Reincarnation - Sandy to Sandeep Balan

16^th February 2007

7: 00 pm

Do I have to go tomorrow?? Was it my name only that was on the list?? What if it was not mine?? Won’t it be embarrassing to just go there and comeback??
Anyways whatever happens, can’t get any worse that the day when I didn’t get into the Indian software giant Satyam na. This is anyways some small company only, so let me try my luck. If not then something else is awaiting you sandy.

9: 00 pm

All the documents ready. Okie let me not tell anybody I am attending the interview tomorrow. Unnecessarily will have to take the friends sympathies and the mother’s sorrow if I don’t clear. Enough explanation I’ve given to people after failing to clear each of my earlier tests with fate. So better keep mum. As mummy tells. Whatever happens happens for the good.

17^th February 2007

7: 30 am

Sandy, is there any interview today?? How come you are dressed in formals??
No mummy. Have to give a seminar today, that’s the reason (had to lie even on that day).

9: 15 am

Hey Suyash, have you checked the list dude?? Any confirmation if it was indeed my name on the list??
No dude, nothing till now. Actually no other Sandeep S seems to be there in our college and these company guys anyways don’t have the original list with them. So you don’t worry. Just go give it your best shot.
Okie Suyash thanks.

10: 30 am

Last group for group discussion. 6 outta 10 from CMRIT. Topic: Euthanasia.
Hard fought battle for supremacy. In the end 3 selected.
Counted myself lucky as I was one of them. The other 7 were as good.

12: 00 pm

Room no 305, my very own classroom. Don’t know if it was luck, but ended up with an electrical engineer as interviewer for my tech interview. Just the stroke of luck I was waiting for. Never has any interviewer made me that comfortable. Poured my heart out for the next half hour. And never have I spoken so much truth in any of my earlier interviews. Came out of the hall almost hundred percent sure that I’ll clear this round, but worse things have happened to me before. So just managed to control my excitement. Deepak Kasturi was indeed a gem of a man.

12: 20 pm

What happened Vikas??
You’ll have a HR round in sometime dude. So be prepared.
So does that mean I’ve cleared tech??
That I am not sure dude, but it almost means you’ve cleared.
Hmmm… control yourself sandy. It’s still not over.

1: 10 pm

Excuse me maam!! May I come in??
Have to accept she bambooed me, roadies audition estyle.
Found a negative trait in everything I told positive about myself.
Somehow wanted this to end quickly. And then.
The unthinkable happened. Sandy popped again.

Interviewer: do you have any questions??
Sandy : yes maam, what technologies does ACCENTURE work on?????
Interviewer: what?? Accenture???
Sandy : Oops. No maam. I meant Capgemini.

That moment I thought it’s all over.

1: 30 – 3: 30 pm

Switched the cell off
Was kicking myself for screwing it all up after giving a flawless performance all day.
The wait was madness. Two hrs felt like two years. Tried taking a quick nap. Was virtually impossible. Sandy, keep your cool. It might just be your day.

3: 45 pm

Results time. Yahoo. No jokes. My heartbeat had stopped.
Reading the names out one by one.
Have experienced all this before, and had reached that state where I thought never will my name figure in any such lists.
Don’t remember the first two names called out.
Then Amritha Tejaswini
Anish Ninan (was next to me, smiled at him with great difficulty)
Sandeep B
What??? Did they really call out my name???
Anish assures me it was mine. Again heartbeat stops.
I’ve got a JOB. It’s still not sinking in.
Is the wait really over?? Have Capgemini actually recruited me??
By then all names called out. Few of them had their heads in their hands, and the rest off the heads were jus waiting to pop off their shoulders.
There were wild celebrations. Hugs exchanged.
Sandy, u’ve finally got a job. Hmmm… still it’s not sinking in.

5: 15 – 5: 40 pm

My most memorable walk ever from HAL Police station stop till my house.
Have never felt happier. Walked like a king with head held high above the shoulder.
But still didn’t call home. Wanted to witness that special moment.
Got some sweets on the way back. Surprise surprise.

5: 45 pm

Mummy was on terrace.
Went to the terrace. Mummy was surprised to see me there.
Asked what the matter was??
I didn’t know how to tell it, words were just not coming out of my mouth.
Hesitated, and then gave her the sweets.
And told her. Your son has got a job mom.
She could not digest what I told. She asked again??
And I told her the same again. I could see the tear in her eye when I put the sweet in her mouth. That moment. It finally sunk in.
That sandy had actually got a job and what it means to the person who was always waiting to see that day for the last 22years. Thanks a lot mom.

It has been exactly one year since, lots of things have changed. A carefree sandy has now become a corporate sandy. Added responsibilities, commitments, priorities in life. But I love life this way. Been one year since my life took that drastic U turn. And it truly made me believe that someday all the hardwork you’ve put in life will bear fruit. So learn to be patient.

Congratulations Sandeep Balan. Hope you have a great career ahead. All the very best dude.

Better done than said...

Just about a week back, I was on cloud nine. Was made the captain of the first ever Capgemini football team in the weirdest of circumstances. And to put the icing on the cake, scored the first ever goal for capgemini and ended the match with a hattrick. But afsoos ki baat hain ki we ended up conceding four second half goals and drawing against an IBM team that didn’t look half as good as us. But still I had a feel, that our team had finally arrived on the corporate scene and greatness awaited us. Hehe.. but I was mistaken or rather I can say that my conclusion was premature and thoughtless and reality beckoned us not too far away.

Two more matches to go. Win one of them and we are thru to the next round. Sounded very simple. No fuss whatsoever. But our wicked yet practical minds were taking us on a different route. We were overconfident or ignorant or god knows what, we thought we’d walk thru our 1^st match against Sankalpa and so a lot of analysis were being made throughout the week as to where we’ll finish in our group etc etc… so we came up with a plan to play badly in the second match of the day, lose it and finish 2^nd or 3^rd in the group so that we get easier opponents in the next round.

Hehe… but life aint that simple. We lost our 1^st match to Sankalpa software( funny name for an IT firma) by the odd goal in three, that too the goal coming off a penalty before the start of the game because the opponents turned up late to the ground. Pathetic performance. Especially by the captain, who saw the best and the worst of his games in his 1^st two corporate matches.

So now just one way out. Beat Samsung next, or go home losers. And that’s exactly what happened. Though it was a much improved matured performance, we still lacked The FITNESS The EXPERIENCE The COMPOSURE to pull off a win. And the end result the same as previous with identical scoreline. Capgemini had come and gone in a flash, nobody even noticed them. Time to pack up and say goodbye to the 1^st tour without even getting to play on the final day of the event. As the captain always says “Its all in the Game”. Time to move on and look ahead and play better ball next time around.

Two defeat’s in a day were heartbreaking enough, but the third one literally killed me off. Never expected Arsenal to get run over that badly at Old Trafford. 4-0 was too much of a drubbing to digest. Might be the injury worries, or the champion’s league at the back of their minds. Whatever it was, it all went awfully wrong for Wenger and his boys. But have to accept it did hurt more that finishing at the bottom of the table leading my company team. That always gets me to think. Why do I give so much importance to someone else’s playing football than to my game. I might never be able to answer that.

But at the end of the day, I know I’l get another chance to lead my team sooner that later when lots of things can be set right.

And I also know that we’l get another shot soon to break that cocky Nani’s legs since we are going to Oldtrafford again in two months time.

So will be waiting to see who celebrates first.

Sandy the Capgemini Captain, or Sandy the Gunner. That only time will tell.