How I Got My First Job

How I got
My First
Job
Dr Atul Sharma
"What I learnt outside
class actually helped me
land my rst job."
How I Got My First Job
Table Of Contents
Prologue 2
The Orientation Day 5
What is Personality? 11
Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication 17
Making Introductions 28
Learning a Language 34
The Importance of Reading 40
Learning through Activities 46
Learning from Theatre 55
Durgotsav 62
A Friend in Need! 68
A Hitch in Time 73
Placement for Seniors 81
Clothes & Behavior 86
Anger & Stress Management 96
Mastering Presentation Skills 100
Battling the Lack of Self Con dence 108
Ethics and CSR 114
Summer Internship 120
Attraction – Once Again! 123
Getting Advice 127
Final Placements 133
A Farewell to Remember! 143
Epilogue 148
An Inspiring Story by Dr. Atul Sharma

Page 1
Prologue
My name is Saurabh Kumar. My life began in a small village. India is full
of villages, towns, cities, and all the towns and cities are full of people.
People have dreams. Dreams cost nothing but fulfilling those dreams
can cost you everything. If a dream gets fulfilled then it can bring you
everything that you desire but when dreams fail – they shatter you,
sometimes so badly that it is very difficult to recover. My dreams
shattered me.
I studied in the village school and played cricket ever since I was a child. During my childhood I seldom got to
bat – being asked by seniors to field on the boundary. I grew up dreaming to be a cricketer. Sachin Tendulkar,
Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, V V S Laxman were my idols. “I want to be a cricketier” is what I told anyone
who asked me what I wanted to become. Cricket players are called ‘cricketiers’ in my village.
I watched cricket on television, whenever there was ‘power ’ in the village, and I played cricket when there was
no ‘power ’. After finishing high school, I went to a college in the nearby township. I completed my graduation
and was back in my village for a holiday.

Page 2
"When will you settle down in life?" asked my grandfather, as I was about to leave for a cricket match with the
neighboring village. By ‘settle’ my grandfather meant having a decent job, getting married, having children and
taking care of my parents and grandparents in their old age.
I did not know what to say to my grandfather in reply to his question. I had just finished high school and was
waiting for the results. I needed to do my graduation and then try for a government job. My father worked for
the Indian Railways and I, his only son, was expected to go and get a government job.
In my village everyone aspired for a job in the ‘public sector ’ – a government job – the Indian Administrative
Service (IAS) or the Indian Police Service (IPS) being right there on top! The other jobs that people aspire for
are state services, central government services, railways, banking, police, defense services, excise,
customs, and a host of other government jobs. Since my father worked for the Indian Railways, it was
expected that I, his only son, should also qualify for a government job.
A doctor ’s son should do medicine, a lawyer ’s son should pursue legal studies and a government servant’s
son must get a government job, period. Being the only son in a family with five daughters and one son did not
help either. It was my parents’ dream to see me ‘settled’ and their spokesperson was my grandfather, who
never let any opportunity go to ask me when I would get settled – and in the process always left me unsettled.
With so many dreams chasing me I did not know which one to chase. I lost track of my life. I just did what I
was asked to do – like an obedient son or grandson. I was packed off to my maternal uncle’s place, in
Jamshedpur, where I was supposed to wait for my results and then go to Delhi to try for admission to the Delhi
University, along with my cousin who had also appeared for his class twelve exams.
My cousin and I spent endless hours roaming the streets of Jamshedpur, mainly the city center areas like
Bistupur market. We did not have too much money to spend so we ate at roadside stalls and ogled at girls.
This was our regular routine. We also made sure we shared a cigarette every day.

Page 3
My results came in and as expected I had a low percentage. My maternal cousin had done quite well, and he
was expected to get a seat in a good college. My grandfather was critical of me and sounded disappointed, but
my father said nothing about my results. I went back to my village for the mark sheets and to pack my bags
for Delhi. Before I left for Jamshedpur, en route to Delhi, I was bombarded with advice from all quarters. I was
getting fed-up of listening to success stories of our acquaintances that had gone to Delhi and had done quite
well in life.
“Life is what you make of it,” said grandpa. I nodded and moved on. I was too saturated with so much advice. I
could have written a book on ‘how to go to Delhi and become a successful person by not doing this and by
doing that’.
God! I’d had enough. Could these guys be a little more considerate and just leave me alone!
My father was the only one not giving me too much advice – not because he was different from these guys but
because he was not home most of the time! He worked for the Indian Railways and was posted away from
home.
My sisters were busy telling everyone in the village that I was going to Delhi. Their banter would only stop
when it was time for them to come home because grandpa was howling for them – since girls were not
allowed to stay out of the house for too long after sunset.
I longed to be left alone. So much attention had never been showered upon me. Probably not even the day I
was born! I wanted to board the train to Delhi ASAP!
“Get a job as soon as you finish college and lighten up your father ’s burden. He has five more children to
educate”, my granddad said, as I bent down to touch his feet, just before I left for Delhi.
"Life is what you make of it".

Page 4
The Orientation Day

My granddad’s words resounded in my ears as I came out of the hall where our orientation was being held.
I heard students say ‘leak’ when they wanted to go to the toilet and ‘drag’ or ‘puff’ when they wanted to
share a ‘fag’ (cigarette!). I badly needed to take a ‘leak’ and I was dying for a 'puff'!
It had been four hours since I had had a ‘drag’. Smoking was banned on campus. After breakfast we
had popped out of the campus onto the dirt patch where cars were parked, opposite the gates. The durbaan
had given us suspicious looks but said nothing. In the video shown during ‘counseling’ the University had
looked much better. The film steered clear of these dirt patches and the nullah that ran near the boundary wall
and let off a bad stench! Four of us lit a cigarette and it was over in two 'puffs' each!
From a small village in Bihar to the capital of India! What a journey for a lad like me. Many from my state
had made Delhi their home and they were all doing pretty well. Why wouldn’t I?
The first session of orientation was filled with lots of ‘gyaan’ about the university and the school of
business (SOB). Placement was one big issue and they said it was their endeavor to have us all placed in
very good companies!

Page 5
Our seniors had told us, the previous evening, in the hostel, that nobody got a good job through the efforts of
the placement cell in the University. The seniors were joking and saying, "if the guys in the placement cell
were any good, they would have got themselves better jobs than working for this university!"
Some seniors said, “just good or high marks won’t get you placed; it depends on how smart you are and how
well you can speak English." English! English seemed to be an important link to the job market. It was also my
weakest link. I knew a bit of grammar but my sentence construction, choice of words and pronunciation left a
lot to be desired. That is why my father had sent me to Delhi so that I would become 'esmart' and 'espeak'
better English.
As the session ended, I looked at my watch. There was no time left to go out for a cigarette. As I finished my
leak, I heard my room partner call out “Saurabh! Chalo! Let’s go, the pakau session is about to begin”.
I turned and winked at Rishabh, my roommate. Rishabh belonged to Delhi and was from one of the public
schools. I was happy to have him as my roommate. I could learn English from him. The warden had allotted
rooms in this fashion so that “birds of the same feather did not flock together”.
As we trooped into the hall the voice of the Admissions Manager, Miss Roy, boomed over the public address
system – “Kindly take your seats as the next session is about to begin. Please switch off your mobile phones”.
Miss Roy was young, nice looking and chirpy. She smiled when she saw us. I had fallen for Miss Roy the
moment I saw her. Miss Roy had become the lady of my dreams. She had passed out from a business
school, with a specialization in HR, and had joined as Admissions Manager. One day I wanted a wife like Miss
Roy.
I was ‘esmartly’ dressed up in white trouser, blue shirt and brown shoes. I smoothed my hair and took up a
seat in front so that Miss Roy could look at me and see how interested I was in the proceedings. I wanted to
create a good impression on Miss Roy! Sorry to say that she was too preoccupied to even notice me!

Page 6
The next session was by some bore (sorry! core) faculty trying to explain the teaching methodology followed
at the school of business. He was also trying to introduce some key faculty in core areas.
I kept watching the proceedings with my thoughts wandering between Miss Roy and how I would go out after
the session and have a ‘puff’ before lunch.
As soon as the session got over, and we came out, a bunch of seniors caught me. Ragging was banned but
there was still some light ragging going on in the form of ‘intros. The seniors asked me where I was from.
One of them made me say “Very Good!” and when I said “Bhery Gud!” all of them laughed and said I should
begin working on my accent.
I felt very bad when they laughed at my accent. It was the way people spoke English in my region. People
from each part had a peculiar way of speaking English and if we started laughing at each other no one would
be able to speak, and everybody would be laughing all the time! I felt ‘bhery baed’ and wondered whether I had
made a mistake by coming to Delhi? No one I had met before coming here had told me about this!
The seniors took away my cigarette break. I rushed and had some lunch and then it was time to see Miss Roy
announce that we take our seats.
The afternoon was taken up by a talk by the Dean, school of business. The Dean stressed the importance of
personality development and instructed all of us to speak English within the campus.
I wanted to tell him how the seniors were making fun of my accent when I spoke English but could not find the
courage to stand up and speak.
I was already feeling small and inadequate. Why had I come to Delhi? I could have studied in Bihar and found
a job there. Why get out and try to join ‘esmart peapul’ of Delhi?

Page 7
I needed emotional support now to keep me from going into a depression. I could see and hear people making
fun of my accent, of my hairstyle, of my dress and of my habit of putting a 'tika' on my forehead every
morning. Some seniors had started calling me ‘tilakdhari’.
I was being rejected and being made fun of and I did not like it. This was a situation I had never felt before and I
was not willing to let go that easily. But who would help me?
After the session we were going out for a smoke, and I heard someone ask Rishabh “Who is your roomie,
Rishu?” and Rishabh said “Kya yaar I am sharing my room with a Bihari”.
I felt extremely bad. I wanted to run to the warden and tell him to change my roomie and to give me a Bihari
roomie.
The orientation was taking place inside the hall and outside. A bigger orientation was taking place outside the
hall. The cultural orientation that was taking place outside had already shaken me. I was very sad and wanted
to cry.
My father had spent hard earned money to send me here. I needed to finish my course and get a good job. I
was feeling out of place and wanted to run away to my native village in Bihar.
Evening came and as the college became quiet the seniors in the hostels became active. We were rounded
up and taken to seniors’ rooms on the upper floors. Ragging began in all its glory. Ragging consisted of dirty
songs (parodies of popular numbers), horrible jokes, obscene actions and a lot of ‘physical stuff’. I forgot all
about my troubles as I got involved in getting ragged.

Page 8
I was quite good at singing and did not feel shy when I sang parodies of the dirtiest kind for my seniors. I was
in demand as a fresher. A lot of seniors knew my name. Some of them even gave me their ‘intro’. It was a
good feeling because I felt at least these people wanted me – even if they wanted to rag me, they still wanted
me! They were not rejecting me; they were ragging me and in that way were accepting me as a junior. What
about Rishabh? He was rejecting me as a classmate and roommate. He seemed ashamed to be the room
mate of a Bihari.
When I returned to my room after three in the morning, I was very tired and very hungry, but I was not sad
anymore. I had survived a pretty hostile session of ragging.
I had survived quite well. There were many who had broken down, many who wanted to go back to their
homes, and yet others who said they would report the matter to higher authorities. I had no such problems. I
had almost enjoyed it all!
Ragging had not posed many problems for me. But my problems were a little different. The rest of my
problems were related to my English, my pronunciation and personality. My main problem was ‘personality
and communication’!
I still did not know what I would do to improve my English. I did not even know how to get accepted. The
feeling of being rejected was gnawing me like termites’ nibble wood.
Would I be able to survive Delhi? I had heard stories about Mumbai being hostile to Biharis. This was Delhi.
Was it the same for Biharis, everywhere? Would I make it? Who would help me overcome my shortcomings?
How would I become 'esmart'?
Rishabh had still not arrived when I entered our room. I hit the sack and thankfully deep sleep engulfed me. In
an instant I was in my village and eating 'meat-bhaat' cooked by my mother.
The lovely dreams of my village were shattered with someone pouring water on my head and saying “Fresher,
bastard, get up and get me some fags”.

Page 9
Cigarettes were called fags. Getting fags for seniors was a regular routine for freshers. We were also asked to
go and get water from the cooler. There were many other ‘odd jobs’ that seniors made us do. I did not mind!
I kept on sleeping because I was very tired and thought it to be a dream. The senior called out from outside my
room "You son-of-a-bitch! Why are you still sleeping?'
I got up with a start. The second day had begun!

Page 10
What is Personality?
The second day of college was the first day of classes. I was groggy with sleep as I had slept little the
previous night due to ‘ragging’. We should be allowed to spend a fortnight in college with our seniors before
classes begin. This should be officially allowed and supervised – there should be a professor in charge of
ragging. No matter how hard you try – ragging will never stop.
Why don’t they make Miss Roy the ragging in charge! Why not have I ragged by Miss Roy!
I was planning to doze off on one of the last benches when the professor walked in. He hardly looked like a
professor. He was thin and wore specs. His hair had thinned, and his specs gave him a nerdy look. He looked
more like a JNU research scholar than a management professor. He did not smile and stood there staring at
us. The class continued to talk while the professor stared. Slowly the loud voices turned into whispers. The
students adjusted themselves in their seats and looked at each other and then at the professor who was still
staring!
I looked at Rishabh and saw him wink at Malvika. He had already made friends! The professor saw Rishabh
wink.
“Good morning class!” boomed the professor. We were all taken aback by the rich baritone issuing forth from
such a thin frame. It was at once a voice full of authority and confidence.

Page 11
“Good morning, Sir” muttered some of us. The professor smiled. As soon as he smiled his stern looks gave
way to a slightly cheerful persona. He looked at Rishabh and called out “Hey you, what’s your name?”
Rishabh was taken aback at the sudden question. “My name? Er... Rishabh Sir!” he blurted out.
“Rishabh! Good! Why did you wink at that lady there Rishabh?” enquired the professor. He was looking very
serious now. “What’s your name young lady?” asked the professor.
Malvika stood up and said “Malvika Sir!”
“Malvika, do you know Rishabh?” questioned the professor.
“Rishabh and I just met outside the class today Sir”, replied Malvika.
Everyone was silent now. Some people had smiles on their faces because many had started disliking Rishabh
for acting over smart.
“The two of you meet me after the lecture” ordered the professor. Rishabh sat down and so did Malvika.
“Sumit Sahay from Jadugoda, near Jamshedpur, in Jharkhand. I did my schooling at Jamshedpur, college at
Delhi and am presently pursuing my Ph.D. This is my brief introduction.”
The professor after having introduced himself was looking at us and smiling. His smile made him look much
better.
“Let’s start with today’s lecture” said Professor Sahay. He picked up a piece of chalk from his desk and wrote
a word on the blackboard:
Personality

Page 12
He encircled the word and then turned to face the class.
“Personality! Think about this word and then tell me what comes to your mind when you read, hear or utter this
word”.
Everyone stared at the professor.
He looked around and picked a girl after asking her name. Her name was Madhvi.
“Tell me what you understand by the word ‘Personality’ Madhvi”.
Madhvi looked at the professor and said, “Personality is the total person Sir”.
The professor smiled and then called Madhvi to the front of the class. He asked all of us to clap for Madhvi
because she had given a very good answer.
“Personality is the total person” repeated Professor Sahay “what a lovely way of putting it”.
He asked Madhvi to take her seat as he continued. “Personality is the total person. A good personality is
someone who is a good human being. If someone is not a good human being then it does not matter how
educated, or rich, s/he is."

