It was during the final year of the graduation when a notice was put up regarding the campus interview of one of the biggest software companies of India which was to be held in Kolkata. The interview was schedule for 1st of September, and it was already the 27th of August, which consequently meant that I had less time. So I made good friendship with my books and I was a worm in no time. Reading dry books was never my ardor, but novels –yes! Understanding computer languages was always a daunting task. It always aroused the sleeping procrastinator that had now become an integral part of my soul.
This story is not about an interview and how I cracked it, in fact I didn’t. I booked my tickets for Kolkata and the date was 30th of august. Bearing in mind that I had to crack an interview, I had to focus and be poised, but that really wasn’t the source of concern. I mean, who wants a job at the age of 21? Certainly I didn’t, because there’s only one life, and I didn’t want to finish it off earning at such a young age. The fact of the matter was that I had to get a phone number – whose number? Kiran’s number.
The next question, for you readers is “Who is Kiran?” Well she is the girl of my dreams, and yes she existed in reality too. She is an awesome girl with a gracious smile. She had the uncanny knack of keeping the whole world around her, happy. I therefore, had fallen for her but the predicament was that I was in touch with her only through the internet. Weekly messages and a handful of e-mails was all that I could do to keep in touch. This leads to a confusion for you that where was she? …… she was in London, studying engineering, and then the next question is what her relation with Kolkata is? Well she had a sister who was studying in Kolkata and I knew her too. I directly couldn’t ask Kiran for her number because I was too shy. The very instance of her made me blush. It was lame but I couldn’t help it.
1st September: I couldn’t make it to the company because I was chucked out of the final round; apparently they thought that I was not good enough for them. Damn it, to hell u company fellows, I don’t want a job and I kicked the stone and started taking a stroll in the lonely but serene Salt lake, sector 5.
Back to the problem, to make matters worse I didn’t have Deepika’s number either (Deepika is the sister of Kiran (paternal)). So I contacted Sandeep, who studied with Deepika and was our common friend. He gave me a number that was received by some male, who was pissed off with his life, and to my misery that was a wrong number. I gave a call back to Sandeep, he gave the number of yet another friend Keshav (common again after the conversation).This was the first time I was speaking to Keshav, and to my surprise he was happy to give me the number, which apparently was not of Deepika’s and he told me that Deepika was out on a holiday to Goa. The number was of Supriya’s (elder sister of Deepika). This wretchedness was beyond my imagination, only this time, I had never seen Supriya nor did I know that she existed in this world. To my inconvenience I was a shy person who didn’t ask for Kiran’s number directly but I was here now doing stuff that I had never imagined in my fantasy: begging for a number to every person who gave me hope.
So I gave her (Supriya) a call. She received with a certainty “Hello-who is this?” I said, “I am a friend of deepika as well as of Kiran’s and I wanted to meet you because I have to give you something.” She was taken aback and then replied “I don’t know u, why should I meet you anyway “after a short pause she disconnected the phone and after a long beep I did the same.
All hope was gone to vain, no recruitment and no phone number as well. My agony was multiplying and who knows what will happen next?
As I took a lonely ride back home after winning nothing, a quotation came to my mind, I don’t recall who quoted it but it hardly matters “When you win, nothing hurts”. Just as I was about to unlock the door to my brother’s flat, I got a call on my mobile. It read ‘Supriya’; I was in a dilemma whether to receive or to disconnect. I started getting weird thoughts on why is she calling me? Isn’t she done after she disconnected my only ray of hope or now she wants to finish off things in style but swearing at me? To cut short these irrelevant thoughts I received her call. “Hello, are you there?” she said, I replied with a wry smile “Yes I am here I can hear you.” She then said “I am sorry about the reaction, I hope you understand that it is difficult for a girl to believe a phone call” I moored my eyebrows when she continued “ I just had a chat with Deepika and everything is clear now and are you Deepika’s friend or Kiran’s? ”. I was not paying attention to her but suddenly my twenty bones jointly made an effort to smile and I replied “yeah, I am actually Kiran’s friend but I am acquainted with Deepika too.” I still couldn’t figure out the reason for her call. She broke the suspense and asked “Can you meet me tomorrow at 8 in the evening?” Now I was dancing with joy and it knew no boundaries, I without any further reluctance agreed upon her request. That night was hard to pass, every second passed on slower than ever and I started dreaming, which eventually made me sleep.
