Interview

The day was August 30. Parking my bicycle in the bike rack, I sauntered toward AXLE. I entered the building where the HR offices of AXLE were located, walked to the elevators, and tapped my foot impatiently until an elevator arrived. Once inside, I pressed the button for the 2nd floor. When the doors opened, I was greeted by a pretty, artificially straightened hair lady. She was wearing a Kurta over her denim pants.

I glance down at me, self- consciously and shuffle my feet; I was wearing knee-length dresses that barely made me look like a teenager. I started fiddling with the fastening of the strap of my wristwatch and realized I was glad I decided to throw on some accessories.

"Sid, hold on for a sec? The lady glanced at me with a raised eyebrow. "May I help you?"

"Yes. I'm Shristi Deb. I'm here to see Monisha."

"Monisha?" The lady asked skeptically.

"Yes, Monisha Chandra. I'm Shristi Deb, and she has fixed an interview for me this afternoon," I tried not to sound childish.

"Really? Please take a seat. The lady waved towards black leather-covered chairs. "You can wait over there?" I sat nervously on the couch and tried not to bite my nails, tried would be a wrong word as I couldn't have bit my nails either because I had braces on my teeth. But anyway, it was my first job interview ever, and it was with AXLE, a prominent Multination Company in the city, so I was quite excited about the possibility of me working close to home and in a big company. It was 15 minutes of cycling from home to there.

A few minutes later, Monisha appeared wearing a pink shirt and a pair of grey pants.

In the interview process, the focus was on assessing communication skills. So, I kept telling about myself to three different levels of management. For me talking wasn't the hardest thing to do; after all, I quite enjoyed the experience. But I couldn't stop going over all the worries and fear, and I had all the rights, too, as this was my first experience.


The same day, an hour later.

Much to my joy, the interview went better than I could have ever expected, and I was now employed in AXLE services.


I like the job, but I don't like the night shift. As going to the gym was the second favorite thing to me in the world, right after talking nonsense to anyone. Here I had to talk sense able things and miss my gym, and I wasn't really ready for it.


I turned and started to leave when Monisha called my name. "Shri, then I can expect you to join us from next week?"


I fumbled for words, gathered some confidence, and said, "I will love to work with AXLE, but I really don't think I can manage with rotating night shifts. "With that statement, the smile fell from her face, and we both looked at the ground.

Then she looked back at me for a second, as if she was considering something else to say, and then I saw evidence of a faint smile on her face.


"You can work with us in the morning shift with our UK based process. Go to tower 9 and meet with the manager there. Give your interview again. I will write his name and number on your resume."

A big smile flashed across my face. I thanked the lady for her consideration and kindness. I thought I seemed to have luck in my favor.


It was an eight-minute walk, which I thought was probably good for me, but it was a bad idea. Alone, I started walking along the footpath that led to tower 9. This time, too much to ask by Niall Horan and Everything has changed by Taylor swift was on my Superset, and I put on my earphones and plugged it in my phone.

But only after four minutes or less of walking, my leg was aching from the exertions. Though I cycled 45 - 50 minutes in a length, walking wasn't my thing.

I looked down at the name written on my resume. Tiredness filled me, and then a cuss came forth from my mouth, "Ah Banana! I am so tired because of you, so better be nice to me and take me in the job!"

...

"Could you please inform him I am here?"

The security Lady simply gave me an annoyed look and said, "Young lady, you have already asked this three times—three times in the last half an hour, but

I am telling you one last time: He is a manger, and you will have to wait."

I looked around the area and blew out a long, sad breath. I was not angry or annoyed. I was just exhausted. I turned and strolled to the straight-backed chair across from the meeting room and sat down, folding my hands in my lap.

I asked myself the question, "Sankalp! What kind of name is that? Isn't it very old-fashioned for a manager?"

I heard the tired, quirky voice inside my head said, "He must be old too, a very old-fashioned name for an old guy. Isn't it obvious? He is a manager here!"

