Fun Job!

There are very few people who know what exactly want to do with their future, career wise. The reason is that they do not realize what area interests them the most. Luckily, at least i know which is the area which appeals me the most.. and fortunately i have already got the job which i love. But this is only one of the reasons why i enjoy this job, a management faculty…. Being with students, having discussions and panel meetings on various current issues is something which is very fruitful and satisfying.

But the most hilarious and entertaining part of this job is to deal with various kinds and categories of students…. And the process starts right from the selection of students though GD PI and then continues even after the student appears for exam and the results come…
In recent days, i have been busy with almost every such activity in college. And believe me; i’ve experienced all such incidences which really makes me think : do some people really think??? Reason???? Read along….

Case 1 – GD PI process, i am on the panel for interview, and unfortunately, the candidates are selected after the final score of written and GD PI, we get variety of candidates. Excerpts from one of such interviews:
Me – you have written in your CV that you have done BCA. So why do you want to shift to management field? Don’t you want to continue in the same field and do MCA or MCM?
Candidate – no ma’am. I wish to have a management perspective and want to learn management.
My co - panelist– yes, that is what we are asking, why do you want to lean management?
Candidate – I want to know how to manage things.
Me – okay… and what do you mean by management then?
Candidate – management means ‘to manage’…
Co – panelist – ‘to manage’ what?
Candidate – Anything!
Co – panelist – anything?! Good.. (with sarcasm!!) Which specialization are you planning to take?
Candidate – HR
Me – Why? What do know about HR?
Candidate – HR is managing.
Co – panelist – (a little agitated) yes, but managing what?????
Candidate – managing people….. management!!
Me – what? We didn’t get you. What do mean by management?
Candidate – management means to manage.. Observe… doing managership!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Co – panelist – (now with lots of sarcasm!!) managership?!?! And What do you mean by that?
Candidate – means observing, doing management!!!
…..and then we realized we’ve just wasted 10 minutes asking this girl about something on which she is totally confused. So we decided just to award her some marks, let’s ask something about her own field. So..
co – panelist – okay, tell me what did you like in BCA?
Candidate – Computers! I liked Tally a lot. I also liked web-designing.
Me – oh good, you seem to know a lot about it then.
Candidate – yes ma’am, I know a lot about it.
Co – panelist – (now in a mood to have fun!!) okay then tell us who is the father of computers?
(We couldn’t believe she gave this answer!!!)
Candidate – I am sorry sir, my father is working WCL and he doesn’t know anything about computers..!!
……… and we thanked her from our heart for coming!!!

Case II – Same GD PI, another candidate….
Now this candidate was very good in his field, which was commerce, and knew answers to almost every technical question which we’d asked him. Apart from that, he had a dashing personality and had a good command over the language. Overall, we were almost satisfied with him, and decided to ask him a few HR cliché’ questions…

Me – Good..! What are your strengths and weakness?
Candidate – ma’am my strength is my communication skill (okay.. so far so good, we thought!) and my second strength is my body!
Co – panelist – (surprised!!) your what?
Candidate – my body sir. I am physically very strong and I can beat up anybody. And as my weakness is that I get angry very quickly, this strength of mine comes very handy!
Me – so you beat up people?
Candidate – yes ma’am, only when I am angry. But don’t worry ma’am, I never beat girls..!!!
… and my co – panelist (who was a male faculty) decided not have him on board!

Case III – This candidate had supposedly worked with some broking firm, had done BBA and was interested to take finance. Already agitated by the above two experiences, the moment i got this candidate, i thought chalo beta, aa gaye tuum hamare iilake me.. (me being a finance and economics faculty!)

Me – You have mentioned that you were a stock advisor with this firm, and did some research, tell me some of the non – stock market investment options.
Candidate – (with a fake accent) ma’am there are many options like real estate, gold, bonds, FDs etc etc etc…
Me – okay, what would you suggest if anybody want to invest for short term in a non – stock market options?
Candidate – I would recommend mutual funds.
Me – is it not related to stock market?
Candidate – no, not at all.
Me – okay, then where do these mutual fund companies invest money?
Candidate – ma’am they manage assets.
Me – yes, but which are these assets?
Candidate – assets are assets!
Me – (now really irritated) fine. ( I didn’t have to correct her, nor did I want to.) okay, tell me how many stock markets are there in India?
Candidate – 2.
Me – 2? (there are 24.) you sure?
Candidate – yes ma’am. BSE and NSE.
Me – yes, but there are few more.
Candidate – no ma’am. Not at all. Only 2. BSE, which is in Mumbai and NSE which is in Delhi.
Me – NSE is in Delhi?
Candidate- yes ma’am.
I was so frustrated at this point of time, that my co – panelist continued…
Co – panelist – who told this to you?
Candidate – nobody has to. I know.
… and with this answer, we didn’t waste any more time interviewing her….

