The Irony of Life

“The irony of human condition is that we are so focused on reaching some point in our journey, some happiness, or some goal, that we seem to forget that the journey itself is where life happens!"   

                                                                                                                     "Author unknown”

Attending job interviews is a challenging prospect for most people; however, for Rahul, job interviews had been a smooth sailing affair, so far, as he had performed fairly well in many of the interviews, he had faced in his lifetime.  However, every time Rahul attended a job interview, he had to go through lot of background preparation and new learning or unlearning processes, based on his previous experiences, in anticipation of the interview.  He had to understand the organization, the role, the background of the company, their financials and many more such important information gleaned from internet sources or from some ex-colleagues who had worked in that company.  The purpose of a job interview was deploying right people into the right job.  Only if the interviewers had this in mind during the selection process, many of the unpleasant or irrelevant questions posed during the interview could be avoided; again, the interview process, in general, threw open many candidates who lacked the technical or required skills to operate proficiently in his/her role.  Still the interviewers had to go through the entire process for selection of the best candidate, among the list of finalized candidates appearing for the interview.

When the interviewers, sometimes asked stock questions, for which there could be no ready factual responses, Rahul had ended up making up stories around them; which in most cases, was an imaginary answer or plain guess work, not always convincing. The one question that the interviewers invariably asked was, 'If you are selected, how do you think you will be able to transform this company or bring a new perspective into the job?’.  How can a sane person who does not know the “ABC” of the organization, seriously answer such questions?  All that the candidate knew for certain was the position for which he had applied for and the first impressions he had gained on his interactions with the company personnel such as the receptionist or the HR Department official; other than that, there was nothing noteworthy for him to assess and answer such question.

Another question, the interviewers generally asked was, ‘What do you think are your weaknesses?’. As if anybody, in their right senses, would open up before the interview committee and discuss their innermost fears or apprehensions regarding their own shortcomings.  However, if one, did mention their weaknesses honestly, what if they rejected the candidate based on the responses.  Honesty is a rare virtue, but then, how many of them appreciate the human value attributes of the candidate, in an interview process.  Again, there were some standard questions, interviewers were prone to ask.  For example, ‘Why do you want to join this company’.  Rahul was not sure how he would reply to such questions.  If he had indicated that he was unable to cope with the pressures of the present company he was working with or he did not like his current boss, what would be the reaction of the interviewers.  Would they still select him as a job prospect, because he had not lied and spoken the truth? 

Most of the interviews Rahul had faced were for seeking jobs during the later years in his life.  Like they say, life had begun after 30 for Rahul; after he had upgraded his professional qualifications and migrated to the Middle East.  During the earlier phase of his life in India, he did not venture out much to seek jobs, nor were there any jobs on offer during the pre-liberalization period of the economy in India.  He had this strange lethargy and not belonging to the "aspiration" generation, he was not keen in seeking jobs or positions in life.  Quite content with the IT Operations Specialist job he had with a Private Company in India, Rahul was quite happy in the 9 to 5 routine.  There was no job stress or pressure on performance.  He just did his routine job and went home without any worries or pressures.  As there were less work pressures, he had a nice peaceful sleep.  Life motto, at that stage of his life was simple living and more simple thinking; he had no illusions or aspirations on his own skill sets.

After moving to the Middle East, he had settled down in one of the big four Audit and Consultancy firm with their Information Security Department which had offered him a decent salary.  Rahul was not pleased with his current job, though; the main reason was that his immediate Manager, was not a very considerate and understanding person. The Manager’s life motto seemed to be, to just harass his subordinates’ day in and day out to squeeze work and blow their minds with his wisdom.  He, probably, derived sadistic pleasure in bullying and underrating the performances of persons reporting to him.   Rahul stayed on the lookout for better opportunities, mainly to avoid daily friction with his Manager.  He badly wanted mental peace and a change in work atmosphere.  There were some job offers in the initial days and he did attend a few interviews, but none of them progressed into a concrete job offer.  One fine day, Rahul was invited for an interview for the position of Head of Information Security with a Retail Bank proposing to establish themselves in the Middle East region.  The Head of Risk Management, a person of Indian origin, was known to him and he was on the lookout for a fellow Indian with considerable experience, to report to him.  Rahul had appropriate work experience and right credentials for the position.  He was invited for the Interview at 1.00 PM, one afternoon.  Rahul took time off from his regular work schedule, informed his immediate senior that he had some personal work, and left his office as early as possible.  By the time he reached the Office where his interview was scheduled, the clock showed 1.15 PM.  The interviewers had already gathered in the interview room and the receptionist directed him to hurry along.  Rahul stepped into the interview room, sweating a little and apologizing for being late.  He could see that there were three of them seated in a round table.  The person of Indian origin, who was known to Rahul, was looking at him with slight disapproval, as he was a little late for the interview.  Rahul could feel that his confidence level was a bit low and the interview did not go that well. He wanted the interview to end as soon as possible.  After some few minutes, which had appeared to him as an interminably long period, the interviewers concluded their questions.  Rahul thanked them and literally sprinted out from the interview room with relief writ all over him.  He wanted to forget that he had appeared for this interview.

