8th july 2008...the big day

today when i got up in the morning, as usual i was thinking that its

been more then an year now that i have been placed in ashok leyland and

still i haven't joined it... it was on 8th July 2008 that i gave the

interview in the company's corporate office in gurgaon. the company

visited our colg on the 28th of April 2008, when it conducted the

written and preliminary rounds, three guys manish, sourav and me made

it to the next round, the interview.it took three months to confirm the

date of interview. it was delayed 8 times before 8th July. the venue

was changed twice, Lucknow and Delhi. ashok leyland is one of the dream

company of mechanical engineers. the wait for these three months was

worth every day.
every time the prospective date was fixed for the interview i could

feel the excitement,the tension,the dreams of making it into the

company, the adrenaline rush. it was amazing. but each time the date

was delayed the fear of failure cemented. finally the interview day

came.
manish, pahwa and i reached gurgaon on the 7th, we took the direct bus

from dehradun to Jaipur via gurgaon. the trip had to be fun, all three

of us were excited brimming with zeal and dreams. we were discussing

our fav subjects and suddenly the girl siting in front of us turned

back and handed us a fat file.
"you were talking about six sigma, well here u can read from my notes

till roorkee, thats my stop.."
everyone of us just stared her with our jaws dropped down. this was the

day i said to myself, a girl taking the initiative to talk to us wow.
we took the notes and then we began our "boys talk".
[ lets not digress its not what i want to write about here.. the girl

got down in roorkee.. Shift DEL.]
i usually don't talk much while travelling and so did manish, it was

saurav who was finding it difficult to control his excitement, full of

life, his great sense of humour, his apt comments on fellow

passengers.. it was fun.
we reached gurgaon and decided to visit the company to take a look at it

and make our self comfortable. the auto drpped us rite infront of a

multi storied building with the blue ashok leyland logo. we talked to

the guard there who was a jolly person, we were asked to come the next

day and he wished us all the best.

THEN THERE WAS THE HOTEL SEARCHING AND THAT TOO WAS A CLASS ACT, I WISH

I CUD WRITE ABOUT IT HERE. lets keep it a secret.

finally it was the day we have been waiting for last three months, the

day which was crucial for all of us, but specially for me for i knew

manish and sourav cud crack any exam they will sit in and are capable

of getting into companies which are better then ashley, but for me this

was DO or DIE. we got dressed and had our breakfast. its fun when u

live in a hotel with friends, the previous night mann and i were

watching star movies while sourav was eating his books, its funny that

both pahwa and me had brought a bag full of books for the interview of

which i didn't even open a single one. i mean how can we go through

everything in one night when we hadn't studied for months. ;)

we reached the interview venue well before 5hours. there were around 50

more students from other colgs. every one was trying to show that they

were calm and easy, but all were damn nervous. we were asked to sit in

the reception and fill the information form. i swear i was unable to

write my own name!!! my hands were shaking as if i had fits. it took me

15 min to fill it which on a normal day would take 2mins.
manish was the first one called inside. he was interviewed for 20 mins,

all this while i was making myself comfortable with the office and

preparing myself mentally but the more i thot abt the interview the

more i felt like hiding myself in the air conditioned lift of the

building ( it was awesome pure steel with perfect finish )
next it was my turn....


INT-"tell us abt urself"
Me-" sir i am rajat bla bla bla....."
INT-" ohk cut it short tell me abt ur training at ONGC"
it was the best time of my life those two months were the most

memorable masti time i spend. hardly i did nothing which i cud tell

there.
ME-" sir i was in the power generation department where there was a 16

cylinder diesel engine for running the alternator......"
INT-" you have gud 10th /12th score why didnt u drop and prepare for

some better colg"
Me-"sir i dont see any reason why i shud have dropped , as even after

doing my graduation from not so gud colg i am sitting here to give

interview for the top notch company of the nation, i feel i have done a

better job without wasting an year".
the ball was in my court now.
then there were some technical questions out of which i answered some and bluffed the rest.
he asked me a riddle i answered it quickly but not accurate...
then the final question.
INT-"u have filled that u wud like to work in Chennai , y ?"
ME-" sir i have spent 23 years in the same city doing my BTECH as a day scholar, i am kinda bored of that place i wanna live independently."
The interviewer began laughing and said -"u want to run away from ur parents dont u.."
soon i was out and i felt so relaxed. i didnt cared abt the result but the feeling that i have given the interview was gr8.

a lot more happened during that trip which ofcourse is there with me..
i am writing this b cause i feel this memory needs to be preserved...it was an important day for me.