Lathika's Hope

It was 10 AM. Standing in the bus line, she was reading a set of financial papers. “Madam, Could you please go inside the bus?”, Shouted a fellow who stood behind her.

Hurriedly, dumping her papers inside the Gucci Handpurse, She ventured inside and stood quietly. It was a bright sunny day of October in Mumbai. People were facing a tough time with the heat that transition period offered. And Lathika had to face another Interview.

Today was just like any other day for her. Since last eight months, she was just prepping herself for the group discussion, personal interviews, series of interview rounds which followed, telephonic rounds, aptitude tests etc. Every odd interview she went, she thought she will make it anyhow. She pulled all the stops to succeed the interview but the truth is she did not. She had to make two hours of travelling to and fro to attend the interview sometimes. All she wanted to try and try to get in somehow.

Hello, please take me through your CV.

Lathika smiled and gave her entire background, worklife experiences, challenges that she faced and overcame. It was not a tough attempt for her. The flow was as easy as if she has recited her CV. It spoke of her experience. The experience of giving multiple interviews. Before the interviewer could ask, she was aware what would be the next question. Strengths, weaknesses, reason for leaving the job, the company profile, current CTC, expected CTC, notice period and blah blah blah.

Would you be able to handle the pressure the job will offer? What she would answer? She did not know if she could handle that pressure or not but the pressure which every company provided in the form of not giving her feedbacks was what she was handling it efficiently.

After 30-40 minutes of discussion, the manager asked her to wait in the lobby for feedback. If you talk about ‘wait’, Lathika is very good in handling that. As she waited after each round patiently to know what exactly the feedback is, what went wrong, when would be the next HR call. After following up with them, ultimately she had to wait. Lathika gave a nod and waited in the lobby.

As she was reading the outlook magazine, she saw a healthy girl carrying heavy back bag. She smiled at Lathika and asked her how the interview went. In an instant, you could make out that the girl was fresher. Lathika quickly told her the series of questions that the interviewer asked her and came back to her magazine. It was close to one hour that she waited outside the interview room. She asked twice to the receptionist about the feedback but did not get any answer. Lathika distracted herself thinking about the pending work that she had to do for her wedding. It was just 2 months remaining for her wedding and she had to finish several tasks. And then when she closed the outlook,a tall HR lady walked in. She was wearing high heels, tight formals with a dark brown lipstick. HR and its flamboyancy, Lathika thought. She told Lathika to carry on and they will call with the feedback after evalutating few people. Lathika was frustrated, angry but at the same time she did not wanted her day to go bad. She smiled again to that HR lady and walked out. Now elevator teased her by making her wait for another 10 minutes. It was eighth floor and she was helpless. She gave a sigh and waited.

The Bus came to an halt.The driver shouted ‘ Kalina ‘ twice. Lathika ‘s stop came. So was her interview venue. She jumped from the bus and thought this time she will make it somehow. It was a new day with lot of hopes,aspirations and dreams. She entered the plush office with a smile on her face. Entering her name on the register, She sat on the first floor meeting room. Yes, she was asked to wait.