Journey to the Gates of Apollo - by Jawahir Hamza K

As is the plight of many other engineering graduates for whom I feel and empathize sincerely, I’m one of those who are still looking for that “ever-eluding job” in the right discipline. With a lot of effort and obviously a little (I’d like to put it as little) bit of recommendation, I finally managed to get a shot on the vacancy that had opened up in Apollo Tyres. I kept bugging Mr.X in the HR enquiring about when the interview was and he finally succumbed to my barrage of enquiries(more like a bugging saga) and told me to get suited up for it on the 29Th of May at 2 PM.

With a “lot” of preparation which was mostly 10 minutes of reading, 30 minutes of napping and munching biscuits to help myself from falling asleep) to meet the test that lay ahead of me, I set myself for the huge day ahead. Unlike most jobless engineers, I have the liberty of having very good friends, who find time early in the morning(even before I wake up) itself, to give me the pep talk as if I’m going to walk into the ring and stare at Rocky Balboa. To be honest, I wouldn't mind being in the ring with him after all that boost of confidence…

All buzzed up, I leave early for the interview at 12:30 PM. I think this is the point where I should be informing you guys why I leave early for interviews. I always end up forgetting or missing something essential and just in case I don’t, I suspect something untoward to happen, which usually does. So, I reach Apollo Tyres of Kalamassery and walk to the Guard who twitches his moustache as if it’s some scanning antenna and checks the top of my hair to the tip of my shoes in a glance. Polite as I can be, I enquire about the interview to him…

With all the time in the world, he responds finally asking, “Who asked you to come here today?” I inform  him saying that it was on Mr.X’s instruction that I was here. He looks at me with a sense of perturbation and disdain(from keeping him from having his heavy lunch by the looks of his saggy tummy), and says that he in his 15 years of service to Apollo had never heard of Mr.X in HR and gave me assurance that there wasn’t a Mr.X.

I don’t know what was running through my mind but I’m sure nothing could be related to mental stability. Recollecting my senses, wherever they were, I ring Mr.X up and ask more into it, and he says that the interview is at Apollo Tyres, 29Th May, 2 pm, Perambra and cuts the call.

I was like, ‘What? Perambra? Sh##...’  I ask where ‘Perambra’ is to the guard and he says its 40 km away.  For a moment I can relate my anguish to that of King Leonidas’ of 300 who is about to kick the messenger down the deep hole for bringing the bad news. Gathering a sense of reality I run down to my car and activate GPS and find that the place is only 38 km away, which I could obviously make if I am not stuck in some serious traffic. A quick glance at the fuel tank which has its pointer below the ‘E’ makes me wonder how I’ve been driving. Turning my car to the road with the idea of fuelling at the next closest petrol bunk, I twitch my bum to assure if my wallet is still in my back pocket.

No surprises for guessing if I had my wallet or not... I'm the kind of person whose wallet has each and every penny of mine stored in it apart from the countless age old bills, debit card including my driver's license. With no time to go home in between to pick my wallet, I call up my friend whose home's on the way and he agrees to lend me money for my emergency trip. I collect it from him on the way and he waves me good luck and winks with his sleepy eyes which I'm guessing could be his night shifts effect from work. I speed off after fuelling to my destination and reach there at 1:45PM and lock the car doors. Just before I turn to walk towards the gates, I notice that I locked my keys inside the car. Since retrieving that could wait, I make my move to the Guards room where he instructs me to write my name in the register.

The first two sessions of the interview comprising of an aptitude test and group discussion went pretty well and I was glad to clear them for the personal interview session scheduled for the 7th of June.

As I pried open my car's lock using a ruler borrowed from the Guards gate, I spent my time secretly appreciating my skills that could have made me a good carjacker in some good old Nicholas Cage movie and also ironically admiring my sense of punctuality which somehow outweighed my bad sense of looking into minute details.

I returned the ruler to its rightful owner after getting back my keys and looked back at gates of Apollo through my rear-view mirror trying to guess what challenge I may come across in my next visit... But today I can go to sleep happily waiting for the 7th of June, probably to come back and write more about my dexterity in handling situations :-P