The Date with Destiny

Most of you who take the pain to go through the random assortment of my musings already know this story. But then I had told someone that I will write it. And here it is, for that person, and of course for the sake of the writer in me :). It's a coincidence of sorts that I am writing this a day after I have received an interesting offer from the same set of people; a day before an exam which till some time ago was of the most concern to me. However it all changed that day, for that day was nothing less than a date with destiny.


It was the 4th of October 2008. Deloitte had come to our campus to recruit. It was the first time that they had come and I was quite keen on working with them. Finally here was the kind of a company that i really wanted to join. So they started the placement process with the usual presentation about the company and that was followed by a written test. The test was quite easy and I was confident of clearing it. I did.

We were then divided into groups and given a case study. It was a unique experience for all of us as none of us had ever done that sort of thing before. After the case study, there was a presentation. On the basis of the case study and our presentation, they shortlisted 27 people. My name wasn't there. And I was feeling pretty bad about it. The case study had gone well and the presentation, though not perfect, had been above average.

I came back to my room, pretty disappointed at blowing this fabulous opportunity. I still couldn't believe that I hadn't made it. Anyways Gol suggested that since we were free for the day we might as well head to Ahmedabad. Those were the days of Durga Puja and I had been looking for an opportunity to attend one and so I said yes to him. After the usual delays, courtesy Sobu et all, we were finally ready to leave. Just then Khyati called and asked us to wait for her. I just couldn't believe it. It was already past 5, and we hadn't even started our journey. As we were waiting for Khyati to get ready ( now all those who know her, or for that matter know any female, know how long that wait is ;P) G suggested that we go to the Club House to watch the Ramleela practice. Having nothing better to do, I said fine and so we both headed to the Club House.

While I was there I got a call from Mundra saying that come fast you have an interview right now. I told him to shove it as I was in no mood to joke. And he was like mazaak nahi kar raha, seriously hai. Well, I raced back to my room, changed back into formals and rushed to the CEP, that is the place where the interviews were being held. All this in two minutes! ( and people say I'm lazy!! lolz ;P )

Chadda was there with my resume and I handed the same to the HR lady. Fine so I gave my interview. By now it was too late to go for the Puja, so we all just decided to head to Sanjha Chulha for dinner. It was while I was waiting at GH0 for some conveyance that i recevied a call from Saru saying that I had made it!! :D

Now that we know the story, let's move to the most interesting part of all. How did I get that phone call... I don't even know if i actually remember what i was told about it. I was so outta this world. Anyways I guess it was something along these lines..

One of the guys from Deloitte was talking to Mundra after his interview, asking for his feedback on the process and all. He said that all was fine except for the fact that some of the guys who should have made it, didn't. Mine was among the few names he took. Fortunately for me, the guy was the same one who had observed my case study and my name must have struck some chord ( another benefit of having a unique name ;) )Well so he goes inside the room where all the Deloitte people were and a couple of minutes later their HR lady comes out and said that there had been an error on their part, somehow my name had been omitted while copying the list of names from one page to the other. She asked our placement officer if it was possible to contact me. That's when Mundra called!!

I have always believed in luck. What happened that evening simply reinforced my belief in Destiny. If not for the delays caused by Sobu and others we would have left for the Durga Puja a long time back. Had it not been for Khayti's call, I wouldn't have been in campus after 5. Had it been anyone else, other than the guy who had observed me during the case study, talking to Mundra, I probably wouldn't have made it. It was as if the entire Universe conspired to make sure that what was destined happened. It was like the various pieces of the jigsaw fitting in just the perfect fashion. I do believe that to an extent you can shape your own life, but then there's Fate!