Page 13
"It is your total personality that makes an impact on people, not just your qualifications or the amount of money
in your bank account. Though your looks, qualification, riches, clothes, accessories are all part of your
personality, the biggest impact is made by your behavior."
"Your behavior makes people reject or accept you as a person. The logic behind your ideas and their effective
presentation makes people accept your ideas and respond favorably to your suggestions.” Professor Sahay
was speaking in that rich voice of his. I was sleepy from ragging the night before, but I kept awake because I
wanted to listen to what the professor was saying.
One student got up and asked “Sir, how can we develop a powerful personality?” Professor Sahay looked at
him and replied “this course is called personal effectiveness and life skills. It will help you grow as a person. I
don’t know about building powerful personalities, but I know about acquiring life skills that make good human
beings”.
The class was somehow quiet and listening to the professor. He continued. “Look at me! I am thin, wear specs
and am getting bald”. The class broke into peals of laughter. Professor Sahay smiled and went on “My friends
call me ‘sadhu’ because I do not drink, or smoke and the girls say ‘hello bhaiya’ or ‘hello uncle’ because of my
hairstyle!”
The class was in splits by now. The professor had said ‘hello bhaiya’ and ‘hello uncle’ as girls would say it. He
was serious now as he went on.
“What power does my personality have? The power to make you laugh or the power to make me change the
way you conduct yourself?” The class had found something to keep them perked up. A lot of us were still
laughing and saying ‘hello bhaiya’ and ‘hello uncle’.
“Shut up all of you” thundered the professor. “Don’t you know when to start and when to stop? The first thing
you need to learn is appropriate behavior. You cannot behave in class the way you would behave in the
canteen.”

Page 14
The class had been taken aback by the shock treatment. Rishabh looked at me and smiled. He winked at me.
Professor Sahay noticed this. He asked the two of us to get up. “Rishabh, this is the second time you’re
winking. What is your problem?”
He looked at me and asked, “What is your name?”
“Saurabh Sir”, I blurted out.
“Saurabh, I don't know what kind of a person you are" said Professor Sahay "but please stay away from this
Rishabh fellow”.
The class had started smiling and a few meaningful glances were being exchanged. I mumbled something
about Rishabh being my roomie.
The professor shook his head and said, “Roomie or no roomie, stay away from his habits.”
Rishabh was looking sad now. The professor went up to him, patted his back and said “Rishabh, you must
see me after the lecture”.
“Sir, what about Malvika?” said Rishabh “You asked me and Malvika to see you”.
The professor glared at him and said in a very steady voice “You take care of yourself Rishabh I’ll take care of
Malvika”.
The whole class broke into a smile and the professor went on “Malvika and Saurabh will go with me to the
canteen during lunch time and chat with me.”

Page 15
Malvika and I went to the canteen with the professor at lunch time. He treated us to a sandwich and a coffee
each. We spoke about the class in general and our feelings in particular. It was only much later that I got to
know that Professor Sahay was doing research on ‘facets of human behavior in public’ and that he was a
much sought-after trainer in corporate circles.
Professor Sahay looked unimpressive when you saw him. As you interacted with him his power grew and
enveloped you. This was the force of his personality – the total person! Personality is the total person.
“All of us are an aggregate – a sum total of a lot of qualities (good or bad), feelings (of all kinds), skills (of many
types), various like and dislikes, points of view, attitudes, knowledge, possessions, fears, joys, sorrows” the
professor spoke as he appeared to go into deep thought “and all this together creates the total person”.
Professor Sahay smiled and said to Madhvi “Thanks young lady for giving us this term – total person”. The
class was over before we could realize it was time. We had become totally engrossed in the lecture. It was not
the type of lecture that you have every day – drab and boring! It was fun and made us think. This quality of
Professor Sahay’s lectures became more and more evident to us as time went by in the school of business. I
later felt it was actually ‘paisa vasool’.

Page 16
Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication

Professor Sahay was teaching us two subjects – personal effectiveness & life skills and managerial
communication. His first lecture of managerial communication happened to be scheduled today.
Professor Sahay asked us a question at the beginning of the class which nobody could answer.
“What is verbal communication?” queried Professor Sahay.
Rishabh raised his hand and said, “Whenever you speak it is verbal communication”.
The professor smiled and asked, “What is non-verbal communication?”

Page 17
“Body language” said Rishabh. The professor went up to him and patted his back.
“Shabash Rishabh! Body language and some other things constitute ‘non-verbal communication’. What about
written communication? Is written communication verbal or non-verbal?”
Rishabh was quiet, thinking. I was looking here and there. It was no use if I started thinking because it was all
OHT (overhead transmission) for me.
A student called Rajeshwar Rao got up and asked “Sir, if verbal communication is spoken communication,
then there must be a word for written communication also”.
The discussion was getting interesting now.
The professor now wrote four words on the blackboard:
‘Verbal’, “Non-verbal’, ‘Formal’, ‘Informal’.
He asked us to define formal and informal.
I mustered up courage and stood up and said, “Sir formal means official and informal means unofficial”.
Professor Sahay shook his head and smiled.
He looked at me and asked me “What is the meaning of ‘form’? Can you define ‘form’ for me?”
I thought for a second and said “Yes Sir! We fill up form to gain admission to college”.
The whole class started laughing. Rishabh, my roomie, the loudest of all!
Professor Sahay asked Rishabh “Rishabh would you like to help your roommate? Tell me, what is form?”

Page 18
Rishabh had to make an effort to stop laughing “Form is like good or bad form Sir as in cricket” replied
Rishabh.
The class was again listening now.
The professor said “Yes! Batsmen and bowlers are said to be ‘in form’ and ‘out of form’ in cricket. Form must
be a very important thing – you fill it out for admission to a college, if you are ‘out of form’ you’re out of the
team. Are you in form Rishabh?”
Rishabh was taken aback by the sudden question. He didn’t know what to say.
“Rishabh is always in form” said Professor Sahay and moved on.
“Formal and informal, verbal and non-verbal are but two sides of the same coin. Form means structure. There
is rigidity wherever there is form. The form defines what something is going to look like. A sentence has a
form, a ‘roti’ has a form, a building has a form, and every game has a form”.
Professor Sahay was very engrossed in his lecture now. “Everything that has a form is ‘formal’ and everything
that has a less rigid form may be ‘informal’. There can be nothing without form. Form is intrinsic to all things. A
well-defined form makes a thing ‘formal’. This may have something to do with official or unofficial.”
While saying the last sentence Professor Sahay looked at me and I nodded in agreement.
“Every communication that uses ‘words’ is verbal communication; the rest is non-verbal” said Professor
Sahay.
The class was coming to grips with the statement when Rishabh got up and said, “Sir does it mean that written
communication is also verbal communication?”

Page 19
“That’s exactly what it means Rishabh” said Professor Sahay.
“Verbal communication includes written communication. Whenever you use language – words – written or
spoken – it is verbal communication. That is why body language is called non-verbal communication – you do
not use words but the language of your body which may speak louder than words!”
I raised my hand and told Professor Sahay I was confused.
Professor Sahay explained the whole concept, again, in detail this time, and I have never forgotten it.
Professor Sahay wrote down the following words and explanation on the blackboard:
Verbal – refers to both oral and written communication where words are used. Some people think spoken
words are verbal communication. For spoken communication the word is oral.
Non-verbal – communication without the use of words.
Formal – ceremonial, official, conventional, ritualistic, regular, customary, definite, settled, fixed, explicit, in due
form, authoritative, legal, lawful, inflexible, solemn, pompous, ceremonious.
Informal – casual, easy going, unceremonious.
Official – office holder, officer, executive, director, manager, administrator, supervisor, dignitary, formal,
administrative, vested, authorized, approved, sanctioned, certified, authoritative, authentic, warranted,
licensed.
Unofficial – not formally approved or authenticated.
“Is there anyone who has still not understood the meanings of these terms?” asked the professor.

Page 20
I raised my hand.
“Yes Saurabh, what is it?” asked Professor Sahay.
“Sir, can an informal meeting be official?” I queried. Some people began to laugh. One look from the professor
made them squirm in their seats.
“Good question Saurabh! I will help you answer it” said Professor Sahay.
“We will take up a small example” he went on.
“You work for a manufacturing company. The head of the facility you are working for happens to bump into
some of you having a cup of coffee in the canteen. He asks you to submit your sales targets for the next
quarter. He asks another manager to organize a training program for new salespersons. Is this meeting
informal or formal?” asked the professor.
I began to think.
Another student got up and said, “It is a formal meeting Sir”.
Professor Sahay looked at me and asked, “Do you agree that it is a formal meeting?”
“Yes Sir!” I nodded.
Professor Sahay now asked the whole class “how many of you think it was a formal meeting?”
Some hands went up.
“How many think it is an informal meeting?” queried Professor Sahay.
Again a few hands went up.

Page 21
“What about the rest? Have you not made up your minds?” asked the professor.
I got up and spoke “Sir the meeting is held in an informal atmosphere, but the information exchanged is
official”.
The professor came up to me and stood there looking very serious.
I felt I had said something extremely wrong, and he was angry.
Suddenly he broke into a smile and said, “Please clap for Saurabh, he has defined this meeting extremely
well!” the class broke into a smile. I could see some jealous faces too!
“The boundaries between formal, informal, official, unofficial are wafer thin sometimes. When your boss
bumps into you at a mall and exchanges some office notes with you the meeting is unplanned and informal.
The information exchanged is official.” With this Professor Sahay turned towards the blackboard and started
writing a note.
He wrote:
“All hostel residents must gather in the conference hall tonight, after dinner, for a session with the Dean
regarding hostel facilities and ragging. The dress code is casual but be decently dressed – no night clothes
please!” Signed: P.M. Saini, Warden.
“This notice is put up on the mess notice board at lunch time. Is this a formal notice, is it a formal meeting?”
asked the professor.
“Yes, Sir it is a formal notice and a formal meeting” said one of us.
“Why then is the dress casual?” queried the professor. None of us tried to answer. We knew he would himself
come up with an answer.

Page 22
“It is a meeting after dinner. The dean wants you to open up to him and take part in the proceedings. He does
not want to make you feel all tight and formally decked up but wants you to feel relaxed. That is why you could
wear casual clothing – like jeans and tees – but not your shorts etc. – to this meeting. It is casual clothing but
within certain boundaries” explained the professor.
I was hugely impressed with the explanation. It sounded so practical. A lot of confusion prevails in our minds
about such issues. We do not know where to draw the line. The lecture ended and we headed out for a smoke.
The next lecture was also by Professor Sahay. This time the paper was PDP as we called it – personality
development program. The institute called it something else like personal effectiveness and life skills.
“We will take off from where we left in the last lecture” said Professor Sahay “give me some examples of
verbal communication.”
“Rishabh got up and said, “Sir this is a PDP class and not Managerial Communication”.
Professor Sahay looked at him, smiled, and said “Thank you Rishabh for reminding me. I know what is what. I
will be overlapping like this whenever I feel the need”.
“Sir this way we will get confused. The syllabus will not be completed. It will not help us in any way” retorted
Rishabh.
I felt, for the first time that Rishabh was right.
“Personal effectiveness and life skills or personality development is closely connected to communication”
explained Professor Sahay.
“You do not know how important it is to become a good communicator in order to have an effective personality.
All of us need to be naturally good communicators."

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"All birds can sing beautifully. All lions roar with equal ferocity. All dogs know how to growl, bark and howl. This
is their natural ability. What about humans? No Sir, we do not know how to use our natural abilities. Who
teaches animals how to swim or hunt, who teaches a dog loyalty, who teaches a bird how to build its nest? It is
only us humans, the most talented of all species, who need to be taught each and every thing. Why aren’t we
natural communicators?” asked Professor Sahay.
We were all listening intently now. I was trying to see whether Rishabh was right or Professor Sahay. The
professor went on.
“You don’t need to do any personality development for animals. Each animal has its own personality, given to it
by nature, and that’s it.”
“Human beings have the ability to develop their personalities. They can even train up animals to do amazing
things. Why don't we concentrate on our own growth?'
"Why are you, instead of concentrating on your growth, questioning me by telling me that what I am doing will
confuse you, that your syllabus will not get covered? Believe me Rishabh, whatever I am telling you will not to
be found in any textbook and there is no syllabus that covers it. All this is from the textbook of life” continued
Professor Sahay.
“If you feel just covering a syllabus and passing an examination is enough then why is there a need for you to
learn any kind of communication through a trainer? It is a shame that we need to be taught how to
communicate – one of the natural abilities in other species. The range of human communication is vast and
expansive. It is being enriched every day. It is also governed by personal style” explained the professor “and
personal style is developed through training. How do you think you will get confused by doing managerial
communication in this class which is meant for PDP – is this not part of PDP?”
All this was sounding extremely ‘ pakau’ to me but there was a lot of wisdom in what the professor was saying.

Page 24
“Half of PDP is just learning how to communicate effectively” said Professor Sahay “because whenever you
interact with someone you are communicating. You go through a group discussion and interview before you
are selected for a job. In your job you need to communicate in order to perform your daily functions. We
continue to communicate even when we are not speaking. Like breathing, communication is an ongoing
process”.
Professor Sahay always sounded so right, so correct.
‘Communication never stops, it is continuous, unending, in a timeless loop like time itself’ he had said. I was
left wondering – what when one stops talking?
“Verbal communication includes written communication along with oral communication” said Professor Sahay
“and examples of verbal communication are”:
Examples: VERBAL COMMUNICATION

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ORAL WRITTEN
Oral Conversation: Face- to-face meetings and talks; SMS, E-

telephone conversations; video conferencing; mail,
presentations. Letter, note
Lectures Lecture
notes
Presentations Business
reports
Meetings Minutes of
a meeting
There are many other examples of verbal communication like letters, mailers, brochures, articles, quotations,
agreements etc.
“Non-verbal communication is what gives strength to oral communication. You remember an expression or a
gesture for long and associate a person with that mannerism. You may forget what the speaker said but you
will remember the way he ‘acted’ or ‘behaved’. Such is the power of non-verbal communication” explained
Professor Sahay. He then went on to explain non-verbal communication.
Non-verbal communication – Examples: eyes and their expression, face and facial expression, hands and
hand gestures, body and body movement, neck and neck movement etc.
Professor Sahay also talked about the effect of clothes you wear, the way you wear them, the colors you
choose, the accessories etc. and the impact they have on others.

