my NI exploits

Hello again..

well m true kshtariya I guess.. m following what the ramayan says abt raghu kul. “Raghu kul reeti sada chali aayi, pran jayi par vachan na jayi” (the legacy of raghukul says- keep the promise made, until your death). Promise kept- NI interview it is people. As mentioned in my previous blog(go read it if you haven till now) I was in Delhi for a holiday n was not prepared for an interview. I got this message on the 3rd from elitmus saying I’ve been short listed for an interview with NI on the 6th. I was happy but then I was more worried about the holiday to manali. The trip got delayed again by a day. Got a couple of congratulatory calls from friends. Suggestions pourin in. I effectively dint have no time for preparation. All friends met up on the 5^th( nothing happened on the 4^th) and I and Ritvik went with Gauri to his place in Gurgaon as that would be closer to the place where my interview was. I did not have any formals so took a pair of shoes and a tie from Charul. Bought a pant in Gurgaon and took a shirt from Gauri. All this on 5^th around 830 pm (interview at 930 next morning). And yeah forgot to mention- my resume and hall ticket. I was well prepared with them. Got the printout from Gauri’s dad’s office at 5pm itself. We got to Gauri’s place and I thought I should get online asap n do sum research about NI. But then naaaa. Life me riks lena mangta. Saw TV, had dinner, admired his majestic palatial house and then slept by 2.

I had a nice decent sleep till 1^st of my 5 alarms rang hard. Got up some how and started getting ready. Meanwhile Gauri called for the taxi. I quickly logged n went through some basics (checked my scraps n mail). I read what else NI did other than labview (only then I realized that they do nothing else). I was ready by 830 n so was the taxi. I left and reached by 920 or so. Nice decent place to work in. I mean huge attractive structures and a few more coming up in the vicinity. I met up with ankit whose interview was scheduled for the morning (my interview was at 230. I went early so that I get kicked out early n I can go to manali). We went up and I requested the in charge that I need to go home (manali) in the evening by the 8 o clock flight (830 bus). He said not an issue and put me in the first GD.

We were taken to a room were the GD was supposed to happen. I was surprised to see a senior and another girl from VIT. The lady who was going to evaluate us came in. we introduced ourselves and we got the topic “MBA – passport to success”. 2 min and we start. Everybody got onto their writing pads. Even I wrote something (cant tell you what). This guy started and spoke well. I mean clean accent, fluent, and well drafted sentences. And then 1 by 1 everybody spoke. Oh I forgot. This by the way was my 1^st GD ever. So ya I was a bit nervous. I was may be the 6^th or 7^th person to speak. The only 2 sentences I said in the whole GD were 1.“ we do have good managers who don have an MBA. For example the dabbawalas of Bombay who have the 6 sigma ratings with them din do no mba, in fact have taught lessons at business schools. But then yes MBA does add professionalism to corporate business” (this was when the discussion was on if mba means good managers) and 2. “success surely is a relative term and cant be generalized with how lucrative the job offer is, coz quite often the students who get the top placement end opening their own restaurants and travel agencies”( applause applause). That’s all I’d to say. My final concluding remark was that for success- MBA might be a necessity but not a compulsion. We came out. I was quite happy. I thought I’ll get through but MANALI was still all over my brain. The elitmus representative came out. Called in 3 names. And then said “last is that guy from Vellore who had to go back today”. Hurrraaayyyyy. I’m through. He asked others to come back the next day at 10, and me to come back by 1330 and that he’ll try to sneak my interview when ever they get free as the actual interview panel was flying in from b’lore the next day.

I left with ankit for PVR saket which he(and many others) told me is a target rich environment. I gobbled upon a McVeggei burger with fries and coke. I love junk food. We went round that place in search of more targets but were not very lucky. I got back to NI by 1 or so.

A lot of people kept coming in for GDs. I kept waiting waiting and waiting. In between I distinctly remember this very sweet girl from NIT who sat next to me for some time. Petite, harmless, sweet. I tried hard to read her name but in vain. I wanted to talk more but she left after her GD. I sat waiting for my interview.

