Two years of Irony

The clock had struck twelve and officially a new day had begun – 30^th June 2010. Exactly two years ago, I was being inducted into TCS in an Initial Learning Programme (ILP) at Trivandrum. A week into the programme and realization of my mistakes had struck me. It was shocking, frustrating and confusing to find myself in a place where i thought I would never go. But there was no time to waste or to brood over past. I had to move on and pessimism had to go to make room for hope and optimism. Thus, a plan was in put action that would make sure an early and successful exit from TCS. Plan was an unambiguous one and all efforts to make it successful were unadulterated and synchronized. But the results were ironical. The exit strategy was supposed to work but it did not. Consequently, I found myself in TCS after two ironical years.

Looking back, I do see a lot of anguish, pain and hopelessness in these two years. I find it hard to remember the number of times I felt like a loser. Perhaps it was a reality check. But it does not matter anymore. Whatever it was, the good it has done must be taken into account e.g. I never knew I had the courage to go on and on even after feeling uninspired and I had no idea about my ability to fight till the last moment. I had never restrained and disciplined myself so much. These two years have tested me in many aspects and have made me resilient.

Moreover, I have come to a better understanding about what drives me and satisfies me. I do realize that nothing can satisfy me more than a fully exhausting, dedicated effort towards something meaningful even if I don’t get the desired result. The hard work that goes in pursuit of a Goal energizes me and helps in saving me from the negativity that a failure brings with it.

Well, irrefutable fact of life is that the bigger and painful the fiasco is, the more it toughens up you for the game called life. And something called ‘HOPE’ keeps driving you towards a purposeful goal.

Hmmm.. I must sleep now. Once again, I have poured more than I initially set out to do. If I have to recapitulate the whole thing in one line then i would just refer to this dialogue:

“The night is darkest just before the dawn. And the dawn is coming” – The Dark Knight

:) Signing off.

-Tarun

PS: Next time I go to an Interview, I will say that I am passionate about the dialogues of the movies that really captivate me.

Mission TCS Accomplished...

Hi blog...

I'm to used to saying this but I'll have to say it again.... "Its been a long time since my last post"... But this time I've excuses.. 1st I was busy and too occupied in placement work to write and 2nd (more importantly) i was not having a net connection at home.. Anyways, now I've got DATAONE and a placement.. Total tension free for a few days... Now let me start writing about the Mission TCS...


1st aug, 2007 -- TCS was coming for campus placement. I was happy because it was a very good growth oriented IT company and i wanted to reserve a seat in it. The placement process was divided in written tests and interviews. Career launcher took care of the interview part and i was confident for the interview but it was written test that was haunting me. So i along with suneet and Deepi started preparing for it. I started missing classes, labs just for placement. Prepared for the Quant section from old TCS papers... Did some GRE high frequency words... And also got Barrons 12th edition model test papers for analytical reasoning (it is widely known that TCS analytical papers come from that only). But preparation was more of an illusion as i had not completed reasoning section.

And then came 1st august, and see how luck favors the blogger, the test for Biotech was postponed to 2nd august and i was extremely happy. Me and suneet went to library and started doing model test papers and everything went great till 1:10 pm and then i got a call from CILP office. I was asked to report to CILP office and the test for top 10 students from Biotech was to start in half an hour or so (my rank is 2nd in the class). I was shocked, broken and what not.. and then luck again favors the blogger, a call came in CILP from somebody (I dont know my saviour) and the program was cancelled. Huh.. I was relieved.. I did some more test papers on that day.

2nd August, around 1 pm -- Written test in Computer lab. Well, it was far lot easier than i expected. I did all the guess working in verbal section, some in analytical but Quant was a piece of cake. The test was done successfully. First hurdle was crossed and the second was about to start.

3:30pm -- I was there in front of CILP office, formally dressed with filled TCS form and a folder of certificates, waiting for the interview. All of my friends from Biotech were there. Needless to say they were tensed, but i tried my best to find humor in the situation. But when my name was called, at 6 pm, i was a bit nervous. The wait was getting on my nerves but i tried to calm myself and entered for the interview....

THE INTERVIEW

First 2-3 minutes were close to terrible. I let slip in my introduction that my father is a Bank officer and soon i was bombarded with questions from banking line, accounts.. what not... and soon i told them that its not my field. Then began what would i call 'dream 10-12 minutes' of my interview. One of the interviewer asked about Mitochondria and i explained him all its chemistry and biology and then it was like leading an interview. He asked questions from my answers and i explained each and everything. mDNA was made to be an existing part of genetic material in cell by me and the viruses, genetic disorders, Mendel's laws, photosynthesis.. what not.. i just blasted each and every question with confidence. Ho, it was great.. But then came another twist.. The interviewer asking technical questions left the room and the second one took over... and started a bad patch.. asked about C/C++ and i was not knowing much.. at last he gave me a puzzle, which i half solved.. he remarked that it was easy and i should have solved it.. Chalo Technical interview was done... I was not sure that i've done enough to get a call for HR interview but my CG and technical knowledge of biotech did the trick and i got a call for HR interview in next 10 min...

Well, HR interview was fun.. Mam was cool.. she just wanted to know that why i wanted to change from Biotech to IT, being good in technical. And i answered as diversely and differently i could have done. At some point she looked a bit unsatisfied but at last i thought i had done a fine job of convincing her.. Anyways, HR interview was over in 5-7 minutes..

Huh.. All done and then i was again in waiting mode... It was 9:30 pm. I was waiting for the result in C-hall. Cracking jokes among friends but a bit nervous from with in. And then came the Head of TCS team. He started announcing results..

First B.Tech Biotech --
Tarun Gupta

I got up.. accepted the applause from audience.. But Was this the moment i was waiting for.. i dont know.. i was blank.. my perception of the world was lost.. my hands were applauding for others but mind was not processing information.. it was just different from any feeling i ever had. And now, about 10 days later i have started feeling a sense of fulfillment watching my friends getting placements in other companies. It really makes you happy..

Anyways, The bottomline is and remains -- Mission TCS was Accomplished...

Bye blog..