That day of yours :-)

Aptitude test, first step of screening in any recruitment and its Infosys! prepared few GRE words, revised few formulae of R.S.Agarwal, wrote a mock test at college.

Started early, 2hr pre-placement talk (by Mr. Singh,who was really strict!) specially the video which showed Infosys’s 357 acre campus @ Mysore and highlighted its work culture was impressive. Then exam went on for 75 min. It went okay. There was a passage bit which I couldn’t have solved without TV series ‘SHERLOCK’. Confused?! I’ll make it clear! This series has the best British English spoken by its characters and I happened to learn quite a phrase like ‘over the moon’, ’spill the beans’, ’letting cat out of a bag’, ’psychopath’, ’milieu’, psychosomatic’ etc. and the last word ‘psychosomatic’ was the exact answer for the bit I was speaking of. I know, long story!:p I didn’t expect to clear the round as

      1)I left 8-9 questions unanswered

                  2) competition was fierce

Fortunately, in the evening, I get to know that I cleared the round and I will have to attend an interview, the next day. I started brushing up concepts of C language, practiced a good ‘Tell me about yourself’.

            Next day morning, I was lucky to get right buses at right places at right time :D :p. Interviews’ session started on time as we were informed. But here comes the twist, I forgot to get my tenth and inter memos’ Xeroxes.(I know it’s the last thing expected from a student going for the interview, but ho gaya!)Hence I wasn’t allowed to take the interview and was given few hours of time to get my memos. So, my priority then was attending the interview rather cracking it :p Many thanks to mom for she scanned the copies of ‘em to my mail. But there was hardly a net café near the college; that 1 shop also had no power then. Luckily, power came back in time;my friend,I got the copies printed and were among the few last MGITians to be interviewed.

            I went to the cabins where interviews were held and was waiting for my turn. I saw one of my friends coming out of a cabin, also happened to see the man who interviewed her. His face resembled to that of an HR of a past interview of mine which didn’t go that well. So, I was hoping not to go into that cabin. But, the supporting staff lead me to the same cabin! It really feels lively and exciting, reliving all those moments once again by writing this article

            Interview progresses like this: (I have to mention, his face was a nice, smiling, pleasant one, basically it doesn’t make u nervous)

He: Sit down, Manasa

While I was sitting, he asked me:”So you are Manasa, Right?”(my resume and memos were given to him beforehand)

Me: Yes, Sir.(with a smile)

I was smiling throughout the interview to myself comfortable and let him know that I’m not nervous so he can speak to me well.

He: What does ‘Manasa’ mean?

Me: It means ‘heart’ in Sanskrit, sir.

(I was so glad with this start because I already prepared exactly the same in ‘Tell me about yourself’. I thought I’d start like this ‘My name is Manasa and it means heart in Sanskrit’. I thought it so because I was told our intro must be unique.)

He: Who named you so?

Me: My dad, sir.

He: So, you ever asked your dad why he named you so?

Me: I did, sir. He was thrilled by this place ‘Manasarovar’ in Himalayas, where Lord Vishnu is believed to live.

(But when I ask my dad now, he says its actually lord shiva)

He seemed impressed with the fact that I actually knew it.

He: Your father was thrilled or you?

(I didn’t get what’s the point of the question, nevertheless I replied with a smile)  

Me: My father, sir.

He: So Manasa, You know C language?

Me: a little, sir.

He: What programs can you write Manasa?

Me: Prime, odd-even, factorial…

He(going through my memos, specially marks in C): Okay, write a prime no. program for me. Meanwhile, I would eat snacks. You wouldn’t mind?

Me: Sure sir.

(Scribbled the program on the paper, not sure if it’s correct)

He: You are done? Let me see it. Can you explain it to me?

            I started explaining but there was a flaw in it and I said, sir, I know the logic but I’m unable to write a program for it. He said ok, Explain to me taking an example. I explained the logic for 3-4 min. Initially, he couldn’t get it but thankfully he got it eventually. Then he went on asking me about stacks, queues, heaps; differences, applications of each, he asked me of memory allocation procedures, types. He remarked ‘very good!’ when I said types malloc and calloc. I was relieved and now again, he shifts to HR kind of questions.

