Fate and Serendipity!!

Long long time!! as i return to my blog, not because i had nothing to share, but because i had no words or patience to write. Continuing from the last blog, with words like Belief in BITS... I finally landed with a job in Wells Fargo. I just remember the lines that took me through the two rounds of the interview where they selected 5 out of 70. The strangest part was that I have to mention my sidie's name again in this blog entry.. Yes he was the best performer in that interview and we both cleared it. Coming back to the punch line.. "I have already sat for 9 interviews. This is my 10th interview and I am confident of clearing it. If you want a confident man in your firm. Take Me". If i had boasted something of this sort in my 1st year, I would have got a great deal of ragging, m sure from my batch itself..

But words are words.. u never know how different impact they leave on different people.
The final verdict... I had a job dated 4th April,2008. And then... as usual.. u get a thing and you dont respect it.. I ditched Wells Fargo.. Prashant.. well last week he enjoyed his first salary.. and yes i greeted him all the very best for his life.. and that this was just one great step to be followed by many alike.

So, the story of shift from job to another frontier is what takes up the next portion of the job. The entry I suppose is set to be so big that I wanted to give links to other pages.... that coz of my lazyness i dont want to finish in a single go... But yes.. this entry would be completed.. without fail..

As they say.. truth is stranger than fiction.. probably we will come forward with this sentence more than once!! But the reference as well as the impact would be different.

It was 6th June.. and with delays... I had just enough time to apply fr visa and give the interview.. to finally get it and fly to US. God when made us... didnt want us to learn what satisfaction is.. And we delay this learning to the next step in life... everytime..
I had everything then... I had a job in Wells Fargo.. and a job almost certain in Oracle. Life is so predictable.. and the verdict being a good life ahead... (me thinks!!) . And then the Indiana Bloomington I-20 came.. that I had to collect in Delhi.. My first journey towards final destination started here. Train got delayed by 12hrs in Patna.. and I took a general ticket for another train.. that eventually got me to Delhi... 12hrs late.. plus the comfort of the general class.

I was in Delhi for 15 days. Backdrop of the story shall be reveled later.. coz I dont want to get predicatable as I write this down. Watever.. after 15 days..I returned back to home. !!
We go back to 1st June.. That day I got a mail from Purdue telling me to confirm if I wanted an RAship in College of Technology, Purdue.... and I reluctantly said yes to it.. just in time.. coz some how I was more convinced that IUB was a better destination. with MS CS , then Purdue with a degree MS in Technology. Purdue said about half time assistantship and I had no clue what that meant. and thought I still need to give half the fees!!

So, after I returned to home from Delhi, around 18th June.. I had to just wait for Purdue I-20.. coz by that time i was sure I would give my Visa interview for Purdue, with my sister convincing me everyday about importance of brand name. I was more concerned about a cheaper university. Finally both thought process ended to the same result... PURDUE.

Next run to Delhi was by the end of June again with a general ticket ....coz time was important. This time the general compartments were full packed.. and I got to sleeper.. ended in getting some place just near one entrance of the coach also paying fine for the first time. This was to file the Visa fees. Each trip to Delhi was important then.. coz of more important reasons.

The return journey had the same fate.. ended up travelling for 24hrs for a journey that in ideal conditions should take 14hours. There are two stories being plotted against the time axis. I am describing the one that relates to just going for MS... the other more important story atleast deserves another blog post. I keep writing it.. coz I would need to take reference of this post as I write another one.

Day 17th July... Visa interview was fixed, again Delhi!!

I took a gap of some 10 days coz i had to figure out the finances I need to show in interview.. With no clue of how things happen.. and with no relation to edulix, or orkut.. or any other group.. I was sitting in a small township in Bihar... trying to figure out how to get loan sanctioned.. My father being in bank was always a plus.

Reached Delhi on 16th.. Just before my interview, my sister called me up telling that her sources confirm about a lady, who interviews there who is suffering with DontApproveVisaTrauma.
In the interview each of us are given a token. There were two rows for F1 visa interview. The odd numbered were going to THE lady and the evens were going to a safer zone. I was '63' !

At '55' the lady's window closed for a 10min break. And when it reopened.. the even were the sufferers. I was still '63'. The man at the other window helped me saying Purdue is a great place.. and confirmed my Visa.

Delhi was finally done with!! Next destination was Kanpur.. for getting my Passport with Visa. I got my Visa delivered in Kanpur Bluedart Office before time. and hence again a general travel in IRailways. Somehow everytime I was taking a step to going abroad.. my heart sank... (there were good reasons to it.. but i am to be blamed for all). Kanpur confirmed by departure to USA.

