I was waiting at Hotel New Kenilworth, Kolkata, at nine o’clock sharp in the morning, because I was told by Mr. Mukherjee, who had taken my first interview a day before at the same hotel, to visit again the next day morning at 9.00 A.M. to meet with his boss, Mr. Anand-General Manager (Marketing), who was to come from Mumbai by the morning flight for the final interview.
The Receptionist at the Hotel was very courteous and very kindly allowed me to wait for so long at the reception and also offered me a cup of tea. It was almost 8:00 P.M. in the evening but nobody by the name of Mr. Anand had checked into the Hotel that evening till then.
Meanwhile, the new team had come at the reception and they enquired again from me about the purpose of my waiting. I narrated the whole story to the new person, who took charge at reception counter for the night shift and after carefully listening to my story, informed me that Mr. Anand’s visit has been cancelled but in his place one Mr. Sharma from the same Company, had just checked in from Poona.
I was very exited and tensed because in place of Mr. Anand, now Mr. Sharma had come and with great excitement I asked his room number. The Receptionist gave me the room number on the condition that I would first speak to Mr. Sharma before going into his room. Therefore, as per the instructions of the receptionist, I called Mr. Sharma on the intercom from the hotel lobby: “Good evening Sir, my name is Gurcharan and I was told by Mr. Mukherjee that Mr. Anand would come today morning for taking my final interview, but had not come, is everything okay with him?” Mr. Sharma very politely greeted me and said sorry for having kept me waiting for so long for Mr. Anand. Besides, he also informed me that Mr. Anand could not come due to hypertension and that his Doctor had advised him not to travel for a week and take complete rest. Hence, in place of Mr. Anand, he had come.
I asked so many questions in a row about his health, the reason of flight delay etc. and if he was feeling alright at this point in time and finally suggested to him in a very hesitant voice: “Sir, you must be feeling tired and exhausted coming all the way from Poona, and therefore, I would come the next day morning for the interview, if it’s alright with you”. But Mr. Sharma immediately responded in his very cool and soft tone: “No no, you better wait for five more minutes please and I would call you right away and we would finish the interview today itself, because tomorrow morning I am flying to Delhi, alright.”
The Receptionist called me within five minutes: “Mr. Singh, Mr. Sharma was calling you in his room; you know his room number?” I said yes and gave him a big smile, thanked him and immediately proceeded towards the elevator to meet with Mr. Sharma in room no. 203 which was on the second floor.
The distance between the reception and room no. 203 was only of three minutes but for me it was as if three hours and all sorts of negative feelings and fear started coming to my mind. What will he think about me as I had waited for more than 11 hours for this interview and there was no guarantee that I would get this job. They were looking for an engineer to sell capital equipments in Eastern Region which were very expensive Tool Room machines but I being commerce graduate who was having the experince of selling commercial vehicles till then. I didn’t know what all questions he was going to ask me in the final interview. I thought, he may be angry also, at this hour of night could any sensible person ever bother someone for interview at this odd hour? I was a stupid fool waiting like an idiot for them for so long, why?
There were two more candidates, who had come in the morning to meet Mr. Anand along with me and had left within half an hour of waiting, but here I was waiting for eleven hours like a fool for the said interview without any information from the person supposed to interview me.
Before I could knock the room door, I found the door being opened by a five feet six inches tall, very fair, good looking, handsome, gentleman, who shook my hand with a very warm smile and immediately made me very comfortable with his gesture and body language, making me easy and relaxed within few seconds and asked me: “What will you have, I am ordering some snacks & coffee, what about you?” I immediately said no to his offer, but he insisted, “You must be feeling hungry, have something” and ordered one pot of tea and veg. sandwiches for me to the room service.
Within next fifteen minutes the Coffee, Tea and Sandwiches arrived and he first offered me a cup of tea and said: “first let’s eat something then we will start our interview? Meanwhile, he started enquiring about me, my family and my job. After finishing the tea, he told me to wait at the Reception and fill in the Bio data form. He said, he would call me back within next ten to fifteen minutes.
It took fifteen minutes to complete the said bio-data form and when I returned to his room, he was talking to someone over phone about me, when he saw me at the door; he waived his left hand and called me inside. After finishing his talk with his boss at Poona, he took back the said bio-data form and started asking questions. And at the end, he asked me: “You like reading books, which one is your favourite” I said I have many favourite books but “Fountain Head by Ayn Rand” is very special.
He than asked me about the Fountain Head and names of the characters, I gave him the brief of each and every important character of the said book, starting with the main character: Howard Roark followed by Dominique Franken, Peter Keating and Gail Waynand.
I was really very surprised to meet with Mr. Sharma, who remembered each and every character of the book “Fountain Head” and we both were sharing similar opinions about all these characters. The discussions continued for an hour and suddenly he said: “It’s too late now, you better go home and we would continue our discussions at Poona when you will come to join us, alright, all the very best for your future and good night”.
At the end of the day, I feel, its patience and passion along with requisite qualification definitely makes the right-mix to get suitable career opportunity in the corporate world today.
I got the letter of appointment within 15 days and as per the plan joined his company in first week of May at Poona. I spent best years of my professional and personal life in the said company. I not only got a good job in a good company but also association of a very caring, kind, loving and nice human being whom I love even today the most. May God bless him and may all his dreams come true, Amen!
With Prayers
Gurcharan
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