Finally the female called me in at 430. Nice decent start. Picked up pace slowly. I was totally in form. Answering almost all questions very confidently-HR(88.5) or Technical(11.5). It was quite close to that line from andaz apna apna- unka eik sawaal mere do jawaab, sawaal eik jawaab do sawaal eik jawaab do(sorry for the RCD*) . suddenly this guy comes out of no where disturbing my interview to talk to the lady. I excused both of them n they talked for a min. For some reason the guy also came in and started asking questions. Weird bad questions (I din know the answer to them). he screwed my happyness on the thermocouple effect. he basically proved me wrong. The lady then explained what the job profile was like and that would involve sales but technical also. So she asked me to jus pick up anything from the room and sell it to them. I picked up a bisleri and tried my best to sell it. They bargained so hard that they got me from 35 for a can to 25. The two simply would not listen. I gave them their happy price of 25 and sighed. Bottomline—I’m a bad salesperson. don’t buy anything from me. She told me to wait as I would have another round. I waited for 20 min, gained sympathy from the guard and cleaner at NI. She came smiled and said “ u can leave, in case there’s another round we’ll have it over the telephone”( dere cun’t have been a more polite way of saying go back home kid,your rejected). I called up everybody n said I’m free. Gauri said he would pick me up from saket. I reached PVR again(my pick up point). Dunno why but Guari somehow is always under the impression that people love waiting for him. I sat there again searching for potential targets. He should change his name to Gaurang always late Sethi. But then I thank him from the bottom of my heart that he took me and Ritvik safely to his house (where Jayant-his friend for 17 years hasn been yet) and got us back to mayur vihar. That people was an ELABORATE account of my NI exploits(I told you that’s the right word).

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*RCD is Repetitive Compulsive Disorder

my first holiday

hello everybody
As i'm fresh form an amazing trip to manali, there could not have been a better way to start blogging(if that word exists). this trip was my first proper holiday as i've never been on a total liesure trip till date. since mid april lot of planning(only planning and no serious application) had
been put in to ensure that this trip would not turn into a disaster(as incase of most of our trips involving a lot of people). i've seen wrong people ending up together on trips and screwin up their time and more importantly money. i some how hate unplanned trips and try to follow a fixed itinerary. i don tak suspense, delays, shocks when m travelling quite easily. but this trip was different. nothin was planned. infact till the last date we were not sure if we were leaving that day.

To start off, after lot of confusion, cancellations and reservations i finally booked tickets to delhi for the 30th of may. my maiden journey by a rajdhani. i love travellin, be it alone or in a group. i reached chennai central in time for my train which was supposed to leave @ 610. a friend was going to meet me and tak some stuff of his. i got to my seat- coupe D seat 12, H1( i thought it was worth mentioning). AC first class of train no 2433 chennai - hazrat nizammudin rajdhani express. i have never travelled in AC first class before and had to do it once jus for the heck of it. the coupe was empty n i checked the charts if there was anybody else in the coupe(and many other things too). the train left chennai on time. the waiters got me bottled water and sum chocolates. 15 minutes into the journey a person came up to me and requested for a seat change. i said fine and left my all private saloon to end up in a cabin which had 2 ladies. a lady with her daughter, both going to jammu to meet up with their husband/dad respectively. the waiters got the breakfast soon and man was it a royal treat. nice tasty food(generally rarety on a train). they keep filling your stomach up at equal intervals till you get bored of eating. there was a proper 4 course lunch, a evening drink and den again a 4 course dinner. i had a nice sleep till 630hrs when the waiter got bed tea. a simple breakfast followed at about 830 and the train reached its destination at 1240, 2 and half ours late.

i had to reach old delhi station to take a train to sirsa where my sister stays. the train from delhi was on time and reached sirsa about an hour late. got to my sisters place. played with my kid niece. nothin much that i did in sirsa except for visiting the sirsa airforce station. saw the cockpit of a mig-21 bison( the aircraft that my brother-in-law flies). amazing piece of machine i must say. beautiful avionics(thats what he said). there cant be a better job in this world. to fly that thing everyday, defy gravity and other forces.

i returned from sirsa on the 3rd and got to charul's place where ritvik had reached the same morning. a beautiful house in mayur vihar. all the dilli wale met up on the 5th and i travelled in the delhi metro for the first time. simply amazing. the best way to travel in a crowded city like delhi. delhi metro makes you feel that YES we are DEVELOPing. comin back to where i was, we were supposed to leave on the 5th but i suddenly got a call from NI for an interview on the 6th. so the trip got delayed again. The mail said it would be a 2 day process for which i was so not prepared. i'd come here for a holiday not for an interview. well i did go to NI and did lot of things that i was not supposed to(details of the NI interview in the next blog). i finished my work and called up everybody saying we are leaving for manali TODAY. gaurang picked me up and took to me to charul's place, where most of my lugagge was.

