Disclaimer : As usual good amount of masala added.
It was around the month of October. It was the time when students had to upload their resumes to the placement site. But before they can do that, they had to get their resumes verified by the placement nominees (me and Rakesh).
One such day during this period ,Harshad pinged me.
"Hi, I need to get my marks verified. Are you free anytime".
Whoa this guy is acting very formal and friendly, I thought. Looks like someone hit him on his head real hard.
"Yeah sure no problem, come with your marklists to my room at 8 pm", I pinged back.
"Your room?In Hostel 12", he pinged back.
"You know of any other room allotted to me in some other hostel?"
"Hello how can I come to your room"
"I suggest walking...but if you can fly, then that would be better"
"Hello Sree, wake up"
"$!#&#%@$# You wake up"
"Do you know who I am"
"A big fat buffalo. Come to my room if you want to get your marks verified", I pinged back, starting to get irritated.
"Hellooo I hope you have not mistaken me for someone else. I am Harshada"
"I don't care if you are Harshada or...", I suddenly stopped and stared at the screen for a second.
What!!!Harshada??? Harshad with an 'a' at the end???So I was talking to a girl all along???
I checked the chat window to check the gmail id from which I got the ping. It was indeed Harshada and not Harshad. Realising my mistake, I apologised to her and explained to her that it was a case of mistaken identity. From that day onwards I made sure that I will never reply to a chat until I am doubly sure as to whom I am chatting to.
*****************************************************************
The following incident had happened to Sheiku during our placement season, though I came to hear about it only recently.
The placement season was in full swing in our campus. Each of us trying our level best to crack the tests/interviews and get into one of the many companies that visited our campus during the placement season. Sheiku too was no different.
For one such company Sheiku had cleared the test and now his interview was going on.
30 minutes had passed...yet Sheiku's interview was still going on.
45 minutes...no sign of Sheiku...
50...55...finally after one hour or so Sheiku was granted his freedom.
Sheiku was all smiling when he came out of the interview room. We got the hint that he must have done great in his interview.
"Oyee how did the interview go yaar"
"Aree first class. I guess this was my best interview till now. I guess they must be typing my offer letter now", Sheiku replied happily.
"Cool dude you are so confident that you have cracked this job. Gr8 going buddy", and everyone started congratulating Sheiku.
"Oh it was nothing. The technical questions were easy. As for the HR questions, I was just unstoppable. In fact the HR was just staring at me with her mouth wide open after I answered her last question. Guess she was speechless on seeing my performance in the interview", Sheiku chuckled.
"That's wonderful. What was her last question".
"Oh it was simple. She just asked how I came to know about her company".
"And what did you tell her"
"Just what she wanted to hear. I told her all these lies about attending their pre-placement talks in August, how professional their PPT looked, how I was impressed with their work profile and how I came to the conclusion from their PPT that theirs was the best company in this world".
"Err did you actually attend their talks"
"You kidding me. I must have been sleeping in my room when this happened".
"Hmm I think I know why the HR was speechless", Krishna told Sheiku.
"Of course I know. I was rocking", Sheiku replied.
"There might be another reason for it", Krishna reasoned.
"What is that", asked Sheiku.
"The company never came for pre placement talks".
Needless to say Sheiku started preparing for the next company.
Showing posts with label placements. Show all posts
Showing posts with label placements. Show all posts
Crisis management
Making sure a company pre placement talk goes without a hitch has been one of the greatest challenges for a DPN (Department Placement Nominee), especially if the pre placement talk is that of a company that he himself was handling (Each DPNs will be handling a handful of companies). The most critical aspect of this was to make sure that sufficient number of students were present for each PPT. The following happened during one such PPT of a particular company.
The PPT was scheduled to start around 8 pm. At around 7:50 pm the students started trickling in and by around 8:10 pm there were sufficient number of students. But then there was no sign of the company officials. The DPN (let's call him Raj) handling the company was already getting nervous.
He tried calling up on the phone of the HR. No use. No one was picking up the phone. The audience, comprising of the "disciplined" students of IIT Bombay, were trying to communicate to him how much they are loving this. Some gave him the finger. Some showed a slow motion action of how his nose was going to be punched. Some even threatened him that they will celebrate his "birthday" that day.
8:20 pm. Yet no sign. Our DPN saab sweating. Now and then he looked at the audience. They were growing restless. He started realizing that something must be done before things go out of hand. He called the other DPNs for a quick meeting.
"Kya kare yaaro", Raj asked. Raj looked at me. I looked at Rakesh. Rakesh looked at Jainendra. Jainendra looked at Raj.
"Aree kuch tho karooo, nehi tho maar khayega aaj. Aur kal muche guide ke saath meeting bhi hei. Aaj hospital mei admit hua tho kal guide ka maar bhi khaana padega", Raj started lamenting.
Just then Raj pointed at the door of the hall and started shouting, "Catch him catch him".
We all turned around. A student was leaving the room. All of us gasped at the same time
"Oh No".
We ran towards him,as if our life depended on it, and caught him in the nick of time.