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The environment, atmosphere, lighting, air conditioning and everything else in a room affects the mood of its
occupants. All this adds to the communication situation – silently, but very strongly.
“It is possible to improve your communication skills” said Professor Sahay, “even if you did not study in an
English medium school”.
A student got up and asked “Sir, if you try to learn now you will not have a very good accent”.
Professor Sahay nodded and said, “You are not an Englishmen and are not supposed to have ‘an accent’.
Come to think of it the Indian accent is considered quite easy to understand and pretty good. This is the
reason why a lot of BPOs have opened in India. Indians can speak English quite well”.
The lecture ended on this note, and I was left wondering ‘can a guy like me, from a village in the interiors of
Bihar, speak English well?’
I kept thinking about it the whole day and in the night, I dreamt that I was standing up and making a speech in
English and everyone was laughing – Rishabh the loudest of the lot!
I woke up feeling very disturbed and felt relieved when I realized it was just a bad dream. English and speaking
English well had become a huge challenge and the fear of failure a bad dream. Who would help me?

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Making Introductions
Professor Sahay always had a surprise in store for us. When he came in for this lecture, he suddenly asked
Girija Shankar, a boy from Rae Bareilly, to introduce himself. Girija said “Myself Girija Shankar. I hail from Rae
Bareilly. I am twenty-two-year-old. My father is farmer. My mother is housewife. My two sister is married. My
one brother is going to school.” Professor Sahay was listening intently.
Professor Sahay now turned to Rishabh and asked “Rishabh can you point out the mistakes in Girija’s
introduction?”
Rishabh was taken aback “Sorry Sir, I did not notice his mistakes” he muttered. Professor Sahay shook his
head and said “Rishabh ‘listening’ is an important activity in communication.”
I always felt speaking was the most important activity. I now realized that listening was just as important.

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“The process of communication requires us to read, write, speak and listen. Those who learn to do these four
things effectively become effective communicators” continued professor Sahay.
“Effective listening is one of the most neglected aspects of communication. If you don’t learn how to listen, you
will never be able to really understand what the other party is saying. It is very important to listen in order to
understand what the other person has to say. Only then will you be able to reply or provide feedback” said
Professor Sahay “understanding depends on how carefully you have listened and how carefully the other party
listened when you spoke. Bad listeners cannot become effective communicators”.
The professor now turned towards me “Saurabh can you point out some mistakes in what Girija said?”
I got up with a start. Why was this professor always picking on me? I thought hard and came up with an
answer “Sir, he said ‘my two sister is married’ whereas it should be my two sisters are married”.
“Shabaash Saurabh” the professor was elated. “Girija, you never say ‘myself Girija Shankar ’ but must always
say ‘I am Girija Shankar ’. Take care of your genders, tenses, articles, singular-plural etc.”
“No need to talk about relatives. Make it brief – your name, what you’re doing, why you’re here, that’s it!” said
the Professor.
“There are some Hindi film songs that will help you remember that you must say ‘I am Girija Shankar ’ or ‘My
name is Girija Shankar ’ and not ‘myself’ Girija Shankar” said Professor Sahay.
“Remember the song – My name is Anthony Gonzalves” and the Professor sang the line as he said it. The
class was surprised by how well he sang.
“There is another song – My name is Lakhan” said Professor Sahay and he sang this time too. The whole
class clapped.

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“There is one more song – Main hun Don, Main hun Don, Main hun, main hun, main hun Don” sang the
professor again.
“Translated to English this means – I am Don, I am don, I am, I am, I am Don” sang the professor.
“Girija, just imagine if Don sang – Myself Don, Myself Don, Myself, Myself, Myself Don, how would you feel?”
The class was busy clapping.
Rishabh got up and said “Sir, please sing the whole song”.
Professor Sahay smiled and said “We’ll play ‘antakshari’ during a free period one day. Then we will all sing”.
He again turned towards Girija “What will you say now when you introduce yourself Girija?”
“Sir, my name is Girija Shankar” said Girija.
The professor clapped and said “Shabaash Girija”.
“We will now play a game” said Professor Sahay. We were all excited to learn that we are about to play a
game.
Game – Making Introductions
Professor Sahay made us undertake a simple exercise which helped us understand some of the concepts he
was talking about.

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The game involved ‘introducing your partner ’. He asked us to form pairs – preferably one boy and one girl. He
now asked us to talk to each other and jot down details about our partner. We would then use these details to
introduce our partner and vice versa. We took turns introducing each other.
Simply put it meant that you make pairs and each one introduces the other. It sounded so simple, and it turned
out quite hilarious.
We were given five minutes to get to know each other ’s details for introduction. I was paired with a girl called
Simran. Professor Sahay announced it was time to start the exercise. He pointed at me and said “Saurabh!
You and your partner first. Come up to the front and shoot”.
‘Shoot’? I did not understand what he meant by ‘shoot’. I looked at Simran, my partner, and she looked quite
confident. I decided to follow her and do whatever she did. I was a little nervous as I walked up to the front of
the class with Simran.
I prodded Simran to introduce me first.
She said “His name is Saurabh. He is from Bihar. He has three sisters. He is a B.Com. Graduate. His father
works for the Indian Railways. He is a student of the MBA course at our university. He wanted to be a
cricketer but now he wants to be a manager”.
It was now my turn to introduce Simran. I felt scared because I knew people would begin laughing the
moment, I opened my mouth. They would mimic my Bihari accent and make fun of me. Professor Sahay was
from Jharkhand, which was earlier a part of Bihar, but he would never understand how I felt. He had studied in
a good school, but everyone was not as fortunate. I wanted to tell him I cannot do it. He had probably read my
thoughts.
“Come on Saurabh! We’re waiting” he said. I walked-up with heavy steps and started: “He is Simran” is all I
could utter when the whole class started laughing as if they had gone crazy.

Page 31
I did not know what mistake I had made. I was a little shocked and looked at the professor.
He said nothing. Simran whispered in my ear “I am Simran, a girl, you must say ‘she’ for me and not ‘he’.
That’s why everybody is laughing”.
I went red in the face and warm behind my ears. “Sorry! She is Simran. She is from Ludhiana. She is only
child of her parent. Her father has own business. She wants to be manager in MNC”.
I looked at the professor, who was listening to each word. He nodded. I felt relieved as if I had completed a
major task. I heaved a huge sigh of relief. I had just conquered a mountain. Speaking to professors from the
other side seemed easy. Speaking by standing in front of the class was tough. I had blundered and was feeling
embarrassed by it. For days my classmates said “He is Simran” whenever they saw me.
Professor Sahay explained “When someone tells you her/his name you must note it carefully. Ask for the
spelling if there is confusion. Pronounce it to check whether you’ve got it right. Keep a pen and paper ready to
jot down details.”
He told us how we could make the introduction more interesting. What information would really help the group
know the person you are introducing a little better.
“Go for some details that will reveal the real person to the group – what s/he likes, dislikes, aspires to be, past
achievements etc. The number of brothers and sisters or which department her/his father works for is hardly a
matter of great concern unless some one’s parent happens to be a celebrity or well-known person” said
Professor Sahay “and Saurabh do not mix genders. You suddenly don’t start calling a lady ‘he’ and if you do
then the whole class goes ‘hee, heee, heee’ isn’t it?” The class began to laugh again.
“Always start introducing someone with ‘Friends I am happy to introduce Saurabh from Bihar ’ and not ‘She is
Saurabh from Bihar ’ all right” said Professor Sahay. The class had started laughing again because the
professor had changed my gender this time!

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Professor Sahay’s classes were so entertaining that learning had become fun. We looked forward to
Professor Sahay’s lectures and he never, ever, disappointed us. Each lecture was full of practical tips and
personal experiences which he narrated to help us understand concepts better.

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Learning a Language
Many of us always pestered Professor Sahay about tips for improving our English.
He said it was not possible for him to help each one because English was not part of the syllabus.
He told us a story from his life that inspired us to work to improve our English.
“I was in standard nine then” said Professor Sahay “and I was very good in English and Hindi. My teachers
used to be very happy with me because I was a good speaker, good writer and contributed heavily to the
school magazines”.
We were listening intently because Professor Sahay’s stories were always interesting and educative. Some
people called him a big ‘chaat’. The ones who did not like him always sneered at us and called us ‘chamchas’.
“A student came to our school from Madras (Chennai) in class nine. His father had just been transferred to
Jadugoda and his parents did not want him to stay behind in Madras. He joined our school."
"He had done some Hindi in his school at Madras, but not as a full subject. Here we had Hindi as a subject. He
was otherwise very brilliant. His name was Swaminathan, and we started calling him Swami. Our Hindi
teacher asked me to help Swami with Hindi” said Professor Sahay as we listened.

Page 34
“I was asked to help Swami, but I was sure he would never learn. I was afraid Swami would make me forget
my Hindi! Swami's Hindi was poor. He said he would listen to each instruction of mine and would work very
hard to improve”.
Professor Sahay paused and took a sip of water. He closed his eyes and seemed to be lost in old times.
He resumed the story “the first half yearly exams, just a couple of weeks after Swami joined our school, spelt
disaster for Swami as far as Hindi was concerned – he failed!"
"In all other subjects Swami was either the topper or second topper."
"Can you guess who the topper of the class was?” Professor Sahay was serious as he looked at us.
“You Sir, who else?” said some of us, jokingly.
“Yes! I was the class topper due to my high marks in Hindi and English. I was good at other subjects too, but
the languages gave me a very clear lead over the second topper.”
“Sir how did Swami do in the next half yearly?” chirped some of us.
“I am coming to that” said Professor Sahay as he continued “I gave Swami ten words each day, from one of
the Hindi lessons in our textbooks. He had to find out the meaning and then make a sentence with each word.
Swami was hard working, and he never failed to complete his assignment. He would bring a red pen for me to
mark his answers. At first the copybook was full of red marks – there were more red marks than blue!”
paused Professor Sahay.
He took off his specs and looked out of the window as if he expected Swami to be walking around somewhere
out there.

Page 35
“Swami made it a point to use the words he was learning in conversations with me. Soon he was able to
construct sensible sentences in Hindi. He had learnt some Hindi in Tamil Nadu and that was helping him.”
Professor Sahay was lost in his old days now as he continued. “Swami was an amazing fellow. He started
writing paragraphs and got them corrected by me. He had read all the short stories in our course book and
was starting to write answers to questions. He tried reading a novel in Hindi but gave up!”
Professor Sahay looked at us and asked, “Has any-one in this class failed a Hindi exam?” We shook our
heads in negation.
“English?” enquired Professor Sahay. Some hands went up along with mine.
“Saurabh, you too!” smiled the professor “so you guys know how it feels to fail a language paper!”
The professor paused again to sip from his water bottle. He seemed extremely happy, almost like a
schoolboy!
“Swami had not taken the ignominy of failure in the first half yearly very well. He worked harder and harder. He
listened to Hindi news on All India Radio, and I even heard him hum a couple of songs from Hindi movies!”
said Professor Sahay as he went on.
“Those were the days of Rajesh Khanna and one of the most popular songs was a song from the movie
‘Aradhana’ - ‘mere sapno ki rani kab aayegi tu’. Swami would sing this song as ‘mere sabno gi rani gab
gaayeigi du’ and all of us would have a hearty laugh”.
Professor Sahay now said something that will always remain etched in my mind – he said “No matter how
much we laughed, Swami was unfazed, he went about his job of learning Hindi like a soldier – unfazed, single
minded and resolute. He had become immune to insults – insult proof – besharam!”

Page 36
Professor Sahay then looked in my direction and said “If you want to do something in life you have to become
‘insult proof’ – become a besharam. Let people make fun of you, let them tease you, even insult you
sometimes, have single minded devotion to your cause and you will make it”.
“My friend Swami just managed to scrape through in the next half yearly. In class ten he got sixty percent
marks in Hindi and in the board exams he had a healthy seventy percent in the subject!” said Professor Sahay
as he wound up the tale.
“All of you have a Swami in you. You can all work with the same intensity if you decide to do so. A language is
a thing which needs to be ‘done’. You have to do – reading, writing, listening and speaking – if you want to learn
a language really well. There is no excuse for not learning how to communicate well. You cannot take your
future lightly”.
I kept thinking about the lecture even after it was over. I decided to go to Professor Sahay the next day and
ask for advice. The whole night I kept dreaming and in most of the situations I was trying to speak to a bunch
of people, and they were all laughing at my English.
I was making my way towards the lecture room where the first lecture was to be held. I passed Miss Roy in
the corridor, and it made my day. I then bumped into Professor Sahay and asked him when I could meet him.
He asked me to meet him at lunch time.
At lunch I met Professor Sahay.
“Sir, please help me prepare a plan, like Swami, to improve my English” I said.
Professor Sahay looked at his watch and asked, “Are you hungry or have you already eaten?”
“I am not very hungry Sir, and I will eat after meeting you” I said.
“I am hungry” said Professor Sahay.

Page 37
“There is a very good egg-roll stall behind our college, have you been there?” he asked.
“No Sir, I have never eaten the rolls though I have been there” I said.
“You went there for cigarettes!” smiled the professor.
“Come on Saurabh, let’s go there, grab a roll and then talk” he said as he started to walk. He walked quite fast,
and we were there at the egg-roll stall within the next five minutes. On the way I got quite a few glances from
my classmates. Many students greeted Professor Sahay on the way, and he returned each greeting with a
smile. He was very popular.
As we reached the egg-roll stall Professor Sahay took out a hundred rupee note and gave it to the stall owner
who knew Professor Sahay and smiled at him. After placing our orders, we came and stood in the shade. The
stall owner had promised to send the rolls to us as soon as they were ready. It was lunch time and there was a
huge rush. The place was a favorite with many students.
“What did Swami do to improve his Hindi Saurabh?” asked Professor Sahay.
“He made sentences in Hindi, Sir, with ten new words, every day” I replied.
“What else did he do?”
I kept quiet because I did not remember. Professor Sahay then explained the whole scenario to me.
“Swami learnt ten new words, each day. He made sentences to learn how to use them. He also started using
them in conversations. He started writing small paragraphs. He would also sing Hindi songs” said Professor
Sahay.
“People will laugh at me if I speak English” I said.

Page 38
“People laughed at Swami too – what did he do?” asked Professor Sahay.
“He did not bother; he became a ‘ besharam’ and stopped caring about the insults” I said.
“Can’t you do the same?”
“No Sir, I cannot do the same” I said.
He was a little taken aback by my answer.
“Why can’t you become ‘insult-proof’ Saurabh?” asked Professor Sahay.
“It is very easy to say ‘be insult proof’ but very difficult to actually become insult proof. I feel like hitting people
when they make fun of me. Sorry Sir, I cannot do this”.
“Steel yourself Saurabh and the jeers will turn into cheers. It is your life, and the final decision remains yours.
But I would only say give it a try” said Professor Sahay.
I nodded as we made our way back to college.
I started thinking about all that I had heard from Professor Sahay. I was very determined to make it in life, but
determination does not last long if it is not backed by results. I needed results – I needed improvement. I
needed acceptance. I needed appreciation. I needed a Miss Roy. I needed to improve my English. I needed so
many things. How would I get them?

