Asked to Leave Read online

  We picked him up on our shoulders and with a blur view of the ground, started his final journey. We were not allowed to look back; and to wait there any longer to see my mother in pain and the other family members too. So, we decided walk a little fast until they couldn’t see us anymore. Climbing up for about 300 meters and then walking straight for another couple of miles, then climbing down towards the decided place for another 5-6 miles. Surnaya River was shocked to see him on our shoulders. It used to see him walking fast to go to the other house. That man was speechless, who used to walk along riverside singing his favourite Garhwali Songs and Pahari Lok Geets. He was breathless; one who used to take a long breath to relax after crossing a milestone, while climbing up the mountain and today his heart was a frozen cube of ice with no beats. His heart used to pump harder; while rushing towards the Raute Hills climbing up the Kharkadhar Mountain and crossing the Raula Kedar holy place. Nature made him rude today not offering greetings while crossing the Goddess temple today, which had taken an avatar in his grandfather’s house.

  We didn’t take rest our entire journey but kept changing shoulders and kept walking without shoes. It was not a conservative belief but a unique way of offering tribute to our late father.

  There was smoke and fire in the crematorium, which indicated that someone else was already brought there for cremation; we had to let them finish and then proceed. We kept my father’s body on the banks of the Surnaya River and sat nearby; our neighbours were standing next to us talking about how to arrange all the other stuff for his funeral; some of them went upstairs and arranged for wood for his cremation.

  So, we were all set to bid our final farewell to him, the preparations of the last rites were made. It was an unfortunate and tragic moment for us to see him leave us like that. A log of wood was lit on fire at one end and handed over to me and my brother. Everyone caught that log of wood and surrendered his lifeless body to Agni Dev. When he was travelling on his sons’ shoulders, his dream of his final journey had come true. I had heard him talking to Mom about it a few years back. He was burning on the funeral pyre; the flames were touching the sky. We were adding Ghee in the fire, it was a painful job.

  The air travelling to the Himalayas from the banks of the Surnaya River was the witness to that shocking scene. The cruel, shameless and tumultuous Sun was on the odyssey; it had no destination to rest; but then hiding itself in the horizon in the other part of the seamlessly azure sky.

  For those who don’t understand life and death, he was dead. But for me, my father was still alive; alive in my childhood memories, I still feel him around, in the form of his blessings and wishes, my ears still hear him cracking jokes and laughing. I still feel him showing me the right path in my life, guiding me when I am confused, letting me know what is right and what is wrong, holding my hands and making sure that I am safe in his custody.

  He is alive in the form of unseen motivation, positivity, and strength for all of us; his body was his friend who walked with him for 67 years, which was fused back with the Mother Nature. Like snakes moult their scaly skins, like birds change nests, he had changed his old body to get to a new one. It was worth knowing that ‘every end is a new beginning’. The file was also put on fire, his clothes, shoes and remaining medicine, inhaler puffs, tablets and capsules were put on fire to be destroyed.

  “Let’s go home and please don’t look back.” A friend of my father asked us to leave for our temporary homes. My father had chosen a different path to walk alone on, and we had to leave him alone there.

  “Okay, let’s go.” I said and let everyone climb up; so that nobody could stop me, when I am looking back. I kept on walking up and looking back as well. I was not scared of the bad spirits that day. I was challenging them. Time had brought a mountain between me and the cremation ground. It was time for me to move on. After walking for a couple of hours, we stopped at Batigaon and bought ½ Kg sweet for others, reached to the tap beneath the bridge and had some water, after getting permission from Pundit; the spiritual teacher, and then proceeded climbing up to reach home.

  ***

  CHAPTER THREE

  Back To The Rat Race

  July 10, 2010, Sukhrali, Gurgaon, India

  It was a coincidence that I was searching for a job right after a year of my father’s demise. I had to leave my mother, other family members and friends behind, to arrange bread and butter for us. At times, it is easy to leave an organisation but hard to leave your family behind and move on.

  The company and its employees were not giving the opportunity to work for their company easily. I had gone for an interview for Sp**co BPO the previous day, they initially hired me and five other people to work for Gatie process. When we went there the other morning, they said they would call us later in the future for that process, but gave us an opportunity to work for some other telecom process.

  “Good afternoon sir, my name is Monica, I am calling from Monica Placements, are you looking for a job or a job change?

  “Yes I am looking for a job”. I said.

  “What is your name?” The female voice became sweeter after getting a positive response from me. It seemed that she was calling candidates to get them shortlisted.

  My name is Ram. But what kind of job are you offering madam?” I asked.

  “Ram, we are hiring for international BPOs like D*ksh, E*L, iYo*i and many others. Are you interested?” Her voice stressed on the last 3 words. It sounded she was looking for a positive reply.

  “Yes, I am interested.” I said.

  “Can you tell me something about yourself?” She asked.