"Plz don't go, plz don't go. The company guys will come any minute. Please go back and be seated", Raj pleaded.
"But I have to go, it's urgent, I..."
Even before he could complete what he was saying, Raj let loose his desperation
"Plz plzz if you want, I will buy you tea and medu-vada after the session is over, but please go back and be seated"
"But I can't hold on any longer".
"Plzz you have to. The HR will arrive any moment now".
"That's exactly why I have to go to the restroom now. I can't hold any longer".
"Ohh". For a moment Raj didn't know what to say.
"First turn to the right", Raj replied giving him a sheepish smile.
8:40 pm. Yet no HR. Raj called us again.
"I am going outside and will try calling the HR. You guys somehow keep the students inside the hall".
And before we could say something, Raj vanished, leaving us among the pack of wolves baying for our blood.
I looked at the audience and muttering all my courage I asked
"The HR will be here any moment. In the meantime why not have some entertainment. Who will come forward and entertain us with a song or a dance".
The students started whispering among themselves. I was expecting a rotten egg or a tomato to fall on my face any moment from any direction. Luckily one enthu guy volunteered for "entertaining" us.
He came up to the front, turned and faced the audience.
"How about a nice break dance everyone".
Even before anyone could respond, he started shaking his hands, then legs, then hands and legs, then his whole body. He seemed to be enjoying his own show, though the same could not be said of the audience.
Suddenly the hall went quiet. The only noise that could be heard was our enthu guy dancing. Our hero stopped dancing.
"What happened", he asked the crowd.
No one replied.
He turned around to face us. There Raj, along with 2-3 persons with business suits, were standing, with their mouths wide open. On seeing them, our Michael Jackson slowly returned to his seat.
Raj turned to the HR.
"Sir, I can assure you that you have not come to the wrong place".
Thus goes the endless list of "innovative" crisis management techniques that are adopted by the DPNs of IIT Bombay.
The PPT was scheduled to start around 8 pm. At around 7:50 pm the students started trickling in and by around 8:10 pm there were sufficient number of students. But then there was no sign of the company officials. The DPN (let's call him Raj) handling the company was already getting nervous.
He tried calling up on the phone of the HR. No use. No one was picking up the phone. The audience, comprising of the "disciplined" students of IIT Bombay, were trying to communicate to him how much they are loving this. Some gave him the finger. Some showed a slow motion action of how his nose was going to be punched. Some even threatened him that they will celebrate his "birthday" that day.
8:20 pm. Yet no sign. Our DPN saab sweating. Now and then he looked at the audience. They were growing restless. He started realizing that something must be done before things go out of hand. He called the other DPNs for a quick meeting.
"Kya kare yaaro", Raj asked. Raj looked at me. I looked at Rakesh. Rakesh looked at Jainendra. Jainendra looked at Raj.
"Aree kuch tho karooo, nehi tho maar khayega aaj. Aur kal muche guide ke saath meeting bhi hei. Aaj hospital mei admit hua tho kal guide ka maar bhi khaana padega", Raj started lamenting.
Just then Raj pointed at the door of the hall and started shouting, "Catch him catch him".
We all turned around. A student was leaving the room. All of us gasped at the same time
"Oh No".
We ran towards him,as if our life depended on it, and caught him in the nick of time.
"Plz don't go, plz don't go. The company guys will come any minute. Please go back and be seated", Raj pleaded.
"But I have to go, it's urgent, I..."
Even before he could complete what he was saying, Raj let loose his desperation
"Plz plzz if you want, I will buy you tea and medu-vada after the session is over, but please go back and be seated"
"But I can't hold on any longer".
"Plzz you have to. The HR will arrive any moment now".
"That's exactly why I have to go to the restroom now. I can't hold any longer".
"Ohh". For a moment Raj didn't know what to say.
"First turn to the right", Raj replied giving him a sheepish smile.
8:40 pm. Yet no HR. Raj called us again.
"I am going outside and will try calling the HR. You guys somehow keep the students inside the hall".
And before we could say something, Raj vanished, leaving us among the pack of wolves baying for our blood.
I looked at the audience and muttering all my courage I asked
"The HR will be here any moment. In the meantime why not have some entertainment. Who will come forward and entertain us with a song or a dance".
The students started whispering among themselves. I was expecting a rotten egg or a tomato to fall on my face any moment from any direction. Luckily one enthu guy volunteered for "entertaining" us.
He came up to the front, turned and faced the audience.
"How about a nice break dance everyone".
Even before anyone could respond, he started shaking his hands, then legs, then hands and legs, then his whole body. He seemed to be enjoying his own show, though the same could not be said of the audience.
Suddenly the hall went quiet. The only noise that could be heard was our enthu guy dancing. Our hero stopped dancing.
"What happened", he asked the crowd.
No one replied.
He turned around to face us. There Raj, along with 2-3 persons with business suits, were standing, with their mouths wide open. On seeing them, our Michael Jackson slowly returned to his seat.
Raj turned to the HR.
"Sir, I can assure you that you have not come to the wrong place".
Thus goes the endless list of "innovative" crisis management techniques that are adopted by the DPNs of IIT Bombay.
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