He: Manasa, there is a flaw in this cabin, we are in. What is it?

            I immediately answered, ”No ventilation, sir”.(because I was suffocating with the fan’s hot air right from the moment I entered).Then I thought I caught the right flaw seeing the expression on his face.

He: What is the problem if there is no ventilator?

Me: Hot air is circulating in the same cabin, sir. Fresh air outside and hot air inside are unable to exchange with each other. So, room gets hot.

He: Okay, What shall be the remedy then?

Me: AC sir.

He: No budget, then what?

Me: Put a ventilator, sir.

He: Okay, you are an engineer right? Tell me, which side of this wooden cabin would you put one? Let me give the details, one side has a wall parallel to it, one side is your door, one side is the common one with the next room.

            I gave it a thought and said, ”the remaining side, sir”.

He: It can’t be applied to all other cabins, for if you do so, both the adjacent cabins would have the same ventilator and noise would creep in.

Me: Then, ventilator should be on the same side as that of door, but you need to make sure the noise from outside wouldn’t get in.

He: How would you do that?

Me: Its related to acoustics, sir. You can put some sound absorbing material there.

He: Okay, No problem (with a smile). Are you ready to work on any technology anywhere in India? (A positive question  :D :p)

(He was writing/allotting marks on the feedback sheet, he was given)

Me (with a pause): Yes, sir. You will anyways train us right!?

He: Oh, yes!

He: Tell me Manasa, how did you prepare for the exam?

Me: Sir, I read few words of GRE, borrowing from my friend, brushed up basics of C, R.S.Agawal’s formulae,

He: What is R.S.Agarwal?

Me: It’s a book with concepts of aptitude, sir.

He: Oh, okay!

Me: I also wrote a mock test at our college.

He: Oh, you cleared it?

Me: Yes, sir.

He: How many marks did you get?

Me: They actually didn’t tell us, sir.

He: No problem! You have any questions?

            I asked a few regarding market share, profits etc for which he answered.

He: Anymore?

Me: No,sir.

He: Thank you, Manasa

            I left with a hope it went well

            And I get the job!! :D I got to know about in the late night. I was on cloud9; my family was extremely happy! After all, its Infy :D and it was a double dhamaka as its my birthday, the next day :D the biggest ever birthday gift

            Bottom line is never keep your spirits low, don’t give up that easily! Because its my 10+ attempt trying to get into a job! It’s not a big deal if you are jobless for few days! And it’s not a big deal getting into an MNC! There are always better things to do in life! Ups and downs are part of the life! If not now, a little later. That’s the formula of the life. So, as my article says, ’Eveyone will have their that one day! :) Pata hein sabko maloom hein ye sab! But this is kinda reminder

PS: Have been thinking to write this one from months! But what triggered me now? Mood-off! Why? Mood-off is a quite natural phenomenon that occurs in humans and this time un-tasty food made my mood off. So thought ‘writing’ would keep me busy and I’d feel better and I did

Yeah I used to wear this nice cotton, comfortable dress to every test and interview I gave :p This time too I wore it for the test, couldn’t wear it for the interview because the interview is on the following day of the test. Anyways, interview went well      

Dedicated to my ‘grandmother’

                                                                                                                                           17-03-2013

 Grandparents make us love them like hell;we get addicted or habituated to them and take them for granted,but one day comes when you will have to miss them like hell!

I wrote down all my feelings on paper, a day after my grandmother died due to a heart-attack 10 months back..it goes like this..

1second and 1 person vanishes from ur entire life forever! You keep on staring at the body in the hope life would come back and the person comes alive again but that doesn’t happen…you cry and cry and cry…and want to cry more but no energy is left anymore. Your head,eyes,stomach starts aching ..Though,u keep on crying remembering all the memories attached with the person.

Never ever take a person for granted and don’t delay in expressing any feeling of sorry,thanks,love..that you have for the person coz 1 sec makes 1 person missing from ur life.

