A Bitter Sweet Symphony . Part 4
The emotions were high after the first MSIT batch passed out. The MSIT Hub needed a new moderator. Pratosh, the man behind the hub, gave me the privilege of being the one. So I went about showing off my heavenly powers over the group. Email posts from a mysterious email address caught my attention. Someone with a signature – “keep smiling” was posting emails very regularly. I thought I could send a funky reply to this person and assert my authority just a wee bit. So began a series of mails between us.
Mail No.1, Me to Keep Smiling Through the Hub:
Hi!
I've always wondered who this "keep smiling" is. So who is this? You better reveal yourself to me. You better pay heed to my words. Because I’m the moderator of the hub and I can, you know, wield my powers on you. Don’t ask me to keep guessing! Anyway, yeah already replied to Morpheus (Pratosh) met the Oracle (you) and I realize that I am the chosen one. But I'm no Neo, I'm just plain old' me. Yeah the HUB is great, and I take real pride in it. I will take care of the Hub as Pratosh, Jaggi and many others did.
Chillax yaar,
Bye
Ayush
Mail No.2; Keep Smiling To Me through the Hub:
Dear Ayush,
Good of you to be a team man.
Ask Pratosh about Keep smiling,
Or meet me in room no 103 at your convenience.
Best wishes,
V Kumar
That name, V. Kumar, sounded familiar to something. Jalaj, my senior from CSE, was online to help me figure out who V.Kumar was. Then it struck me. “Shit! Shit! Oh…..Man!! I’m dead!!” I said. It was much bigger an exclamation that. It had to be. Mr.V.Kumar was only the Head Of Department of Computer Science Engineering. I had bossed around with a Head Of Department. I could see my mom, walking up those stairs on Republic Day to receive ‘The Param Veer Chakra’ from the President. I quickly wrote an apologetic letter to him. It turned out fine. To my good fortune, Mr.V.Kumar happened to be one person with a great sense of humor. I think he still is.
Placements at the college were going great. One by one all of us were getting placed. Few were not so lucky. It was bad to see them that way. All were good people. So I did try to help in my own little ways. I would take pride in announcing to the world, to MSIT at least, the successes of my comrades. I never received a report on how much that helped. The dreaded CAT exam was inching near. I had taken a week off to give those final touches to my skills. I had worked hard regularly for this. 20th November was the D-day, exactly a week after my birthday, which went by without much celebration this time. I had been called to the college to give my internal practicals. I now had a strong excuse to explain my poor performance in CAT, if the need would arise. I had been interrupted.
On the CAT day, I met Varun Goel of ECE. Nice chap. Made me feel comfortable for the test. Inside the hall, weird rituals before the test were being carried on. Someone was in deep meditation. Another one was struggling to find the perfect angle to write from. I was cool. The test ended. The jury had announced - the paper was tough. I had done fairly well, which was a problem. Fairly well is not like Fair & Lovely, it does not give you success. So I had to be anxious for 2 months.
The day of reckoning arrived without announcement. I was helping the juniors in the preparations for this year’s technical event – Virus 2K6.
This message flashed the screen when I checked my result at IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore and IIM Calcutta. Disaster. I learnt Ishan Sethi, from CSE, had calls from IIM Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Kozhikode. I was too upset too feel proud for him. So we went to watch a movie – “Bluffmaster”. After the movie on my way back, I received 3 calls from Ravish, who said I had 3 calls from the IIMs. IIM Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode had asked me to come for GD and PI. Was I being bluffed? I made sure I was not.
I had been called to Sapient Corporation for a job interview. I was not too anxious about it. I already had a job. So I went there with the intention to use it as a test ground for my MBA interviews. I was wearing a stunning black suite and waiting in an interview room. Two young ladies, who were employees there, went past by me and said “Good Morning, Sir!” The suite had proven it’s worth. I cleared the whole process, thanks to the black suite and the tie.
I had a total of 7 admission interviews to attend. I did attend them all. And I got rejected at many of them. Many around me had secured a final admission call from some institute or the other. I had none. The great dream was becoming awfully scary. Then one fine evening Ishan called me up to wish me. “Congratulations,” he said “you have been selected at MDI”. I was overjoyed. Something, finally! Then the day came when everything was to come to an end. No more speculations now. The results of all the IIMs came out except one. I was there in the training and placement office when the good news came. Mr.Sethi had got through IIM Lucknow. I did not. But still I was very excited. I went about the campus announcing the good news. I didn’t care to check the rest 2 results. I thought MDI was a better choice than IIM Kozhikode or Indore. I was confident about Indore. The internet seemed a happier place at home. It showed –
It was hard to believe that I had been selected. That after a long time my confidence had translated into actual results. I was among the chosen few. I had been always at the end of the line….but I had now learnt the trick to get inside with rest of the line….