Page 39
The Importance of Reading

“Reading is a skill all of us require – no matter what profession we are in or want to take up”
explained Professor Sahay “because reading is what expands our horizon”.
A student got up and questioned “Sir, what kind of reading develops our personality?” Professor Sahay was
quiet for a moment and then replied, “I’ll tell you a story – of a neighbor of mine who was a voracious reader”.
All of us liked the stories Professor Sahay told us in class to make our understanding deep.
Rishabh got up and said “Sir, when are we going to study? We’re always listening to stories!”
Professor Sahay looked at the class and said “It is through life’s experiences that you learn the most. Rishabh,
if you don’t like the way I teach, then you are free not to come to my lectures and you may also complain to
the Dean, or, for that matter to the Vice-Chancellor!”
Many of us looked at Rishabh with great irritation. He sat down.

Page 40
Professor Sahay continued “His name was Navin Kumar Jain, but everyone called him Bhola. He was not too
educated. He had been through school but had no college degree. He was an avid reader. We used to get a lot
of magazines and newspapers in our home, and he would frequently borrow these. He would read anything
that came his way. He had a special interest in telephone directories and rail timetables. He had an opinion on
everything”.
Professor Sahay looked at Rishabh and said “Rishabh it is not necessary to go to college and get a degree in
order to be knowledgeable, anyone who reads becomes knowledgeable”.
Rishabh kept looking at the professor without acknowledging what was being said to him.
“Anyone who required some information about rail routes and timings caught hold of Bhola and Bhola never let
any-one down. In addition to his interest in reading he was also blessed with a good memory. He even
remembered the page numbers where trains from different routes were listed. His knowledge of the local
telephone directory was also phenomenal. He remembered the number of Sharmas, Guptas, Vermas and
Singhs listed in the directory. He remembered phone numbers, pin codes, addresses and much more” related
Professor Sahay.
“One day we had some guests for dinner and Bhola walked in to deliver some groceries from his father ’s
store."
"My father introduced Bhola to our guests saying - Bhola is one of our most knowledgeable neighbors,"
continued the Professor.

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"Our guests decided to test Bhola's knowledge and began to chat with him. Bhola had an opinion on everything
they talked about. His opinions were based on facts that he had read. He had not been to college, but his
knowledge was vast. He had no college education, but his opinions were mature. Our guests were impressed.
One of them asked Bhola what he did. Bhola told them he helped his father at the neighborhood grocery store.
They asked him if he would like to get into a better job. He said he would ask his father and reply. The guests
gave him their cards.”
“Bhola came to our house after a couple of days and asked my father to get in touch with those guests. His
father had given him permission to get into a better profession. Bhola wanted to know what was in store for
him”.
Professor Sahay looked at the class and asked, “what kind of a job would you have offered Bhola?” None of
us could answer off hand what job we could have offered Bhola.
Someone said “Sir, I would have employed him in a library”. Professor Sahay smiled and said “Bhola would
have read the whole day in the library. He would have become a bad librarian because he would have simply
got lost in so many books! A sweet shop owner should not eat sweets, a bar owner should not drink, and a
librarian should not read the whole day!”
“Bhola was offered a job as a salesperson for handicrafts from all over the country, at a showroom in Jaipur,
where lots of foreigners visited the emporium. His parents were from Rajasthan, and he was overjoyed with
the appointment. He was given a fixed salary plus an incentive on sales generated.”
“Bhola started slowly but his will to learn, knowledge gathering ability, and easy-going charm endeared him to
customers. He learnt words from several foreign languages and could soon deal with a lot of tourists from
different parts of the world. He was made assistant manager. Bhola read books on art and craft in his spare
time. He had so many facts and figures at his fingertips that he could convince even the most discerning
customers.”

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“Bhola’s father was very happy with his son’s progress. He purchased a shop in Jaipur.”
Professor Sahay had a gleam in his eyes as he went on. “A lot of time had passed. Bhola had become one of
the top handicrafts’ salesmen in Jaipur. His father was getting old, so he decided to sell his grocery store, and
house, in our city, and move to Jaipur. They opened a handicrafts store, in the shop they had purchased
earlier, with Bhola as the owner – manager.”
Professor Sahay was coming to the end of the story. Someone asked “Sir, how is Bhola now?”
Professor Sahay smiled and said, “I met Bhola last year, after a gap of about fifteen years”.
“Bhola is doing extremely well. He has four stores in Jaipur and one each at Jodhpur and Udaipur. He exports
handicraft-based items to several countries and is very well known for his knowledge. He has visited several
countries and his children are studying abroad. Bhola’s dad is very old and sits at the head office in Jaipur. He
is very proud of his only son Bhola!”
Professor Sahay seemed quite happy now that he had told us a story.
“Do you now understand the importance of reading? Read, read, and read if you want to widen your horizons.
Read if you want to stand out in a crowd. Read if you want others to respect you. Read if you want to move up
in life. Read if you want to enjoy life!”
“Reading makes a man more aware and makes him more humane. All of us are part human part animal.
Reading makes you more human. Reading gives ideas that can later be transformed into action. Read and
think about what you read. This will help you crystallize your thoughts. Thoughts are the man. Man is as good
or bad as his thought process. To define and refine your thought process you must read”.
A student got up and asked “Sir, what should we read?”

Page 43
“Anything” said Professor Sahay, “read fact, read fiction, read science and technology, read business and
finance, read fashion and films, read romance, comedy, tragedy, religion, philosophy, history, sociology….
anything and everything – but for your own sake – Please Read!”
“Reading every-day is as important as having food” said Professor Sahay.
“Food is required to keep the body alive. Reading is required to keep the mind alive. Who would want a great
body but a deficient mind? You must strike a balance – a balance between physical well-being and mental
agility, between good looks and good thoughts, between cosmetics, clothes and books. It is important to go to
good restaurants to eat. It is equally important to buy good clothes and accessories. But is it not important to
buy a good book? Buy a good book, go watch a good movie or a play, chat up good people in order to give
food to your mind. Do not become an animal by just eating, drinking, sleeping and recreating. Become a better
human being by becoming more aware. Widen your horizons each day. Get into the habit of reading a
newspaper every day. Read an article every day. Read a book every month. There is so much happening all
around, get a handle on it!”
“Learning comes from reading. Learning comes from doing. Learning comes from reading, understanding,
interacting and implementing. Read, think, learn and act. If you do this you will be more successful, happier,
more liked, more fulfilled and more human. Happy Reading!”
Professor Sahay ended the class on this note.
It left me thinking about how much I had read all my life. I had not read a novel. I was not in the habit of looking
at the newspaper. I never looked at magazines. I did not remember reading an article. I had not read – that
was the simple truth! I started thinking about my reading plans for the future. I decided to visit the library. As I
made my way towards the library, I saw Madhavi coming from the opposite direction. She had a book in hand.
“Already been to the library Madhavi?” I asked her.

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“Yes Saurabh! Good to see you going towards the library! Which book are you planning to borrow?” she
asked.
“Which one have you got?”
“The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho” said Madhavi.
I had not heard of the book or its author. An idea crossed my mind.
“Could you please help me choose a simple book?” I asked.
Madhavi nodded and said “Sure, let’s be quick. We have the next lecture coming up in fifteen minutes”.
Madhavi did not take long to sift through books. She asked me if I had seen the Hindi movie – 3 Idiots. I asked
her who hadn’t. She smiled and picked up a book ‘Five Point Someone’ and asked me to read it. It was a novel
by Chetan Bhagat, and she said it was this novel on which the movie was based.
I got the novel issued and Madhvi and I made our way to the lecture hall for the next lecture on financial
accounting. I liked financial accounting, statistics and mathematics-based papers. I was good at them. Most of
the guys and girls who spoke good English were not so good at these subjects. I wondered what the
correlation was between mathematical ability and English!

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Learning through Activities

Miss Roy (our admissions manager) had been in and out of my mind during the past few weeks. Suddenly
she came to the forefront. Fresher ’s’ Welcome was approaching and a couple of seniors, along with Miss Roy,
came to our class.
It was Professor Sahay’s lecture and Miss Roy walked in with a couple of seniors in tow.
“Sir, sorry to disturb you! We have an important announcement to make” said Miss Roy to Professor Sahay.
“No problem, please go ahead!” said Professor Sahay.
One of the seniors announced “Auditions for the fresher ’s’ party will be held today at two pm in the small Audi.
You have to introduce yourself and show us one talent you have.”
Miss Roy then took over “I expect good participation from this class. Be there in large numbers. You must put
up a good show”.
With this they thanked Professor Sahay and were off to the next class of freshers.
Professor Sahay surveyed the class and said, “How many of you are planning to go for the selections?”

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No one responded. Professor Sahay said “What will all of you do at two pm today? Got an important
appointment?”
Again no one responded. Professor Sahay looked at me and said “Saurabh! What about you?” I was
embarrassed. I just stood up and stared at my notebook on my desk.
Professor Sahay had again put me in a spot. What did he have against me? Why didn’t he ask Rishabh? Why
me all the time? Saurabh! Saurabh! Saurabh!
It was as if Professor Sahay had read my mind. He said “Saurabh you must be wondering why I picked on
you. Rishabh is already a good speaker, and he has a lot of self-confidence. If he has some talent to exhibit,
he will certainly be selected. What about you? You have come from a small place. Your exposure to such
activities is meager. You need these activities more than anyone else. Imagine what this could do to your self-
confidence”.
I could not stop myself now. I had to say it. I said “Sir, seniors make fun of me when I speak English. If I go for
the selection everyone will laugh the moment, I open my mouth. Do you think my self-confidence will increase
when people laugh at me?”
Professor Sahay looked extremely concerned about me as he spoke “Saurabh, do you think I was always so
good at speaking English? Do you think nobody ever laughed at me?"
"If you really want to overcome your shortcomings you must become insult proof. Remember Swami and how
he learnt Hindi? You should learn English the same way” said Professor Sahay.
“Saurabh” continued Professor Sahay “no one will earn your bread for you. No one will take care of your
parents and family. You have to do it. Similarly, no one will learn English on your behalf. You have to do it."

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"If people are going to laugh then so be it. Let them laugh. If you do not learn English, then it will harm your
career. No one will be affected but you and your family. Stop caring about people and their laughter. You have a
life to lead, a career to make and you cannot let such people come in between you and success.”
Professor Sahay paused for effect and then started again “You have a right to be successful. It is your right to
participate in activities. You have got admission to this college after fulfilling all the criteria. You have paid a
good amount as fee. Don’t you think you should make the most of this opportunity by taking part in everything
that will help you develop yourself into a good citizen of the corporate world?”
Professor Sahay now shifted his focus from me to the entire class “Sit down Saurabh!” he now turned to the
whole class and said “Why should only those who are good go for the auditions? Why not those who think they
are not good? Why shouldn’t Saurabh go for the auditions?"
He then went on encouragingly "I think the whole class should go for the auditions. Why not? You do not know
how two minutes on stage can boost your self-confidence. You do not know how much fear people have of
public speaking. If you can get rid of that fear in college imagine what kind of an advantage you will have in
your career”.
He shifted his focus back to me “Saurabh, will you go for the auditions this afternoon?”

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I stood up straight, looked the professor in his eye, and replied “No Sir! I don’t want to be laughed at. I don’t
think my self-confidence will increase if people make fun of me and laugh at me. I feel it will only destroy
whatever little self-confidence I have got”.
I wanted to put an end to this ‘Saurabh! Saurabh!’ affair once and for all. For everything he wanted Saurabh.
Why didn’t Miss Roy say ‘Saurabh! Saurabh!’ If she had asked me to take part in the auditions I would have
gone and taken part without a second thought.
I would have jumped from the rooftop for Miss Roy, but not for this nerdy professor, though I liked his way of
teaching, but now he was going too far.
Why was he trying to tell me what to do? Was I not old enough to take care of myself? I knew full well what I
wanted to participate in and did not require his advice!
Once again Professor Sahay had managed to read my thoughts.
He looked in my direction and spoke “Didn’t you hear what Miss Roy said ‘I want you there in large numbers’.
You must all participate, in my opinion, if not all then as many as possible”.
I was squirming in my seat because I knew what was coming up next. “Saurabh! Come and introduce
yourself” said Professor Sahay.
I said to myself ‘Why can’t this guy mind his own business? Is he some enemy of mine, from some previous
birth, who will not let any opportunity to make me feel small go by? What is his problem? Why always me?
Why doesn’t he go for the auditions himself if he is so interested?’
‘Saurabh! Didn’t you hear what Miss Roy said! Idiot! What does Miss Roy think of this nerd? Miss Roy won’t
even look at him!’

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He was again after my…. “Saurabh! Come on! We are all waiting for you”. I was very angry as I went up to the
front of the class and wanted to kill him for forcing me to make a fool in front of the class.
I walked up to the front of the class and stood there. I just said “I am Saurabh from Bihar. I have come to do
MBA. I have no talent”.
The class was quietly watching Professor Sahay. Professor Sahay came up to me and patted my back “Well
done! I wanted you to break the chains of stage fright. You have done so”. He asked the class to clap for me.
They clapped and I somehow felt a little less like killing Professor Sahay.
“Can you dance Saurabh?” asked the professor.
“No Sir!” I replied.
“What can you do?” asked Professor Sahay.
“Sir, I can sketch” I replied.
“Sketch? Ok sketch! Wow! What a great talent!” said Professor Sahay as he got very excited.
“Can you prepare a sketch of mine in two minutes?” asked the Professor.
“I can only sketch cartoons” I replied.
“Do a cartoon of mine Saurabh! Do it now!” said the professor.
“I need a sketch paper and pencil” I replied.
“Come on Saurabh! Don’t act pricey. Rishabh please give Saurabh a pen and paper”.
Rishabh brought his notebook and pen to me.

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I wanted to take revenge on Professor Sahay for picking on me. I prepared a sketch in which I showed him
with a longish nose, big spectacles and a smile which showed big teeth.
“Finished! Show it to the class” said Professor Sahay, who had held his pose for the time it took me to sketch
him.
Everyone burst into laughter as soon as they saw the sketch. There was a smile on the professor ’s face too.
“Great work man, great work! You just need to darken one of my teeth to make me look like a gangster” said
Professor Sahay and laughed.
“We will now work on your introduction, and you will be ready to go all the way” said Professor Sahay.
They worked on my introduction. I added a bit of Bhojpuri into my introduction, and everyone felt it was good. It
was decided that I should do a sketch of one of the judges at the audition.
A lot of others were persuaded to go for the auditions.
Boys and girls came up one by one and introduced themselves. Some sang, some danced, some related
jokes and yet others did mimicry.
Professor Sahay moved around like a satisfied hen – clucking away to glory! He seemed in his elements now
– telling Malvika to do this, Nisha to do that, Snigdha to smile, Rishabh to alter a step in his dance routine – he
was totally immersed in what he was doing.
The two-hour lecture was spent on this activity. Professor Sahay felt this activity was much more important
than any other that we could have done in these two hours.