i packed in ultra fast mode and we left for ISBT. chandigarh was our first stop. at about 515 hrs we reached chandigarh where after 1 hour and a lot of discussions we decided to tak a bus to manali. the journey was simply spectacular. mountains on both sides and a river flowing in the valley. majestic/splendid/fentabulous are all understatements(though i was shit scared on those very scary hilly roads). driving on such roads is an achievement according to me.
manali had to wait till 1830 hrs before it could see 6 young, bright engineers admire its beauty(i dunno where that line came from). huge tall trees, nice breeze, a pretty busy market with tourists and hotels all round-- thats manali. we put our luggage in a hotel, freshend up n got out to explore the town and to plan our visit. a simple dinner and a nice cozy sleep concluded the day.

the next day we were supposed to leave for rohtang pass at about 0500hrs, and after the typical delays by some people(read gaurang), we left by 0550hrs. the road was simply *******(my favorite adjective which is generally censored in public). huge green mountains, river flowing in the valley at a decent pace with smooth round stones in its path. snow tipped mountain at a distance. i'd seen all of this only in tv or in photos. never in 3D. after a brief stop for breakfast(maggi time- the 2 minute noodle) we reached rohatng pass- zero point 13050 feet( i hope i got that right gauri) at 9 or so. snow snow everywhere all of it to play. the last time i saw ice was in my coffee at the CCD in delhi. but yeah there was a difference in the quantity. i and tyagi put our skiing gears on and our guide taught us the basics. after a couple of warming up runs, we had a race which i comprehensively lost. i fell half way through while tyagi fell at three fourth the distance. the only tried and trusted way of stopping d ski was to just fall over. one by one in PAIRS we TRIED to ski. we put our skiing gear in our taxi and moved to beas kund where the river beas originates. the glacier slowly melting into a river. a little down on our descent we
stopped for paragliding. all others flew into the sky for a 3 minute ride which surely would have had a huge rush of adrenaline. we got back to manali by 3 or so. the same night we went to hadimba temple and gatotkach temple(mai hoon gatotkach mai duniya me sabse nirala). a big dinner and den v dozed of on our respective beds.

nothin was planned for the next day and so after breakfast we went to a travel agent. he arranged for a trip to manikaran and river rafting. in about 20 min we took off. i mean that literally because the driver was driving at 70 odd on hilly terrain. he was getting us prepared for the flow and speed that the river would offer. everybody pumped up, puttin our life jackets and helmets on. abhishek and gaurang had done rafting before in rishikesh. other four were all
new to this. we got onto the raft and slowly into the middle of river, picking up speed and boom into a rapid. the water was COLD. very soon all of us drenched n shiverin everytime water splashed onto us. the 10km ride in d raft was the best ride in any form of transport i've ever had. multi ******** is too small a adjective to define that experience. after the rafting we headed to manikaran. gurudwara manikaran sahib is a beautiful gurudwara on the banks of river parvati. the river was flowing FAST. we had to be a bit(tiny little bit) louder than normal to get heard. i'd never been to a gurudwara before. a serene clean place of worship. we then had our lunch at the langar. the whole concept is so noble. the kadhi was just amazing. the temple complex also had hot water springs where most of the cooking was done. just imagine this- the cold river water and right next to it hot boiling water. nature at its best. the last stop was an ancient Ram temple. the taxi took us back to manali.

3rd n final day in manali we went to the vashishta temple. nature park was our final destination. we clicked photos. gauri and ritvik suggested that we play hide n seek and after deciding on the boundaries in say 10 min, i was the first den. 6 engineering graduates- a couple going for their mba programme, a couple in their dream jobs and the last two into india's largest IT company, playing HIDE N SEEK. it doesnt end here. picture this- amit tyagi does skiing- no problem. he paraglides - no problem. he does river rafting- no problem. he plays hide n seek-- big problem. his ankle gets twisted which turned into a bad ligament tear. he always loved being called langda tyagi. the name fits him better now. we boarded the bus bac to delhi and reached by 1030. we went to charul's place again and from there ritvik took his train back home. gaurang dropped me at the airport from where i took my KINGFISHER(you know the reason thats in caps) airlines flite to chennai. back home by 1 am on the 12th of june 2008. this ladies and gentlemen was my first holiday....



PS:please leave comments.as promised next blog would be about my exploits(thats surely the right word) at the NI interview.. so keep readin.. haf fun..