IT world in 70s style

Our story starts with Vijay again. Vijay didn’t have to polish shoes in the childhood to make earning; Vijay’s life was much more brutal and tough. He had to go to school daily, and struggle for marks. Vijay’s life was tragic but he didn’t have much choice and after school he had to go to college to pursue an engineering degree. Those 4 years were very hard for him and he struggled to maintain a good degree because of his principles. Vijay didn’t like sycophancy and running behind teachers for marks, “ Mein feke hue marks nahi leta” his ideology always landed him bad sessionals still Vijay had an attitude and he was respected for that.

After completing his engineering, Vijay had no choice other than to do what every contemporary person was doing, a job in IT world.   Desk no. 786, where he used to work with his other mates and live a normal life, Vijay has only one dream left now, to make his brother Ravi a manager. Vijay worked hard to educate Ravi and get him an MBA degree. MBA is an expensive thing after all but for Vijay his brother’s dream was far more important than any other thing in life.

Vijay’s family used to go to a temple once in a while but Vijay never went inside, neither he took Prasad since the day he failed to crack IIT JEE exam, like many other people it came as a big blow to his belief and he stopped praying for any other thing from god as there wasn’t anything worth praying for if you fail in JEE. Ravi daily used to visit temple though as he got a seat in a good MBA College and that is not possible without god’s divine hand in India.

Life was going on normally until one day a new joiner was called on weekend. He was a new joiner; he didn’t understand the rule of this world. For him, weekend was a holiday time, something that should be spent on home or with family. So he revolted against his team lead Peter, Peter didn’t like it, not one bit.

Next day, Peter called him in his Cabin. He gave the same points, which were logical, but didn’t have any effect on the tin chest of Peter. All he can mutter was, “Weekend par kyu aau, mein yaha weekend par kam karne thode na aaya hu, ghar jaunga, 2 behene hai unke sath time spend karunga “  

Peter laughed a sarcastic smile and said “ Aisa karo, fir 2 din kya, puri life hi family ke sath spend karo, kal se office aane ki jarurat nahi hai, you are fired”.

“ Chup chap weekend par kam karne aa jata to kya hota, 5 sal se kam kar raha hu mein yaha par, aaj tak kabhi nahi dekha ki koi worker weekend par kaam karne se mana kare, said one of the old worker Rahim. But Vijay’s mind was pondering over something else; he was startled by the whole experience and the unfairness of the life on the common worker. Vijay was pensive and introspecting and finally he made a decision.

“ Jo 5 baras mein nahi hua wo ab hoga Rahim, agle hafte  ek aur worker weekend  par aane se mana karega”, Vijay said taking a sip of the free coffee from the coffee machine.

So next time when there were issues on weekend and Vijay was called, he didn’t show up and bluntly denied. This infuriated Peter, because he knew that if 1 worker has denied showing up on weekend then next 2 won’t show up, next week 4 won’t show up and eventually every worker would have guts to refuse coming up on weekend. Peter tried to find Vijay but couldn’t find him on his desk but he was surprised to see him in his own cabin.

“ Aap mujhe har jagah dhundh rahe the, aur mein aapka yaha par intejar kar raha tha”, said Vijay in an defiant tone.

“Have a seat”, said Vijay kicking a chair in front of his team lead. He stood up, locked the door and said that I would exit from this door only when you would ask me to exit. By that time, Peter has already called many other team leads, managers and directors for a group attack but our hero was prepared. What followed was a single man fight vs. a collective legacy of unfairness and domination which hitherto was unbeatable but today was different. As Vijay has maintained a very nice dependency on their project, Vijay knew he can’t be sacked and as he was not bothered about appreciation, escalation or bad reviews, he argued fiercely putting every point of a normal worker with sheer logic that can’t be denied by the management. Vijay came out of the door triumph and was cheered by his entire fellow workers.

However, Vijay faced a strong oppose from his mother back at home who was pretty unhappy by his rebel instincts.

“ Mein puchti hu, tujhe kya jarurat thi un logo ke muh lagne ki, wo GL log hai, teri rating down kar sakte the, promotion rok sakte the, site opportunity chin sakte the”, she said in angry voice.

“ To tum kya chahti ho ki mein muh chuppa kar shift kar jata” !!

A loud thunderclap sound followed by series of uncontrolled slaps until Ravi came between and took her mother away. She said in crying voice “ Unhone jo bhi kiya, tum logo ke liye kiya”

Vijay’s father possessed both the aggression of Vijay and calmness of Ravi at the same time. He stood up for the rights of workers. In every team meeting he used to raise the issue of rating, promotion, late night shift with no pays, weekend support. He used to submit an honest feedback of the management. He used to talk about team lead to manager and about manager to director. He was respected by his colleagues and was the only ray of hope against injustice.