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He told one chap “Coming to college is like jumping into a swimming pool. Taking part in activities is like
learning to swim. You will never learn to swim by just being in the pool, you have to start throwing your arms
and legs around, and should be prepared to swallow water several times, before you can learn to stay afloat.”
“With time you will learn to swim. Just being in college will not make you fit for a job. You have to take part in
activities in order to learn how to act, react and interact. Only activities will teach you how to swim in the
waters of life. In a pool there are no storms, but in the river of life there are many storms, some as powerful as
the Tsunami!"
"Learn to do these things in college – here you have the permission to fail, you can try and fail several times –
life does not give you so many chances” said Professor Sahay.
I felt sorry for having thought such bad things about Professor Sahay. Here he was, trying to help each one –
even Rishabh – become the best that we could be, and we could not appreciate the great efforts he was
putting in.
I went for the audition.
There were several others from our section. I was not shortlisted for the Mr. Fresher contest.
Rishabh, Sumit and Raghav were chosen from our class and there were others from other sections.
The highlight of the audition was the sketch I made of Miss Roy, who happened to be one of the judges.
With a wildly beating heart I showed it to Miss Roy. She exclaimed “I don’t look like that do I!” I was taken
aback. My talent had failed to help me impress Miss Roy.
After the audition Miss Roy called me and appreciated my effort. She said she would have me in the magazine
committee as a cartoonist. This lifted the shadows from my mind.

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In his next lecture Professor Sahay asked us about our experience at the auditions. I told him it had been a
good experience. He asked me if people had laughed at me. I told him they had not exactly laughed at me, but
I had failed to qualify for the contest.
We then got a long lecture on success and failure. It went something like this.
“Always participate for the joy of participating and not for success alone. Do not stop yourself from
participation just because of the fear of failure. Participate and enjoy every moment. Learn from participating.
That is your reward.”
“Participation will teach you something good and will make you a better person. Success may make you feel
joyous, and failure may depress you a little bit, but the joy of participation will always give you pleasure”.
“Participate with an objective to learn – and keep learning – till you become a winner! This is the only way you
can become successful.”
Two minutes on stage made me experience what years of school and college had failed to do – how it feels in
front of an audience.
No amount of reading, listening, writing or any other activity can substitute the feeling of being in front of an
audience – to be judged – rejected – laughed at – appreciated – and made bolder by each appearance.
I felt like a specimen when I was up on stage. My heartbeat faster and then missed a couple of beats as I
opened my mouth to speak. Once I said the first sentence it became easier. When I began to sketch then
there was no fear at all!
“Take it from me – if you want to do well in your career – take part in as many activities as possible. All these
activities may not be stage-shows or stage-acts, they may even be sports events, business games,
organizing a festival and just about any other extra-curricular or co-curricular activity.

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The only way you can learn how to express your-self is by expressing yourself. There is nothing that gives
more confidence than being able to put your ideas across effectively.
Everyone looks up to people who speak well. You need to speak sense – that is the first condition – but you
also need to speak effectively. You must participate in as many activities as possible in order to develop
yourself into a confident individual.
Stage fear, audience fear, fear of rejection, fear of being laughed at – should all be banned from your thought
process because the only way you can conquer all these fears is by going up and mastering the stage.”
“Be insult proof” said Professor Sahay, “jump into the pool of life – and learn how to swim!”
The meaning of Professor Sahay’s words and actions was becoming clearer to me each day. Now I could
understand why he always picked on me – that’s the only way I can improve! Taking part in the selections for
the freshers’ party made me feel a little more confident. I seemed to care a little less about others. I started
caring a little more about what I was doing rather than what others would say. This attitude was developing
because I had not been a complete failure in the activity, I participated in. I had exhibited a talent – sketching –
that got me a position in the college magazine. What about those who had no talent to show? How would they
develop?

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Learning from Theatre

Most of the students in the national capital region (Delhi – NCR) speak Hindi. The Hindi they speak is typical –
‘laiyo’ (bring it), ‘diyo’ (give it), ‘jaiyo’ (go), ‘aaiyo’ (come). The influence of Punjabi and Haryanvi is quite strong.
I felt it was quite easy to get along if one chose to learn how to converse in the local lingo. The sentences had
a fair sprinkling of ‘cuss words. It was quite easy for me to ‘espeak’ the local lingo, but it had the Bihari touch,
which made a lot of them laugh.
An audition was announced for a drama competition to be held soon. The best play would be sent for the
cultural festivals that would begin around Dussehra.
Professor Sahay wanted me to go for the audition. I went for the audition and was selected for a small role.
The play was less than thirty minutes duration and was written by our seniors. It was called ‘Hum Pagal Nahin
Hain’ – ‘We are not mad’.
It was a racy play about a bunch of people who were locked up in an asylum. There were lots of witty
exchanges about the political and social conditions in the country.

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The play was a sweet little commentary on the present times. It proved to be a ‘hit’ with the young crowd
because it contained lots of contemporary ‘scenes’ where comments were made about moral policing,
fashion, education etc.
The audience was in splits every time one of us (mad men) acted like a lady in sequences in the play!
My scene with a ‘guy’ in Budha Jayanti Park was a big hit. Each scene had a twist and a message that was
driven in deep by the mad men in the asylum. It was a set of cartoon caricatures of society.
We won the competition in our college, and we were chosen to represent our team at the cultural festival at the
Lady Shriram College, Delhi.
Rishabh was quite jealous of me because I would be going to LSR. Going to LSR meant a lot to guys. Our
seniors had taken it upon themselves to win the drama competition at LSR.
The rehearsals took place at night and the whole of next day I felt sleepy in class. Rehearsals were fun and we
got free ‘chai-samosas’ and cigarettes.
The play did one good thing for me - I was getting a lot of recognition! No one made fun of my accent anymore.
I was an actor now!
People did not cringe when they spoke to me. Some girls had also started saying ‘hi’ to me. I was thankful to
Professor Sahay for sending me to the audition for the freshers’ party!
The play was in Hindi, and I requested our Director, Sushant Sir, to let me hum a Bhojpuri song during one of
the ‘scenes’. Sushant Sir gave it a try and it was approved! I was on cloud nine – not only was I playing a role,
but I was also allowed to hum a Bhojpuri song!
The play changed my perception of my seniors and the crowd in Delhi. I knew that I was accepted. This did
wonders to my confidence.

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I thanked Professor Sahay once again for encouraging me to take part in activities. No number of classes
would have given me as much confidence as one play had given me.
I could now look people in the eye. I was not afraid to open my mouth for fear of being laughed at. I was not
scared to go up in front of people and put forth my opinion.
I was not ashamed of my English, my accent, my background, my looks, my habits or anything else about me
and myself. I was not ashamed of being myself. This was the biggest thing that the play had done for me.
My whole outlook towards my seniors, Delhi, myself and life changed after I went up on stage. It was a
transformation of sorts. I had arrived!
The day of the LSR fest arrived. Our college bus was commissioned to ferry us to LSR and back. It was a big
day for me to go to one of the top girls’ colleges of Delhi as an actor.
The plays were scheduled for the afternoon.
Our team got busy with registration and other formalities as Sushant Sir took us all aside for a last-minute
rehearsal.
He first took us to the green room and the stage. I tried looking all around to find out why the room beside the
stage was known as the ‘green room’.
I did not ask Sushant Sir because he looked a little tense and might have blown his fuse if I did.
We were told to watch the position of lights and adjust our movements accordingly. Two students had been
deputed as our lighting technicians and would be ‘spotting’ us.

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Sushant Sir took us to the back of the canteen for a last-minute rehearsal. It was lunch time by the time we
finished. News came in that our participants in the ‘Ad Mad’ and ‘JAM’ had reached the second round.
Our western music team had been eliminated and we had not even qualified for the first round of the quiz –
failing to go beyond the written round!
Sushant Sir ’s phone rang, and he informed us it was Professor Sahay who called to wish us luck and said we
should just go out and do our best.
Sushant Sir asked us what we would like to have for lunch, and I decided to settle for a ‘chholey-bhaturey’.
Sushant Sir frowned at me and shook his head but said nothing. I guess he was saving the best for the end!
After lunch we went to the ‘green room’ and put on our costumes and make-up. The make-up was quite
greasy – no wonder it is called ‘grease paint’. I was made to look a shade lighter.
Sushant Sir put grease paint put on my fore arms too because they were exposed. I was hugely impressed by
the way our senior ’s paid attention to detail.
There were three judges – one lady from Doordarshan, one soap actress from Mumbai and a Hindi journalist.
Two leaves and a bud!
Sushant Sir made us all pray together and wait quietly in the wings for our turn. Our play was announced and
whoa we were on!
I suddenly felt numb and did not remember any of my dialogues. It was time for my entry, and I had a parched
throat. I looked at Sushant Sir and he gave me a ‘thumbs up’. I looked away and somehow stumbled on stage.
I was blinded by the spots that were focused on my face. This gave me some confidence because I could not
see much in the audience.

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I got my cue and everything that I had learnt during rehearsals came flooding back. I was ‘thingu’ (shorty) the
character and not myself.
The audience seemed to like our play. They laughed at our jokes and seemed to enjoy the satire. There were
lots of claps as our play ended. We had done a pretty decent job.
Sushant Sir was ecstatic as we trooped out after the curtains were drawn. He said he would not mind even if
we failed to get a prize. He was happy with our performance and said he was extremely proud of all of us.
The results were announced at the end of all the performances. The best play award had gone to Shahid
Bhagat Singh College, Delhi University. The best actor award had been won by an actress from Kamla Nehru
College, Delhi. The best director award had been won by somebody from Hindu College, Delhi University. Our
play had failed to win any award.
We came back home a little crestfallen. Sushant Sir assured us that we were good and maybe on this day
some others were better.
He spoke about giving it our best shot and if we were not satisfied with the result all we had on our side now
was to work harder the next time round.
All this sounds good, but the pain of losing is great. Nobody likes ending up on the losing side.
During the next lecture Professor Sahay asked me to tell the class about my experience at LSR. I was a little
sad as I narrated how we ended up without a single prize.
Professor Sahay said it was good that we put in our best effort and bad that the effort had not found
recognition. He said it was very difficult not to feel bad when you lose, and it was winning that taught you more
than losing.

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Rishabh could not digest this. He asked the Professor why then it was said that failures were but
steppingstones to success.
Professor Sahay explained that it was what you did after you won or lost that decided what would become of
that win or loss.
If a winner became complacent after a win and stopped working hard then the win would become a sign of
future failure for him. On the contrary if a loser became more determined to win after a loss and tried harder to
win it could mean success for him the next time he tried.
A win may not invite ‘fault analysis’ because after all – you won. A loss will involve introspection and an
analysis of the causes that led to the loss. This would help you perform better next time.
Professor Sahay also explained to us how important it was to be ‘graceful losers’. He said it was extremely
important for us to learn 'how to win' but equally important to learn 'how to lose' by being graceful in defeat.
It is very difficult to stomach a loss – especially after you’ve tried very hard, as in our case. Many times, even
after you’ve done your very best you still end up on the losing side – someone else was just that much better.
If you lose it does not mean you were bad – it just means others may have been better. Being better or being a
winner does not mean you are always going to end up winning – losing or winning depends upon your
performance ‘that day’.
Winners and losers are not separated by wide margins – in fact, a lot of times the margins are wafer thin. A
loss is a loss no matter by how thin a margin and so is a win. A win is always sweet and a loss a bitter pill to
swallow.

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Lucky are those who live to fight another day! One loss or one win does not mean the end of the competition.
The competition goes on, the fight goes on, the efforts must go on and every time there is a win or a loss it
must be taken gracefully.
A winner must look at losers as equals, and a loser must look at winners as more deserving.
The ways of life are strange, and you never know when you will win or lose. Taking it in your stride is what you
must do. The efforts must never stop.
A person who approaches life with the intention of trying hard will end up on the winning side more often. It is
better to try hard and lose than to lose because you hardly tried.

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Durgotsav
The festival of Dussehra was approaching. Durga Puja was celebrated with enthusiasm in our university.
All festivals were celebrated. Professor Sahay and Miss Roy were in-charge of the cultural program that would
be put-up for the five day ‘Durgotsav’.
I was chosen as one of the members of the organizing committee. This meant I could not sneak out of the
campus and visit my native place in Bihar for Dussehra.
Professor Sahay was in his elements. He was encouraging each student to participate in the cultural events.
He said this was the best way to develop our personality.
Miss Roy and Professor Sahay spent a lot of time together and both were equally dedicated to the task of
getting students ready for the corporate world.

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I participated in the drama competition. Our seniors wrote another play this time based on the story of a boy
who had come to know the secret of a scientist who had discovered the drug for altering age. The right dose
could change a fifty-year-old into a twenty-year-old.
The student steals the drug and tries it on the Director of the institute and many others. This gives rise to
hilarious situations and complications.
The student gives the Director a heavy dose and the Director turns into a ten-year-old! I played the role of the
‘student’ who steals the drug and tries it on the teachers.
The entire competition was held over five days. Durga Puja is celebrated over nine nights – Navratras. Each
day belongs to a different incarnation of Durga, the Goddess of Power – Shakti – worshipped over nine days. It
is celebrated with great pomp and gaiety in Bengal.
The nine days of the festival culminate in Dussehra. Dussehra marks the death of the demon Ravana. Rama
had killed Ravana and good had triumphed over evil liberating the world from the clutches of Ravana.
A statue of Goddess Durga was installed in our college campus and worshipped for nine days.
During Ramzaan our mess served ‘Sehri’ and ‘Iftaar ’ food for the muslim students. During Navratras those
who fasted got food meant for those who were fasting. No meat, poultry or eggs were cooked during the
festival.
I was sad initially – not going home for Dussehra. As rehearsals progressed and the festive fever caught on, I
started enjoying it and would not have gone home even if forced to do so.
The various streams were fighting for the honors. MBA (IT), MBA (International Business), MBA (Travel &
Tourism), MBA (Hospitality), MBA, MBA (Advertising) etc. were all pitted against each other. There were ten
streams and therefore ten entries for each event. Each day was dedicated to an event as per the following
schedule:

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Day 1: Traditional/Classical/Folk Dance
Day 2:Vocal/Instrumental Music
Day 3:Short play
Day 4:Filmi/Western dance and music.
Day 5:Best events from all four days.
Each day we had a special guest from the corporate world. This was a nice way to call industry stalwarts and
leaders and showcase this wonderful event.
Media persons were also called for the event and Professor Sahay wrote an article that was published in the
national dailies.
I now understood that there was much more to such events than just pomp and show. What one gained
depended on how much deeper one’s participation went.
A one page – two sides – magazine was also taken out by students on all five days - and was called
'Snippets'.
Students did everything – organize, conduct and control the events. The teacher coordinators were there to
guide us and lend that touch of professionalism to the whole affair.
I was proud to be part of the organizing team and was proud of being a student at my college.
The events began around 8:00 pm and went on late into the night. Snacks and food were made available in the
‘shamiana’ put up outside the auditorium where food stalls were put up.