The next day had its confusion of its own- am I just going to meet her to ask her, her sister’s number, how convenient and brazen of me to think like that. Certainly I didn’t want to make a false impression on Supriya, because now she mattered a lot to me than the day before. So, I started thinking about an alibi that made me come to meet her and I am about to enlighten you with one of the truths of life. Do you know why males are better managers than females? I’ll tell you why, because when it comes to saving your life, a male can do everything that he possibly can, you can see the example right above. The next day, I was so exited that I wanted the day to pass by so that it could be twenty hundred hours and I could meet my prospective sister in law. There was still a thing that had to be done, that was to buy gifts and give it to her as a birthday present for Kiran and in return I would ask her Kiran’s number. This was my alibi. Buying gifts was never a problem until then, selecting the best gift requires truck load of money which adversely I didn’t have. So the next best thing was “Cheap and best”. I bought a coffee mug because I remembered that Kiran loved drinking hot chocolate and coffee in the winters and winter was approaching. To be precise it cost me 180 rupees, not expensive but for her it was still a trifle amount.
Next stoppage was at Supriya’s locality, I had never seen her so this was going to be fun. I gave her a call and she told me that she is wearing black top with a pair of jeans. Everything seemed just fine when I saw a girl wearing black tees, I approached her, and firstly she kept looking at me so I was almost sure that she was the one. Then as I got closer, she had an animated look on her face and her hands slowly transferred itself into a powerful fist, as I sighted that, I knew that this time the number was wrong. Without further delay I changed my direction to see yet another girl wearing black who was in a public booth trying for a number. I immediately thought in my excitement, which was at its zenith, that this could be her. Again I approached her, but this time I was more cautious, as I was about to call her name, I heard mine. This time it was Supriya, she recognized me because of my excitement and anticipation.
After a formal introduction, I briefed her up on my visit to Kolkata and I gave her the gifts. She did the kind bit to ensure the delivery. Now the moment had come. I stepped forward and said”Supriya can you give me Kiran’s number?” I stepped back for the reaction and she asked in predicament “Why?” I had a definite reason but yet I told her nothing I wanted her to understand. Silence was common to us both then she again suspected me. She thought for a while and said “okay here you go it’s …………………”. “I hope you do know that it is going to cost you a princely amount to call her” she said and smiled.”I will only call her sometimes” I said and returned back the smile.”Sometimes is also expensive, anyway take it, as you desire”. I blushed.
Only my hands moved on the keypad of my mobile and I saved it. We both turned back after I said “Thank you”. After three to four steps further I jumped in the air punching the breeze that was flowing. Everybody noticed me and then came a name that stunned me to silence. Supriya called me back and said “give me your mobile” as I did so; she checked the name against Kiran’s number which read as ‘ANGEL’ and then she added” you are a nice guy she (Kiran) told me.” Again to my discomfort she paused, but then said “Good luck she is also nice”. With those last words she turned away and I had got THE number.
This story is not about an interview and how I cracked it, in fact I didn’t. I booked my tickets for Kolkata and the date was 30th of august. Bearing in mind that I had to crack an interview, I had to focus and be poised, but that really wasn’t the source of concern. I mean, who wants a job at the age of 21? Certainly I didn’t, because there’s only one life, and I didn’t want to finish it off earning at such a young age. The fact of the matter was that I had to get a phone number – whose number? Kiran’s number.
The next question, for you readers is “Who is Kiran?” Well she is the girl of my dreams, and yes she existed in reality too. She is an awesome girl with a gracious smile. She had the uncanny knack of keeping the whole world around her, happy. I therefore, had fallen for her but the predicament was that I was in touch with her only through the internet. Weekly messages and a handful of e-mails was all that I could do to keep in touch. This leads to a confusion for you that where was she? …… she was in London, studying engineering, and then the next question is what her relation with Kolkata is? Well she had a sister who was studying in Kolkata and I knew her too. I directly couldn’t ask Kiran for her number because I was too shy. The very instance of her made me blush. It was lame but I couldn’t help it.
1st September: I couldn’t make it to the company because I was chucked out of the final round; apparently they thought that I was not good enough for them. Damn it, to hell u company fellows, I don’t want a job and I kicked the stone and started taking a stroll in the lonely but serene Salt lake, sector 5.
Back to the problem, to make matters worse I didn’t have Deepika’s number either (Deepika is the sister of Kiran (paternal)). So I contacted Sandeep, who studied with Deepika and was our common friend. He gave me a number that was received by some male, who was pissed off with his life, and to my misery that was a wrong number. I gave a call back to Sandeep, he gave the number of yet another friend Keshav (common again after the conversation).This was the first time I was speaking to Keshav, and to my surprise he was happy to give me the number, which apparently was not of Deepika’s and he told me that Deepika was out on a holiday to Goa. The number was of Supriya’s (elder sister of Deepika). This wretchedness was beyond my imagination, only this time, I had never seen Supriya nor did I know that she existed in this world. To my inconvenience I was a shy person who didn’t ask for Kiran’s number directly but I was here now doing stuff that I had never imagined in my fantasy: begging for a number to every person who gave me hope.
