A Thin Line - Part II (On interviews)

This post is a result of my discussion with Gautam Sewani on interviews, or in general, people's expectations during them. Generally, when you go to an interview, you are asked with HR questions like why Company X? Why do you want to be with us? So when you don't show any enthusiasm to join them, they remark that "We can't see that passion in you!".

An example: Gautam himself, Company X interview. Interviewers asked him why did he asked his interview to be postponed. He said that he just requested that if it was possible, kindly shift it as there were clashes. The commen he got: "You have a lot of ego!". Then they asked him why do you want to be with X, which he answered by saying that going for research is not an option to be available to him...so he wants to join them. The comment he got: "We can't see that passion in you!"

Now put me in that situation, press me a little more, and you will hear my opinion on that. Which I strongly believe is right. I may or may not say it directly, depends, but I would definitely mean that "Someone needs to tell you people that you are sounding like fools! You want people who are lunatic or fanatic, you definitely are talking to the wrong guy! C'mon you really don't expect me to say that ever since I was born I have dreamt of being in this company/institution! There is no place that I can be but this. That is not the kind of passion you are looking for. That ain't even true! So do you want people who are rational, who knows how to keep their feets on the ground or people who build castles in the air? I can definitely fool you and show you the passion you're looking for, but don't you want people who are honest?" And when you say it honestly, they are pretty pissed off!

So our(Gautam's and mine) general opinion on this: "If you want to hear the truth, you want honest answers, then you better have the courage to listen to them!"

Now that might have sounded a bit arrogant, but obviously there is a very thin line...

A thin line...

Finally a post that concerns some concrete issues and not lingers in the abstract domain. The whole idea is to put forth an observation of mine. When you do/say something, others can classify it as either behaviour X or behaviour Y. The interesting point to note is that X and Y can be really contrasting in the context of the action. Sounds weird? Well weird it is.

Consider writing style for an example. Forget about books/novels. Many people prefer to write in a style which will force an "average reader" to look up the meanings of the words used, in a dictionary, several times in a line. The justification given by them is that it is a "style" of writing and people are "impressed", when they read it. On the contrary, there are also people who will simply be ridiculed by this because they see it as showing off of your superior vocabulary. We really don't need to go that far in search for an example. We have our own Mr. Shakespeare here to help us. Here are a few of his sonnets taken from here:

• The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
  Is lust in action: and till action, lust
  Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
  Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust;
  Enjoyed no sooner but despised straight;
  Past reason hunted; and no sooner had,
  Past reason hated, as a swallowed bait,
  On purpose laid to make the taker mad.
  Mad in pursuit and in possession so;
  Had, having, and in quest to have extreme;
  A bliss in proof, and proved, a very woe;
  Before, a joy proposed; behind a dream.
  All this the world well knows; yet none knows well
  To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell..
• Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws,
  And make the earth devour her own sweet brood;
  Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger's jaws,
  And burn the long-liv'd phoenix, in her blood;
  Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleet'st,
  And do whate'er thou wilt, swift-footed Time,
  To the wide world and all her fading sweets;
  But I forbid thee one most heinous crime:
  O! carve not with thy hours my love's fair brow,
  Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen;
  Him in thy course untainted do allow
  For beauty's pattern to succeeding men.
  Yet, do thy worst old Time: despite thy wrong,
  My love shall in my verse ever live young.

Now imagine that being sent to you and assess, how much of that entered in your mind. So lets get back where we were. People may attach labels like fake, meretricious or in an extreme case, disgusting, ridiculous, superficial. The reason is that they pay more attention to what a thing/entity actually contains, what the gravity of the situation is, rather than the presentation. They see language as a means of communication of thoughts. There really is no need to make it complex. All Shakespeare wanted to say in these lines could easily be translated to a more decipherable/intelligible form, without compromising on the content and yet produce the same impact.

On the other hand, not using these words/styles or "ornamentations" as I call them could even earn you labels like "inferior literary standards", "boring", etc.

This is just a small example that demonstrates how something as simple as writing style could be looked upon as disgusting at one extreme end and not up to the mark with literary standards on the other. There are many more, all being a victim of this particular perceptional biasing. The problem becomes even more grave when such things are internalized into your personality and they show up every now and then. This is where a realization has to come that there is a very thin line that seperates the classes X and Y we talked about.

Next Post: A thin line - II.

Conflicting Souls.

Conflicting Souls.

Chapter 1: Prologue

It was a dark night. The moonlight swept down from the sky and embraced the woods. The shrieking of the wind, thunderstorm and lightning at a distance signalled that a violent storm was to arrive. In the midst of these, was standing a ghastly figure, at a distance, barely visible. A man shouted "Enough! I can't run anymore" I've given up", and he kneels on the ground.

The figure, wearing a black hat, an overcoat, gloves and boots, slowly approaches the man. No part of his body was visible except his eyes, enraged with vengeance. He said, "Marcus, you forced this upon you. You deserve this. Today, justice prevails.". His hand slowly goes under the coat and brings out a 9mm revolver and points it to Marcus. Marcus, shuddered, looks at Simon and exclaims, "Just do it!" and bursts into tears. After a long gaze, filled with anger, Simon pulls the trigger. A blast of smoke rises from the revolver as the sound of gunshot echoes in the valley, followed by a loud roar of lightning...

Chapter 2: 10 Years ago.

***Preview to be published.***

About me.

I just realized that I have written quite a lot of things without even introducing me. So this is me. Now don't create an image of me based on this without even knowing me. You'll be wrong. I am a typical INFJ. That stands for Introverted Intuitive Feeling Judging. You can get a lot of information on that if you search over the internet. Few are:

• http://www.geocities.com/lifexplore/infj.htm
• http://www.personalitypage.com/INFJ.html
• http://www.typelogic.com/infj.html

This is based on Myers-Brigg typology. At first glance, it really appears weird(all 16 types do), but many things are somewhat true and false at the same time. Anyways, the point worth noting is that INFJ are a rarity. Only 1% of the population has an INFJ personality type, males even more rare(0.5%). That means I am an endangered species [:)].

Anyways, some stats now. I took some tests. The results are as follows:

1. IQ: Lets briefly mention it for the sake of completeness and move on to other more important things. Its 137.
2. EQ: The results show that it is 140, and I am pretty surprised that its only 140. I was expecting somewhere around 160-180, mainly because I find myself exceptionally brilliant at "feeling" others' emotions, which brings up the pros and cons of such a thing. The good part is that you'll never need to tell me what's in your mind and the bad part is you can't hide anything.

Things I want to do in life...I'll explain here what I meant by "I have sense. Now what to do?"(written on the other blog). There are a few things I want to do in life. They are:

• Take care of my parents when they need it and not leave them behind. I believe that no one can ever repay back what your parents have done for you. You can only make an attempt.
• Give my love a flower, preferably rose, or write her something at every occasion she expects, and also surprise her at every possible occasion by the same even when she doesn't expects it, and still hope that not even for once in her life she will complain, "Care and concern....but what is this? When will you do something different? You have been doing that for years...". All I need is to find that person.
• Take each and every person that is close to me for a very special evening, and try to make it memorable for him. I have no idea how to get this done perfectly, usually I do what I feel like doing.
• Help/teach others, if they need it.

And yes, these doesn't require money or surplus time. So I want to do just one thing, which is equivalent to saying that I want to be myself...

So I think I have explained myself in a greater depth than I intended to, quite possibly in a very nice way. I do have flaws too, just like every other human being has. Now in order to know me fully, you'll have to "know" me and not read this. Anyways, thats me. Now back to writing. I'm still thinking what to write!