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Food coupons were made available to students in lieu of mess food and more coupons could be purchased.
I found out on the second day that the stalls serving soft drinks were not just serving soft drinks but also ‘hard’
drinks, comprising soft drinks laced with gin or vodka.
Only white spirits were used. Seniors were high and now I understood why most of them did not participate in
the events. They had told us these events were meant for the first years!
I abstained from non-vegetarian food and drinks during Navratras, so I had no reason to be hanging around the
soft drinks stall.
One of our seniors got too drunk and had to be carried away to the hostel. The warden raided the soft drinks
stall and confiscated crates of white rum, gin and vodka.
The stall was back in business next evening with fresh stocks smuggled in along with the provisions for the
food stalls!
The judges for the events were also sourced from industry and everyday there were three judges and a Chief
Guest.
The Chief Guest for the last day – the grand finale – was a leader from the BPO industry. She spoke about the
prospects for MBA grads in the IT enabled services.
Our play was adjudged the second-best play and Sushant Sir the best Director. I was given a consolation
prize as an actor. The success of our play made us very happy. There was no remorse at being judged
second best.
The whole competition was held in a spirit of joy and camaraderie. We were lucky to win the overall
competition.

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Sushant Sir, the leader of our team went up to get the trophy. There was all night dancing and singing in our
hostel.
All the advantages of such events are not evident to us when these events are taking place. It is learning
without knowing you are learning. No number of classes could have taught me what this festival, participation
at LSR and being part of the organizing committee did.
My fears were no more there – I was not afraid of meeting people, talking English, going and taking the
initiative, or participating and putting myself up in front of people to be judged, laughed at or ridiculed.
It did not matter if people made fun of me, my accent, my upbringing or my role. What mattered was the fact
that I wanted to participate, and nothing could stop me from doing so.
I came to Delhi from a village and did not know what or how I would learn to be successful. I had taken part in
activities, and I felt I had not done so badly after all. I had, in fact, done pretty well.
Please read this and go out and take part in activities. Be on stage or off it but go get yourself immersed in the
thick of things. You learn so much by just being there where the action unfolds. Be an all-rounder.
When you participate the first time you may not get an important role or position. You have to be prepared for
lesser roles.
Everyone comes up this way. Sushant Sir told us about the times when he just carried ‘chai’ and ‘samosas’ for
his seniors and was happy doing so.
We asked Sushant Sir what he planned to do in life, and he said he wanted to get into TV or films as an
assistant. May be one day he would become a director and direct his own movie or TV soap.

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I too started dreaming of becoming an actor in one of the films or serials directed by Sushant Sir. Suddenly I
was reminded of my grandfather ’s words as I bent down to touch his feet “Get a job as soon as you finish
college and lighten up your father ’s burden as he has three more children to educate”.
The realities of life are such that one cannot always follow one’s dream.
The dreams of each family are as important as the dreams of one individual. I vowed to get a good job as soon
as I passed out of college and lighten up my father ’s burden.
It did not matter if people made fun of me, my accent, my upbringing or my role. What mattered was the fact
that I wanted to participate, and nothing could stop me from doing so.

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A Friend in Need!
Raj Narain belonged to Patna, and he had joined college the same time as I did. Raj was in another stream, so
our interaction was limited. Raj had gone home for Dussehra and when he returned, he called me to his room
for some ‘mithai (sweets)’ that he had brought from home.
There was little ‘mithai’ left by the time I reached his room, but it was not just sweets for which I had been
called.
Raj was very depressed. He was still quite scared to open his mouth in front of people especially when
required to converse in English.
During class presentations he always tried to take the most passive role like operating the laptop, changing
slides etc. He spoke only when forced to.
Raj was envious of me. He felt I had developed my personality within a very short period. He felt I had become
some kind of a hero for the other Hindi speaking students.

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Raj was pursuing MBA (IT). He had done BCA in Patna and was interested in getting a management
qualification in IT.
Professor Sahay was not teaching them any subject. Did that mean people would fail to develop their
personalities?
Raj asked me to help him get rid of his hesitation. He wanted me to teach him how to speak English without
feeling ashamed of our accent. I decided to help Raj.
My first exchange with Raj went something like this:
“Raj you and I speak English with a particular accent. People from the south have a different accent. Hindi is
also spoken with different accents. Why should we be ashamed of our accent? If it is a matter of shame then it
must be a matter of shame for everyone, why just Raj Narain or Saurabh Kumar?”
Raj said, “Saurabh it is easy for you to say this but just tell me how you got rid of your hesitation?”
“I got rid of my hesitation by not bothering about how people reacted to what I said. I could not have done it
without the encouragement I received from my class. Professor Sahay too played a positive role”.
“How did you get involved in drama?” asked Raj.
“It was just by chance that I went for the audition and landed a role. Raj it is all about ‘wanting’ to do it. If you
really ‘want’ to do it then many opportunities will present themselves to you. If you just want to attend classes
and be by yourself then you will not notice such opportunities and will not be able to gain from them” I
explained.
“What if you are rejected? You were lucky Saurabh, you got selected,” said Raj.

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“I was lucky Raj, that’s right. How about you? How do you know you would not have been lucky without even
trying? Had you tried you too might have succeeded” I said.
“You were lucky to have someone show you the way – like Professor Sahay,” said Raj.
“Yes, that’s right. But it is not just Professor Sahay that did the trick. It was one thing after another. May be the
fun seniors and classmates made of me in the beginning made me much more determined to learn how to
communicate. I was as bad as you Raj, and you are as good as I am, the only difference is I have stopped
being shy and you still have your hesitation to deal with” I explained.
“Help me Saurabh, help me get rid of my fright” pleaded Raj.
I went up to Raj, patted him on the back and said “Raj, now that you want to do it, no power in the world can
stop you from doing it. I will help you and so will everyone else. Each episode in life will now propel you
towards success. It is only a question of deciding that you want to do it. Till then no one can help you and after
that nothing can stop you”.
Raj’s eyes were moist. He came up to me and took my hand in his. He squeezed my hand and said he would
not let me down.
Raj was now ready to take the plunge. I had taken the plunge when I went and participated in the audition for
the ‘fresher ’s’ welcome’.
I just needed to guide Raj and I knew he would do it. I asked him whether he was ready to take part in
activities.
“I don’t know Saurabh; I’ve never done it before. Why don’t you get me into some kind of activity where I have
to do a lot of running around,” said Raj.

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“It is not just running around but interacting with people that is very important Raj” I explained “you change as
you go through situations. Each experience changes you. Each event is learning. Each person is a challenge
and each situation a trial. English being the biggest hurdle, there are others like etiquette, dressing and style.”
Raj was nodding to each thing that I was saying. He was in awe of me. The plays had made me a kind of a
mini hero. My confidence levels had soared, and I was now ready to spread my wings and fly. I was able to
talk about a lot of things that I didn’t even think I knew. I was able to speak with authority on a lot of matters.
Raj asked me whether he could come and help me in ‘placements. I said I would ask Miss Roy and get back
to him. His keenness was quite infectious. I wanted to help him, and I felt it was my way of thanking all those
who had helped me gain confidence in myself.
I think that was also the day the idea of writing this book started taking shape in the subconscious recesses of
my mind. I had vowed to myself that there will be no more ‘Raj Narains’ in the colleges of my country!
I spoke to Miss Roy and contrary to my expectations she refused to let Raj come and help the placements
committee. Raj was crestfallen. I did not know what to do. The end semester examinations were approaching,
and I did not have much time to study.
I asked Raj to be patient and start studying hard for the end-semester examinations. I told him he had lost
precious time in this semester because he had only one semester left because in the second year no one took
part in any activity except a few die-hards like Sushant Sir.
I discussed Raj’s case with Sahay Sir. We had started calling Professor Sahay ‘Sahay Sir ’ as if we were
speaking of some senior. Sahay Sir told me to ask Raj to take part in as many class presentations as
possible. He also said Raj could come and meet him in order to get tips on making presentations.
I asked Sahay Sir if I could ask Raj to attend Sahay Sir ’s classes. Sahay Sir said he had no objection, but Raj
should not bunk some other lecture to attend those classes.

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Raj was overjoyed. I was also extremely happy because Raj had shown faith in me, and I had not let him
down.

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A Hitch in Time
The first semester was coming to a close and it was time to start studying for the end-semester exams. I had
not done very well in my papers during mid-semester exams. I was extremely busy with the Hindi play and
then with LSR. Our mid-semester marks had been sent home and my father had been extremely agitated
when he spoke to me about getting good marks so that I could get a good job.
I went to Professor Sahay for advice on what to do. Professor Sahay listened to my story and then just said
“Saurabh, what you lack is time management, which is nothing but task management”.
I looked at the professor and said, “Sir please help me understand time management”.
The professor nodded and told me “Today we will take it up in class. There may be many who lack this skill.”
I thanked the professor and went for classes.
Professor Sahay’s lecture was in the afternoon.
Everyone came on time for Professor Sahay’s lectures. He did not give attendance to late comers. He allowed
people in late but never gave them attendance. Professor Sahay was never late for his lecture and if he was
going to get delayed, he always informed the class.
Today was a peculiar day. Professor Sahay had neither informed that he would be late, nor had he arrived.
Fifteen minutes had passed, and everyone was wondering. Suddenly we saw Professor Sahay walk in. He
was carrying a tray in one hand.
“Sorry class! I am late!” said Professor Sahay “Please allow me to finish my lunch”.

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With this he sat down and started munching on some salad and sandwiches that he had brought.
I asked the professor if I could get him something more – some water or some coffee.
“Get me some coffee” he said as he put his hand in one pocket and came out with some canteen coupons.
“Why don’t you get patties for the whole class” said Professor Sahay “and a couple of large bottles of some
soft drink?”
“Are we celebrating something Sir?” asked Rishabh.
“Rishabh why don’t you accompany Saurabh to the canteen?” said Professor Sahay. “Yes, we are celebrating
something!” said the professor “and I will tell you after you get the food and drink”.
Rishabh and I rushed to the canteen. We carried back with us coffee, patties and the canteen boy carried
bottles of soft drink, disposable plates, glasses, tissue and ketchup.
As we started serving the class, I asked the professor “Sir what is the good news? Are you getting married?”
Professor Sahay immediately broke into that sunny smile of his and said, “How did you guess Saurabh?”
“You looked so happy Sir and you’re never late for class without informing, so I thought it must be something
extremely important” I said.
“Sir who is the lucky lady?” enquired Madhavi.
“The lucky lady is part of this institution and all of you know her!” said Professor Sahay.
“Miss Roy!” exclaimed Malvika.

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“You are right!” exclaimed the professor.
I was pouring soft drinks into the disposable glasses. I very nearly dropped the bottle. My hand shook and
tears came to my eyes as I said to myself ‘Miss Roy! Why should she marry a nerd like him? She should
have married someone like…………well she would not have married me, under any circumstances, so why
should I care about who she is marrying?’
Professor Sahay had probably read my thoughts once again.
He came towards me and asked “Any help required Saurabh? Is there enough for everyone?”
“No problem, Sir, I’ll manage” I said without looking up. He patted my back and moved on.
He was extremely happy and looked radiant. I could not imagine Miss Roy going on a honeymoon with this
specimen.
Patties and soft drink were doing the rounds and people were on a high. Rishabh came to me and said,
“Saurabh what about your drink?”
I had not poured any soft drink for myself. I did not feel like celebrating. I couldn’t tell Rishabh how I was
feeling. The bell rang and signaled the end of the class.

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Everyone congratulated Professor Sahay as he prepared to leave. I busied myself trying to tidy up the
classroom.
Professor Sahay came up to me and said “Saurabh meet me in the evening. We will talk about time
management. My time management has been pretty bad today”.
I met Professor Sahay in the evening. He explained time management to me in such a simple way that it
struck me as being just too simple. This is how I understood time management.
The Concept of Time: What is time?
We utilize time. Is it a resource? Time is certainly a resource. One of the most precious resources.
Once lost - lost forever. Time is one thing that just cannot be repurchased. You just can’t take the clock
back. Life just does not have that ‘rewind/replay’ button.
We change with time. Is it a process? Time changes us. We age with time. We learn with time. We
become more mature with time. Even if we don’t do anything time still changes us. Rivers change
course, mountains lose their beauty and fertile lands turn into deserts with time.
We manage time. Is it a task? Time is not a task – but time management is. Time management is one of
our biggest tasks in life.
We fritter time away. Can it be spent? Our time in the world is limited. If we do not utilize it our time is lost. You
fritter your own time in this world away when you do not utilize it properly.
The clock is always ticking. Is time continuously on the move? Everyone who was sent to this world
must go one day. In this sense his time is limited. With each passing second you draw closer to your
end and in this sense ‘your time’ is continuously depleting and on the move.
Time passes or we do? We pass away when our time passes. Time by itself never passes – we pass
through time, with our limited quota, with our clock ticking all the time. As soon as we are born, we
should understand “your time starts now!”
What to do with time?

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Do nothing with time - do something with yourself. Just keep doing something with yourself and time will
be well spent.
Prioritize your tasks - get down to doing them. Task priority means doing what is most essential first.
This ensures growth and timely completion of tasks.
Try to do your best and get on to the next. Give everything your best shot. This will ensure less failed
attempts and lead to less repetitions.
Get into the habit of finishing off things, not letting them lie unfinished. Letting things lie unfinished may
have its own charm, but it is not good practice.
Finish your task before you relax. Celebrate once your task is over. Do not sit down before you have
reached your goal.
Time management is task management.
Yes! Task management is the key to time management. People just try to manage time and get so
engrossed in it that they forget what they must do in that time.
Most of the time we have more time on our hands when we tend to waste it. A bit of overloading with
work leads to better time and task management. Keep your plate full and nobody will ever complain.
Remain motivated.

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Motivation is the key to time and task management. Remain motivated. If you are motivated, then that is
the force from within that will inspire you to do more.
Tell yourself that you will complete your jobs for the day, no matter what. This is the best way to utilize
your day. If you leave nothing for the morrow, from today’s task list, then you will be able to do full justice
to the tasks of tomorrow.
Be motivated to sweat out that extra bit. A little bit of effort never hurt anyone! Go the extra mile to gain
that extra advantage.
Let your motivation drive you to take that much needed break a little later. Breaks are as essential as
tasks. Taking a break is also a task. Do it a little later.
Drive yourself hard and fast! You have to drive yourself hard. If you do not, then you will be left behind.
Such is the competition these days that not driving yourself hard and fast will make you lose the race.
Some tips.
Let essentials be attended to first. All ‘must be done’ tasks are tasks that are essential. Daily exercise
and relaxation should also be put on your ‘must be done at all costs’ list.
Let nonessentials wait. All ‘may or may not be done’ tasks are those tasks that are not essential but
may be on the ‘desired to be done’ task list. After finishing off the ‘must be done’ tasks one can move to
the ‘may be done’ task list.
A task is never complete until the desired result has been achieved. We need to understand the importance of
‘result oriented’ task management. Whatever needs to be done to achieve the desired result, must be done, in
order to complete that task successfully.
'To-Do' lists may be prepared keeping in mind the priority of each task. A good example is the list below:
A typical 'To-Do' or 'Prioritized Task List'

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Task Priority
Deposit check in bank High
Submit 'FA' assignment High
Reply to e-mails from friends Medium
Go to mall for recreation Low
As is evident from the list above, a task that is essential and 'must be done' has high priority. The other 'may
be done' tasks have medium or low priority. This list can be used to decide what is to be done first (now) and
what can be done 'later'.
I started preparing a 'prioritized to-do list' and found that my time utilization improved. Anyone who wants to
improve time management must create a prioritized task list and work to a plan. Planning how to spend your
time is the key to successful time management.
Similarly, an 'Activity Log Table' can be a great help in finding out 'time thieves' - activities that are taking too
much time. An example is:
A typical 'Activity Log Table'

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Activity Start End Duration
No lecture - free hour - Canteen 10:45 12:15 90 min.
Lecture 12:15 1:45 90 min.
Lunch 1:45 2:15 30 min.
Lecture 2:15 3:45 90 min.
Tea break 3:45 4:00 15 min.
No lecture - free hour – Canteen 4:00 6:00 120 min.
Back to hostel - masti with friends 6:00 10:00 240 min.
Tried to study for Quiz - dozed off in between 10:00 1:00 180 min.
Sweet dreams. 1:00 6:00 300 min.
I could have utilized my free lecture hours to prepare for my quiz the next day. I could also have utilized my
'masti' time to study.
Professor Sahay had got engaged to Miss Roy – it was indeed a hitch in time!