So I gave her (Supriya) a call. She received with a certainty “Hello-who is this?” I said, “I am a friend of deepika as well as of Kiran’s and I wanted to meet you because I have to give you something.” She was taken aback and then replied “I don’t know u, why should I meet you anyway “after a short pause she disconnected the phone and after a long beep I did the same.
All hope was gone to vain, no recruitment and no phone number as well. My agony was multiplying and who knows what will happen next?
As I took a lonely ride back home after winning nothing, a quotation came to my mind, I don’t recall who quoted it but it hardly matters “When you win, nothing hurts”. Just as I was about to unlock the door to my brother’s flat, I got a call on my mobile. It read ‘Supriya’; I was in a dilemma whether to receive or to disconnect. I started getting weird thoughts on why is she calling me? Isn’t she done after she disconnected my only ray of hope or now she wants to finish off things in style but swearing at me? To cut short these irrelevant thoughts I received her call. “Hello, are you there?” she said, I replied with a wry smile “Yes I am here I can hear you.” She then said “I am sorry about the reaction, I hope you understand that it is difficult for a girl to believe a phone call” I moored my eyebrows when she continued “ I just had a chat with Deepika and everything is clear now and are you Deepika’s friend or Kiran’s? ”. I was not paying attention to her but suddenly my twenty bones jointly made an effort to smile and I replied “yeah, I am actually Kiran’s friend but I am acquainted with Deepika too.” I still couldn’t figure out the reason for her call. She broke the suspense and asked “Can you meet me tomorrow at 8 in the evening?” Now I was dancing with joy and it knew no boundaries, I without any further reluctance agreed upon her request. That night was hard to pass, every second passed on slower than ever and I started dreaming, which eventually made me sleep.
The next day had its confusion of its own- am I just going to meet her to ask her, her sister’s number, how convenient and brazen of me to think like that. Certainly I didn’t want to make a false impression on Supriya, because now she mattered a lot to me than the day before. So, I started thinking about an alibi that made me come to meet her and I am about to enlighten you with one of the truths of life. Do you know why males are better managers than females? I’ll tell you why, because when it comes to saving your life, a male can do everything that he possibly can, you can see the example right above. The next day, I was so exited that I wanted the day to pass by so that it could be twenty hundred hours and I could meet my prospective sister in law. There was still a thing that had to be done, that was to buy gifts and give it to her as a birthday present for Kiran and in return I would ask her Kiran’s number. This was my alibi. Buying gifts was never a problem until then, selecting the best gift requires truck load of money which adversely I didn’t have. So the next best thing was “Cheap and best”. I bought a coffee mug because I remembered that Kiran loved drinking hot chocolate and coffee in the winters and winter was approaching. To be precise it cost me 180 rupees, not expensive but for her it was still a trifle amount.
Next stoppage was at Supriya’s locality, I had never seen her so this was going to be fun. I gave her a call and she told me that she is wearing black top with a pair of jeans. Everything seemed just fine when I saw a girl wearing black tees, I approached her, and firstly she kept looking at me so I was almost sure that she was the one. Then as I got closer, she had an animated look on her face and her hands slowly transferred itself into a powerful fist, as I sighted that, I knew that this time the number was wrong. Without further delay I changed my direction to see yet another girl wearing black who was in a public booth trying for a number. I immediately thought in my excitement, which was at its zenith, that this could be her. Again I approached her, but this time I was more cautious, as I was about to call her name, I heard mine. This time it was Supriya, she recognized me because of my excitement and anticipation.
After a formal introduction, I briefed her up on my visit to Kolkata and I gave her the gifts. She did the kind bit to ensure the delivery. Now the moment had come. I stepped forward and said”Supriya can you give me Kiran’s number?” I stepped back for the reaction and she asked in predicament “Why?” I had a definite reason but yet I told her nothing I wanted her to understand. Silence was common to us both then she again suspected me. She thought for a while and said “okay here you go it’s …………………”. “I hope you do know that it is going to cost you a princely amount to call her” she said and smiled.”I will only call her sometimes” I said and returned back the smile.”Sometimes is also expensive, anyway take it, as you desire”. I blushed.
Only my hands moved on the keypad of my mobile and I saved it. We both turned back after I said “Thank you”. After three to four steps further I jumped in the air punching the breeze that was flowing. Everybody noticed me and then came a name that stunned me to silence. Supriya called me back and said “give me your mobile” as I did so; she checked the name against Kiran’s number which read as ‘ANGEL’ and then she added” you are a nice guy she (Kiran) told me.” Again to my discomfort she paused, but then said “Good luck she is also nice”. With those last words she turned away and I had got THE number.
