The Interview

Kala scoured through the ‘Situations Vacant’ column. It was a routine almost to grab the paper first in the morning before her father took it his hand to read, and see whether any suitable opening was advertised for a computer engineer. She was not a fresher. She had four years experience in an MNC and she had expected that it would be quite easy for her to land a job. How wrong she had been!

The break that she had opted for to give quality time to her firstborn and weave a mother-child emotional bond had been initially for six months but since she and her husband were a nuclear family by choice, the thought of leaving her child with a nanny or a day care was not appealing. This made her extend her break to two years. She did not regret it one bit. But now, Vivaan had got admission in a Public school and her parents had been willing to take care of him for one or two hours. She slowly gave a thought to going to work again. For the past one month she had been asking her friends and scouring job related websites as well as newspapers in the hope of coming across a job that would not entail late hours. She had attended a few interviews too but though her qualifications and her experience stood her in good stead, the timings were a perennial issue.

As she ran her eyes through the column, one advertisement caught her eye.

“Dad, look at this one,” she exclaimed. “This company wants a computer engineer with minimum three years experience for quality control section. The incumbent will not be required to work after office hours as also on weekends.”

Her father was skeptical as usual. But Kala mailed her CV to the email Id given in the advertisement. Within a few hours, she got a call.

“Is that Kala Goutham?” asked a female voice.

“Yes.”

“Ma’am, I am Nirmala here. We went through your CV and we liked what we saw. We have sent you an email with the complete address of our office. Would you come in for an interview tomorrow at around 11.30 am?” she enquired.

Kala was thrilled. She at once agreed to be present for the interview.

The next day, dressed in her formal attire, she made her way to the Bandra Kurla Complex, where the office was located. It was raining heavily. Just as she was trying to locate the name of the building, a car drove past splashing muddy water all over fine dress. The man who was driving the car got down and apologized, but her dress was ruined and she was in no condition to attend the interview.

“Don’t you look on the sides when you drive?” she shouted.

“Sorry, Ma’am,” he said apologetically.

Kala did not deign to give him a second glance as she was disappointed. He walked away.

‘This job seemed so right, and this had to happen,’ she thought ruefully.

Just then, she met Lily, her classmate from school, who was apparently working in the same building.

She poured out her story to Lily.

“Kala, you still have ten minutes to attend the interview. I will take you to our office washroom. Try and clean up the mess as much as you can. Maybe you can still make it,” said Lily dragging her to the washroom.

Kala tried her best to remove the stains of the muddy water, and though a few were persistent, they were not very visible on the dark background.

Thanking Lily, she decided to proceed with her interview. As she entered, the receptionist stood up.

“Are you Kala Goutham?” she asked smilingly. “I am Nirmala. I was the one who called you up yesterday.”

“I was caught in the rain and had a slight mishap,” said Kala, returning the smile. She recounted the incident and Nirmala was sympathetic.

She looked at Kala’s slightly stained attire and said, “That does not matter much. It is not very visible. Don’t worry. I will confirm with the boss and you can go in.”

Within a few seconds, Nirmala called her into the cabin of her boss.

Hesitantly, Kala stepped in. Though she was confident about her knowledge and capabilities, the fact that she was still in her mud-stained attire did hold her back a bit.

She looked up at the man who was supposed to take her interview and she was stunned. It was the same man who had splashed the muddy water on her dress and had tried apologizing. She squirmed uncomfortably.

“Here we meet again,” he broke out into a laugh.

Kala did not know where to look.

The man put her at ease immediately, saying, “I liked your spirit. The way you shouted at me made me feel like an inconsequential worm, and I almost ran away. Anyway, the least I can do for you now, is give you the job.”

Kala allowed herself a wan smile. She suddenly caught the humor in the situation and joined him in the laughter.