One day he was called by the director. Vijay and Ravi were very young that time. The director told him that there are company’s policies by which they can sack him without any compensation and it would ruin Vijay’s and Ravi’s career as there are fees to be paid for school. Director warned him to stop all the anti management activities and gossip and not to create any hope among employee. The man got scared and accepted all the conditions. He knew he had betrayed his colleagues and he can’t face them any more so he decided to shift from the company and fled away without showing his face to anyone ever.

Next day in office, Vijay was called by a strange person. “ Ai tum, tumko manager sahab bula rahe hai”. The person led Vijay to another floor of his building but Vijay remained outside the cabin.

“ Tumhara hi naam Vijay hai, tumne hi Sawant ke GL ki publically uda di”, said the other person rolling his chair.

“ Kaun Sawant”, Vijay asked having no clue at all.

“ Tumhara manager, come inside, don’t be afraid, think of me as a friend. Vijay came inside.

“ Dawar, My name is Dawar; Weekend par workers ko bulane ke alawa bhi Sawant ke bahut sare dusre dhandhe hai, like fresher se starting mein late tak  kaam karwana, worker ko COMP OFF na dena, dusre projects se code churana, dusre managers ke acche projects hathiya lena”

“ Aur yaha se aapki aur Sawant ki dushmani chalu hoti hai”, Vijay said in a grave tone.

“Yes, I have heard about the stories of how you argued with the management, I need men who could bring better projects to me, I would shift you into my team as a GL, and you would work for me from now onwords if you agree.

Once joining Dawar’s team as a GL, Vijay quickly rose to fame and power. He did all kinds of code snatching, code stealing, code duplicating. He also engaged several new workers on weekend. He started eating their bonuses. He also started taking their credits by mailing their work under his name. He stole all the on-site opportunities and never let any other one to have a single on site opportunity. Due to his sheer arguing power and fearful image, all the good projects started coming under Dawar’s and they were able to earn more and more. They got promotions and appraisal pretty soon. Vijay bought a big flat on a large down payment and few EMIs and a car too.

 Meanwhile Ravi completed his MBA and got a job as a HR person in the same company as of Vijay’s. There were frequent unknown complains about Vijay’s behavior and ethics and Ravi was asked to review those complains. Ravi was a man of ethics and moral and although he knew that the world was unfair to Vijay but still he can’t approve his acts either, he decided to take a tough stand against it.

“ Bhai, aaj jin GLs ki complaint list aayi hai jo bonus khate hai aur code chori and projects hathiyate hai, unmein se ek naam tumhara bhi hai, you have to sign on this paper”, said Ravi in a grave tone.

“ What is written in this paper ?”, asked Vijay who had no clue about the paper.

“Is paper mein likha hai ki ab se jab tak 3 juniors site par nahi chale jate, tum site par nahi jaoge”, said Ravi with determination.

“Ravi, you remember how many nights we spent in our childhood awake and preparing for IIT JEE “

“ You are signing or not”

“Do you remember, mother has taken education loan for your MBA preparation on 14% interest”

“ You are signing or not”

“Do you remember every single taunt when we were rejected in campus placements.”

“BHAIIIII, tum sign karte ho ya nahi”, shouted Ravi.

“Haan mein sign karunga , mein jarur sign karunga

Lekin mein sabse pahle sign nahi karunga

Mein akele sign nahi karunga

Pahle us teacher ke sign lao jisne mujhe kam sessionals diye aur meri degree 75 ki nahi bani

Pahle us GL ke sign lao jisne weekend par bula kar comp off nahi diya aur on site opportunity bhi kha li

Pahle us manager ke sign lao jisne mera bonus kha lia aur appraisal nahi diya

Us ladki ke sign lao jo ye kah kar mujhe chor kar chale gayi kit um to weekends par bhi kam karte ho aur salary itni low hai, na time de paoge na paisa

Pahle in sabke sign lao fir mein jarur sign karunga”

“Bhai, dusro ke injustices ginane se tumhare khud ke injustices kam nahi ho jate, dusro ke ethical faults ginane se tumhare apne unethical work kam nahi ho jate ye ek sacchai hai, aur ye sacchai apan dono ke beech wall ban kar khadi hui hai, wall choro firewall ban kar khadi hui hai, aur jab tak ye wall hamare bich majud hai, mein is ghar mein nahi rah sakta, chalo MAA.

“Maa nahi jayegi, maa mujhse bahut pyar karti hai”

“Maa jayegi”

“Aisa mat bolo maa, maine job tumhare liye hi kiya hai”

“ Itna bada coder ban gaya hai ab tu, par dhyan se sun le, coder kitni bhi badi post par pahuch jaye, MBA wale se piche hi rahega, chal Ravi”.