U’l miss everything that you do with the person .I’l miss

1.grandmom oiling my hair

2.listening to what all she has been through in her life

3.looking at her when she is watching serials and laughing at her facial expressions that comes out of her involvement

4.all plants that she planted misses her

5.her innocence

6.her omelette,pickles,curries

7.Aboveall,grandfather misses her service too much

              Dad was saying she never scolded him. She used to keep all within her heart only!

The person whom u ignore in daily life,when they die,u want to see them more and more 1 last time! To atleast bid a goodbye. She used to take care of everyone. Maximum she tried to do all her daily chores by herself,rarely used to call us for help..and when it comes to food super caring she was!

I’l miss u ‘nayanamma’ whenever calling bell rings from downstairs,whenever I take my scooty outside(my grand parents live with us downstairs) and I’m sure you must have gone to heaven for all the love,care and service u have shown and done to all of us!

We all love you!! 

This is a heart-touching article of patriotism,published in 'The Hindu' ,thought i must share!

TOPICS

A story from History. It gives you a glimpse of the euphoria and patriotism that was at play at the beginning of what became a gruesome and devastating war. A century ago, the world went to war. The outcome was total destruction. Armies swept through towns and villages in many countries with devastating results.

7.45 PM, April 30, 1916,

Serre, Somme, France.

Darling Mum,

Guess where I’m writing from. Go on, guess! Well, I suppose what I’ve written up top might have given that away. I’m in France. France, Mum! I never thought I’d even be outside Britain one day, let alone France. Imagine that. A boy from a tiny place like Woodhouse — and I’m in France!

I know you must still be boiling mad that I enlisted for the Great War without even telling you, more than a year ago. But I’d already left school, Mum, and I was working for a year as blacksmith’s striker, and when the Leeds Pals tram came by, calling for men to join the army … well, I couldn’t stop myself. I had to do it. Dad was a soldier after all. I guess I’m like him. I want to fight for my King and country too, Mum.

Because, Mum, this War is bigger than anything you or I can even imagine. Bigger even than when Dad fought, I think. I know the officers said it would be over by Christmas 1914 (I even heard Britain and Germany declared truce on Christmas Eve, and played a football match! Germany won.), but it didn’t. It hasn’t. Now they’re saying they don’t know how long it will take. Maybe months. Maybe years.

And to think it all began with some Serbian man shooting Archduke Franz Ferdinand! I’ve been talking to other soldiers here and learning so many things. This man, Gavrilo Princip, he shot the Archduke of Austria-Hungary (imagine that — a country called “Hungry!” Ain’t that funny?) in Sarajevo (my pals say it should be pronounced ‘Sa-ra-yay-voh’) on June 28, 1914. Sarajevo is in Bosnia. I’m not sure where that is. Somewhere in Europe, I think.

So Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia (I’m skipping some things here, I know — it wasn’t that simple) and made friends with Germany. Then our country joined with France, and pretty soon, it’s like the whole world has jumped in and is fighting on one side or the other. The Allies came together: Great Britain, France and the Russian Empire on one side (with Japan, Belgium, Serbia, and Romania joining in); Germany and Austria-Hungary on another (with the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria pitching in).

It’s mad, I tell you. But it’s horrible too. We have to fight in trenches — trenches that have two feet water in them and muddy and stinking … they’re saying one of these trenches runs for nearly 400 miles from the Belgian coast to the Swiss border. They’re cut like zigzags to confuse the enemy and have trenches in right-angles to carry food and medicine. There is a soldier for every four inches of a trench! We even have dogs to go out into the open, and drag wounded soldiers back with ropes in their jaws! It’s blood and gore everywhere.

We use machine guns, tanks and chemical weapons … I’ve never seen anything like those rifles which fire 15 rounds per minute —those were used in Mons battlefield. Not all of us can do that, though. I have a Lee-Enfield rifle. It has a ten-cartridge magazine and I can fire twelve well-aimed shots a minute.

