+ chairs outside to wait and 100+ students waiting for the interview. By 11:45, the department looked like the crowd outside the hostel mess (when chips are included in the menu). The universal dress code followed by the GCTians for the interview is a light blue full hand shirt with a thick blue tie. 75% of the boys were in the same dress code.

“Everyone have two copies of resume with you. Rite” I asked them

“ya” “yes” “hmm” I heard their replies

Few seconds later, we heard them call names…. “Sebastian” “Sathya” “Shanmuganathan” from our class. I was wondering how they can interview these many people at a time. They had 15+ people for interviewing and they have taken over the lab. The lab had opaque wall on 3 sides and a transparent glass covering on one side. We were able to see the happenings from outside and the lab looked exactly like a fish market.

PRs of all departments were sitting together and we had a lot of fun that day. We were discussing about our own experience in interviews. 5 minutes after the call, sathya came out with a smiling face.

I directly walked towards her and asked “Are you shortlisted for the next round?”

“No. I don’t think so.”Sathya told me. “What did they ask you?” I asked her. Just for the sake of helping others. “They asked me about the pointers in C. I replied that I don’t know” Sathya was telling while I interrupted and asked “What was their reaction..?”

“They said ‘aiaiyoo, .................you can leave ma’” She told with a sad note.

I came back to take my place while two others from my department came out. They were Sebastian and shanmuganathan.

Sebastian came with the smile saying “Hmm…….Done..........Awesome”

I asked with anxiety “Are you shortlisted?”

Sebastian replied “Two of them who interviewed me were girls and more importantly........................” he gave a pause as a good orator always does and then told with a magical voice “they were beautiful”

I was at the peak of my anger but controlled it and asked with a smile “Ok, What is the result”

“They gave me some program and asked me for a particular output. I told them that I don’t know. But they forced me to try. I finally did it and they have rejected me.” Sebastian said while he was removing his tie.

“Was it wrong – your answer?” I asked with a worry.

“It cannot be da. I wrote a program with only a printf statement containing the output they asked me.” Sebastian said with a smile.

“You will never change da.” I told turning to shanmu. He was a special guy in our class holding the record of most number of interviews attended. “What is the case with you?”

“Bad da. Only one of the two girls was ok. The other one horrible da. ” Shanmu told and all of us started laughing.

“I am not shortlisted and I am happy for that. I don’t like the company.” Shamnu said and left the place.

We had few experiences of this kind and finally when it was about 19:00 that I felt something was flying inside my stomach. Then understood that it was hunger and I have not taken anything for the last 7 hrs. I went for a tea and came back by 19:30 while Maadasaamy of ECE department came out.

“Machi, they were asking many questions about the pointers and gave programs as well” He was explaining to his PR. He looked outside while he was talking and told “Machan, I went inside when sun was brightly up and now when I come outside it is extremely dark. Hell with these interviews.”

Venkatraman came running by 20:00 and I thought he was gonna tell the result. But he ran away from me directly towards the restroom. After few minutes he came out and told “Interview is a test of patience da. They will not send you outside until you say ‘I give up’”

“Hold on. You can make it.” I told him and started thinking about the day. I was waiting for people to tell “I am selected” from this morning. But I heard only disappointing news and saw only sad faces. Every member of our class came out and I felt like India lost another wicket in a match against Pakistan.

Finally by 20:25 we were left with two wickets (i.e) two from our class. By 20:40, Vignesh came out for the first time since he entered. “Whats up machi. Are you through?”

Vignesh lifted his tired eyes towards me and told “Almost, one more round to go. The HR round. What about the others?” I understood from the question that he was under tremendous pressure that he was not even able to notice people around him. “Only venky and you are left for the HR interview.”

After a quick tea, both of them were now ready for the final battle with the HRs (Who are creatures looking exactly like humans......  sorry if some HR is reading). The Battle began and two of our soldiers came out with a smile after the war. I was happy for them.

20 odd students were waiting for the result and 2 from our class. My watch showed 21:40....... 22:20........22:40. “its better you go. We will take care of this and tell you the result” Vignesh told me while venky nodded. I kicked my bike with all the anger I had on the company people.

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23:35 my phone was vibrating “Machan, two of our batsmen scored a century  J ” was the message that I received from Vignesh.