My last journey was to Nagpur between 1st and 4th August.. Went to Delhi one last time to board my flight. to Birmingham, Alabama, my sister's place... and finally to West lafayette, Indiana, US on 12th August,2009.


We have reached the end of a chapter. But the most important question has still not been answered!! Question : Why this blog afterall?
Answer: There are few things in life you cannot decide for yourself. For those decisions there is an external force behind you. Things become bigger than trivial when that force is 'Divine' . There are several arguments to it. When the world was gloomy with no jobs in campus.. and me desperately needing an admit for MS..I got my 4 admits clicked in April. When I received an admit from Purdue... first, they did not gave me funding.. I reluctantly put YES on a form that asked if you are coming to Purdue.. That reluctant event.. was driving by Force. Next when I lost hope with money... I got the RAship... and Purdue became the automatic choice.. Visa interview.. the flip in odd and even.. got me working.. and finally.. my most important asset .. lost faith in me. There were various incidents.. when till the end moment just toiling left no open road..but some Force... got things in the direction, IT wanted me to move... ... and I have moved on...... from Pilani to Purdue.. and from India to Indiana......

In BITS we Believe!!!

Just 4 months back, towards the Brand Factory, me and my sidie.. were plying in an auto, we talked of few things... which meant the least to us then..... but irony...... is wat makes small things big enough to be accomodated in a blog....(at least).

My sidie said.... " Look... I will ask my manager to consider this six months internship as part of experience and pay me atleast 5.5lakhs per year...and then probably I will consider getting into the firm else the world is full of options. I replied: "Actually, even i think you must get good work also, See my company.. it will pay me 8 lkh.. but how does that work out when you have to do the same thing day in day out."

So that was just one part... To continue with the day in day out... the only thing we did was to find fault in the present job.........(ok ok ...internship it was..). But both of us were lucky to have the best teams. And that was the only consideration why my firm was such a place to be visited every day.

4 months down the line, we stand at the starting of febraury... to be very very honest... to both of us, our firms in all way.. are the best places to be into.. Irony is.. we are in our campus.. with our internships over... and struggling...

We again go back some 20 days.. 19th january. Well that was the day our campus placements began. A list of about 33 companies.. we estimated that on an average each company will take 6-7 ppl, enough to accomodate all computer science and information systems students. Ok... now from 8lkh i had compromised to 5-6 lakhs... and I dont know about prashant.. my sidie.. but he would have been very happy with the same package. Companies came ... went... took 1 by 5th of what we expected.

Everything was worth sitting for. Its consultany...no issues.. if it pays.. and pays well... its a very very good firm. Then came THE company. Paying 2.9lkh per year.... That time I thought I was very clever and used to go for every aptitude test, for the sake of practice. Anyways not a big deal. We all learn from our mistakes..
That time I went with all flukes.. and came back slept. Night 1 am sidie calls... tells I got selected and have to come over for GD.
We compromised on it.. decided not to blabber.. and once thrown out.. we will come back ..to sleep.

In GD, I was cracking jokes and prashant was only entertaining those.Another wingie, rahul was telling stories we never heard of. Destiny.... he went back and we both got selected.
Next morning there were already 3 interviews scheduled for me. From morning 7:30am.. I went into for THE company's interview. Good explanations about salary being low were only good, but not sufficient.. and plus the bonus of few (hardly)technical questions... made it a serious issue when there was only HR round left.
prashant.. got a chance to inaugarate his suit.. came happy after the interview saying that he talked for 5 min. and the interview lasted 30 min. And we both got selected for the final HR interview.

Good thing .. we got 2 days for the HR interview... There was a compromise made. I got out of THE company. and prashant got into.. a 2.9 firm.
Its almost 1 week now .. after that event. Now, we have very few companies in hand... and hardly any paying more than 2.9. and the journey from 5.5 to 2.9 and from 8 to 2.9 has left just few words in hand.... but still with the hope...
... In BITS we believe.....

But, the element of surprise of course to all.... have given ppl (in this campus), inspiration to write better GTalk status messages. Of course... i came out of the routine... Faith typo things... not because... that has gone out of my life.. but because that has become such an ingredient in daily living.. that it doesnt need a status message to be conveyed....

The positive part is.. we still have 3 months in campus.. and somehow... everyone feels not everyone will be placed this semester.. but everyone feels he will get placed....
with the wish that the second notion comes true.... the senti sem continues.................................