Rahul had a surprise in store the next day; he was informed that he had been selected for the position of Head of Information Security by the Retail Bank which had interviewed him.  Rahul was shocked albeit pleasantly, that in spite of his bad performance in the interview, he had been selected to the position.  He thought that, may be, the contact person, who had known him, had influenced the selection process.  Rahul was asked to submit his credentials the next day at the Bank’s main office.  When he went to submit his credentials the next day to the Human Resources Department, he was told that the Head of Risk Management (the person of Indian origin known to him), who had interviewed him the previous day had resigned from the Bank, and yesterday was his last day at the Bank.  This was news to him and he felt strangely disturbed because this was the person to whom he was supposed to report to, in his new position as Head of Information Security.  Rahul did not know what to say.  The Human Resources Head, who was a Middle East national, informed him confidentially, that the person who had interviewed him the previous day, had joined the big four Audit and Consultancy firm for which Rahul was presently working.  Yesterday, the day of his interview, was his last day.  Rahul wondered at the irony of the situation.  Rahul was planning to quit his firm to join this Bank, whereas his would-be boss, the interviewer, had already put in his papers and quit the Bank to join his current firm.

Rahul, then went to on discuss his contract terms with the HR Department.  The terms of employment were good and very well acceptable to Rahul.  He was asked to join the Bank as early as possible.  Rahul was happy with the salary raise he had bargained for and, most of all, relieved that he could escape from the clutches of his Manager, his immediate boss.  The very next day Rahul submitted his resignation with his current firm.  After the lapse of a month, as planned, Rahul reported to the new Bank after serving his notice period. 

As per his letter of appointment to the new Bank, he would be directly reporting to the Head of Risk Management. On his first day in his new job, Rahul was ecstatic and happy with the Bank environment. The Bank had a pleasant atmosphere and he had a beautifully decorated office, all to himself.  The perks included a Personal Secretary, as well.  After an hour or so, into his new job, Rahul was informed to meet the Head of Risk Management, his new boss, as soon as possible.  Rahul had not met the Head of Risk Management, his new boss, till now.  He only knew that the person of Indian origin, who had interviewed him had resigned and Rahul was under the impression that the position was still vacant.  However, it appeared that the Bank had filled the position immediately and hired a new person.  As he had received a summons from the Head of Risk Management, he thought this was a good opportunity to go and meet with his new boss; and get acquainted with him.  Rahul, hurried to the Head of Risk Management’s office which was situated on a different floor in the same building.   He was asked to wait for a few minutes as the Risk Management Head was in a short meeting.  After a few minutes, the meeting was over and the Head of Risk Management was free.  Rahul went into the office of Head of Risk Management, with a smile pasted on his face.  He wanted to create a good impression and appear pleasant while meeting his new boss for the first time.  The Head of Risk Management, presently looked up, stood up with his hand outstretched and a broad smile on his face. Rahul’s face had gone ashen, with dismay and shock writ all over his face, as there stood in front of him, his old Manager from his earlier Audit and Consultancy firm.  He was the new Head of Risk Management!  He also later came to know that this new Head of Risk Management, his old boss, was instrumental in selecting him for this position and not his contact, the person of Indian origin, as he had presumed earlier.  Rahul had learnt a new lesson in the supreme irony of life!

When I dabbled in Dramatics at School

Many of us would remember our school days with a tinge of nostalgia.  The days, when we, as school boys were carefree and life was great fun.  Well, some of the days were not really that good.  The bad days in school would be when we were asked to complete homework by the next day on a topic which we knew nothing or little about; we had to read the entire chapter or lesson in detail to undertake the homework; or when we were asked to stand up on the bench for apparently speaking to the boy seated next to you, while the fault was entirely of the other boy.  The other boy who actually spoke to you first would get away, while you would get caught while whispering back to him on his query or laughing at some joke the boy had cracked.  If you argued with your Teacher that the entire fault was with the boy sitting next to you, the Teacher would increase the quantum of punishment and the other boy would become your sworn enemy for betraying him and giving him away.  Well, the life of a young boy in school had its own pitfalls.