Surprisingly, all these 3 candidates had very good scores in their written test. Whosoever made this compulsory to have GD PI after the written test was really a thinker. But, it made me wonder, how are they so bad when it comes to such an important process as interview? But yes, they do make my job a fun job!!!

Value

Today i and one of my colleague (and a dear friend) had gone to an impromptu lunch to Ten Downing Street (TDS). We were quite surprised to see decent number of people at the restaurant on a working day at that hour. There were few people like us who’d come from office. But there were quite a large number of teenagers. And they were all dressed up nicely, and were not at all new to that place!!

I am very sure except for few people like us who’d come directly come from office, were not even more than 20 years old. There were some 6-7 groups and 3-4 couples of these teenagers. They were chatting, laughing aloud and having fun. And this is not at all new these days.

Teenagers like these nowadays going to CCDs and Barista and Pizza Hut is not a new phenomenon. As a matter of fact, they also go to pubs and such restaurants quite regularly. And to feature on Page 3 of leading news paper is something very essential for their glamour quotient!

I remember, when i was doing my under graduation, we used to calculate how can we go to a restaurant or have our share of paani- puri from the left over money! Then we used to manipulate by spending only Rs.80 on petrol instead on Rs. 100 and so on and so forth!
But going to CCD (and some 3-4 years ago the prices were not as low as they are now!) or to a plush restaurant was something which we had to plan. Even while going on a date, we sometimes had to calculate how much can we spend today!! But we never cribed about it. We had fun even with limited amount of money and resources.

But now the situation is so different. These boys and girls spend money like anything, they seems to have lost the value of it. This is so strange. I also spend a lot. I love to spend money on clothes and food. But i started spending like this only when i started earning it. And same applies to people around me.

Looking at these people, and the way they are spending, what conclusion can we draw? Are parents giving too much liberty to them? Or are they offering everything which is even uttered by their children? If yes, then why? Don’t they have a track of how the money is actually being spent?

Thank you!

“This is my best friend. And this is my second best friend. And this is my third best friend…” This is how 5 cute little people were introduced to me by my sweet little cousin. After the introduction part was done, and when they all left, i asked him, “ How come you have so many best friends?” “umm….” He pondered for not more than few seconds before he replied, “because I like being with them and I meet them daily and they stay near my house! Simple!!” Indeed! The most simple and naïve answer!! Yet, so much profound and reflective..

I remembered my school days, when i used to do the same, introduce every other person in my group as my best friend. And a person whom i would have had a fresh fight would not even qualify as my friend for that day! Funny, i thought.

Not really. That is the age when we actually make so to say langotiya yaars and friends forever! We accept people not because they are cute or rich or famous, but because they are ‘available’ whenever we want, they are there with us in all our fun times.

I’ve had many many such friends. And surprisingly, very few have managed to stay in that position, leave alone promoting to next level. And i don’t regret it all!

I have been a fairly good judge of people, since the age i started to understand. And i can say that with pride.
And i guess that is when i realized what exactly a ‘best friend’ is. And to my surprise, those ‘best friends’ barely qualified in my category after that.

I have plenty of friends even now. Sometimes, while preparing an invite or something like that, i just cannot take anybody out without thinking at least 100 times. Not because they will some or the other way find out the ceremony or the function, but because i really want them to be a part of that.
But similarly, there are people whom i don’t even list down. I just don’t’ have to. They are the ones who don’t need any invite. Because they’ve been there all the time, without me even asking them to participate or contribute.
I’m pretty sure this must be happening to most of the people. But i am very proud to have these people in this category. And i didn’t have to do anything special to make them a part of this list.

For example:.. a person who used to annoy me like hell and was never a part of anything i did ever, became my best friend and eventually the love of my life..apart from being the mentor and real supporter….
... a person whom i barely knew, and before meeting him used to be considered a real jerk by me, became my trustworthy friend, and my “big brother”…who can even sense from the first “hello” in the phone call that something is wrong….
…a person who was junior to me in my school, whom i never remembered when i met him after school, is one such friend now who will say all the bad words to me and still we’ll be laughing the very next moment…
…a person who was the ‘prince charming’ in school days, and because of that we never exchanged a word with each other then, is now the one who have been my first reader to every post here…
…a couple of people who were “just batchmates” are now the ones with whom i share the inner most secrets, and we just cannot have a single week when we do not meet or talk over the phone..

This list is not exhaustive… there are quite a few more people who are in that category, but i cannot mention all of them.. (sorry people, but you’ll always be there, don’t worry!).

I do not meet these people everyday. Nor do we talk every day. But i am glad they are a part of my life. And i am equally happy that some people, whom i have chucked out of my life (and were my so called friends), are not a part of ly life. ‘Coz as i said earlier, i am very good at judging people. And i cannot go wrong at least at judging the wrong people…

And i thank God for giving me this potential of recognizing the good, the bad and the ugly in my life...