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Placement for Seniors

The placement season was approaching, and our seniors were getting ready for placements. Miss Roy and
Professor Sahay were extremely busy. Rounds of GD (group discussion) and PI (personal interview) were
being held. Professor Sahay was an expert at this.
Professor Sahay and Miss Roy decided to form a committee of students to help them in placements. I was
included in the committee along with several other first year students. This was a good idea because we got a
feel of how placements were conducted.
Professor Sahay created a format for evaluation during group discussions and personal interviews. He
created a format for submitting our CV. The evaluation formats are given below.
Evaluation – GD & PI
For: MBA students.
Name of Participant: _________________
1. Group Discussion:
Grasp over topic Attitude Delivery
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Poor Okay Good V. Good Excellent
2. Personal Interview:

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No. Aspect Rating
1. Dressing & Grooming
2. Grasp of basics of the specialization
3. Thought process and attitude
4. Non-verbal communication
5. General knowledge and awareness
6. Overall impression
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Poor Okay Good V. Good Excellent
3. Any other remarks/observations:
_______________________________________
Signature of evaluator: _______________
Everyone was supposed to aim towards a very good or an excellent rating. There were several rounds of GD
and PI. Experts were called in from the corporate world, mostly HR experts, who told us how to prepare for the
corporate world.

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Jobs were allocated within the placement committee. I was to assist a senior called Prasurya, who was
assigned the task of ringing up corporate leaders for appointments, for our placement team.
Getting an appointment was extremely difficult. I carefully watched how Prasurya Ma’am spoke over the
telephone. She would first introduce her-self and ask for the person she wanted to speak to. It went somewhat
like this:
“Hello…… Good Morning! I am Prasurya from the School of Business; may I speak to somebody from HR?”
I asked Prasurya Ma’am why she said, ‘may I’ instead of saying ‘can I’. Prasuriya Ma’am smiled and told me
the difference. She said the answer to ‘can I’ could be ‘of course you can but right now you may not’ whereas if
you say, ‘may I’ you are asking whether you ‘may at this moment of time or may not’ and the answer would
simply be ‘may’ or ‘may not’.
‘May I’ is more appropriate because you are asking the other person's permission. I learnt what this meant
and decided to use ‘may I’ instead of ‘can I’.
Another correction Prasurya Ma’am made was ‘en’ instead of ‘in’ as in ‘enjoy’, ‘engine’, ‘engineer ’ etc. I was
used to saying ‘I injoyed a lot’, ‘the ingin of my motorbike’, ‘my brother is an ingineer ’ etc. She asked me to
look up a dictionary if I wanted to learn the right pronunciation. This would give me the right diction.
Prasurya Ma’am also taught me how to follow up. She would jot down the reply received from each person
she spoke to and then make calls whenever they had said she could call. It was a game of persistence. We
just did not give up.
A lot of appointments were made, and teams went out with our ‘placement brochures’ to meet HR
functionaries to arrange for campus interviews.
The campus interviews were an affair to remember because we saw our seniors dressed in ‘formals’, beard
shaved, shoes polished, nails cut, smelling nice and acting civilized! You could hardly recognize them.

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Whenever someone received a good offer there was a party in the hostel. Liquor was smuggled in along with
lots of tandoori chicken.
Our seniors would get quite ‘senti’ during these parties. They would hug each other and relive the great times
they had in the hostel. None of them spoke about the good times in college. It seemed good times were only
had in the hostels!
I was a regular fixture at a lot of these ‘placement parties’.
Arun Sir got the job of a ‘recovery executive’ at one of the good private banks. He was quite happy. His
temperament suited the job profile.
Arun Sir threw a party for the entire hostel. There was total chaos as music was played the loudest and drinks
just flooded the corridors.
There was so much ‘hulla-gulla’ that the warden had to come and give us a piece of his mind.
The party became a little subdued after the ‘wardy’ left but the fun continued. We had pulled out all stops that
night. It was the mother of all parties.
The next morning the housekeeping staff had a job on their hands. People had ‘puked’ all over the hostel and
some were even found lying drunk on the floor.
When I got up in the morning, I found myself in someone else’s room. I decided not to drink from that day
onwards, but my decision was overturned that same evening.
I wanted to find out how these guys would behave once they were out of the hostels (they were more into
hostels than colleges!) and into a job. None of them ever got up for breakfast, in fact, most of them got up
close to lunch time!

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How would they ever report for their jobs on time? At a party or product launch if liquor were served wouldn’t
these guys drink themselves silly?
Would they not go out for innumerable cigarette breaks? How would they sit through meetings that ran into
hours? What kind of an example would they be for their fellow workers?
I wanted to go and ask the executives who came to conduct campus interviews whether they too had been
like this in college.
I asked some of the seniors whether they would find it difficult to make lifestyle adjustments once out of
college. They just laughed and told me ‘Just wait till we get out; we'll spoil anyone who comes in contact!’
I met a lot of them later. They had completely transformed. Many of them were quite religious, married, wife
dominated, and I don’t know if they still drank themselves silly!
Life is lived in phases and the best phase is the one in hostel!

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Clothes & Behavior

Professor Sahay always looked smart no matter what he wore and so did Miss Roy. To me Miss Roy always
looked smarter!
Professor Sahay wore a 'kurta-pyjama' to class many times, but that day he wore a 'dhoti-kurta'. This was
something we had never seen in college. Professor Sahay looked quite smart in this outfit too, though he was
wearing sneakers along with a 'dhoti-kurta'! What a guy and what a combination!
He came to class and all of started smiling. He smiled and asked, "How many students know how to tie a
dhoti or sari?"
Some girls raised their hands. None of the boys raised his hand.
"All of you know how to tie a dhoti?" queried Professor Sahay.
"No Sir! We know how to tie a 'sari'" said Madhavi.
The Professor nodded and said - "The 'dhoti' is to men what the 'sari' is to women".
Everyone nodded. The professor then asked us "Boys, what is your problem? Why don't you know how to tie
a 'dhoti'?"

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None of us had an answer. He then wrote on the board:
Dressing & Etiquette
"Dressing is the most visible way of attracting attention" said Professor Sahay. "The way you dress and the
way you behave are both remembered by people even after they have forgotten what you said" he explained.
"A lot of men go to grooming parlors and get a facial, manicure, pedicure or massage" continued the professor.
"How many of you have been to a beauty parlor?" enquired Professor Sahay.
A lot of girls raised their hands. Not one of the boys raised his hand. The professor raised his hand and said, "I
regularly go to a grooming parlor".
"That is why you always look so smart" said Malvika. Professor Sahay smiled but said nothing.
"Bad luck Malvika, Sir is engaged to Miss Roy" said Rishabh. Malvika blushed but the whole class burst out
laughing. Professor Sahay's ears were also red.
"Kuch bhi ho jaye Rishabh nahin sudhrega" said Aradhana.
Professor Sahay asked Rishabh "Rishabh you look so well groomed; do you go to a parlor?"
"I never go to a parlor Sir" said Rishabh.
Professor Sahay scratched his head "You don't go to a parlor and still look smart. What about the rest of the
boys?"
Nobody said a word. Everyone was busy thinking about the evening when most of us had decided to go out
for a movie. The tickets had also been booked.

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Professor Sahay asked "What is going on in your minds? You seem to be lost somewhere?"
"We're planning to go for a movie this evening" said Amol, one of our classmates.
"Movie? Which movie?" queried Professor Sahay.
"ZNMD Sir!" said Rishabh.
"Oh! Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara! That's a nice one" said Professor Sahay. "When you go for a movie watch the
way characters are dressed" he continued. "Costume is a very important part of a play or movie. It helps bring
the character to life. Right Saurabh?" asked Professor Sahay.
"Very right Sir!" I exclaimed. "Without proper costume and make-up, a character would never come to life" I
explained.
"Your looks, dress and behavior combine to create an impression on people even before you speak or interact
with them" said Professor Sahay.
"What can we do to improve our looks?" asked Mani, another of our classmates. We had forgotten all about
the movie and were quite involved in the discussion.
"This is the most important question" said Professor Sahay "and we will try to look at some things that you
may do to improve your looks".
Professor Sahay then wrote on the board:
Dressing for Men - Formal

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Suit Basic black, dark-grey, or dark navy.
Shirt Light colors. Solids or pin stripes are okay.
Ties Matching or contrast with suit/shirt. No ashy ties with

fancy logos, prints or designs.
Belt & Black, leather. Polish shoes the night before. No fancy
Shoes buckles.
Briefcase / Briefcase or leather or vinyl bound portfolio.

folio
Perfume / Never use anything which is overpowering. No stubble.

after Clean shave or well-trimmed beard or moustache.
shave
Dressing for Women - Formal

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Suit Dark colors - black, charcoal, navy, grey.
Skirt Should be knee length and a comfortable t.
Suit jacket Jacket should cover the buttocks.
Blouse White color is appropriate. Should cover shoulders and

biceps. Hemline should not have frills, owers etc.
Salwar suit Appropriate for of ce wear.
Saree Appropriate for of ce wear.
Shoes / High heels are okay. Should be closed & neat. Ankles or
footwear tips should not be seen.
Briefcase / Should not draw attention. Leave handbag behind.

folio
Accessories No loud bangles, large earrings, ashy scarves, thick

chains.
Piercing Avoid more than one earring in each ear.

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Make-up Wear natural make-up. Avoid red lipstick, bright eye shadow,
nail paint.
Hair Neatly done up.
Perfume Light.
The tables gave us some idea of how we should dress for office. Professor Sahay asked us to start dressing
up in this manner in order to become accustomed to such dressing.
"So many of you just wear only sandals or sneakers. Many boys never seem to have worn a shirt - only tees!"
said Professor Sahay.
"Sir many girls always wear jeans to college,” said Aparajit.
"Jeans! Jeans are a problem" said Professor Sahay. "If you get too used to wearing jeans, wearing other
trousers will be a problem for you".
"Why Sir?" asked Rishabh who never let go a chance to ask a question.
"Jeans are not just a trouser you wear but a lifestyle" said Professor Sahay. "Those who live in their jeans find
it difficult to stop wearing them for the kind of comfort they get from them" explained the professor.
"The comfort provided by jeans and sneakers is so much. Why don't they make jeans and sneakers the
official dress?" asked Chandu.
"I have read about many famous people who are corporate big-wigs, film stars etc. whose favorite wear is
jeans and a tee shirt. A lot of them love to wear sneakers" said Professor Sahay.

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"Sir what are the rules of corporate dressing?" asked Mani.
"There are rules and there are no rules" said Professor Sahay. "You must follow the convention that is followed
in your organization or line of business" he continued.
"You will find a lot of bankers and financial service providers wearing a tie. Many white-collar workers wear a
tie" explained Professor Sahay.
"We had a professor who always wore a suit, tie and hat during winter" said Professor Sahay. "Dressing is a
very personal thing but it has a huge impact on those you come across" he continued.
"People judge you by what you wear" said Malvika.
"Well said" said Professor Sahay "but do not think wearing a good dress is a guarantee for making a good
impression. A lot depends on how you behave".
"A good dress creates a good first impression" said Mugdha.
Professor Sahay smiled and said "A good dress is not the most expensive or most stylish, always. A good
dress is an appropriate dress - a dress that suits the occasion".
"Occasion dressing!" exclaimed Rishabh.
Professor Sahay smiled and patted Rishabh "Well coined Rishabh, I like that - Occasion Dressing – dressing
according to the occasion".
We had started understanding the basics of what Professor Sahay was trying to tell us. Proper dressing
meant dressing as per the occasion. Proper behavior meant behaving as per the occasion. Appropriate dress
and appropriate behavior meant knowing proper dressing and etiquette.

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It was so simple and yet so complex. The real beauty of Professor Sahay's teachings lay in making complex
things look extremely simply. Keeping things simple is the most complex task. This task was beautifully
managed by Professor Sahay.
My sense of dressing and etiquette had improved with time spent in Delhi. I had stopped wearing the red tee
shirts and yellow shirts bought at Janpath. I was more into blues, blacks and earthy colors. Drama had also
helped me groom myself into a more confident young man.
Dinner etiquette was something that was taught to us by a guest lecturer from the hotel industry. Mr.
Paramveer Mandhana held charge of Food & Beverages at a five-star hotel. Professor Sahay invited him to
our class to help us learn dinner etiquette.
Mr. Mandhana explained to us the rules of behavior at a dinner table. Some simple dos and don’ts are given
below:
What to do:

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Unfold your napkin and place it on your lap once you are seated. Use it for gently wiping your lips or
fingers. Do not use the napkin to blow your nose, wipe your face etc. At the end of dinner, leave the
napkin tidily on the place setting.
The knife and fork are held with the handles resting in the palm of the hand, forefinger on top near the
upper tip, and thumb underneath near the end of the forefinger.
The knife and fork may be placed on either side of the plate between mouthfuls. At the end of the meal
the knife and fork may be placed side by side in the center of the plate with the cutting edge of the knife
facing inwards.
If you do not like the food served to you do not be rude by not touching it. Make an attempt to eat some
portion of it before leaving it on the side.
If you feel full before everything on your plate is finished, you may leave some food on the side of your
plate.
Desserts like cakes or pastries may be eaten with a fork. For others both a spoon and fork may be
used.
When a lady wishes to be excused for going to the washroom you must stand up as she leaves the
table, sit down again, and then stand once more when she returns.
If toothpicks are provided you may use them by covering your mouth with the fingers of one hand and
use the other to pick your teeth.
Make polite conversation with guests around you. It is a social occasion, and you must meet, greet and
converse with people.
Always thank the host and hostess for their hospitality before leaving.
It is good to send a thank you note to the host and hostess shortly afterwards.
What not to do:

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You must never begin your meal unless the host signals you to do so.
Never turn over your fork unless you are eating peas, corn kernels, rice or other similar foods. Transfer
the fork to your right hand when doing so. At a casual buffet or barbeque, it is quite acceptable to eat
with just a fork.
Never dip your bread into soups or use it for mopping up sauces.
Eat as noiselessly as possible - without slurping or burping.
Do not talk with your mouth full. If someone asks you something signal to the person, finish chewing,
have a gulp of water and then talk.
Don't reach out for food not within your reach by reaching out over the table across other people. Politely
ask the guest sitting next to you to pass the item.
Do not get into any kind of criticism about the food or wine served. If you feel unable to pay any
compliments, at least remain silent on the subject.
Picking your teeth or licking your fingers is not considered good dinner table etiquette unless toothpicks
are provided. Ask for a finger bowl to wash your fingers.
Never drink too much alcohol/wine at the dinner table. When each course is a served with a different
wine no one will mind if you do not finish every glass.
Never pick a quarrel with someone during a dinner. It is embarrassing for the host, hostess and other
guests.
With so much effort being put into teaching us dressing and behavior, our behavior was bound to improve. I
had never been exposed to corporate dressing or fine dining. These sessions were great eye-openers for me.
I understood that there was a lot of effort that one needed to put in before one could be considered cultured and
well mannered.

