Excerpt 2- An incidence in TE

                    “Aisi Laagi lagan,meera ho gayi magan…….!” Anshul started singing when we were waiting for the results of the Alpha Tech recruitment aptitude test in the Einstein Hall. We all followed him like his disciples! Singing 3 bhajans, namely ‘Aisi laagi lagan’, ‘Hey Ram, Hey Ram’ & ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’ was a tradition which Anshul had started before any test results! At the time of the result, we must have been singing these bhajans with double the devotion than any priests would! I was totally hopeless even though I had done well in the test. After screwing up the aptitude test of 2 companies, expecting me to clear the test was like expecting Zimbabwe to win the cricket world cup final against Australia! I was wearing the same dirty white shirt & blue jeans that I had worn for the last two days! “Would anyone bother even looking at me after I flunk today?” I thought. I had given up wearing formals for campus recruitment because at the end of the day, I would always look like a well dressed Ass! I had realised that Lord Anshul was 200% correct when he said, “If you wish for things to be your way, it must be your day!” We all had become his disciples, after he was selected in 2 of the earlier recruitment drives. To tell you more, he had also appeared for Alpha Tech & I was surer about his selection than mine!

                   I didn’t notice a volunteer walking towards me when I was in the world of Lord Anshul’s nectar-speech. “Congrats Tanmay! You’ve cleared the test, prepare well for the technical interview”, she said. I didn’t know how to react, I was happy to clear the aptitude test; on the other hand, I had to face the displeasing technical interview. Gathering all my courage, I went to the HR who, to my surprise had called me for HR interview first and then I moved to the dreadful Technical interview where I dragged the interviewer to ask me some stupid technical questions. He was aggressive initially but I always knew that “All big cats are not tigers!”

                  After the interview went well, I came out and was thinking what if I get selected? “Aai-Baba will be really happy! Should I tell Jia? There’s no point in calling her since she hadn’t answered even a single call since the DS exams. Thank god I managed to pass; otherwise campus recruitment would have been a distant dream.

                  We shifted again to the bhajan mode before the final result. “Hey Ram…Hey Ram…!” Our voice echoed in the hall, inviting other living things to join us! Finally, the moment arrived! “We have selected only 5 students out of the 30 students we interviewed!” That’s what the HR announced. I turned backwards with my eyes closed. I knew I wasn’t in the top 5 for sure. He then announced the names, one by one. Amol Kulkarni, Pallavi Washiwale, Prateek Jain, Pooja Sonawane, Mohit Agrawal” He then took a big pause & continued, “Anshul Khariwal, Aniket Jain, Tanmay Kulkarni…!” “Yes!! I shouted & jumped high with joy! Today is my day & I’ve done it! “Tany, you did it buddy!” One of my friends hugged me saying this. I was so happy, I don’t remember who he was!

                  After spending time with my friends in the college, I walked back to my place. I had spoken to Aai-Baba & they were really happy! I felt like I gave them something they wished for! My mind kept switching between whether or not I should call Jia. But I knew she wouldn’t answer so I gave up the thought. I wasn’t so happy to give up that thought, after many days; I was missing my little angel!

                 I reached my apartment. Hemant, who had cleared his test but couldn’t clear interview, was sitting in one corner, dejected. I felt really bad to walk in that way. Without making my presence felt, I went in, had dinner and lay on my bed talking to friends and family over phone. It was 11.30 when I noticed he had slept. Turned off the lights, I wasn’t feeling sleepy though, for being happy or sad or whatever. My cell rang once again, I yawned at looked at it, ‘Jia Calling’ it read! I couldn’t believe my eyes! Did she get to know about Alpha Tech? Who would have told her? Or is there really ‘The Connection’ between us that’s why she called me 3 months later out of nowhere? With a blank mind I answered “Hello”, “Hello Tanmay” I just loved her voice, felt good to hear her after such a long time “Is this you Jia?” I asked, I couldn’t just believe that it was her. “Yes Tanmay, it’s me!” “How come you called all of a sudden?” I asked her in a very low voice, I wished probably that bloody Pankaj was out of her life now! “Nothing much Tany, I just felt like talking to you, so called. How’s life?” she asked. “Just going on. You tell me how are things on your side?” I asked her. “Just wanted to know if you are fine or not.” She replied. “Thanks for your concern Jia, but how can you explain this? When I tried calling you immediately after DS exam and later for 3 months, you didn’t reply even once! Even if you would have said that you didn’t wish to talk to me, I wouldn’t ever have called you again..” “I am sorry Tany for I reacting that way”, she interrupted, “and things in my situation demanded not talking to you. So I couldn’t answer!” Not even in the craziest dreams I wanted to know the reason as to what those situations were. I asked, “Hows Pankaj” My enemy. “He’s fine, I just spoke to him!” I didn’t actually want to hear anything about Pankaj, I wonder why the hell did I even ask about him?

                  Both of us kept mum for sometime. Finally, I broke the silence, “by the way, today Alpha Tech had come to our campus & I got selected!” Somehow, I wasn’t sounding happy, “Oh! That’s good Tany! So you must be a happy now?” she asked. “I am happy for my parents! Also, in spite of all the problems that I faced after that day, I still made it! And to be honest I still don’t blame you completely Jia. You did what you felt was right, & so will I. It was really nice talking to you after a long time. Bye! I abruptly hung up. I didn’t want to talk to her, maybe because I was not willing to get into the past because if I did, I would be always hopeful about her comeback. After all that I had faced, I didn’t want her to come back because she had hurt me where it pained the most!