Best Interview

I was driving n suddenly the mobile started whistling. The call was from Viju. I picked up the call n she asked me if i had my resume ready. "My boss asking my resume.... why?" She then explained that Accenture people are going to test their interview skills n need scape goat for that ;-)... Well not really scape goat... candidates to test their skills. I readily agreed cos i am always interested in such stuff.

Went to office n got my resume ready n went to the place. Two members (one smart guy n other a lady) were ready to interview me. I though it will start with the usual question "Tell me about urself"... he started off asking me about my work. I explained.... i was actually not prepared for this interview cos it was too short notice. So i could not organize my thoughts n words were just flowing out of my mouth. Then he asked me about my role i play in my office. Its was bit confusing for them cos it is too diff to exactly explain wht i am doing. But i think they sort of understood my role. Then they moved into my career plan n slowly moved into asking abt my family. Interview lasted for about 1hr n then they asked me to wait to give me feedback.

During the course of the interview i was totally impressed with that guy. Not because he was handsome but cos of his skills. the lady hardly asked me any questions but this guy was too good. His questions were very different n simple. Also the questions were very smart.


After 10min they called me back. He started with his feedback. He said I am a very open person. I was surprised cos thats me. He continued and every word surprised me. He had read me like a book. Actually i am very easy to be read but still in 1hrs time..... found it surprised.

Lot of praises especially about my positive attitude and my body language. Two suggestions were given... one about my assertiveness which i have already realized and have started working on. N other was about my definition of boss. I said boss should be both technically strong n with good managerial skills. However he said it is difficult to find boss man who is strong in subject n said most bosses have only good managerial skills. I realized that he was right. After the feedback session, i straight away told him that he was right in guessing about me.

I have been through many interviews n i never realized that the could read us this easily. But this interview totally changed things. These HR people are too good. It is not a easy thing to fake things to these smart HRs. All they are looking at is just ur attitude. If it is good they will find the right job for u. You could have gone for one particular posting but if they find u r best suited for another, they would fit you into that.

This is the best interview I have ever attended. 1hr just flew like few minutes. Lot of learnings from this interview session. Now i know where i have to work on n where i am good at. Infact this interview session gave me lot of confidence in myself n this came in at the right time.

Memories

After so many months this feeling came to me once again. This is one feeling I like (even though its a pain). However I don't want this. I am trying to get over things (never know when it will happen). I always wanted to talk about this but still don't want to talk about it.

Suddenly today my people pushed me into this once again. My colleagues talked about it. I got a call from a friend and she talked about it. N the worst part is I got this special call which never mentioned a word about it.

This thought was always there in one corner of my mind. I am struggling to push it deep into dark. But today it once again came out. In the past few months I never felt this hard. I felt like sitting in one corner and crying but forced myself not to. I have promised myself that I will never cry for this. However all my past memories started flowing in. Good n bad... hmm... don't know what to write here. Its very difficult to pen down feelings.

Now I am wondering how long it is going to take me to once again push it back. Why do people have to do this to me??? I know they were trying to do something good to me. But I know this will never happen. Things have never worked out the way I wanted it to.

I am not getting into that verecthi mode. This is just part of life n it happens to everyone. I very well understand this. However it is not easy to accept the truth.

I think only time can heal the pain...

Vandaloor Zoo

Vandaloor Zoo is located in Chennai, about 26kms from the city. This is a wonderful place which every kid would love to visit. You name an animal and you could see it here. There are about 92 different animals present.















During the winter holidays I took the kids to this place. It was such a good place. One thing I liked about this place is that animals were not placed at the cage (except few). Most of them were allowed to roam in their natural environment (ofcourse proper safety measure were taken).

It is about 3kms inside the zoo. The entry fee is 15 for adult and 10 for kids. You can either walk inside or take a train. Train would cost again 13 for adult and 7 for kids.
















In train you just need 1 and half hour to look at the entire zoo. They have about 5 stops and at each stop they would give you about 5-10 min to look at the animals. However we did not take train n walked as we decided to spend more time at each place. It took us almost 6hrs to cover the entire place. And the walking really killed us, but the kids were full of energy.


By the time we came out it was 3:30. Kids wanted to see the lion face to face so we decided to try safari. But it was full n the last van is at 4:00. After pleading the guy literally after begging him we managed to get tickets. The van could accommodate about 12ppl but he took almost 20 in. It was too crowded but still we wanted to continue n belive me it was worth it.

We saw the lion and lioness face-to-face. Kids were thrilled n we managed to take few pictures. We were glad that we did not miss this.


For those who are planning to visit this place

Location: Vandaloor (about 26kms from city)
Timing: Opens at 9:00am
Holiday: Tuesday
Cost: Entry - Adult 15, kids 10. Train - Adult 12, kids 7. Safari - Adult 15, kids 7.
Food: There is just one hotel at the entrance but you would not get variety there. Breakfast will have nothing so it is advisable to carry breakfast n lunch. It will be a wonderful experience to sit inside b/w animals and eat ur lunch. (However don't carry plastics. It is not allowed inside.) You could try this hotel for ur evening snacks.
Water: Good water facilities is available. Tanks are placed everywhere. However if ur too particular about water, carry mineral water bottles.
Snacks: Nothing much inside except one ice cream bar.
Very Important: Please book for train and safari as soon as u enter the zoo. Otherwise it will get filled up.