OOO: Odd One Out

One Long Day
Minar 00:15 am

Tool: Landu! 10 O' clock in the morning. You are coming, right?

Me: Eh...I don't know. Somehow, I can imagine myself 5-10 yrs down the line as neither an engineer nor a financial analyst. Uh...lemme see...nahi yaar. Anyway, we're not gonna be shortlisted even under the rarest circumstances. It's only for the Bofis you see. Nine pointer + Coords + Lit-God + ... But still there's a point in attending the presentation as there was one in attending the workshop earlier. No matter what we do, we gotta invest somewhere around 1/3rd of our assets. No harm in learning the basic terminologies from Lehmann!

Tool: Kya reason dhoondha hai attend karne ka!

Tapti Hostel 01:00 am

Viru: Landu! So finally are we going to gym tomorrow?

Me: Yeah sure! Be ready by 06:15.

Why gym? Or better yet, why the hell gym in the morning...6 O' clock?
Well, I'd say in a movement to revive the body clock, body fluid circulation, body muscle flexibility, body this and body that. Also to demonstrate and exemplify the will and its power. Moreover, to behold rare and prized birds chirping outside my door, to bathe in soft orange light and to breathe through every pore of body and mind pure and fresh oxygen. Yeah baby, all of the above. Ain't enough? Take this - to prevent wastage of yet another month for which I got the gym card issued which, in turn, was another example of taking the right path in front of my corrupt friends who dared to talk about utilizing the institute's facilities for free in front of me. I instantly slapped on them an eloquent speech explaining why honesty is still the best policy.

06:00 am Bang! "Landu, chal!"
Shout from inside-"Uth gaya! Tu chal main aaya!"
Crash!

06:15 am "Landu m**** b***** chal!"


06:30 am Gymming

07:10 am My 2nd breakfast of the semester! Elated and blushing :))

07:30 am Crash!

10:00 am Kukdoo-koo (cellphone reminder - Lehmann Presentation). Postponed. Crash. P. C. PCPC. Quit!

11:00 am ...Taal se taal milaa...Taal se taal milaa...Taal se..."Helloooo!" "Landu, you've been selected! Come to ICSR." Cut. Silence. Blank. ...Taal se taal milaa...Taa "Hello!" "Landu, you are in! GD + Interview at 11:30 in ICSR." Cut. Holy Crap. Bhaagoooooooo.

Begging across the wing "Allah ke naam pe koi formal kapde de do baba! Dean tumhaara bhalaa karega. Tumko naukri dega, tarakki dega...chhokri dega! Allah ke naam pe..."
Finally got a shirt. Had a pair of black trousers gifted in a marriage ceremony back at home. Shoes. Shoes! Shoes? Freshies! Got a pair of NCC/workshop shoes, black - could have used to be.

11:35 am Cycling to ICSR on my half-deflated bicycle, combing hair with one hand.

11:38 am Washing shoes with a splash from water can in ICSR, cleaning with handkerchief. "Arun! Where is it da?" "Upstairs."

11:40 am "Hi Lamina!" "Saale kam se kam interview mein to...achchha wahan jaldi se jaakar bata ki tu aa gaya." "Good morning, sir! I'm Apoorva" "Hi Apoorva! You are next for room no 3. Have a seat."
Fart session. Junta yelling out stories about how difficult it was to come in formals. Two guys sent back to change their clothes. They return with an appearance informal disguised as formal.

12:01 am Arjun comes out of room no 3. The Babu comes out too. I proceed to talk to him but to no avail. He had some important (natural) emergency to attend.

12:06 pm The Babu returns. I enter and notice the 'enter-view'. The walls, the table, the sky, the curtains and both the shirts are off-white. Shake hands. "So you are Karthik..." "Sorry sir, I'm Apoorva Chandra." "Oh...ok. Have a seat Apoorva."
"So you are the odd one out?" And thus it began...
..."So that's all I had to ask. Do you have any question?" After realizing so many times that I must have gone through my resume once, I felt this was one question independent of it. Being an HR personnel, he was a bit bewildered and somehow tried to answer. Shake hands.

PR: They will call you around 1 O' clock if you're selected for the next round. All the best.

01:00 pm No call yet. Wondering what the odd one out statement meant...

01:15 pm No call yet. Still wondering.

01:20 pm Got the result. Got the answer.

The result was certainly NO. The answer was - Macha, if you are a guy with a CGPA which is having not a single friend in a radius of 0.7 amongst the shortlisted guys, you gotta be the odd one. The toughest question is - how the heck were YOU shortlisted?

Gist: So you are the odd one. OUT!

Moral: Life's a gamble. You never know when you're gonna hit a jackpot. Always be prepared.

Suggestion: Buy a proper formal placement suit. Be prepared with your resume and answers to anticipated questions.

Good News: They took two of the elec nine-pointers. Your ranking in the queue improves.