Sale! Sale!! Sale!!!

Now, everybody’s heard or read about the scientific meaning of the term “Potential”.
Well, I see Potential as that storage area inside the brains of a fresher, such as myself, that is straining at its hinges bursting with a huge amount of energy, knowledge and passion just waiting for an outlet, waiting to be applied.

But does the world appreciate it? Does an individual get rewarded for Potential? I’d say in 99 out of 100 times, the answer would be a NO.

Performance rewards are good but as much as we’ve heard talk about it, Reward for potential is practically non-existent. What is “Reward for Potential” one may ask? Well it is that sum total of different components every interview candidate craves to learn about. Yes! The Salary. The big R – Remuneration.

Drawing insights from my most recent experience I believe that I’d get a better bargain at a flea market for my above mentioned precious possessions than I would ever expect out of a prospective employer.

Oh! It’s true that interviewees are judged only on the basis of a person’s potential. One specific candidate is exclusively chosen over several others because he shows a better promise than the others do. A particular candidate progresses only on the basis of what potential he/ she portrays.
Then where, I ask, does this promise and potential go hiding in the eyes of the authority when they decide on the individual’s remuneration package?!?

How can I not call it a selfish act on the part of the company when they want to get “much more for much-Much less!”.

And especially today when the term “RECESSION” is being thrown around like the spit on an Indian gully. The idea of desperate measures is being sold like hot cakes.
For example: I get a call for an interview… 1000s of questions are asked, insights gained, skills, abilities and personalities assessed over a series of innumerable interview sessions. Then there is one specific meeting where I am highly praised and fawned upon. I am termed as the biggest asset that the company can ever possess. It is then that the long awaited yet, ironically, the most dreaded question is asked, “What is your salary expectation?”. The answer comes as 20-25K in hand per month (this thanks to the spit(e)ful Recession, otherwise it would have been much more and acceptable). Spat! The atmosphere changes! I should not have such high demands/hopes during these dire situations, these are times when I should grab any opportunity that comes my way since the market is in a bad condition. I should not show arrogance in my abilities. The maximum they can offer is 8 or 10 or 12 K. And it would be better for me to accept it.

No. 1: What just happened??! Where’s that shower of praises that were soaking me a minute ago!

No. 2: (This with some building anger) Who made you my agony aunt?! Just state that you can’t afford me and say good bye! I’ll say you don’t deserve me.

No. 3: If my abilities and “potential are so indispensable then why shouldn’t I be proud? Don’t you say it’s arrogance! And what if it is anyways?!

I am darned sure that, recession or no recession, the term sure has given a new and brilliant mantra to the companies to lever their businesses upon. And I am very sure that even if and when the economy improves. The expectations of candidates (especially freshers) will never be “allowed” to improve.

Here, I repeat a statement I’ve been telling every moving-breathing being around me for the past 4 months, if you are looking for an experienced candidate, HIRE FRESHERS!!”

Now I don’t say that money is everything… but ain’t it atleast a ‘something’… or is it just an ‘anything’? (Too confusing to make sense… welcome to my thoughts!)

Well if that is the case I prefer the pawn, hock or sale at the flea market. It sure would get me enough dough to get me some books and some movies… pass my time with pleasure!

So is anyone up for knowledge, skills and abilities at dimes? I’ll throw in some energy and passion too… real nice deal I say!... alright! Pennies will do too… It is “Recession” after all!

Umm-hmm!!

I'm Back!... With Vengeance!

Well ‘Vengeance’ here is just a figure of speech. It symbolizes the energy that I should have had while writing a Blog entry after two whole years. If only I was not so damned (pardon me) lazy to even raise my pinky, I would have shown the required amount of energy that could have doused a professional writer’s thirst.
Alas! Fate had me playing in mirth this blog as my outburst! (Sorry Elvis, but your words just fit! – when duly tampered of course)

Some hour that was!!