The event really made Vijay alone; He decided to talk to Ravi once again.Vijay and Ravi met at their old house again below the bridge.

“ I want to ask first I am talking to a brother or an HR manager first”, Vijay said.

“Till a brother is talking, a brother is listening, when an unethical GL would start talking, a responsible HR would start listening. It’s always about morals and ideals bhai”.

“ What ideals and morals you are talking about, which can’t provide a worker offs at weekends, or site opportunities or extra pay for working late”, Vijay said angrily. Ravi remained silent.

“ Dekh rahe ho ye bridge, yahi se hum dono ne safar chalu kia tha, aaj mere pas sub-ordinates hai, projects hai, on-site opportunities hai, manager ka blind trust hai, kya hai tumhare pas ? “ Vijay shouted on Ravi.

“Bhai, mere paas, mere paas, HR mein sundar ladkiya hai, jo tum technical walo ko kabhi nasib nahi hoti”

This bitter truth infuriated Vijay to his core. He left from there angrily. Ravi kept on tightening things for Vijay. Meanwhile Sawant also had an eye on Vijay’s activities. Things were getting bad day by day for him, as he was completely alone in his struggle. Sawant somehow had an upper hand in the politics and he managed to relocate Dawar to some other city. Now Vijay was completely alone and he decided to punish Sawant for all his wrong doings. Vijay decided that if he is going down he will take Sawant with him. He wrote a lengthy mail to vice president of the company describing all the events and wrong doings of Sawant. As expected nothing happened, the VP didn’t even reply to him, perhaps he didn’t even check the mail. Then he decided to drop a mail to the HR head but he god no response from there too. So Vijay did what no one expected him to do, not even he himself though every employee once in a while always thought about doing it to their manager. He hacked Sawant’s account and wrote an abusive mail to the CEO of the company saying that the company is shit and he deserves better and he should be made CEO immediately. Sawant was soon sacked, vanished as if he never existed.

But Ravi was still behind his tail. Vijay got a ‘karan batao’ notice that day from the HR department. Vijay tired and frustrated went with that letter to the temple he left visiting long time back and found his mother there. His mother immediately noticed the frustration and tension on his face.

“Vijay, what happened, kya ho gaya tujhe”, She exclaimed.

“Maa, thak gaya hu mein maa system se ladte ladte, kabhi weekend par bulaya jata hu, to kabhi weekend par bulane par gali khata hu, kabhi GL ki chamchagiri karta tha, aaj dusro ki chamchagiri sahta hu, kutte jaisi halat ho gayi hai mein , no Sunday, saato din kutte ka kutta hi rahta hu, thak gaya hu mein maa, is jindagi se, mein ye jindagi chor kar jar aha hu.

“Vijay, aisi baat na kar mere bête”

“Maa, tension na le, mein mar nahi raha, marna hota to usi din mar jata jis din promotion mein meri rating kam hui thi, mein job chorne ka faisla le chukka hu.

“VIJAY, ye tu kya kar raha hai, job nahi karega to teri EMI ki kist kaise bharega tu, teri shadi kaise hogi, future ke liye paisa kaise jama hoga, bank credit card chin legi, thoda to soch Vijay.

“Nahi ma, is jillat bhari free ki coffee se khud ke paiso ki ek cut chai acchi, yaha ke subsidized food se dal roti hi acchi, maine faisla kar liya hai maa, mein paav bhaji ka thela kholuga, apni marji se aaunga apni marji se aaunga, rate bhi meri marji se decide hoga aur best thing would be ki mujhe koi order dene wala nahi hoga waha par.

Vijay established his PAAV BHAJI thela pretty well, and get it pretty famous as along with the paav bhaji thela he also used to sell navratan oil there for tension, Dairy Milk for kuch mitha ho jaye, Himami fast relief for all those who got back pain by sitting for very long time, and even Dabur Hajmola if someone has eaten lots of extra Paavs.

“I love my life, there is freedom here, no one to tell me when to come, when to go, what to do, what not to do” thought Vijay.

Suddenly a harsh voice broke his series of thought.

“10 minute pahle bola tha 2 Paav lagane ko, sunai nahi deta kya, jaldi karo ab”…………………

The Unforgettable Kishore...

It was such a delight to see the beautiful doodle of Kishore Kumar on Google today as a gesture of respect on his birthday. Kishore Kumar, the prodigy, the genius, the person who god blessed with multiple gifts and someone who left such a strong impression on the world that even after his death, those who are born much after his time are also die hard Kishore fan. Listening to Kishore can change your mood and can completely turn over your mind. You may become very sad from being happy or you may get cheered up when you are sad. Such is the magic of Kishore, he can make you laugh, he can make you cry, he can make you sing and he can make you dance. A complete entertainment package who was miles ahead of the era he was born.

