My memorable day, 23rd Feb

23^rd feb,2011, the day which was supposed to be filled with lots of fun with chittu’s birthday on place. Morning, I got up by 5.40AM and was getting ready for the college. At that time my mom woke chittu to wish her. She was very sleepy and my mom hugged her tightly and wished her. Chittu strained her eyes to see us, but due to the bright tube light she was unable to open her eyes completely. When my mom kissed her, she had a big smile and saw us. She gave so cute reactions and was much adorable. Thus I started off to college in a nice mood. The major reason I go to college is for the sake of attendance. But it was funny that, I did not attend any classes that day. I reached the college by 8AM. I met my friend and was surprised to hear that Ford Technologies has come for recruitment. To my dismay I was wearing jeans and T-shirt. Initially we were in a dilemma whether to attend the placement or not. We decided to attend the Pre-placement talk and then decide upon the company. We were pretty satisfied with the job description and the company. I got a spare shirt from my friend for attending the first round of written test.

Around hundred people took up the test. I did not do the test well, it was just a satisfactory performance. Since I had already two jobs in my hand, I was in no pressure and had nothing to lose. So I did not bother being rejected. It was told that, the results will be declared by noon. So, we guys were on the way to canteen. From the pre-placement talk, we were clear that only few people will be recruited. Hence, I did not have much expectation but few things were sounding in my ears constantly. They were Ford technologies is located in Chennai and in addition it is very near to the city compared to most of the IT companies; the fancy pay check which was around 4.3 lakhs; the company seemed overall appealing and only few people will be recruited. With all these things in my mind, I digested the tasteless canteen food. We then returned back for the results. Even though my gang of six who wrote the test did not have much expectation, five of us cleared the first round and selected for the Group Discussion. With the surprise, we all moved to the library where it was scheduled.

After reaching library, where I saw many taking out there files, I recollected that I did not have any certificate or even the resume in my hand. I then decided to take print out after the GD was over. While we were all waiting, we recollected an event which occurred few months back. It was none other than the Caterpillar Group Discussion. Everyone of us sitting there had the experience of being kicked out by the Caterpillar in the GD. With that experience still in our mind, we went for the GD. My panel had seven people and among them was a girl whom I had tried talking during the first year. Hence, I was glad that even if I am going to lose the GD, I would still have a nice experience of talking with her :-P. Our topic was, “The Impact of Social Networking Sites on our Indian Culture”. We were given five mins to think upon. But I had no clue of what is Indian culture and I had no idea in my mind except for the recent sms which I had received. I recollected the sms as, a church father asking during the wedding, whether the bride and bridegroom are ready to change their FaceBook status to Married? After this oath, the marriage is announced. I had no idea of how to start the discussion and hence waited for somebody to start and so did the guy sitting next to me. Then I took the lead and just shared the sms saying, this much impact is caused by the Facebook. After the discussion went on for sometime, I figured out that not just me, but no one had any idea about what to tell about the culture. They were just speaking non sense about FB which was not at all related to the cultural issues. Hence I just got the attention of everyone saying, what effects have been on the culture. Since I had no idea myself, I just gathered ideas from everyone round the table and did some analysis with the data. Finally the GD got over somehow. The girl whom I was referring told me that, I only spoke well and I would be surely selected. But what I thought was, It was not about being selected, its just the experience where I got a chance to talk with the girl I wanted to talk during my first year of my college.

By 230 PM they announced the results, and I was selected for the final round of personal interview. I had taken the print out of my resume. The interview started by 3’o clock and it went nearly for half an hour for each person. Hence it was like, I can leave the college only by 5’o clock. It was chittu’s birthday and we had celebrations at home starting by 6.30PM. Hence, I had no clue of what I was about to do. But to my surprise, I was called for the interview very soon, by 320PM itself. This was a very good experience for me. I had not even spent a single min in preparing for anything. Since I was under no pressure to perform , I just thought of doing whatever I really felt. Moreover, I was wearing a jeans pant and also had no shoes with me. But that did not stop me from attending the interview. I went for the interview, with my heart beating at a very normal pace. I was very confident that, I had nothing to lose. I started by saying about myself. With very little stammers, I just expressed myself and then explained about my projects. I was then questioned with situations to handle. I gave away structured replies and I was very satisfied with my answers. There came questions regarding quality, TQM etc., they asked about the roles of senior management. I just recollected all the points that I heard during my one month at IIT Madras. I gave away answers in simple English. Thus, the interview got over. What I felt was that, since only few people will be recruited, I had very little chances of clearing it. After the interview, I then rushed back home. It was not just my chittu’s birthday, but my aunt’s 80^th birthday too. Since nowadays, 80+ age seem really impossible, her family wanted to celebrate in a big manner. Both the celebrations were planned at my house and hence I was very eager about it. I reached home by 6PM and found chittu having great fun with the kids around. I did some decoration work and started the celebrations by 730PM. We took several photos and had great fun. Everyone gave gifts and the way chittu received them and arranging was very nice. After the celebrations are over, chittu’s friends wanted their gifts to be opened and they were fighting for the same. But I was most excited to see chittu bringing my gift and wanted me to open it for her. I felt so happy and gave her the gift. She received it with a big excitement on her face and started playing with it. Thus I had the most exciting day filled with lots of different experience. We celebrated a nice birthday and I was also selected by Ford Technologies. Hence It was a double delight, infact triple delight with two birthday parties been celebrated at the same time with more than 15 relatives at home. Thus it was really a memorable occasion for me.:-)