  After I let her know something about me, she was convinced enough to call me for a face to face interview at her consultancy, which was located on MG Road, Sector-17, Gurgaon.

  I reached there on time. One certainly doesn’t want to be late for a job interview. I asked for Monica, who had called me for an interview. She was busy attending other candidates and someone else asked me to follow him. I reached ‘The Director’s Cabin’.

  “So, you are here for an interview?” The brown eyed, French cut bearded guy with his lower lip pierced was asking me a question or scolding me…, I was confused.

  “Yes sir. I am here for an interview.” I answered. He must have already known that. But I still answered his question.

  “That is good, then tell me something about yourself?” Hahaha… I had expected that question to come next.

  I told him about ‘myself’. Later he asked me to wait outside. I went out and the doors to ‘The Director’s Cabin’ closed automatically.

  “Hi, my name is Melina Lovely; I am here for an interview. Are you here for an interview too?” She asked me. She may have been in stress and was looking for ways to get rid of it.

  “Yes, I am here for an interview. Have you gone through the first round?” I asked her to make her feel comfortable.

  We were slowly getting into a conversation related to that interview and sharing our views about the interview.

  “Yes; I am through with the HR and Voice & Accent rounds and I am now waiting for the OP’S results.

  “What’s your name?” She asked me.

  “My name is Ram. Wish u good luck.” I wished her.

  “Thank you, same to you Ram.”

  “Hi, how was your interview? What are they asking?” Someone sitting next to me was murmuring.

  I didn’t hear what response she got from the other fellow. But, I was a little nervous by that time; as other candidates were scared. But I didn’t go to people asking them about their interview. I thought whatever the interviewers would ask me; I would answer that, but unfortunately, I couldn’t maintain that thought for a long time, it was missing and I was trying to regain my confidence, before they called me inside.

  “Anybody Ram? Is Ram here?” Someone from the consultancy called my name while I was in the washroom. What a timing! I ran
out of the washroom.

  “All the best Ram!” While passing by the sofa, I saw Melina smiling and showing me a thumb.

  “I responded by smiling back. It was natural as she was gorgeous. She was surely from a civilised family and her parents must have taught her how to interact with people.

  “Come on in. Are you Ram?” HR was very polite. She asked me to settle down, looked at me very nicely.

  “Yes, hi, thank you very much.” I was trying to respond on everything she had just said.

  “Please go through your CV. She asked me to go through my experience in a chronological order.” By that time, I had regained my confidence and was feeling good to be with her inside that room alone.

  I understood that she was asking me to let her know whatever I had done in terms of education, employment etc. I was trying to state the facts as much as possible, because I never wanted to achieve anything by telling a lie. I followed my principles in life.

  “I completed my Senior Secondary Education from the National Institute of Open Schooling, New Delhi. I am pursuing graduation from Delhi University, through distance learning and currently in first year of BCA.

  I am also pursuing an English course from Inling*a International, Gurgaon centre. I have worked for about a year for Vcube IT services, Gurgaon.” I said.

  “Tell me about the most memorable day in your life?”

  “What was your job profile in Vcube?”

  “Why should you think you are the best fit option for this job?”

  “How far do would see yourself in next 5 years from now?”

  “Do you have any questions for me?” She asked me a lot of questions which I answered to her satisfaction and made her comfortable enough to understand, that I was the right choice for their organisation.

  I looked at her. I felt uncomfortable; because, I was thinking about the results. Thinking about getting rejected; also thinking about my future, which looked gloomy. Also, a shining career with D*ksh was attracting me.

  “You may wait outside Ram.” She said.

  “Thank you Ma’am.” I said with a smile and went out, opened the door and closed it slowly.

  I was still thinking about the results of the first round, when the HR called the consultancy representative and asked to arrange some paperwork to help her.

  Suddenly, the HR representative walked out of her cabin and started calling out names.

  “Komal Singh, Ekta George, Eva Khan and Melina Lovely” she called these names. People waiting for the results were looking at her; amongst whom, 8-9 people were candidates and the remaining were the part of the consultancy staff.

  “You guys had done great today; but I am very sorry, you could not clear the interview, better luck next time.” She shared the bad news with all of us.

  I was looking at their faces and couldn’t resist looking at their watery eyes; they were like falling from the sky and asking for help.

  “I will see you later.” Melina said; she walked out and got lost in the crowd of the MG Road, Gurgaon. But I couldn’t resist thinking about Melina, she was still in my head, smiling, waiting for the good news of her selection, asking me my name, talking to me like a lifelong friend. I was afraid, thinking about my interview’s result which was about to be announced.

  “Ram, you are through with your first round.” Monica came out from the HR’s cabin and apprised me of that good news. It was not so far the best news; as better and the best was yet to come with V&A round and Operations round respectively.

  “Thank you.” I said.