Kishore Kumar excelled in every department be it singing, acting, direction, production, screenplay or whatever. Whether the role of a friend cum guru in padosan, the movie with melodious songs like “Kehna hai Kehna hai” and “ Mere Samne wali khidki mein”, Kishore Kumar tried his best to help his apprentice cum friend Sunil Dutt to get the girl of his dream and he also helped him to fight the powerful classical singer “Mehmood”. We all remember the epic singing fight “ Ek chatur Naar”. Kishore Kumar’s acting brilliance can be seen in movies like Pyar Kiye Ja, Chalti Ka Naam Gadi, Half Ticket and many more but Kishore was made for singing, we can only wonder that someone who was not trained in classical singing or any form of singing has generated such beautiful and memorable songs that continue to remain in people’s heart forever.

It is said that Kishore had a very harsh and unpleasant voice in the childhood but once he was punished and made to stay outside and he cried for a very long time and after that the quality of his voice was suddenly improved a lot. There is another version of this story which says that Kishore used to prank a lot in the childhood and once he accidently got injured by a knife during playing a prank on his mother, cried a lot and ended with his magical voice. Though his elder brother Ashok Kumar has already established himself in the industry, Kishore made his own path. Earlier he used to copy KL Saigal a lot but SD Burman suggested him to develop his own style and that’s how he came to his signature style “yodeling”.

Kishore had his own identity and style in the era where there were many great contemporary singers like Rafi, Mukesh, Manna De, Mahendra Kumar.  I think the best part of Kishore was the way he inserted pain into his songs, one can literally feel it. If you have ever loved someone deeply and ended up being hurt then just listen to 2 of the songs “ Mere Mehboob Qayamat Hogi” and “ Meri bheegi bheegi si palako mein rah gaye”. For the young hearts he has sung “ Mere Sapno ki raani kab aayegi tu” and “ Roop tera mastana “. For those in love he has “ Hame tumse pyar kitna ye hum nahi jante” and for the heart broken he has “ Mere naina saawan bhaado”. For all the brothers he has “ Phulo ka taro ka sabka kehna hai” and “ Meri pyari beheniya jab banegi dulhaniya”. His tribute to life in “ zindagi ek safar hai suhana” and “ Musafir hu yaaro”. For the love at first site he has “ ek ajnaabi hasina se yun mulaqat ho gayi”. The list is long, so is the diversity and the variation of songs with only one conclusion that Kishore was a versatile genius.

Kishore+ Rajesh Khanna, was the ultimate form of romanticism. In fact, Rajesh Khanna rose to stardom only after Aaradhana and Kishore’s magical voice and great songs has the biggest part in Aaradhana’s success. Kishore has an immense contribution in almost all of Rajesh Khanna’s biggest hits like Daag, Namak Halal, Aaradhana, Do Raaste, Amar Prem etc. Amar Prem has the legendary songs like " Chingari Koi Bhadke", " Kuch to log kahenge logo ka kaam hai kahna", " Ye kya hua kab hua", Kishore literally lived the pain and thoughtfulness of all these deep songs. Rainy season is perhaps the best to listen to Kishore’s song be it the deep and heart touching “ Rimjhim Gire Sawan” or the delightful “Bheegi Bheegi Raato mein “ or the playful “ Aaj Rapat jaye to “. Kishore has also given the voice of both male and female in a song “Aa Ke Dil Pe Lagi Jaise Seedhi Najarai, Hai Gujaria “, such was his brilliance, fit in all form.

Despite all the magic and masti he created on the silver screen, Kishore was lonely deep inside. He used to create lots of funny scene on the sets of those director who hadn't paid him. Also, he was eccentric and used to stay away from human and preferred talking to his trees. Some says he used to call them his closest friend and has named them also. He married 4 times still there was a stark loneliness in his life and we can feel it in each of his songs. The man who created magic on silver screen lived a tragic life but he would continue to rule the generations ahead. Immense respect and tribute to this iconic genius, the unforgettable Kishore.

alvida to ant hai aur ant kisne dekha

ye judai hi milan hai jo humne dekha

yaado me aakar tum yuhi gaate rahna

kabhi alvida na kahna, kabhi alvida na kahna

2 Short Stories

STORY 1:

