On a beautiful morning...

The alarm bell in my cute little 'ORPAT' clock, the one with a sticker saying - "Rs.120/-", kept ringing for quite some time; it seemed. I woke up, bleary eyed, after a 3 hour sleep slowly noticing that something is ringing. I kept looking. Then 2 minutes later I realized it was my clock. Then a minute later I switched it off. Syed Masthan and Kurrinchi were both staring at me. I looked at Syed and told him "I'm really sorry!", realizing that it had woken him up some time back, and that he was there in the hall, looking at me, with a hope-against-all-hopes mindset that I'd turn it off. We exchanged a few words and laughed, as with most of our conversations. I set the alarm to "7:00" and started to sleep. Only that I couldn't.

The thought "slave of sleep" kept running in my mind. It was because I woke up yesterday at 7:15 P.M. for a class that started 15 minutes earlier. I was really dejected (yes, dejected!) on my way to the class. So this morning, that thought crossed my mind and I didn't feel the pleasure of covering head-to-toe with the lovely bedsheet and going back to business.

I got up, and went slowly into my toilet and started brushing my teeth really slowly. I was reminded of one of dad's "piece on life". As a young boy, (the type of young when I used to be at school and when I used to fuss a lot for waking up) my dad used to tell me to wake up and do things slowly. He'd tell me that in a way that there is no hurry or a reason why you should be doing it, but just that you do it slowly and leisurely at your own pace, just like that. I never understood the beauty of what he meant till today.

I made a beautiful coffee, switched on my slow desktop, folded my bedsheet, and went into the veranda for a sight of a beautiful, priceless, lightly foggy morning. It was not cold, and I sat there in the veranda on a chair and sipped my hot coffee, admiring the beauty of this moment - birds chirping, lightly foggy, not cold and the wonderful onset of spring. You got to see Spring right in front of your eyes, only here. The trees come back to life, when I first wondered during November, as to how the hell that barren, naked tree would ever look beautiful again. Magic. It did. I very clearly remember that thought running in my head that day. Anyways, easily the most beautiful morning.

The sound of the huge air cnditioner machines outside the apartments made me nostalgic, of my first morning here in Dallas, in Waterview Apartments, in Tanay's place. I woke up early the same way and found the sound odd. It was not loud, but just that you never got used to it being from a place that was so simple, though crawling towards modernity.

And here I am writing.

Anyways some things have changed since the last post. Craig never returned the call. Maybe he was there out somewhere with his kids for the Spring break, or probably he rejected his candidate upon hearing a pathetic voice message. It so happened that last monday, I got a call from Caroline, the kitchen manager of THE PUB saying that they would be pleased to hire me if I was still interested. I took up the job. Finally, I got an on-campus job to take care of my living. Rather, to save my face. I immediately called up my dad; I hadn't spoken to him for about 2-3 months now, saying that I got this at least. I had made a vow in my mind that I wouldn't call him up until I started at least taking care of my living. Now, after about 7 months, God gave me an opportunity to call up dad. It gave me a great feeling to tell him that "I wanted to tell you about this, first!". He was thrilled. $7.5/ hour the pay. I made it, maybe, but not quite.

The Pursuit of...

Dear Diary,

I don't feel that odd addressing you now. Its pretty ok with me. Anyways, I got overwhelmed day before, when I got a call from Cisco for an Intern in the Knowledge Management Group. The call was from Austin. The twist in the story, is that I was not present at home to receive the call. My roomie Syed, attended the call and told him that yours truly was not there, and took down the details. The guy's name is Craig Tobias. It seems he had asked me to call him back the next day. So yesterday, I kept trying his number, and everytime I reached his voice mail. I also had an interview yesterday for an on-campus job in The Pub - a place on campus, where they don't serve alcohol, ironically. So after the interview, I came home and left Mr.Tobias a voice message. Then I slept, and woke up at about 4:45 P.M. to leave him another voice message. Anyways, I'm writing all this with the expectation that Mr.tobias by some chance while googling his name gets to see this cribbing post, feels sad for the poor boy and calls me again to schedule an interview.

I'm actually an asshole, if you see technically. What I mean is, I, a very normal student, got this call by a great stroke of luck, and it was my frickin mistake not to be present there, and here I am cribbing. Hence proved.

I hope the society becomes crazy and considers things like what I'm going to describe as great credentials. For instance, what if, I put on my resume under - Calls Received for Intern - a section for what it states, Knowledge Managment Group, Cisco Systems Inc. So the employer can keep his palm on his mouth, and give me the job, blindly, without any interview. Unfortunately the world is not crazy. Sometimes normalcy drives you crazy.

The thing is I haven't told about this to my mom, for she will really feel bad about this. I haven't told this to my close friends either. However, some people here at UTD know about all this. They feel I was foolish in not having a cell phone. Sadly, they are right. But, what I'm thinking now is, what if I buy a cell phone and never get another intern call; by the magic of Murphy. Then I'd begin to hate the cell phone. Oh forget it, its getting too complicated.

I believe in one thing. If something has to happen, it will. I have seen this happen for me - the day I got a job in HCL Comnet. Perhaps I should have worked there. I could have avoided this disappointment.

Anyways, I managed to find something about my prospective manager. He is the manager, first of all. I read a case study and guide by him. Damn me. I'm still trying to impress him, relying on a probability.

I'd like to believe in a probability that he returns the call after hearing my voicemail, and schedules me an interview. You must have an attempt. You can fail. No problem. But you shouldn't fail without giving your best. I hope it happens.

Regards,

Me.