The deserving candidate...

For the last few days, i had been attending a coaching class for appearing in SSB interview. Guided by a well experienced Brigadier and  Colonel, i was exploring my potentials, capabilities, strengths and weaknesses, and trying to overcome those weakness. The day i joined the institute, i made a friend. Basically he hails from Kannur, but his father is a high rank official in Indian Army. He stayed in the insti's hostel, a small room inside it. We greeted each other, and started talking to each other. I always like to make friends, so was he. His friends completed the coaching few days before and was alone there. He was dying to have a company and it was then, that i made my appearance. To my greatest surprise, it was on his birthday that i made an acquaintance with him, and i was the first one to wish him a "Happy b'day" along with a shake hand - the best day to have a new friend. The very first day we came to know about each other very much, as we were involved in interactive sessions from morning to evening. So i promised him to take him around the city on my bike. He was fond of vehicles, and really wanted to see my bike. I still remember his reaction when he heard my bike's sound- he closed his eyes as if he was meditating. We set out to MG road. Our first destination was a CHAAT centre. I was sure that he would enjoy chaat. None of my friends in Kerala other than jfreak liked chaat, and i hated to have ot alone, as one need someone to chat over a chaat. He haven't had it for a long time. We ordered "alu papdi chhat and Delhi chaat"...mmmm..both had the same flavour-" Dahi wala" in hindi. Afterwards, we went to favourite mall, eventhough he had been there once. So i took a different route, and gave him few new views of my city.

Once we reached the mall, we went to some shops, and later, entered a book shop. It was a week day, so i got more time to spent with books ( or else...guess what..). I didn't want buy any book as i was sure that my wallet was too small to fit the prices. But as a part of Indian festival, they had a 40% reduction sale for few books....I got a book named "The old man and his God" by Sudha Murthy for Rs. 90. We spent few more minutes, and dropped him at his hostel. As soon as i reached home, i began with the book, even without having tea, not even changing my clothes. I was surprised about the book. I always dreamed about such a book. It contained chronicles few journeys, people she met and few experiences and thoughts she wanted to share with the world....In fact, that was my dream about "my first book". I went through the pages. It was very similar to my blog. Few were craps, but i was struck with one chapter - The deserving candidate. It was the story of two candidates who appeared for an interview and how one of them got the job by his honesty. I was recollecting the story of one of my interview......

You might be remembering my "Job hunt", don't you?...And as i mentioned in that post, Hunt is a "hostile pursuit". Only target matters. Deceive, role play, do whatever do you want to get the job. Even i don't agree to it, but that was my situation. The company was a road construction contractors, and they were conducting the interview in a hotel. Initially supply did matter, but thanks to my dear Andrew who pleaded in the placement cell for admitting students with supply. In fact it was for me. There were 14 candidates to attend the interview. Most of them were academically mediocre students. The first round comprised of a written test; even a first year student could have done it. We were asked to wait until the results were out, but as the number of candidates were dew, they decided to interview everyone. After a few candidates, my turn came up. I walked in after asking their permission. They asked me to take my seat. I did. The round began. It was in Malayalam. That made every candidate comfortable. They began with few questions about the place i came from, my family, parents' occupation, so and so... It gave me some cool off time. With each questions passing by, i was being more relieved, not because i answered well and correctly, but because i was quite successful in shielding my ignorance by juggling words. Even while sitting infront of the panel, i was quite confident that i would get this job for sure. They described about the challenging nature of the job. I quoted Kalam's words- "Every challenge is an opportunity.Sir, speaking about......blah blah..blah...." I had never spoken so very well. The panel was  getting impressed with each line. I could read it from their body language. I was working hard to analyse their body language and speak accordingly.

Now they asked me a different question, "Deepak, after being a part of our firm, what will be the challenging project you will like to have?.."

Joining a construction company is not my dream. I want to be a Navy officer. But right now i need a job in hand.So i said;

"With all due respect, sir, we cant expect to have a challenge we like. If you were asking me about a dream project,...well...We will build the first F1 race track in India". (I didn't know whether there are any race tracks presently existed in India, if not, didn't know whether there was a scope for the race being held here. Still i made that statement very confidently.)

All of them were surprised. Brilliant answer. I got it from their face. Yes! I got the job- i yelled in my mind...

"Are you ready to work anywhere in India?.".......Oh! got f*cked up....I got the same question in another company's interview few months before. I said yes, but was kicked out.
"Yes sir. Definitely." I answered with no hesitation. "We will see u later. You may leave now"...."Thank you sir"...


They promised to inform us within two days of the interview. Days passed by....No mail, no phone calls, nothing.....Finally, one day a mail showed up. It was my offer letter. 5 of us got selected. The LUNATIC who deceived, role played, and spoke with insincere words got the job. In contrast to the candidate mentioned in the beginning i represented a ruthless hunter...Situations can make us ruthless hunters....But, time can help to change ourselves....I was thinking to deny the offer. 2 years' bond is a problem, but the way i procured the job makes me feel more guilty and shameful....Most probably i will deny the offer....what do you say?....

The intersecting and complimentary sets.......