You bought a cat. It’s a beautiful cat, very cute at the first sight and so adorable that you can’t leave it even for a second. It has large innocent eyes which are very childlike and are so convincing that at times you feel helpless around it. It is furry and soft and you like to stay as much close to it as you can. In a very less time, you get attached to the cat. You care for it daily, you care for it so much that it is your top priority always. You feed it, scent it, and bathe it. You try to make its life as much comfortable as you can. You can even compromise with your priorities and comfort just to make sure that your cat is living a peaceful and luxurious life. You do not expect much from the cat, but you expect that it will be at least show some gratitude for the care you are showing for it, but it never shows that. As a matter of fact, it takes you for granted, treat you like you are the slave and it is the master. It shows tantrums when you are not fulfilling its wishes and its mood is so unpredictable that you are slightly scared of what it will do next. It has nil attachment with you and shows no loyalty at all. It shows great attraction for your friends though, it will try to mix up with them and get as cozier as possible. They will also show a great interest in it, and you would end up sitting in some corner sulking alone. The only time this cat will show little bit attachment with you is when you would finally stop caring about it and feeding it. Then it will try to win over your heart again with all kind of sorry faces and apologetic gestures and deep inside his mind he knows that you will forgive it. Initially, you are very firm on teaching the cat a lesson but you gradually you get carried away and forgive it and the same circle starts again. You become so weak in this single sided relation that you can’t even think of giving this cat away and take another pet or to live alone for a while as you are so attached you start defining your life by it and the cat knowing it enjoys life without any serious commitment or putting efforts from its side as it knows it has become an inseparable part of your life.

STORY 2:

Your neighbor has a cat. It’s a very pretty and attractive one. But, your friend doesn’t care about it much and pay no heed to its requirement. You didn’t like it. You feel sympathy for the cat. You start taking care of it without the knowledge of your neighbor. You spend time with it more often. You feed her and clean her on regular basis. You get so attached to it that you think about it all the day. You think about permanently buying it from neighbor or stealing it from him. The more time you spend with the cat, the more you grew fond of it. Your neighbor somehow senses this and there starts a cold war between you and him. Your neighbor restricts the cat now and does not give it any chance to come outside and spend time with you. Both, you and the cat do not like it. You are sure that if now the cat has to make a choice, it will choose you over your torturing neighbor. One day, you sneak in your neighbor’s house to steal the cat but you realize that it is playing with your neighbor and it is way happier than when it plays with you. You realize that the cat will remain loyal to your neighbor as he is the original owner. You decide to distant yourself from the cat but you have developed such a soft spot for it that you can’t deny it help whenever it seeks help from you. You live in constant painful life as all you want is to free the cat permanently from all the tortures of your neighbor but all the cat wants is some temporary relief and your company for a while. Meanwhile, your neighbor starts hating you intensely.

MORAL:

Story 1 is the situation when we give a person that much special place in life which he/she doesn’t deserve and doesn’t ever care about let alone respecting it. That person might be your bf/gf or a very special friend but in the end, that person would end up hurting you and make your life miserable. That person would always shown keen interest in other people but would never pay any heed to you. Whenever you are on the verge of taking some strict decision, this person will completely change his/her behavior. They would apologize, plead guilty and would promise you that they won’t repeat their mistakes and they would indeed behave for a while but after a while same vicious circle would start again. This person would never hesitate to take help from you and then eventually would blame you for all the care you showed as they never asked for it, it’s you who did it at the first place and would finally tag you as mean and selfish if you are doing against their will. I know it’s hard, but for the sake of your own peace of mind, kick these kind of persons out of your life. Yes, the end would be hard on you but it would save you from lots of troubles and problems in the future.

Story 2 is the situation when you have befriended someone who is already committed to some other person. This committed person might be in lot of pain and may need emotional support and as a matter of fact you should help this person as much as you can, but you must learn where to draw a boundary. Don’t start over expecting and getting hopeful. You should remain confined in the boundaries of a friend, else your fate would be same as “liquid” of “pyar ka punchanama”. You would be respected only as long as you are providing constant emotional support and agreeing with this person, the moment you start raising your expectations and demanding a larger role in this person’s life, all you would get is insult and isolation. This person would never leave his/her gf/bf for your sake no matter how screwed up their life is and you must keep that in mind. Try to be a good friend and never to be an indirect decision maker or at the end of the day, you would end up as the ultimate villain who tried to make distance between two lovable couples and you will stand alone facing stark criticism and insult from all.

adviceadda : " aakhir puchne mein kya jaata hai "

Ever since we gain consciousness, we start asking questions. Questions of all sorts, all types, questions that make sense and questions that make no sense at all. Questions that are necessary for our development and questions that just create fun nothing else. When we are young, our parents answer our questions. All kind of question, without getting frustrated or irritated, they guide us and show us the proper direction. As we grow, our siblings become our encyclopedia and we ask them all sorts of random questions. Then there are our teachers who not only address our personal queries but reply to the whole class so that everyone can get benefit from it. 

