The INFOSYS day :)

Morning of august 26^th, woke up at 9 am, was excited coz it was the much awaited day. Infosys was visiting our campus. The anticipation was building up, as whole of the last week me, Deepak and shobhit kept speculating the number of people they are gonna pick. Would it be higher than last year or lesser, there was still sometime for these questions to be answered but we all expected it to be around 70-80. Well, I got ready and reached auditorium where the process of filling up of forms was going on. It was good to see around 250 plus batch-mates along with 50-60 seniors from M.Tech sitting there. There I met my two companions for the day: Jitesh and Shobhit who gave me company in this day full of roller-coaster rides. Then began the process for aptitude/English test. It was a relaxed moment for me having a job under my belt but the view reminded me of AIEEE exam. The nervousness was visible of few faces. Then came the most defining moment of the day: the call from the guest house that panelists for interview have arrived and waiting there for half an hour. Me, shobhit and jitesh rushed towards guest house. There me saw the senior most panelist standing on the door. We expected a handshake with a smile but all we got was scolding. Actually the number of recruiters was thrice than what we were intimated. We had booked 5 rooms for them 3 of which were already occupied by the people who came for conducting the test. And to add to our misery, all panelists were demanding a separate room. We decided to vacate 3 rooms for them by collecting the luggage of others in one room. Then came the most defining moment of the day, while moving the luggage to other room, we saw a wet underwear hanging in the bathroom that belonged to some test conductor from Infosys. It was fun to see shobhit carrying that chaddi in his hand and placing it in other room. It formed the reason for our laughter for rest of the day. Later shobhit identified whom the underwear belonged to :p. Well, to arrange more rooms for them , we had to beg in director’s office for opening the VIP room which required lots of effort. Anyways, the things settled down, test was conducted. Then began the speculation on how many would be shortlisted for interviews. We had to wait in audi’s lobby for hours and hours. Then joined Himanshu, who missed the chaddi incident but still had a lot of thrills in store for him too. With chips, kurkure and fruit cake being breakfast and lunch, we were starving for food. But excitement for test’s result kept us away from ICH. The wait continued and continued, then came the moment.. 150 candidates were shortlisted on basis of test. It required lots of effort for us to make a branchwise list and to inform all the interviewees. It always felt good to answer the calls of successful students but those who could not make it through, the heart pained for them. All the students were informed and then began the process for interviews. Vipul had also joined us by this time. Once again the panelists scolded shobhit and jitesh as they were not happy with interview rooms, which other companies found to be world-class. Anyways the process began at around 5pm. And we knew its gonna be a long night for each one of us. We had to rush to chief warden sir’s residence for girls’ timings extension which he gave easily, thank you rajesh sir for all the cooperation. We returned to audi, it was full with some well dressed gentlemen and girls with a hope and desire of not returning jobless tonight. The process continued endlessly. The clock kept ticking and our excitement kept increasing, so did the body-ache and tiredness. At around 2 am, the interviews ended and process for compilation of results began. As one of my friends in Kota was here representing Infy, he told the number should be around 125-130. Later on of the HR person told its gonna be atleast 90 percent, that meant around 135. What a feeling it was to hear this, but the brain still kept telling, wait for the final list. Then came the list and the moment we got to know that number is 141…Whole pain vanished. There were smiles all around. The result was also declared, all shortlisted girls made it through. All my EEE mates made it through. Some were ecstatic, some were happy while others were saying “just Infosys hai yaar” to whom I kept telling that a first job is always special. But happiest of them were me, Himanshu, jitesh and shobhit coz the hard work involved had paid. We returned to room with a feeling of achievement. Dunno when I asleep but I am sure I must be smiling while asleep. My 141 friends were now employed! J

TEAM INDIA:- Are we really the “number 1” side?