  “Ram, I am arranging your Voice and Accent round. Come with me; I want to share a few tips with you, so you go through easily.” HR representative Ritika Singh asked me to follow her.

  I rushed to her cabin again. She was in front of me, very bold and naturally beautiful. She was an absolute beauty; I was impressed and was able to impress her too, to some extent. She called me in private to help me perform and get through this interview. The reason must’ve been my performance in the first round of interview and she didn’t want to let me go without an offer.

  After giving me a few tips and idea, she had dialled to one of the trainers in D*ksh.

  “Hi George, I am Ritika here.” As the call was answered.

  “Hey Ritika, What’s up?” George asked. I was able to hear their conversation, as the phone was on speaker mode.

  “I am at the recruitment centre and I have a few candidates. I believe you can assess them for linguistics, can’t you?”

  “Sure, why not.” George was ready.

  Ritika handed over the phone to me and asked George to start with the assessment and walked out, wishing me good luck.

  “Hi Ram, my name is George. How are you doing today?”

  “Hello George, I am doing well. Thank you for asking.” I answered.

  “Alright, let’s set some expectations here. This interview is divided into three parts. In the first part, you will tell me about your academic background, work experience, hobbies and interest etc. You got it?” He confirmed and stopped to take a breath.

  “Yes, I got it George.” I said. “Alright, in the second part, you will have to speak for 3 minutes on any topic that I give you; then we will wrap up this round with some questions. At the end, you would also get an opportunity to ask me questions. Are you ready?”

  “Yes sir, I am ready.” I said with confidence.

  He started doing some classroom work on his laptop, which gave me an opportunity to think about the topic which he was supposed to give me.

  “Alright, please tell me something about yourself?” As assumed, he finally started asking me the same set of questions.

  I had answered those questions more than twice at the same place and twice earlier that morning. I had sung that song in front of strangers. I didn’t have any issue revealing my identity, but a question rose within my mind that; why do all those people ask the same set of questions multiple times? Even though, they are from the same company.

  “I have to make sure that I don’t make any mistake, as this plays a vital role in the selection process.” It was going through my mind too.

  “Alright, we are done Ram. If you have any questions, please ask?”

  “No, I don’t have any questions. Thank you.” I said. I wanted to end this conversation at the earliest.

  “Please transfer the phone to the recruiter.” He said.

  “Here we go. Thank you for your time George, have a nice day.” I ended the conversation with the V&A interviewer.

  As soon as Ritika took the phone and started talking to him, I had been asked to wait outside and then I was nervous and my legs were shaking; I tried to control them, but I just couldn’t. I knew that; whatever has to happen will happen. But then, negative thoughts were running through my mind. Sitting in one corner of the 3-seater sofa, I was thinking about my responsibilities, cursing myself for being inconsiderate about my future.

  But, fate had decided something good for me that evening. I saw Monica smiling when she looked at me. All of those negative thoughts and scare kept on going off my mind, once I saw her smiling.

  “Monica?” Ritika Singh called the consultant lady and asked her to let me and the other 2 candidates settle down.

  Ritika came out of the cabin and handed over her phone to me, saying “This is the Operations round; Sanya would be talking to you.”

  “Good evening. I am Ram.” I greeted Sanya.

  “Hello Ram, my name is Sanya, how are you doing today?” She was courteous, though her voice was commanding. That was not at all a problem for me. I was good at completing the tasks assigned to me.

  “I am doing great. Thank you for asking. How are you?”

  “I am doing well too. Well, let me ask you a few questions, why don’t you tell me something about yourself?” She asked. Now, I was in love with that
most frequently asked question “tell me something about yourself.”

  I told her about myself. I also asked her something about the process and the job responsibilities.

  “How much salary do you expect?” She tried to put me in trouble and so far she was successful.

  “I was assessed by D*ksh’s HR, training team and these consultants already, and it’s been 4 minutes we are talking over the phone. So I am sure, with an experience of hiring people, you would have thought of an appropriate amount to offer.”

  I knew it has nothing to do with Operations; it is the HR’s job to negotiate the salary and other compensations and benefits.

  “For how long would you stay with D*ksh? I mean let’s say you got an offer from some other company, just double of what you are getting here, what will you do?” I am sure she felt good asking me such questions.

  “In my opinion workplace is another home, and we don’t leave home luring for something. I will give my 100% to this organisation and contribute to the organisation’s growth.

  “What happened next?” Sherry asked.

  I was done with the Operations round. She had no reason to reject me and she didn’t wait a minute and asked me to transfer the phone to the recruiter.

  “Please wait outside.” Ritika said.

  “Alright” I said and I walked out.

  “Congratulations guys.” Monica said. All of you have been hired.

  “Wait guys wait. Fill up the forms and complete this written test as well. This test is just a formality.” Monica said and handed over test papers and forms to us.