But, as we continue to grow up, our sources become less and less. We are supposed to develop common sense and find out the answers by our own. Everyone is busy in their own life and not many people would like to give attention to any query of ours. Parents have their own troubles, teachers are not interested in anything apart from their subject, siblings have their own problems then we rely on our friends. Everyone in their young age look for a wise person who would magically vanish their problems and can act like an encyclopedia having answers for everything.

We have other sources too. We would google our problem, look at all sort of random sites which most of the time would provide some random answers and then ask you for money to consult some professional. We search random books and magazines and read all the ‘problems’ column in hope of finding a matching case but most of the time we are disappointed. The problem with searching our problem is that our problems are huge and much diversified. Youth have all sorts of complicated problems ranging over a variety of topics. We are concerned about our career and don’t know we should head in which direction. We are concerned about health and in a continuous worry that we are getting fat. Some of us are getting bald and losing their hair very quickly and feeling ashamed to go out in public while some others are having other health problems that they don’t know whom should they consult with.

Relationship problems are found in abundance and the best solution looks like is to emit out all your frustration on facebook via random status and pics. There are other social problems too like inability to develop an impressive personality and failing to mix up properly in any social circle. Youth are concerned about fashion advices also while some people believe in living in reality and are concerned about financial education and proper investment guidance.

Instead of putting efforts in multiple directions for all your problems and ending up confused and messed up eventually there is a single platform solution for it now. “adviceadda.com”, is a platform designed especially for youths keeping in mind all their requirements and general queries and providing them all the necessary resources which will help them to sort out their problems.  Queries are usually handled by experts who have years of experience and a vast knowledge. With the tag line “ puchne mein kya jata hai “ , adviceadda is there not only to serve you but also to provide a platform to show your talents and interest and also to make you learn.

From education to career, from relationships to depression, from legal issues to money, from fashion to lifestyle, from fitness to health, anything you can think of is available there. Now there is no need to consult all your friends and read reviews from various sites if you are planning to buy a new gadget. You can directly ask for the best one here.  Apart from just the ‘asking’ part, another great feature is the ‘learning’ part. You can read on variety of topics to enhance your knowledge. It’s more or less like a complete package for youth where they can find everything they want and even ask for something if it is not available.

So, for any query, any question, anything you had in mind that you want to find answer to, do visit adviceadda.com once after all “puchne mein kya jaata hai”.

Placement Guide for freshers

This is a short guide I have prepared for all the people appearing in placements, it’s strictly based on my own experience and what I have heard and seen during placement procedure. I don’t claim it’s 100% correct but I am just sharing my experience and perspective and I hope it would help many.

First of all, we have to analyse any placement procedure from the company’s point of view. They need to hire people. Either they would recruit a lot or recruit very less, either they would recruit according to capabilities of candidates or they will have a fixed number in their mind and accordingly they would recruit. All in all, there are lots of factors involved and you have to balance your performance somehow so that you can clear the process. I would try to draw a general picture here and then point out specific difference between mass recruiters who hire in bulk and normal recruiters who hire less people.

   1)  Written Test

The first phase in most of the campus recruitments is a written test and it’s a very crucial phase because many capable people fail to clear it. It may be entirely an aptitude test or may be a mixture of aptitude and technical. Some test are adaptive and some of them have sectional cut off. Let us look at all the general sections:

 a)   Quant: It comprises the basis mathematics that we all learn till 10^th class. Typical topics are linear equation, time and distance, speed, geometry, permutation and combination, statistics, functions etc. It’s better to revise all the formulas though by instinct you can attempt most of the questions as they are easy and do not require much calculation. Still, practice will give you confidence to attempt most questions in case there is negative marking. Try to attempt as much as you can and hunt for easy questions which are direct formula based. It’s a scoring section as everyone has at least 12 years of exposure to basic mathematics and all are comfortable in it. It’s not much tricky like other sections and mostly direct questions are asked.

 b)   VA: Verbal ability is not only vocab. It covers the entire English section. So let us not call it VA, let us call it English ability section. You might be asked vocabulary based question like synonym, antonym, and pattern based questions. There might be para jumbles, or RCs. The important point here is, you can’t mug English and can’t prepare for it in 10 days. You have to learn to develop an instinct for it and have faith on your instinct. One should try learning English in the most unorthodox ways and the best way is to get exposed to it as much as you can. Watch SITCOMS, MOVIES with subtitle on and watch them closely, listen to commentaries and news, read novels and newspaper, read as much English as you can and you would not require any dedicated preparation. Still, for the sake of gaining confidence, you might learn some basic grammar rules and their exceptions, mug up a few general words and practice some question to get a feel of how to attempt the section.

