Last week my relative returned from the US to attend his elder brother's marriage. And the day before the marriage, there is a tradition existing in our part of the world, or rather our community. All the close relatives of the bride would gather together and each one had to narrate a funny incident which happened in their lives in the past year. And, if they fail to make everyone laugh, he/she would have to do a 'dare' others demanded.
It was a fun occasion and a lot of funny incidents were discussed and a few funny dares were also done. But, being a recent passout, the incident that my cousin from US narrated appeared incredibly funny, ridiculous and amusing.
I would rather narrate the incident in his own words, with a few explanatory sentences added so you get to know him better.
"After four long years studying electrical engineering, 3 years in an IT Company and another two years of MBA, I decided I had seen enough of India. I went to the US of A (my parents live there) searching for jobs.
I applied for several openings and tasted success only in my 13th attempt. The job application process and the nature of interview are so different from that over here in India. And I still remember one such interview, my 9th attempt. The interviewer was a charming young lady with a pleasing personality and a warm smile.
After the preliminary pleasantries we started talking about my academics. She asked me from which university I graduated (apparently, the westerners don't refer to college name. They only inquire about the university we belong to). So, I said, 'Mam, I graduated from the Mahatma Gandhi University, which is one of the pioneers in engineering education in our country'.
What happened next came as a surprise to me. She said, "Oh.. Mahatma Gandhi University!! Wow, that's nice.. I am a huge admirer of Gandhi, though I didn't know a university existed in his name. Must have been a great place to study, eh". She also showed me Gandhiji's talisman as well as Gandhiji's portrait which she had hung on the walls of her office.
Surprised that I was, I didn't show any of it outside (atleast I think so). To think that the name of my university would have such a profound impact on the interviewer was unimaginable.
I had heard tales of how names of people make interviewers ask questions in a particular direction. I had a friend named Minesh Happy. Whenever he went for an interview, during introduction he would say, 'My name is Minesh Happy. People call me Happy.' Inevitably, interviewers would then ask him about his intriguing, strange, funny and amusing name. And the interview would go along nicely in that direction. He always made the interviewers ask the questions he wanted them to ask and he was often successful in doing so because of his 'good name'.
However, I was not blessed with any such fancy names to play with and here was an opportunity that I could never possibly imagine. I decided to impress her further. Somehow, an urge for creativity grew inside me. An idea came to my mind suddenly (dimag ki bathi jala di)..
I told her, "As a matter of fact, this university was founded by Gandhiji himself in 1937 and it is one of the biggest in India. Some even call it modern Takshashila......." and so I went.
For the first time in my life I felt good for studying in such a 'great' university which provided me the opportunity to exploit its great name. The creative genius in me dished out even more fantabulous tales about it. I congratulated myself for not overdoing it.
The interviewer was clearly impressed with my academic background and the whole interview was going on very nicely. I thought I had nailed a job at last and I felt great about myself.
But, as it happens, what happened next was something I didn't foresee. The ardent fan that she was, she couldn't resist learning more about this great university. She opened her laptop and Googled to know more about my great university..... "
The rest, I leave to your imagination. :D
It was a fun occasion and a lot of funny incidents were discussed and a few funny dares were also done. But, being a recent passout, the incident that my cousin from US narrated appeared incredibly funny, ridiculous and amusing.
I would rather narrate the incident in his own words, with a few explanatory sentences added so you get to know him better.
"After four long years studying electrical engineering, 3 years in an IT Company and another two years of MBA, I decided I had seen enough of India. I went to the US of A (my parents live there) searching for jobs.
I applied for several openings and tasted success only in my 13th attempt. The job application process and the nature of interview are so different from that over here in India. And I still remember one such interview, my 9th attempt. The interviewer was a charming young lady with a pleasing personality and a warm smile.
After the preliminary pleasantries we started talking about my academics. She asked me from which university I graduated (apparently, the westerners don't refer to college name. They only inquire about the university we belong to). So, I said, 'Mam, I graduated from the Mahatma Gandhi University, which is one of the pioneers in engineering education in our country'.
What happened next came as a surprise to me. She said, "Oh.. Mahatma Gandhi University!! Wow, that's nice.. I am a huge admirer of Gandhi, though I didn't know a university existed in his name. Must have been a great place to study, eh". She also showed me Gandhiji's talisman as well as Gandhiji's portrait which she had hung on the walls of her office.
Surprised that I was, I didn't show any of it outside (atleast I think so). To think that the name of my university would have such a profound impact on the interviewer was unimaginable.
I had heard tales of how names of people make interviewers ask questions in a particular direction. I had a friend named Minesh Happy. Whenever he went for an interview, during introduction he would say, 'My name is Minesh Happy. People call me Happy.' Inevitably, interviewers would then ask him about his intriguing, strange, funny and amusing name. And the interview would go along nicely in that direction. He always made the interviewers ask the questions he wanted them to ask and he was often successful in doing so because of his 'good name'.
However, I was not blessed with any such fancy names to play with and here was an opportunity that I could never possibly imagine. I decided to impress her further. Somehow, an urge for creativity grew inside me. An idea came to my mind suddenly (dimag ki bathi jala di)..
I told her, "As a matter of fact, this university was founded by Gandhiji himself in 1937 and it is one of the biggest in India. Some even call it modern Takshashila......." and so I went.
For the first time in my life I felt good for studying in such a 'great' university which provided me the opportunity to exploit its great name. The creative genius in me dished out even more fantabulous tales about it. I congratulated myself for not overdoing it.
The interviewer was clearly impressed with my academic background and the whole interview was going on very nicely. I thought I had nailed a job at last and I felt great about myself.
But, as it happens, what happened next was something I didn't foresee. The ardent fan that she was, she couldn't resist learning more about this great university. She opened her laptop and Googled to know more about my great university..... "
The rest, I leave to your imagination. :D
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