The first proposal

At 8 pm on the 31st of december, my mobile seemed to ring louder than usual. I picked up the phone, expecting a call from someone wishing me for the new year. It was from an uncle of mine from Delhi, as close a relative as is the distance between the earth and the sun. He congratulated me for getting placed. I was surprised as it had been over a decade since we spoke (now the distance should seem long enough) and had no clue as to how the information had reached him. He wanted to talk to my dad. Suspicion grew stronger as this person was related to me from my mother's side and hadn't spoken much to my dad.

After the initial hiccups, his conversation with my dad grew smoother and for me, hotter. It was a marriage proposal, one from my uncle's friend for his daughter, who apparently had seen me at the wedding I happened to attend at Bangalore a couple of days ago. My dad was laughing joyously; I knew the next few days at home would be spent with people pulling my leg from all directions. Anyway, the person on the other side was serious and my dad seriously denied it too in his thoroughbred gentlemanlike circumlocution. I was floored by his capability to deny a proposal without hurting the person talking to him. His entire experience with marketing should've taught him this.

Anyway, I just want to confess that I blushed like a pig when I heard "marriage" associated with me for the first time and later, thankfully, prudence won. The days ahead intimidate me!

Height of coincidence

I had been to a wedding in Bangalore where I came face to face with coincidence. An old teaser in a magazine that I happened to read stated the height of coincidence as follows - "someone's mother and father getting married on the same day". This experience of mine was closest to this.

A few days back, I was recruited by General Motors (GM), Bangalore for the power train applications division. I wanted to visit the place this time, but could not do so. I thought I would do it later next year before joining when fortune played its part. I was introduced to a distant uncle of mine, who is supposedly a senior project manager in GM. As if all this wasn't enough, he heads the power train applications division too. I could not believe my eyes and ears for the rest of the day and my ever-fickle mind started imagining weird things.

And just take a look at the first question I asked him - "Sir, do you have a cricket team at GM?". I learnt from his expression that he wasn't very pleased with the question. Who would be???

Dharik Sanchan

The meet is over. Everything seems to be a lot more relaxed now. No more strenuous sessions of practice. No more nets. All the efforts that went in to making a brilliant team minus our captain (Dharik) resulted in a silver medal and a certificate. Is that what we played for? Does the glory from a silver medal do enough justice to all the pains the man with a broken collar bone took to pull back the team from the drain?

For those who don't get the import of my words, we had moulded ourselves into a beautiful cricket team worthy of wearing the IITM whites, when disaster struck. Our dedicated captain, Dharik Sanchan, broke his collar bone during practice and was ruled out of the tournament.

The vice captain, Ayush, another fighter in the making, did his best to darn the damage, but there was always this gut feeling of an unfilled cavity in the side, atleast for me. Dharik finished his make-up examinations and went with us to Mumbai for the tournament to render moral support. I think he did much more than that and this makes me blog here.

Every match we played was watched by his keen eyes and our first victory against IITG did not make him happy. He proved to be someone who could look into the minuses in a victory. We were given a mouthful that night at the team meeting for the appalling behaviour on and off the field. The next match against IITD saw IITM go down probably like never before. It was then, that the man rose to the occasion. He detected the lack of a left arm orthodox spinner in the team.

The sole left handed medium pacer in the team, a freshie by name Vivek, who had never bowled in a match for IITM before that, was transformed into a spinner in just two days; full credit to Dharik and Vivek for the feat. The latter was very effective in the semi final against IIT Kanpur. All the matches had our former captain patrolling the boundaries asking his players to raise volume levels on the field and offering valuable advice. At times, the match would only be as interesting as digging one's nose, but one look at Dharik and enthusiasm would seep into me.

The eve of the cricket final saw some shameful moments in the history of sportsmanship as every game that IITB played was ably backed by heinous referees. IITM suffered loss after loss and it was left to the cricket team to save its face. The championship had slipped from our hands and the only majesty that we were playing for was gold in cricket. Beating IITD was a bigger motivation and Dharik had asked for nothing more than this. Unfortunately, a team that lacked an ace spinner and batsman in Dharik could not do well yet again and was defeated for the second time in a row by IITD.

Emotions were high and the seven players of the team who apparently were playing their last inter IIT cricket match shed contagious tears. A few good words were exchanged and Dharik only praised the team for fighting its skin out. But that could console none of us. I still feel we haven't done justice to all his efforts. There is no chance we could do it anymore and that makes me feel worse!

Anyway, thanks Dharik. Hats off!

The same applies to all the other members of the team. It was my good fortune playing with them.

On the eve of the journey!

Yes, this is indeed the night before the journey to Bombay for the 43rd Inter - IIT sports meet. The days of tough practice have drawn to a close and it is time for the final test. It is hard to believe the wait is over, but everyone in the team has been eagerly looking forward to this moment. Spending a whole day on the train tomorrow is gonna be tough I swear.

There is not a single player in the team who is not injured in some form or the other. Yet, the pain has to be borne, for it has been a compulsory side effect of rigorous practice and we are doing so, very well. There is a feeling of patriotism localized on to a scale called IIT Madras. The contingent of a 116 members is raring to have a go at every other contingent out there. The feeling is inexplicable, trust me!

Pray I do justice to all the facilities I have enjoyed at insti...

Employed at last!

I had not for once dreamt that I would make my fiftieth post with a job in hand. Yes, fortunately, I have been placed with Messrs. General Motors. December 8th would remain a red letter day in my life.

Pre-interview emotions were high and a lot of talk about a lot of things filled the air around the placement office. The place was filled with probably the most wily souls ever, all clad in gentleman-like formals with prior preparation to speak lies enough to fill the quota of a couple of human births. Everybody looked noble and I knew everyone's eyes and everyone's smile hid something ulterior and I was no exception. Tension tightened its grip on all and the cool weather was no remedy to perspiration. There was an aura of camaraderie mixed with subtle jealousies and trust me, the two are seriously contagious at such a place. Reminiscence is sweet, but I still can't believe I lived through it.

The technical interview was cool and for a moment, I thought I was wasting my time, for the panel was ultra-cool and the whole process seemed to progress nice and slow, highly uncharacteristic of interviews I have attended so far. And when the panel said with a smiling face, "we will get back to you", I assured myself that they were telling me to f*** off in the most thoroughbred dandy style of speech. I went to the stadium at IIT Madras to see my friends at net practice. It was here that I got a call from the placement cell for the HR "interview".

I followed the HR person with the most scornful look. I have always thought of HR managers as people who are used to seeing others fibbing and the thought that he could look through the cock and bull stories I had narrated at the interview sent a shiver down my spine.

To my surprise, he just shook my hand and said, congrats! you have been selected. I was more ashamed at that instant than happy. I had felt jealous, suspicious and scared, only because of an interview?! What a magnanimous personality!!! Soon, jubilation overshadowed shame and I called up my parents to tell them that their son was employed at last.

Everyone was happy and that made my day!

I would be deemed ungrateful if I did not thank, atleast on this blog, everyone who supported me when I was feeling low - this the people reading this blog should know. Thanks to all my teachers and friends without whom I could never have reached where I presently am, today. Kudos!