There were other times, when as a school boy, I wondered, why were we asked to memorise a complete poem and recite it in front of the class.  When the poem was clearly printed in the text book, what was the need to memorise and recite the same poem, once again.  If one made mistakes in reciting the poem, the whole class laughed.  When it was the other students’ turn to recite a poem and they committed some mistakes, we laughed louder to make them understand what the ‘shame’ part of it meant.

In the mind of a young school boy, ‘grown-ups’ were almost always a source of envy, because they did not have to attend school; they only had some office job to attend, where they paid you handsomely in return.  You could buy any number of ice creams or chocolate treats with the money earned and no one would dare question an adult on his choice of purchases. As a school boy, I always felt that the boys were at a disadvantage, compared to the ‘grown-ups’, who had everything going for them.  Of course, now as a ‘grown-up’, I feel differently; life as a school boy was the best of times, in one’s life.

I am reminded of an incident when I was in 4^th or 5^th standard; the class Teacher had asked us to enact a drama for the ‘School Day’ function.  One of the boys in our group took the initiative.  He knew the story of Emperor Akbar by heart and he had suggested that, we stage the drama of Emperor Akbar.  The boy who had taken the lead, wanted to play the main role of Emperor Akbar.  Most of the other boys in our group had no objection to this, as none of us had any experience in staging a drama.  Moreover, the boy who was to play the lead actor was taller and well-built, compared to the other puny little boys in the group.  One fine day, we all arranged to meet at the home of the lead actor.  The home of this lead actor, had an open porch in the front of his house.  This place was quite convenient to stage our drama rehearsals.  I had, albeit, reluctantly agreed that my role would be that of guard who would stand in front of Emperor Akbar’s throne.  My role had very few sentences to recite; hailing the Emperor, whenever he appears on the stage and announcing the name of the visitor to the assembly.  I had to loudly announce at the top of my voice, ‘Hail the Lord and Master, Emperor Akbar’ or something to that effect.  My role was to always remain as the main guard and attendant of Emperor Akbar.  I was told that my role is important as I would appear in every scene, whenever Emperor Akbar took centre stage.  I felt pleased when I was told this.  My role did not need much rehearsals, which was a good thing.  I did not have the patience to read through the drama scripts or dialogues and mug them up, word by word, at rehearsals.   We had prepared dialogues sheet, actor-wise, by writing down the dialogues on a page in the school note book.  Each actor had to memorise his part of the dialogues from the pages torn out from the school note book.

The rehearsals for the drama went on for almost a month.  We would diligently meet every week end, at the lead actor’s house and stage some part of the drama rehearsal.  I don’t remember we ever enacted the entire drama in one stretch.  The rehearsals were always in bits and parts.  After enacting a few scenes, we would soon get bored with the drama rehearsals and sneak out to play, Cricket.  We were more interested in playing Cricket rather than enacting the drama rehearsals.  All the boys in the group were of the outdoor type and excelled in physical sports rather than displaying dramatics skills at school functions. We, however, assiduously practiced the drama rehearsals, though we were not sure how the drama would be received by the audience.

We were asked by the school Principal to stage a dress rehearsal with the basic props required for the stage, including dresses to be worn by the characters.  We had arranged to rent out some dresses for the characters in the drama.  A decorated chair was arranged for the throne and I remember that I had taken out some flower pots from my home to be kept before Emperor Akbar’s throne.  There were more number of drama entries to be staged from participants of other classes too.  The school Principal, had agreed to watch the dress rehearsals of all the dramas, before giving his approval of the final play/drama selected to be enacted on the function day.

On the day of the dress rehearsal, we were all called on to the stage to display our dramatics talents.   We staged the play of Emperor Akbar in the presence of school Principal, although during the play, some parts and bits were totally forgotten by the drama actors.  There were some awkward silences and few slip ups.  We were all told to speak in a loud voice as there was no microphones on the dress rehearsal day.  I clearly remember that I had shouted at the top of my voice, hailing the Lord and Master Emperor Akbar; my voice had boomed through the empty hall.

We, the actors of the future, were all waiting with bated breath for the Principal’s final approval, which was to be announced the next day on the school notice board.  When we did not see the name of our drama on the notice board, we were all crestfallen.  All our efforts in enacting the great drama of Emperor Akbar had gone down the drain.  We did not have the resourcefulness to meet the Principal again to put forth a request for reconsideration of his decision.  After seeing the plays of other classes staged as part of dress rehearsal, we knew in the heart of our hearts that, our play simply, did not measure up.  We were disappointed that the careers of all the budding actors of our drama had come to a premature end.  Hail the Lord and Master Emperor Akbar!