I blew out a breath as if I was agreeing with the voice in my head.

After another hour of waiting for the interview, a man probably in his late 20s or early 30's approached me. He wore slacks buckled low under a slight potbelly and a rumpled t-shirt.

"Shristi," he called with a professional tone. I stood up. "Please follow me," he said. I accompanied the man and walked inside the interview room. The man, once inside the interview room, said, "I am Vijay. I will be taking your interview now." After introducing himself, Vijay extended his hand, and I responded with a cordial handshake. By this time, I had totally lost my confidence. I could possibly wonder why Vijay came to take my interview and not the other manager, Monisha told me.

"You have been rejected already." A voice in my head told me.

"So, Shristi, can you tell me something about yourself?" Vijay asked. I spoke at length about my academics, my interest in writing, and my career interests for the next two minutes. "That's good. Shristi, you have just completed your bachelor's degree a few months back. "This brought a slight smile to my lips, and I nodded.

I started telling him about why I want to join a full-time job right after my graduation. He prodded on, "So how many stories you have written, and can you tell me one?"

I responded, "Five."

My hands clutched in front of me as I began to tell a story I had written recently. I stopped telling as I felt someone approaching from behind me. A slim-build man came in and sat in the chair on the other side of the table.

I was surprised, or maybe it was shocking, seeing him there because he was the same guy who walked, jogged, and stridden away. I haven't felt this way in a long time, or I never thought I will meet him as a person.

"Shristi Deb," he said evenly, allowing a smile to fade away slowly. "Sankalp Koli," he offered and extended his hand, giving me a handshake. I tried not to show the shock on my face, but it was difficult not to break into a wide grin. I was happy to see him finally. He was not what you'd call devilishly good-looking, I thought, his dark, shining eyes shone with intelligence and vitality, too hard to resist.

As usual, nervousness made me more talkative, and my voice rose into that high pitch of excitement as I rattled on, can you imagine I even told him a dessert's recipe. I was really not interested in listening because I was afraid to stop, afraid that if I paused, I would have to leave the room and leave him behind. I didn't realize how preoccupied I had become with the idea of knowing him. I was so overwhelmed.

I left the room, hardly knowing whether I was more relieved by the sense that the interview was ended on a good note or uneasy with a strong feeling that I won't be able to get the job.

"No one else did it, you did it. It's no one else's fault, it is your fault. You are responsible for what you did, and you must take responsibility in case you don't get the job!" I heard the authoritative voice of my mind, telling me.

"You're rude. You were always rude to me." I pouted again, already taking out my cell phone and calling Monisha's number that I had.

"I didn't get the job, right?" It sounded more like an announcement than the inquiry I expected it to be, yet I felt my pulse accelerate when I heard her giggle on the opposite side of the phone.

"In fact, you got the job!" The happiness in her voice sounded genuine. I couldn't make myself believe her words. Job? She couldn't be right. First job? Axel? Sankalp? Was I getting everything right at one go?

......................

I called my mom to let her know what was happening, my hair was flying behind me and squeals of excitement echoing from my voice.

I reached home in half an hour. As soon as I rang the bell, my mom answered the door. she smiled as she gave me a tight hug of "congratulation!"

The rest of the day went pretty fast for me, and I was glad when my body finally touched the bed at night. But I Couldn't seem to sleep, though I'm tired enough to. I turned my mobile data on and logged into my Facebook account. The quickly typed in Sankalp's name in the search box. His Facebook profile appeared on the screen. For a long time, I only looked at it, stared at his photo. It was an older picture; he didn't have a beard at that time.

He was unquestionably a top b-school type like his profile recommended and really quite different from me.

"Shristi?" the voice in my mind solicited, delicate, brimming with concern.

"Huh!" I answered.

"Guarantee me one thing that you will never do whatever you are doing at this point! Simply regard him as your boss, and that's it!"