With hazard lamps flickering and headlights on high beam , i was not driving fast; i was flying low. For the first time in my life the speedometer hit 100 kmph with my mom and dad as passengers. mmmmm...Better to say that dad was the patient. The red coloured car dashing like a fire engine was really an ambulance driven by me. My dad lost his body balance, a kind of problem due to fluid imbalance in cochlea of inner ear. With vomiting, dehydration and loss of postural stability as usual symptoms, the situation is really annoying. You feel like sitting and looking up on a merry go round. There was nothing to fear, but all i wanted was to get him to the hospital at the earliest, so that he can rest on a bed.

We got admitted into the casualty and paramedics rushed in. Following my mom's briefing they began to conduct all preliminary check ups- BP, heart beat, so and so... The duty doctor rushed in and checked his iris. He pointed a finger and asked my dad to look at it. He began to move the finger from one side to another. For a normal person, the cornea traces the exact path, while for the person suffering from imbalance, the case is different. He confirmed my dad's status and referred to ENT dept. for immediate medical attention. I should admire their co-ordination; they worked like a Quick Response Team of the police force. He was moved to the OP, in a trolley bed. They were fast enough that literally, we had to run. While moving through the corridors, few people gave way by sticking on to the wall. Curious children pointed the fast moving bed to their parents. While running along with the pack, it was more or less like looking through a steady cam in movies. We reached the OP. Dad was shifted to a bed and we were informed by a staff that we would meet a doctor soon....

Things were entirely different, here at the OP. We waited for a while, but remained unnoticed. There were five cabins occupied with doctors. Patients got in and out frequently. There were to assistants, one was a nursing student; i suppose. She was busy with the duty of issuing a discharge summary to one of the patients. The other was a casual labour who called out patient's name upon their turn. I asked the first lady about my dad's turn. She in-turn asked the second lady. She just looked at my dad's MRD file (medical records dept. file) with her jaws dropped. I thought that there was something strange with my dad's case, but after observing her for a while (looking into her mouth) i realized that her jaw's hinge had a problem. It always remained dropped, which reminded me of a poodle with an MRD file in her hand. "I will be back soon". She told me and left the place...

"How long should i wait?"..It was dad's voice.

"mmmm...we will be in soon. I have told them."...i replied.

He slipped back to his sleep. My dad, the patient, really lacked patience. But as soon as i looked at my watch, even i lost my patience. We had been here for over 20 mins. As i looked up, she was walking towards me; not so fast, but in good pace. It gave me sometime to judge her B, B & B (don't know what B, B & B are?...well.. refer my previous post -" The college Panorama"). Her Body was tan, beautifully curved. I am not speaking about Second B, but her third B was designed in an exaggerated scale. Thats enough. Don't strip her any more. So this lady approached me, opened the file and asked few questions. She gave out a nerd's look. I answered. The viva comprised of few questions about our previous visits, in-patient history, name of allergic drugs, symptoms of my dad's present sickness etc. I took it for a usual procedure. She now checked the availability of doctor in a cabin. The doctor was busy and anyone could have read it from her face. Now she came to my mom and asked the same questions. I was precise, but mom was elaborate. Dad thought it was because of my fault in answering and thats why she again came up with the same question. He wanted me to make things clear. She again left to check the doctor's availability. When she again started with the same question, i realized that it was more or less a "Gap filler". She was trying to engage us. Now She turned towards my dad and started asking the same. She didn't listen properly. Now my dad stared at me and shouted that i should have answered her properly. I raised my voice against him and asked to stay in bed. I regret for that act. I shouldn't have behaved so. I turned towards the lady and told her about all things i knew...

She now turned page after page and asked about the last time he was admitted in the hospital. We told her that it was about 4 years before. But she wanted the exact year.
"Where is your discharge summary?"... I stared into her eyes...deeper and deeper...

"I'm sorry...mmmmm... i didn't bring it.." I replied.
"Why?"..
"How dare you ask such a foolish question? .."
"Foolish?..You are supposed to bring the discharge summary during your revisits." I pointed few patients who were waiting in queue.
"See those people sitting over there? And show to me someone who has brought their discharge summary."
"But sir you are supposed to bring..."
"Then why the hell do you have a medical records department? And how the hell am i supposed to look for a summary while hurrying to the hospital during an emergency? And the first and foremost document necessary for a mediclaim reimbursement is nothing but a discharge summary. So whatever might those documents might be, its with them. Not me. And never annoy anyone by a handful of questions and please pay proper attention to our answers. And why do you ask the same set of questions like the ads during a commercial breaks of a serial? What is that you think you do here?...."

"Sir,Where is your discharge summary?"...
The question was a wake up call. I stepped out of my hallucination. Within a split second, i had won over a debate. But that was not the real case. She told my mom that we were supposed to bring the discharge summary, and i didn't pay any attention to her words. She was delivering a lecture on certain "things -to -do". I wish i should have had a real talk like the one mentioned above, with her. When she left us for the last time, i came up with my arguments and told dad that she was mad.

"Why do you tell me all these stuffs? You could have argued with her..."
Well..I should have done so,  but it was not the right place and right time.
Few minutes later, we were taken to a doctor's cabin. He ran a thorough check up and administered him with few medicines. While i left the cabin along with dad, i looked for the girl. She was not seen anywhere around......

I thought for a moment....
In one way or the other, both of us were the same. We both knew many things. She was good in talking. Me too.  But we also had few differences. While She spoke unnecessarily at inappropriate time, I didn't speak any necessary things at appropriate time.
We all are different.....Still, we all are the same......Next time i see this girl, these lines will be the first thought to keep my mind busy......