Oh!! LIFE is a great leveler….
During the last four years, more than anything, I have developed this habit of sleeping late in the night, thanks to my friends @ hostel and more importantly my mobile!! Jus not able to shed this tag of being nocturnal even a month after coming to Salem.
It was two days back and noon it was already. And as usual, I had jus got up. I thought I cud jus check out my fortune for the day on ORKUT. The previous day ORKUT said – “Luck is coming your way”. So I was eagerly waiting for something special to happen the next day. That day Orkut displayed – “You are next in line for promotion in your firm”. Oh kewl... I thought... Even before my joining a company, Orkut is predicting that I ve got a great corporate career ahead of me… Actually I was slated to join a Telecom Networking Company called Continuous Computing in Bangalore on June 1st.
Suddenly at 5PM that evening, I got a call from Gowri (my classmate at CEG who was also placed in Continuous Computing) that they ve withdrawn all the offers that they had made on campus. It was like “A bolt from the blue” as they would call it. But I ve no regrets and ve decided to join CTS in July. (Anyway I haven’t got any other choice!!!)
So Its back to Square One. Back to where it all started.
Last May, CTS offered me my first employment offer. Its been a not-so-good one year since then. Had my share of good times and very bad ones as well. Just into the final year of college, I had lots of aspirations. And prime among them was to crack CAT. The CAT fever was clearly visible with everybody in the class trying to solve Math and DI unnoticed even while the Professors were taking classes. Further we had seven theory subjects in the seventh semester which didn’t make our task any easier.
CAT was simply forgettable. Jus didn’t know that I could perform as bad as I did that day. So straightaway, IIMs out of question. So changed my targets to XLRI and FMS. FMS entrance test was a cakewalk but XAT wasn’t exactly that simple. But managed to clear both the tests. So ‘Half the Well crossed’. At least I thought so… But the final results indicated that both the institutes found better candidates to fill in their allocated seats.
Dream jobs made this years’ placement all the more interesting… We were allowed to attend dual placements with companies offering more than 4lpa… The Manhattan Associates on-campus was really memorable. It looked like a Mgmt Company, though we hadn’t heard of it before. A whole lot of us got short listed (u know how!!)…But many of us were driven out after the first round of Interviews. But I was happy because I wasn’t asked wait the whole day like Asif did, before being shooed away. Only Gopal, Pirama, Mag and a few others made it finally.
Only during this Dream Job process did we come to know of hitherto unknown companies. Adaptec was on in mid December. I got shortlisted (but this time it was a solo performance!). Was asked to come for interview the next day. Went by sharp 9AM for the interview. I waited, waited and waited. They announced “LUNCH”. So filled my tummy and came back. Again waited, waited and waited. It was finally 4PM when I went in. It was a 4-on-1 interview. The interviewers immediately asked me if I knew 8086. I said NO. One of them asked me something in C. As expected, I was not convincing in my reply. Then they looked at each other and finally one of them broke the silence. He immediately put his hands in his pocket, took his visiting card, offered it to me and said “Learn 8086 and come. We will then have the interview”. It hit me hard. Being asked to wait for seven hours and only a visiting card to boast of, at the end of the day. Uh… that was really not my day.
Yeah… True… My day in the sun would come a week later when another company called Continuous Computing would recruit me and offer to pay 5.7lpa. So God has been kind enough to offer me this as a consolation for the CATastrophe that had happened a fortnight back, I said to myself.
Until two days back, I was looking forward to joining this company before they withdrew the offers. So it has been a real ROLLER-COASTER journey for me this last one year… And learnt one truth… that LIFE is indeed a great leveler… it truly is…
It was two days back and noon it was already. And as usual, I had jus got up. I thought I cud jus check out my fortune for the day on ORKUT. The previous day ORKUT said – “Luck is coming your way”. So I was eagerly waiting for something special to happen the next day. That day Orkut displayed – “You are next in line for promotion in your firm”. Oh kewl... I thought... Even before my joining a company, Orkut is predicting that I ve got a great corporate career ahead of me… Actually I was slated to join a Telecom Networking Company called Continuous Computing in Bangalore on June 1st.
Suddenly at 5PM that evening, I got a call from Gowri (my classmate at CEG who was also placed in Continuous Computing) that they ve withdrawn all the offers that they had made on campus. It was like “A bolt from the blue” as they would call it. But I ve no regrets and ve decided to join CTS in July. (Anyway I haven’t got any other choice!!!)
So Its back to Square One. Back to where it all started.
Last May, CTS offered me my first employment offer. Its been a not-so-good one year since then. Had my share of good times and very bad ones as well. Just into the final year of college, I had lots of aspirations. And prime among them was to crack CAT. The CAT fever was clearly visible with everybody in the class trying to solve Math and DI unnoticed even while the Professors were taking classes. Further we had seven theory subjects in the seventh semester which didn’t make our task any easier.