  c)   LR: LR has  most interesting questions and some people are naturally good at reasoning so they won’t require any special preparation for it. All you need is to focus on the problem as you don’t need to learn any formulae for it. It just requires brain, but as we say again, practice would make you comfortable while attempting this section so better try a few before the actual test.

  d)   DI: There might be a separate section for DI or not, it’s an easy section. You need to study a chart or table or some other structure and answer accordingly. If your calculation speed is fast, then you can collect lots of marks in this section and it’s a fairly easy one.

  e)  Technical: Technical section may contains variety of question like output of C/C++/JAVA program, or finding errors in a program, or theoretical question. It might have question from algorithms or subjects like network/OS/Software engineering. The point is, you can’t learn whole 4 years of your engineering in a week so better you take a gist of all the subjects instead of deeply studying everything. It’s better to master one or two subjects and be thorough with the basics of other subjects so that it might help you in interviews too. Even if you do not know a language or a topic, still same rules and concepts are applicable in technical and by careful analysis and some presence of mind you can eliminate few choices and make a very good calculated guess.

General rule for clearing any written test would be proper time management. As there are many other rounds afterwards, so mostly major chunk of people are able to clear the written and they are designed in the same way at least for mass recruiters. So the important thing would be to attempt wisely all the section, attempt at least few questions from everyone for a balanced performance, don’t take anything on ego and be confident. It’s always better to have a little practice beforehand and speed and accuracy should be balanced properly.

    2) Group Discussions: There may or may not be a GD. It varies from company to company. Still, there is no such thing like only those who are brilliant speakers can clear this round, they certainly have an edge, but there are various other factors. So one should never be under confident about this round.  In a GD, listening is as important as speaking. If you have no clue about the topic given, you can just listen to what others are saying, form some perspective and valid points and then speak in the end. If you are not able to speak a single line in a GD, still some co-coordinators give such person chance to speak and in that case if you listened carefully you can give an impressive performance. It’s always better to be short and concise and more importantly say only relevant things, don’t say anything for the sake of speaking else it would do more harm than benefit. It’s always better to know the current affairs and some sensitive topics that are raised more and often and are always debatable still you should be prepared to speak on anything that you are not even aware of.  You can practice in groups for it or practice alone at home to get more comfortable.

    3) Case Studies/ Video Analysis/Others:  Generally mass recruiters do not have this round. Only a few companies have such round. They will give you a case study and ask certain questions from it or they would show you a video. They are interested in the way you can ‘infer’ from things. It’s a game of presence of mind and how well you can present your thoughts and ideas you have just formed. It’s better to go on your instinct and trust on your capabilities for such round instead of giving too much thoughts and getting confused and under confident.

   4)  Interviews: Interviews are the most feared, misunderstood, overestimated rounds. As they are usually the last phase so they are very crucial and it always involved lots of uncertainties, an environment which can make you uncomfortable and nervous, a single mistake and a heavy fine for it. There is no abc for cracking interviews, as it has lots of variables in the equations, still what matters is giving your best performance and having the mental satisfaction that you did the best you could. Let us first have a brief discussion on resume first,

a)   RESUME: Resume is another thing people stresses a lot, thinks a lot, consults a lot and are always confused whether they had the best one or not. In short, resume is like a menu card and instead of setting a general menu card, it’s beneficial to know beforehand what the customer wants to eat and only present those contents. Resumes should vary according to different companies and so should your mindset when you appear in an interview. Let us look at all the section that must be included:

General Information: The upper side of resume contains your general information like your name, contact number, email etc.

Objective: Don’t copy your objective from someone and don’t try to make it too much fancy and complicated, just look at the role you are applying for and accordingly write a simple statement that you can justify keeping in mind your capabilities. Objective should be written with the perspective what companies want in you rather than what you want in your life.

Academic Qualification: Just write that in tabular form in a presentable manner.

Skills: Usually comprises technical skills or depend on the company you are applying for, prioritize according to that order and only write those skills in which you are really skilled instead of the casual flamboyancy we usual do, because really deep questions might be ask from the skills section.

Training: You can write about any professional training you have attended and have a certificate of proof for it.

Projects: Write the name of the project first, then explain it in details if it is for a technical company or in short if for other company and write all the relevant technologies use. Try to write a content that tells the working of project in a neat way. This is a major point in most interviews so be very careful about this.

Seminars Attended: If you have certificates, you can write it also, rarely any questions are asked from it and you are expected to know the gist of the seminar you attended and relevant questions from it.

Achievements: Usually we write achievements after 9^th class and usually those for which we have certificates, they may include both the academic and extracurricular ones.

