The 'Right Dress'...

Well for all those unfortunate ppl who wrote GATE this time..urs truly included,it is interview time...and as soon as i got my interview call for kanpur,my mind well....did not focus on studies,rather on the all-important question on what to wear.So it was that with a bride's vigour for a wedding gown,i ramshackled the cupboard for the 'right dress'.speaking of the 'right dress' its time to move backwards to my third year in college..
There was this college-placement-cell-evaluation committee which was visiting our college.Together with speaking to the students about the facilities,and making notes about the college,the committee would also be conducting interviews of selected candidates from each branch to test the quality of training imparted by our CCR(placement)department.Now this was an opportunity to bunk classes and i didnt let it pass..So it was that i found myself waiting for my turn to get interviewed..There were two guys interviewing and we soon found out that one was asking only technical and the other only HR questions..Now i being the true-blooded engineer that Iam(cough),i couldnt think of taking an HR interview when there was a technical one going on..I like challenges u see,case in point-my college-bunk episode..but more on that later...so my turn came and I wished the guy and took my seat..the next 2-3minutes was SILENCE..the guy wouldnt look at me..he just started leafing through papers lying on his desk..I wasnt perturbed,remembering the Golden rule-"never speak until spoken to and never more than what is necessary"...finally feeling contended that all his papers were safe,he looked at me and asked me to introduce myself.I gave a short introduction.He clears his throat"Is this the way to dress for an interview?"I had worn a light-blue half-sleeved shirt with tiny white dots that can be described as nothing but formal..no flashy colours..no bizzare designs..'twud have a brought a smile on the clergyman back home if i had worn it to Church..Next to uniform-crazy martinets the clergymen are the most difficult tribe on this planet...anything flashy and they look at you as if you were something the dog brought home..and iam pretty sure my light-blue shirt would have won his respect anyday..To couple this i had worn my steel-grey trousers and all of this neatly pressed the very same morning....when a hostel-guy goes to this much of trouble for a pseudo-interview you should get the idea that i stop at nothing when it comes to dressing well...So i couldnt believe my ears when i heard him say that..let me take a break here by giving a pic of him-guy in late fifties..greying hair,short..thats about it..Now when i heard him say this my brain and spinal cord were in a nervous-frenzy..not nervous mind you-but full of nerval activity..why?cos this was the kind of behaviour exhibited by certain profs..the ones who hate their lives and want others to hate theirs too,think that though the laws of science were made by some brilliant dude,they have the right to ammend them at will-hence the concept of "the right answer" (according to them)..more on the wonderful qualities of the prof-bitches later on..
My brain was spot-on with its verdict"tread carefully"..So i countered"sir, i selected a good clean shirt with a fairly o.k colour and a matching pair of trousers which i thought were suitable for an interview".
"you think you can wear a half-sleeved shirt and look, it looks like you wear it to a party".
i wondered whether this old fool had ever been invited to a party...i decided that it was best to keep silent..after having had several opportunities to face prof-bitches i knew what to do..He then proceeded to comment on my poor grades in my first sem..and having 'tsk...tsked..'a couple of times asked me a few basic questions in the subject,which i answered..after all THAT was what i had come for right?
in the end he asked me if i wanted to ask him anything..i asked him about his background..he waves his arms..
"i passed out from iit delhi with a b.tech in electronics..and i was then employed by (some gov.company)..i worked my way to be(some top designation i dont remember now)..and i left it..i was consulted later by many companies..the blah-blah company here once came to me to check out a site for a future plant.i studied the survey and checked out the site and passed my verdict that it would be a total loss if they started it there..they didnt listen to me an got the plant okayed and then later it became a huge failure and then they came to me asking me what could be done.i said nothing can be done,close it and you can only start an i.t company there."(from where did he get the idea of an i.t co.??he was supposed to be giving info for an electrical firm..wonder how i.t got into the scheme of things even if the former was not feasible??")
i bit my lips to prevent myself from laughing out aloud..this self-conceited jerk was making an idiot of himself..i was certainly enjoying the show now..but he stopped at that(sigh)..twas time for me to get out..which i did without further ado..
you might think that that was it..but the best part of the revealation was about to happen..we were having lunch in the mess when 1 of my classmates discusses the whole issue..i asked him how it had gone for him..he said that it had gone quite o.k for him..he had also been to the same guy and it turns out he had quite a nice time with the old guy..i couldnt believe my ears for the second time that day...i narrated my bizzare interview story..after hearing me the guy starts laughing"hoho...thats not surprising...that guy was an iyengar(tamil brahmin) and iam an iyengar"..now what the heck has that got to do with my story??
"you see you are not an iyengar"..
"huh?what has that got to do with my blue shirt..?"(apparently the amount of criticsm my blue shirt recieved was still not forgotten)
"hehe..your blue shirt has got nothing to do with anything at all..you see iyengars when they are young are o.k but when they grow old turn into irritating people(hmm..must remember this in the future..i remebered caterpillars metamorphosise into butterflies...but wasnt that from something ugly to something beautiful?maybe nature decided to do the opposite with the iyengar....i read that nature has a way of balancing things..maybe this is it..)
"so that was why he was so rude?"
"must have seen that you are not an iyengar....even hindus who are not iyengars get the treatment....i know because i have seen it at family get-togethers..the older ones are always grumpy..even i will be like them some day..."
i looked at my friend..he looked quite o.k to me...cheerful...it felt quite weird to think that my friend would turn into a grumpy old iyengar....maybe all iyengars are not like that..maybe nature leaves some of them to be normal people to show us the change that could have been.....maybe my friend would stay the same...
thinking back i remembered the lines from "my name is khan"-"there are just good people and bad people and nothing else".
(P.S. iam not racist..and have nothing against iyengars..but i will not rest my quill if such characters take it upon themselves to give us all a laugh).
anyways that was a long post..end of story i have just got my new pair of trousers from the tailor's and they fit perfectly....