In Muse Mode...

As I read Jan's text on friendship day, realization suddenly dawned on me. This is the last chance for most of us to celebrate the first Sunday of August, as students!
I take a trip down the memory lane, though the heavy Forouzan textbook on my lap suggests a different form of activity for now.

I do not remember when exactly we started celebrating Friendship Day. I never knew its purpose and did not care enough to find out. It just meant fun, pure and absolute, in our good old school days. Running around on the First Monday of August, a scissor in one hand and a roll of "Friendship Band" in another hand, we used to tie the cut out pieces of the band around the hand of anyone we even remotely knew. There was a lot of competition on who got the maximum number of bands on her hand. Some even had bands extending upto their elbows on both hands! Cycling back from school, I remember trying to show off my hand and seeing how many people noticed the "Status Symbol" of any middle/high school kid.
Those days of innocence were gone soon enough and there occured two phenomena in my life- College and Cell Phone. Text messages on the value of friendship became substitutes for the affectionate and eager fingers that tied the colourful bands around my hands. Tying bands in college was "childish" and never practised. We had once contemplated tying Rakhis to all guys in the class ;) but Friendship bands were obsolete!
I feel sad as I respond in the negative to the messages from my school friends asking if I'd attend the Alumni meet scheduled for tomorrow. Though I had been looking forward to this meet for months, it must be postponed now. Whether or not I shall succeed in the endeavour I plan to pursue instead of attending the meet, No One Knows! Hoping for the Best!
Shall update this space on my Cisco-adventure, even if it becomes a misadventure, resulting in my having lunch at home on Monday with alternate plans buzzing around my head...

An Incredible thought that worked!

Placement Special Classes- The words that were anathema to me two months back. I would happily spend any number of hours at KT, racking my brains with Quants while I'd simply loathe spending half an hour doing C Snippets. I was just that way, and no amount of requests or even orders delivered with hard-concocted glares from my PR Yasoda (who, by the way, is otherwise an Epitome of Patience) could change me. "Give me an apti paper; I'll solve and return it in ten minutes. Give me a C paper; Forget it."- was my attitude. Placements were something I had failed to visualize in the near future.
Suddenly the P-fever caught up in our college last week with the much-hyped D.E.Shaw(10.5-12 Lakhs per annum) coming in first and rejecting all B.E. candidates. Along the trail came ThoughtWorks on Friday. I attended the Pre-Placement Talk and decided that I wouldn't go beyond the first couple of rounds at the maximum. (J2EE is considered most basic there and I knew nothing other than a little of C/C++).
After breezing through the Logical written round, I faced an interesting coding problem, upon solving which, I was shortlisted for the Technical Interview the next day. This was where the jitters began! My software knowledge was almost next to nothing and I had to attend an interview along with CSE and IT students who were skilled in languages I hadn't even heard of!!
The interview brought me a flood of relief as the panel member wanted to check my understanding of previously learnt concepts and analytical skills rather than question me on things I wasn't familiar with. Still, unsatisfied with my performance, I went home. After lunch, came a call from my PR- "You are selected for the next round. Come as soon as possible". Absolutely befuddled, I rushed to college, to find Yasoda grinning happily and handing me a "Complete Reference to C++" text, saying "Ithu varaikum epdiyo vanthutta. Take an effort and prepare for this round. Get placed, Shilpa. Do your Best!"
Moved by her concern, I did make an effort to read that gargantuan book. For ten minutes. Then followed a sheepish grin at her. She couldn't help smiling. We put the book away and started chatting! My only preparation for the second interview was asking the questions posed to the people who finished before me in that five-hour gap. It was then that my respect for Yasoda grew rapidly. A girl who has opted out of placement, having no business other than giving me company in the serious Waiting hall, sat there more patiently than me, encouraging and helping me keep my calm. For a question on an electrical circuits (posed to a friend) she even called her father (a TNEB employee) to get the doubt clarified!
Astonished, Awed and thoroughly Happy to have such a selfless girl for my PR, I went and attended the second round confidently. Towards the end of it, I put forth my wish to be a Business Analyst, which, I think, made all the difference. After a comfortable chat (HR interview) and a short written test, the boy PR congratulated us! Two ECE students were part of the Four who finally got placed!!!
Yasoda's smiley-filled message reached every inbox even before the offer letter was lodged between my fingers! She was absolutely thrilled. Untiringly, she had bought something for us to eat, at 11 p.m. when I was inside the cell!!
We exited the Placement Cell, 30 minutes short of midnight, ecstasy writ all over our faces. Explanation to watchmen, drive on a rain-wet road, walk to the hostel, friends receiving us and Food! at midnight :) :)
A wonderful day (and night)- through and through!!