Mail No.1, Me to Keep Smiling Through the Hub:
Hi!
I've always wondered who this "keep smiling" is. So who is this? You better reveal yourself to me. You better pay heed to my words. Because I’m the moderator of the hub and I can, you know, wield my powers on you. Don’t ask me to keep guessing! Anyway, yeah already replied to Morpheus (Pratosh) met the Oracle (you) and I realize that I am the chosen one. But I'm no Neo, I'm just plain old' me. Yeah the HUB is great, and I take real pride in it. I will take care of the Hub as Pratosh, Jaggi and many others did.
Chillax yaar,
Bye
Ayush
Mail No.2; Keep Smiling To Me through the Hub:
Dear Ayush,
Good of you to be a team man.
Ask Pratosh about Keep smiling,
Or meet me in room no 103 at your convenience.
Best wishes,
V Kumar
That name, V. Kumar, sounded familiar to something. Jalaj, my senior from CSE, was online to help me figure out who V.Kumar was. Then it struck me. “Shit! Shit! Oh…..Man!! I’m dead!!” I said. It was much bigger an exclamation that. It had to be. Mr.V.Kumar was only the Head Of Department of Computer Science Engineering. I had bossed around with a Head Of Department. I could see my mom, walking up those stairs on Republic Day to receive ‘The Param Veer Chakra’ from the President. I quickly wrote an apologetic letter to him. It turned out fine. To my good fortune, Mr.V.Kumar happened to be one person with a great sense of humor. I think he still is.
Placements at the college were going great. One by one all of us were getting placed. Few were not so lucky. It was bad to see them that way. All were good people. So I did try to help in my own little ways. I would take pride in announcing to the world, to MSIT at least, the successes of my comrades. I never received a report on how much that helped. The dreaded CAT exam was inching near. I had taken a week off to give those final touches to my skills. I had worked hard regularly for this. 20th November was the D-day, exactly a week after my birthday, which went by without much celebration this time. I had been called to the college to give my internal practicals. I now had a strong excuse to explain my poor performance in CAT, if the need would arise. I had been interrupted.
On the CAT day, I met Varun Goel of ECE. Nice chap. Made me feel comfortable for the test. Inside the hall, weird rituals before the test were being carried on. Someone was in deep meditation. Another one was struggling to find the perfect angle to write from. I was cool. The test ended. The jury had announced - the paper was tough. I had done fairly well, which was a problem. Fairly well is not like Fair & Lovely, it does not give you success. So I had to be anxious for 2 months.
The day of reckoning arrived without announcement. I was helping the juniors in the preparations for this year’s technical event – Virus 2K6.
“8170644 – Sorry, you have not been selected for GD/PI.”
This message flashed the screen when I checked my result at IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore and IIM Calcutta. Disaster. I learnt Ishan Sethi, from CSE, had calls from IIM Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Kozhikode. I was too upset too feel proud for him. So we went to watch a movie – “Bluffmaster”. After the movie on my way back, I received 3 calls from Ravish, who said I had 3 calls from the IIMs. IIM Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode had asked me to come for GD and PI. Was I being bluffed? I made sure I was not.
I had been called to Sapient Corporation for a job interview. I was not too anxious about it. I already had a job. So I went there with the intention to use it as a test ground for my MBA interviews. I was wearing a stunning black suite and waiting in an interview room. Two young ladies, who were employees there, went past by me and said “Good Morning, Sir!” The suite had proven it’s worth. I cleared the whole process, thanks to the black suite and the tie.
I had a total of 7 admission interviews to attend. I did attend them all. And I got rejected at many of them. Many around me had secured a final admission call from some institute or the other. I had none. The great dream was becoming awfully scary. Then one fine evening Ishan called me up to wish me. “Congratulations,” he said “you have been selected at MDI”. I was overjoyed. Something, finally! Then the day came when everything was to come to an end. No more speculations now. The results of all the IIMs came out except one. I was there in the training and placement office when the good news came. Mr.Sethi had got through IIM Lucknow. I did not. But still I was very excited. I went about the campus announcing the good news. I didn’t care to check the rest 2 results. I thought MDI was a better choice than IIM Kozhikode or Indore. I was confident about Indore. The internet seemed a happier place at home. It showed –
“Congratulations Ayush Paul! you have been selected for PGP 2006-08 at IIM Indore.”
It was hard to believe that I had been selected. That after a long time my confidence had translated into actual results. I was among the chosen few. I had been always at the end of the line….but I had now learnt the trick to get inside with rest of the line….
I read this piece "Bitter Symphony - 4" like around thrice, but can't get enough of it. I came in touch with Ayush in the 3rd year. First I thought he had passed out, but then I was wrong. Well the one year that we have spent together was really a rollicking one. I tell you, he is a total "bhagchod" as we people term masti cum intellegent guy. Well this piece has encouraged me to write something for myself too.
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