Finally, one of the longest waits of my life comes to an end. The marathon period saw me appearing in as many as 28 GDs and 8 Interviews, dozens of Pre Placement Talks, but the largest count is that of my CVs. So I sat down to take a count of the bond papers that went into the drain, and it came out to be a whopping 130 copies. The ‘night’ was long. A wait as long as 201 days! In such gloomy economic conditions, the placecomm was doing a terrific job. Getting 120 odd people placed with the corporate behemoths, in a week, is no mean task. But, not everything was in their hands. So, the rest of us had no choice but to wait. To wait for the wait to get over! September passed by. But so did all the succeeding 5 months. It was March 2009. Against the forecast of my roomies (who had all predicted that I would be the first one, amongst the 5 of us, to get placed), I turned out to be the last one. Some wise men rightly commented “You can only make a lucky forecast or a wrong forecast’’. But all these days, I had been feeling defeated. Every process, every rejection came as a rude shock. How can I be so bad? Didn’t I deserve a placement? Or, didn’t I, at the first place, deserve a seat at NMIMS? Every passing day eroded a layer of hope and self-belief, or whatever little I had of it. The days saw ecstasy and dejection, hypertension and hyper-excitement, nervousness and determination, all interspersed with days of waiting. At one point of time, I was under so much pressure that for a week I saw myself, in my dreams, attending placement processes and screwing them up. While in one dream I saw myself turning out in casuals, in another I saw myself failing to get up from my slumber. My roomies witnessed me murmuring in my dreams, but they never knew what I was talking, or at least that is what they claimed. I was crumbling under Placement-pressure, and still I had to pretend, to the outside world, that I wasn’t. Never before in my life did I realize how a big failure feels. Friends, relatives, family members – everyone was concerned, and reasonably so. Some said “Dude, you aren’t bad at all’’, while other said ‘’Tension mat le Bhai, ho jayega’’. Parents were more worried, knowing that all through my life I had never before felt so lonely and so dejected. They always kept me going. So, I would say to them that I wasn’t worried and that good companies were yet to come. Deep in my heart, I knew that they were aware of the ground realities but little could they have done to help me in this case. To others I would put up other excuses. All this while, I understated the number of placed students, so that they don’t feel….. My Mom used to say ‘’ Jab voh din nhi rhe to yeh din bhi nhi rhenge’’. Well she was right. Lives change, and change for the good. Yesterday was my last interview, which followed a staggering round of finance based quiz. But I had learnt the bitter message of not building hopes, to avoid dejection upon the hoes not being fulfilled. So, when Vohra congratulated me yesterday evening, I went blank. I just didn’t know what happened. I could see all those 6 and a half months flashing before me. I thanked him and left. Finally, I am placed. I have landed up with a good finance profile, in a Multinational. The stipend is low, but it is much higher than what I was ready to settle with at that stage. The project seems to offer tremendous exposure and great learning opportunities. Walking back to my hostel, I was thinking of thanking every person who helped me to get here - Family (comes first), Placecomm (for working day and night selflessly), Placecomm friends (going out of their ways to help me), my “The group’’ friends (for reinforcing my confidence and taking mock interviews), seniors (for their continuous support), roomies (for their optimistic forecasts), relatives (trying to get me placed somewhere), friends back home. The list is long and my heart is heavy.
There were some last moment hitches at some excitingly better placement opportunities that I was to come across. In desperation, I was selfish and mean, and highly unprofessional. But still, my friends stood by my side. I apologize to each one of them, but I don’t thank them, because they deserve much more than a thank you.
When the door of happiness closes, another opens, but often, we look so long at the closed door that we don't see the one which has been opened for us.
Still, gone are the days of worry. Can look forward to some sound sleep. No, got to focus on exams starting early next week, and internship immediately thereafter. NM rocks!
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