We fight alongside soldiers from other countries too. Like India. I met a Sikh soldier with a turban. He said Paris was like heaven — except that the bread was horrible: burnt on the outside and raw on the inside. They are brave warriors. But like everyone fighting, they understand that it’s terrible. “No man can return to the Punjab whole,” my Sikh friend said. “Only the broken-limbed can go back.”

I hope he gets home safe.

It’s not easy on the seas either. You remember the RMS Lusitania, don’t you? Downed by a German U-boat, and 1,198 people died. Civilians, Mum.

I know my sister Florrie kept telling me not to enlist, but this war is swamping us. Did you know? Someone called Sandes enlisted in the army in 1915. She was a woman! And remember Rudyard Kipling, the writer? Well, his son was in the Battle of Loos. Died, so I hear.

I have to do my bit in this War. Or the women might hand out a white feather, and say I’m a coward. Soon, the Government is going to make sure every single man in the country has joined, so it’s a good thing I’m already here. Soldiers all over the world are going through the same situation. This is our chance to be brave.

Maybe I’ll come home. Maybe not. But I’m going to do my duty. I hope you’ll be proud of me.

Ever your son,

Horace Iles.

PS: I wish someone would write about me in History books. That would be something, wouldn’t it?

Historical Note

2014 marks the 100th year of the start of the First World War, also known as the Great War, which lasted till 1918. With more than 100,000 tons of chemical weapons used, nine million soldiers were killed; 21 million wounded, and five million civilians died through disease, starvation or exposure.

Horace Iles was a real soldier, belonging to the 15th Service Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment. He was killed in action on the morning of July 1, 1916. His family did not know of his death until 11 days later. Today, he is remembered as one of the youngest soldiers to fight in the Great War.

When he enlisted to join the Leeds Pals, Horace Iles was just 14 years old.

There is a first time for everything

There is a first time for everything when you are lots sincere and excited about it..

So I would write of my experience of ‘first time’ fasting on maha shivaratri.i woke up, had a shower, wore a new dress(bought at a store I’ve always wanted to buy) and feeling good about it like a kid J,started cleaning puja gadi and photos,idols of gods with mom’s instructions(this is also the first time thing) did prayer by offering fruits,flowers,leaves that Lord Shiva likes.All this without eating or drinking anything..so u start to get this giddy feeling now and then albeit manageable enough..then I went to temple and prayed shiva sitting in ‘abhishekham’ ritual.i thought of eating or drinking nothing but I took off ‘theertham’ twice once at home,once at temple, forgetting about my fasting .didnt have anything till now.Its around 8pm.I’l try to extend the same till tomorrow.. now and then u’l get acid refluxes in ur stomach as it is empty besides giddiness.But all thanks to Lord Shiva,u can do anything  by chanting his name.

Whats the purpose of fasting?

There lived a hunter named ankiludu in the place called shakala. He killed many birds and animals to feed his family and one day he went to the forest and he found no creature to kill that entire day.It was dusk and he decided not to go home empty-handed. He went upto a branch of tree that night to sleep but he couldn’t sleep with the fear of animals.so he passed time all night cutting the leaves of the tree.Next morning he returns home and after 4 days, he died.

Yama’s minions came and were taking him to “hell”,On the way,Lord Shiva’s minions came and asked to give the hunter to them so that they can take him to Kailas to Shiva.They began to fight about who should take the hunter.Later, Shiva’s minions told them “ankiludu unknowingly fasted and showered leaves of ‘Bilva’ on the Shivalingam under the tree (which he didn’t see)  on the auspicious eve of Mahashivaratri, so all his  previous sins are absolved by this act and in the last 4 days,he hasn’t killed a creature;therefore there is no reason for him to be in hell.” Thus ankiludu attained moksha by fasting and staying awake all the night.

People do fasting and waking up all the night(jaagaaram) for the same reason .

Its 10:46 and I am continuing my fastJ I totally believe that Lord Shiva only has given me this strength.

                Thus I continued my fasting till 3am of the next day reading stories of shiva,praying,writing this article(had to translate this story of shivaratri written in telugu to English :p)watching a movie now and then and realized its far easy to fast compared to ‘jaagaaram’.broke my fast eating fruits and slept happily J