CAT was simply forgettable. Jus didn’t know that I could perform as bad as I did that day. So straightaway, IIMs out of question. So changed my targets to XLRI and FMS. FMS entrance test was a cakewalk but XAT wasn’t exactly that simple. But managed to clear both the tests. So ‘Half the Well crossed’. At least I thought so… But the final results indicated that both the institutes found better candidates to fill in their allocated seats.
Dream jobs made this years’ placement all the more interesting… We were allowed to attend dual placements with companies offering more than 4lpa… The Manhattan Associates on-campus was really memorable. It looked like a Mgmt Company, though we hadn’t heard of it before. A whole lot of us got short listed (u know how!!)…But many of us were driven out after the first round of Interviews. But I was happy because I wasn’t asked wait the whole day like Asif did, before being shooed away. Only Gopal, Pirama, Mag and a few others made it finally.
Only during this Dream Job process did we come to know of hitherto unknown companies. Adaptec was on in mid December. I got shortlisted (but this time it was a solo performance!). Was asked to come for interview the next day. Went by sharp 9AM for the interview. I waited, waited and waited. They announced “LUNCH”. So filled my tummy and came back. Again waited, waited and waited. It was finally 4PM when I went in. It was a 4-on-1 interview. The interviewers immediately asked me if I knew 8086. I said NO. One of them asked me something in C. As expected, I was not convincing in my reply. Then they looked at each other and finally one of them broke the silence. He immediately put his hands in his pocket, took his visiting card, offered it to me and said “Learn 8086 and come. We will then have the interview”. It hit me hard. Being asked to wait for seven hours and only a visiting card to boast of, at the end of the day. Uh… that was really not my day.
Yeah… True… My day in the sun would come a week later when another company called Continuous Computing would recruit me and offer to pay 5.7lpa. So God has been kind enough to offer me this as a consolation for the CATastrophe that had happened a fortnight back, I said to myself.
Until two days back, I was looking forward to joining this company before they withdrew the offers. So it has been a real ROLLER-COASTER journey for me this last one year… And learnt one truth… that LIFE is indeed a great leveler… it truly is…
posted by VAC | 2:56 AM
12 Comments:
Aarambichitiyaa neeyum...
Hi VAC nice to see you blogging da.. One opinion I have always held is that you have the fire to get into B-schools.. If you can cross half the well, the next half is going to be easy only.. I'm sure you'll get into one of the top B-schools next year.. good luck!!! One more " Continuous Computing" is simply unlucky..
By the way nice blog and fantastic wordings!! I've always admired u for that.. And I'll continue doing so..
hmm... life's a real roller coaster, don't let that put you down... am sure u'll crack CAT/XAT/FMS next year
hey charani! don be dejected! while it is true that life is a great leveller, some of us are born with that something called talent and brains..which u hav plenty of!! am sure u wil make it to d IIMs :)
hmmm... anyway vac uve completed Eng with fine grades so thers nothin to worry.... and this CTS thing mite be a blessin in disguise cos u will be able to concentrate better for CAT... and rem 'lightning doesnt strike twice'. Last yr was an aberration... All the best
hi da... good to see your write about whatever u feel.. I think thats a very good thing which frees our mind... dont worry about placements.. u are just starting :)
Have a very good start in CTS... Do write frequently about interesting things...
Goodluck and welcome to the blogworld..
btw.. ennada title.. Thayir sadam :P un favoutiteaaa ;)
i still clearly remember the phone call i made to u when u got selected for ccpu... then for fms... then for rejection in fms... and then very recently when ccpu withdrew... dont think im trying to console u or sumthin (actually im very bad at that!) but to tell u the truth i was shell shocked at the way u kept ur cool when i called u. when i look back at these 4 years i also some times feel things never went the way i wanted them too, but then u know wat kind of a moaner i am. but still i cherish the fact that i ve become much wiser... "i was upset that i dint have shoes until i saw a man without legs" or so a saying goes... we dream abt many things but some how destiny finds its way thru... i know that u are capable of managing and that u ll finally end up in one such career... it wouldnt b a surprise if we see u on TV reading out india's annual budget some day! (i know i have told u this 100 times but this is for all to see!) ... so best f luck man! may u keep alive this attitude of urs! u ve been true inspiration to me!
Welcome to the blogging world...
Blame luck for continuous comp da. U will have more free time in cts than cc to prep for cat. I hope u will crack cat soon
welcome to the addictive and enjoyable world of blogging da!!
Dude, welcome to this blogging world. Your post was really fantabulous and open, but for a sentence which I'd like to point out (jus for fun)-
"even while the Professors were taking classes"
lolol
Do profs in our college take classes?(rhetoric man!).Anyways great post.
hey nice blog....wish u good luck for cat this coming yaer...sure u'll make it to d top
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