Imagine this… you are sitting in the same old uncomfortable chair at the back-corner of the class… wondering away to glory… eyes keen on the wrist watch that you’ve removed and kept on the table… waiting for it to strike the hour that’d confirm the disappearance of the mundane looking person who’s scribbling some god-forsaken theory on the black-board (that’s not black anymore, by the way, thanks to other mundane looking chalk screechers)…. When, all of a sudden something comes flying in your direction…. It looks like a ball of paper…. In that one instance you see one of you classmates sitting in the front looking at you with the expression suggesting barely suppressed excitement… its that expression that brings meaning to your life… makes you feel as though you are rising from the ashes of boredom like a phoenix in deep slumber…. That one expression and expectancy makes your heart jump with joy… enables the flow of blood in the cramped extremities… and you get up… get out of the chair, hands cupped like a waiting fielder about to win the match for his team with this last wicket…. All eyes turn to you…. The professor stops writing…. And then you make that life saving dive… catch the paper ball by the tips of your fingers and cheer as though you’ve brought glory to the whole world… PAUSE… u look around… and you find the same expressions on the faces of others that they plaster on when a question is asked by a professor who knows that no one paid attention…the—what-the-hell-does-he-think-he’s-doing-look… All that energy that u put in catching that one ball of paper seems to be seeping out of your body when you hear the dreaded words “ What is this?”, says Mr. Chalk, “is this the respect you show to your teachers? Jumping like a monkey in the class!! Wait till I talk to your tutor, day by day this class is becoming notorious, this is the only department where I find this kind of behavior”, his voice was actually rising with every word! Had he provided his lectures with even half that volume, I don’t think we’d be the notorious lot he was claiming us to be… anyways… He’s still talking, “No I wont talk to your tutor, and I’ll go to your H.O.D the principal! That’d be even better…yes”, he said with smug determination, “ only the principal can bring you useless people to the right path” he was so excited!! That was a first in our class! … His eyes fell on me. I could see it on his face when it dawned on him that the reason for this outburst was my wonderful dive catch…. He opened his eyes wide as though it was a state crime that I was still in class… all he did was point to the door with his-crying-for-mercy-chalk… the sad part about Mr. Chalk’s class is that you can not argue with him…. Cause I do have a voice strong enough to be heard anywhere in the department… but what’s the use… he would just not listen! … So I pick up my stuff… and walk out … incidentally the only feeling I have right now is not of being publicly humiliated… instead I’m secretly battling with God… I’m saying, “ If you had decided that I was supposed to be chucked out of the class, why, oh why didn’t you do it earlier???” its true you know. I dint get any attendance Plus I had to sit in that booring class almost till the end… cha!! Anyways… as I continue with my rumbling, I notice that the paper ball is still clutched in my hand… now I’m curious to know what was the root reason of that big and sad scene in class… so I open the paper… and it reads… HA HA HA!!! GOTCHA!! I KNEW YOU’D JUMP LIKE THAT! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!! …. And in very minute writing at the bottom of the page was written… HAPPY APRIL FOOL’S DAY!!

Twenty-five Or Thirty??

I don’t get it sometimes, as to why there are only twenty four hours in a day..!!.. I get these doubts because on a college day I’d wake up with a real grouchy and sleepy face at around seven and be off (to the mostly dreaded place) by around eight… the college starts at nine and goes on till three in the afternoon and while I’m there time seems to fly by on golden wings without giving me any feeling of flight troubles..!
I usually reach back home by four- four fifteen provided I don’t dilly dally around with my friends… almost everyday I wonder as to how the day just got over in a jiffy!

Then of course there are the CAT classes that I attend every evening from six to eight at the end of which I never miss out on the feeling that thirteen hours of my day are already over! Again it takes me half an hour to come home to delicious aroma of the scrumptious dinner made by ma. Although it’s not a daily routine, I go online for a while after dinner… and then I sit with my books for some time till my eye lids start to feel as though they’re made of lead, which usually happens around either midnight or the earliest hours of morning.
And before I even start up with a nice, cozy dream I hear the jarring noise of my alarm and the heady smell of freshly brewed coffee being made in the kitchen. While the bitter sweet aroma of coffee lulls me back to sleep the bright rays of sunlight, peeking in through my window, brutally succeed in pulling me out of the slumber I love.

And then again the whole scheduled routine falls back into its place to navigate me through the tiresome yet interestingly small day…
As I was saying, there are times when I wonder as to when I had a real, good and long sleep? When did I spend some quality time with my friends and family? When was it that I saw a real good movie with a piping hot bowl of popcorn without caring about what it does to my health? When was it that I read a book end to end without any interruptions? When did I spend some time doing, well, nothing!?
The positive thinker that I am, I wouldn’t blame it on others or on my studies or the classes or my daily routine… I just blame it on time… not that it’s bad or good… it just isn’t enough! Why is it that we can’t have twenty five, or better, Thirty hours in the day, that’d mean I’d have more time to sleep!
Boy! Wouldn’t that make living easier?? It sure would make me less grouchy! :)