Extra Curricular: If you are getting short in technical stuff, extracurricular might save you, if you have a diversified profile then you can turn up a bad interview into a good one by explaining all the extracurricular activities you participated and your experience/ learning from them.

Hobbies/Strength: They are optional and if you have space you may put it. They are asked sometimes and you may be able to give some very impressive answers during cross questioning.

NOTE:  Take the printout of the resume on bond papers and always keep at least 3 or 4 extra copies of it because your interviewers might ask you for extra copy.

b)   FOLDER: Your folder is the complete package for you. It should contain your resume, all the mark sheets, certificates and various proofs. It should be well organized, neat and clean and all the things must be in proper order. Generally, you do not put your folder on table, you keep it in your hand and hand it over to the interviewers only if you are asked to do so.

Interviews are an assessment of a person from various different angles. You can google it out on internet the general question asked but do not go by the answers given in it. Interviewers are not fool and you can’t make them, don’t give the usual answers like disguising your strengths as weakness or the usual stuff that coaching classes make you mug up. Be genuine and yourself, that’s the best policy as you will never feel guilty or regret about it later but don’t be stupid. If you are genuinely stupid then also try to act sane for a while. Firstly, appear in the proper dress code, always keep a pen, look neat and clean, and be confident, your body language must advocate for you. Don’t be nervous or anxious. Just be calm but don’t be casual. Don’t answer too much but balance your answers accordingly. Wait for a while, think what you are going to say and then only say it. If you are not able to reply for few questions or replied incorrectly, don’t panic and mess up the rest part. It’s natural; they don’t expect all correct replies from you. In fact, they might not even be concerned about the quality of your reply and may be assessing only your body language and communication skills. Don’t have any prejudice about interviews, as there are no definite steps to crack it up, it’s always uncertain because the person who is interviewing you is also a human. He has his own perceptions, prejudices and mindset and it’s not always the case that you would be able to please it. It will remain uncertain and unpredictable and that’s the beauty of it. You don’t require any preparation for it, just knock the door, walk in there and give your best performance because the only thing require there is to present yourself in the best possible way.

Let’s go through some general tactics for mass recruiters and normal recruiters:

a)  MASS RECRUITERS: These are the companies who recruit in bulk i.e. they took a major portion; hence they focus on certain skills rather than giving stress on specific technical skills.

1)  Communication skills: Yes, if you are good at speaking then 70% of your work is done because it is often given a large emphasis. If you are good at convincing and able to talk properly even if not fluently then you would easily make the cut. However, in no way it means that those who do not have good communication skills won’t make it, it’s just one of the factor still try to focus on it most because those with nil technical knowledge also gets in because of good soft skills.

2) Aptitude: Aptitude would certainly helps you as there are many companies who do not include technical section in the test and there will only be the aptitude test.

3) Basic Technical Knowledge: There would always be some technical questions and mostly they involve basic knowledge so you must be through with the basic concepts, they may ask you real time application of this basic concepts or something that would relate them with real life so at least brush up them once.

4) Project Work: Your project work will remain key to your entry, if had worked on good projects and you are able to explain them, it would work as a huge plus point.

5) Knowledge about company profile: Just go through the company’s profile once, or google it out and read it, mug all the people who are in key positions and some brief highlights from the history. They could act as bonus questions.

b) NORMAL RECRUITERS: They do not recruit much people, mostly in single digit and are interested in specific people who satisfy their criteria.

1) Knowledge about the role and how you fit in: Whatever role the company is providing you should be thorough with that role, and how you fit in that role. You have to sell yourself for that role and prove that you are the best candidate.

2)  Deep knowledge: If it’s a technical company, you must have deep technical knowledge about all the important subjects and also practical knowledge. They can ask questions from anywhere like databases used in Facebook/picasa, or how much memory a word document takes or all the network layers and their uses so you have to do hard work for it.

Lastly I don’t want to dishearten, frighten or scare anyone or say something negative but it’s a fact. Interview processes are not only unpredictable and uncertain but often unfair sometimes. You may be perfect candidate for a role, far better than any other person and then also you might get rejected and a person far below your caliber may get selected just because it was his day and not yours. Never get disappointed and sad because of few failures. Those who are capable will sooner or later find their way and achieve much larger success. So don’t pile up all of your expectations on a single process and get so much attached to it that you would stake your entire self-confidence on it. Be hopeful and positive and expect the best, you would end up learning no matter what the final result is and that will surely help you in later life.

PS : Those who have any specific placement related question might ask me in the comment box and I would try to reply as soon as I can and others with the same query would also get benefited by it. I would share my personal experience of seating in multiple companies in the upcoming post so that it would further help the candidates.