When we try to recall the origin of cricket, we are brought to England: the home of cricket. This began in 1877 with first test match being played between Australia and England. Since then, gentlemen’s game has seen rise and fall of many cricketing super powers. Bradman’s invincible team was a force to match with. But the true dominance in cricket began in late 70’s, with Clive Lloyd’s West Indian boys rocking the world cricket with their performance at the highest stage. Two back to back world cup triumphs and not losing a test series for over 15 years say their success story. But more than statistics which speaks for them is the manner in which they played. Who can forget the deadly Caribbean bowling lineup consisting of greats like Malcom Marshall, Michael holding, Joel Garner and Andy Roberts? Their mere mention fills the batsmen of that era with feelings of fear and pain.  Ask Tony Greig, how badly he repents his comment “make them grovel” intended for Caribbean team during their England’s tour which not only received some bouncery and yorkery welcome from West Indies team, but lead to their whitewash. This was the era which unleashed fear in minds of everyone those who were playing against Calypso cricketers. We can’t forget Sunil Gavaskar leaving the batting pitch forced by bodyline bouncers by Windies bowlers. This is a tale of dominance, this is a tale teaching us that one should aim at being ruthless; one should aim at demolishing your opponents and bring them down with such intensity that it takes them ages to recover. Later years might have seen the downfall of Windies team, say thanks to their cricket board’s strategy but now it was the time for resurgence of mighty Australian team in late 90s. Aussie bowlers may not have such fearsome bowling attack as Windies or batsmen of likes of Richards but they still ruled the world cricket. The common thing they shared with West Indies team of 70/80s was the spirit which they played: go for the kill. Hence they adopted different strategy to conquer the world. Mind games along with some amazing talent (Warne, Mcgrath, Ponting, Waughs, Lee) on display worked for Aussies. Their gutsy declarations, their aggression, their strategy of cashing at opponents weaknesses fetched them this feat.

Their era too seems to have come to an end with India being regarded as the new “World Power” of cricket. It is nothing short of fairy tale that how Dhoni’s boys clinched world cup and made their way to spot in test ranking. The turnaround began during Saurav Ganguly’s time, which was continued by Rahul and Anil, later on with Dhoni bringing the team on the podium. I don’t think there was any team in past boasting of such mastery in batting line up. In bowling likes of Harbhajan, Zaheer, Ishant might not be as fearsome as Windies attack of 70s or as skillful as Aussie attack of late 90s but they work well for Team India. Every team Indian team appears on ground, a record or two is always destined to be broken. Then what is the reason that our number one spot remains in a state of doubt, what is the reason for us being regarded as the best team just on paper? What keeps us behind the past rulers of world cricket? Why can’t the world bow at us despite of winning so many matches and performing marvelously well for such a long time? Is it just the victories that matter or is it the manner in which they are achieved? Let us go back in recent past- was Dhoni’s idea of not going for chase in final test against Windies team was a clever move?  It’s true that the pitch was difficult but don’t we play at slower and tougher pitches back at home?  Atleast they could have stayed on pitch for one more hour and bat at a normal pace. Are we so scared of these Windies bowlers that we cannot take risk of going for run a ball chase with 7 wickets in hand?  Leave this apart, how often we see Indian team with dropped shoulders struggling to knock out the opposition? How often we see gutsy declarations from team India keeping the opposition interested in the match? How often we see Indian players cheering for their fielders and bowlers? How often we play like world champions? We have the talent, perhaps best in the world but then why can’t we convert this talent into impressive victories? Mind you, I am not talking of results. What I wanna emphasize at is why we can’t win by margins such as 3-0 or 5-0? Why can’t we go out and show this world that this it is the team which is now gonna rule the world?! I guess it’s the lack of intent “to kill”. This talent garnished with aggression and a desire to be ruthless and dominant make a perfect recipe for forcing the world to shiver with the thought of playing against India. Wins matter but victories after demolishing the opponent wins you respect. Indian team’s journey to the top is made possible because of some real hard work by players and it would be little injustice to the talent the team possesses if we can’t force the opponents to regard us as the best in the business. We are lucky to have witnessed the charisma of Sachin and the solidity of Rahul. But what we desire to witness is their names going in record book as a part of the most powerful cricketing team in the world with none other than Englishmen-the inventors, Caribbeans-the aggressors and Aussies-the prudent acclaiming this fact.

I wish that day to come very soon. Amen!