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Anger & Stress Management

I was angry and I tried to remember what the guest lecturer had to say on anger and stress management. I
could not remember a word of what she had said.
Professor Sahay had invited a friend of his from JNU to address us on anger and stress management. Dr.
Shaheen Warsi was a trained psychologist. She conducted a workshop on anger and stress management for
us.
An auto driver banged me from behind. I was mad at the auto driver for banging my motorbike from behind
and breaking the brake light. I wanted to hit him, but better sense prevailed. I firmly asked him to pay for the
damage he had caused.
He told me he was not carrying enough cash and would only be able to give me a hundred rupee note. I
decided to settle for a hundred rupees.
Cursing under my breath I continued on my journey to Munirka to meet up with my local guardian. It was a
Sunday morning, and I was looking forward to home food.
I tried to remember 'coping' strategies for anger but could not find any that fitted the situation I had just been in.
I tried to recall the tricks for controlling anger and all I could remember was the smiling face of Dr. Shaheen
Warsi! Professor Sahay, an ordinary looking guy, had the knack of befriending nice-looking ladies!
I was remembering Dr. Shaheen’s lovely face when I suddenly jumped out of my skin because there she was,
right next to me, at the traffic light, in her red Maruti Swift!
The signal turned green and before I could put my bike into motion, I heard a bang. Dr. Shaheen had banged
the auto in front of her car.

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The auto driver got down and started shouting at Dr. Shaheen. Dr.Shaheen rolled her window down and
threatened to call the. lice.
The auto driver challenged her to do so. Dr.Shaheen then got out of her car and started shouting.
She was saying things like:
"Why is there no policeman at this light?"
"Who will teach these uneducated, uncouth auto drivers a lesson?"
"I was behind this auto, and he braked! Am I to blame?"
She looked very angry, flustered and completely different from what she looked like in class. She told the auto
driver that she would have him arrested.
I felt it was my duty to go and help the lady in distress. I went up to the auto driver and laid a hand on his
shoulder. He shrugged me off! He too looked very angry!
Dr. Shaheen did not recognize me. I introduced myself “Ma’am I am Saurabh, Prof Sahay’s student, you came
to our college for the workshop on anger management”. Her face immediately changed into a less angry
shade, and she said “Oh Saurabh! Why don’t you help me tackle this problem?”

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By now lots of horns could be heard all around. A traffic policeman also walked up to us from somewhere. He
asked Dr. Shaheen and the auto-driver to move their vehicles to the side. As she moved her car even, I had
no other option but to follow.
The traffic constable started off by asking the auto driver and Dr. Shaheen for their papers. Dr.Shaheen had
forgotten her angry ways now and was pleading with the policeman to let her g. The policeman was going
about his job in a very cool way. He asked for the driving licenses of both the parties involved. I got scared
because I had no driving license. Thankfully he had been ignoring me so far!
I think Dr. Shaheen too did not have her license. She went up to the policeman, smiled, took him aside and
spoke to him for a minute. I watched with great interest because she had come to teach us about managing
anger and here was a practical demonstration!
The policeman walked up to the auto driver and shouted at him “Why did you suddenly put on your brakes?”
The auto driver was a little embarrassed because he had not been expecting this. He stammered “The lights
had gone red”. “I’ll slap you and make your face go red, idiot!” the policeman cursed. He then went on to build
a truce between the parties by asking Dr. Shaheen to give him two hundred rupees. Dr.Shaheen quickly did
so. The auto driver refused to take two hundred rupees. He was asking for two thousand! Dr.Shaheen pressed
something into the traffic policeman’s palm and drove off, smiling!
I was amazed! She did not even say ‘thank you’ to me and just drove off without a glance in my direction. This
was a nice way to ‘manage anger ’ that she demonstrated to me. In a situation like this I don’t think my smile
would have worked on the policeman, even if he were gay!
I did some more thinking on the subject of anger and stress management. Driving in Delhi caused both - anger
and stress!
Cases of road rage were reported daily in the newspapers. Delhi seemed to be a city on a permanently short
fuse.

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What I deduced is that anger is a natural emotion. When you are irked by something you feel angry, but the
outburst has to be controlled. Uncontrolled anger leads to ugly situations where no one gains. Even if you hit
someone hard and make him fall to the ground, what do you gain by it? If you hurt someone really bad, then
the law of the land will take its course. For what are we fighting? A place to park, the right of way, a small
scratch on our vehicle because of someone’s negligence, what………...?
Is anger bigger than life? There are so many cases in newspapers of people killing their spouse or girlfriend in
a fit of rage. There is so much that you can live for why not live and let live? You have to think of bigger and
better things than venting your anger. Anger is like fire. Uncontrolled it can burn everything in its wake.
Controlled anger can be like a welding torch. Learn to manage and control your anger and give vent to it in a
way that will not harm anyone. Anger harms everyone – the one who is angry the most.
I am again reminded of what Professor Sahay says. He says “We have all been sent to this earth with some
talent and for some purpose. No matter who we are and what we’re doing, we have no right to harm anyone –
plants, animals, humans, property – anything. If man has to survive in this world we must learn to – Love to
Live, and Live to Love”.
‘Love to live and live to love’ has become my guiding principle against all negativity, including anger!

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Mastering Presentation Skills

It is extremely important to have good presentation skills.
“Good presentation skills can be developed” is what Professor Sahay said when I asked him whether I would
ever become a good presenter.
An MBA course requires a student to make lots of presentations. No one cares for the presentations while at
college. Presentations seem a burden. Power point slides are hurriedly created and presented in class. With
so many students presenting, in such a short time, the teacher hardly has time to listen-to or talk-about the
presentation.
There are too many students and very little time. There is no feedback from the evaluator about the
presentation so there is no question of improvement after every presentation.
Professor Sahay was supposed to teach us how to present. This was part of the managerial communication
course.
Professor Sahay started his lecture by saying “What you will learn now will have a huge impact on your
career. It is a skill that you will use most extensively in your role as manager. It is a skill each manager must
take pains to develop”.
He then wrote on the board:
Presentation Skills
What makes a good presentation?
Professor Sahay asked Rishabh "Rishabh are you a good presenter?"

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"Yes Sir, I am a very good presenter" said Rishabh. The class began to laugh.
"Rishabh is one of our best presenters" said Professor Sahay "but he is not known for his modesty!"
The whole class broke into laughter at this remark which was actually the truth.
Professor Sahay queried "Can you tell me what makes a good presentation?"
"It should be short" said Rajeshwar Rao.
The whole class was laughing once again.
Professor Sahay nodded and said, "It should be concise, but it should not be short at the expense of not being
complete." He then wrote on the blackboard:
Short or concise - not at the expense of being incomplete.
He now asked the whole class as he wrote:
Purpose of Presentations
"What is the purpose of presentations?"
"To present something Sir" said Rishabh. Everyone started laughing. Professor Sahay was serious.
"Yes, to present something you make a presentation. Why do you want to present whatever you present?
What is the purpose of a presentation?"
Everyone was silent now. Professor Sahay continued "A presentation is made in order to present facts,
features, state or condition and to convince people to take actions that you desire."

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He wrote on the blackboard:
Present facts
Explain features
Report the state of progress on a project
Persuade to buy
Motivate to give up or adopt
"A sales presentation is made to persuade people to buy a product or service" explained Professor Sahay.
“The sales pitch is adjusted to motivate and persuade the customer to make the crucial decision in favor of the
presenter, his company or product or service" said Professor Sahay.
"Tremendous amounts of money are spent trying to inform, explain, persuade and motivate through letters,
brochures, reports, presentations, calls and meetings" he continued.
"The purpose of a presenter in making the presentation should be crystal clear for the presenter to be able to
drive the point home" added the Professor.
He then wrote the following on the blackboard:
What is my purpose?
To inform/report:_______________
To explain:____________________
To persuade the audience to_________

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To motivate the audience to________
"A single presentation may have multiple purposes" he explained. "You must first isolate your purpose/s and
then customize your content to suit your audience."
Professor Sahay now wrote on the blackboard:
Content is King
Delivery is Queen
"Content of a presentation is the substance that will serve the purpose" said Professor Sahay. "Content is King
because without adequate content the presentation will fail to lead the audience to the purpose" explained
Professor Sahay.
"Delivery is Queen because it is the delivery that makes the content attractive and desirable. Without effective
delivery the content would fall flat."
We were beginning to see a lot of sense in what the Professor was saying. He now turned his attention to me.
"What does the term audience mean to you Saurabh?"
"Everything" I replied.
"Everything! What a reply Saurabh! Everything! Great!" said Professor Sahay. He wrote on the blackboard:
The Audience or Recipient = Everything!
"Content is King, delivery is Queen and Audience is Everything!" intoned Professor Sahay "sounds pretty good
to me".

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I was beginning to get into my groove now. My confidence levels had gone up and I was not afraid to speak.
Participation in activities had done the trick. Professor Sahay was also responsible for building up my
confidence.
As I gained in confidence my English improved through more usage. I was not afraid of speaking in my so
called 'accent'. I had learnt to give expression to my thoughts in English. There were times when I struggled to
find the right words, or expressions, but I was learning!
Professor Sahay now asked me another question "Saurabh, has drama helped you learn how to present?"
I stood up. I was thinking. I did not reply immediately. Seeing that I was thinking Professor Sahay went on
"Saurabh has learnt a lot from the play he participated in. He has learnt to face an audience. This is an
extremely important aspect of making presentations - getting rid of audience fear".
"I can now face any audience in the world Sir" I said. The whole class burst out laughing. One of them said
"Bhery Gud". There was laughter all around!
Professor Sahay asked the class "How many of you have the same confidence to face an audience that
Saurabh has?"
Very few hands went up, Rishabh among them. Professor Sahay asked "Why do you make fun of Saurabh's
accent? Should he make fun of your stage fear?"

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Rishabh got up and said "Sir, Saurabh doesn't mind being teased".
I said "Sir, I don't mind being teased but there are many who do. In the beginning even I felt very bad when
people made fun of my accent".
"Those who make fun of others should think deeply about how they would feel if others made fun of them” said
Professor Sahay.
“How do you create your presentations?” asked the professor.
“Using Power Point Sir” answered one of the students.
“Yes! Using Power Point” said Professor Sahay “and using Google to paste pages and pages of information on
the slides!”
“Have you ever realized that most of your slides cannot be ‘read’ by people simply because there is too much
information on them, in too small a font size?”
“There are some rules for placing content on power point slides and you must follow them to create
presentations” explained the professor.
He then went on to write down the rules for power point slides. I realized that all that I had been doing had been
‘unreadable’ from the audience point of view! He then went on to list out the rules for preparing power point
slides. The rules are as follows: Rules for power point slides:

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Audience Analysis: Analyze your audience before you create your presentation. If you do not tailor your
presentation to your audience then there are chances that you will not make your mark.
Content Analysis: Analyze your content for suitability to the audience and time available. Only then
should you decide on using or rejecting content for that particular presentation. Knowing what to leave-
out is sometimes more important than knowing what to include.
Placing content on slides: Slides are not pages from a book. They are projections before an audience. If
the audience cannot read them then they will lose interest. If the audience keeps reading them then
when will they listen to you? For the slides to be readable you must use a proper font size. A font size of
thirty-two or more is very good. A good rule is to create a slide and then look at it from two meters away
– if you can read it from that distance, your audience will be able to read it! For a slide to have just
enough matter so as not to distract the audience away from what you are saying – you must not put too
much matter on it. The rule of seven will give you slides that are ‘readable’. The rule is – no more than
seven lines on a slide and no more than seven words per line!
Fonts, colors and contrast: Always use clear fonts – with less stylization. Using all capitals can be quite
distracting. Italics make the words less readable. You may use colored fonts, but the colors and contrast
must not make them unreadable. White or yellow text on a black background would be alright, but yellow
text on an orange background would make the stuff unreadable. Similarly light colors on white would be
difficult to read.
Visuals: Visuals always make the slides more attractive. Any visuals used should be related to the
content of the presentation, otherwise they should not be used. The size of the visual should be such
that it can be seen. The visuals should be placed in a way that is visually attractive. Graphs, charts,
diagrams should be large enough for the audience to see and should not have too much detail in small
font sizes. Simplify charts, graphs and diagrams for use on slides and give them as handouts for
reference, if required.

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Sounds and Animations: Sounds and animations should be used with extreme caution. Sounds may
distract and animations may only be used if they are especially required to explain a process.
Transitions should also be used in a way not to distract.
Lists, boxes: Break-up the matter into lists, columns or boxes for better readability. Running matter is
more difficult to read.
Delivery: The key to good delivery lies in preparation. Familiarize yourself with the matter (content) so
that you don’t have to read a slide word-for-word. Reading each slide can be extremely cumbersome
and boring for the audience. Make eye-contact with all sections of the audience. Speak clearly and at a
pace that is easy for the audience. Use pitch, tone and volume variation to keep the presentation from
becoming monotonous. Always find out how much time you have for presenting and stick to the time
limit. You may have to alter your slides to fit the time allotted. Leave time for questions. Too many
gestures may distract, but hands in pockets or no gestures at all may also make the whole thing very
awkward. Dress as per the occasion. Practice delivery a couple of times before the presentation. Time
yourself. Rehearse before a neutral person to watch you and comment. Do this, don’t do that…….and
the list is endless!
All these tips about making presentations cleared many misconceptions that I had in my mind. I now
understood that a presentation required slides as a supplement – the slides were not the presentation. The
actual presentation was what the presenter was going to speak. The slides were there to help the presenter.
All this brought more focus to my presentations and helped me make better slides.

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Battling the Lack of Self Con dence

Pranika was a girl from a small town in UP. She had not studied in an English medium school, just as I hadn’t.
Her father had sent her to do the MBA course so that she would develop her personality and confidence. She
did not come from a very rich family and wanted a job after she finished MBA. This was the case with most of
us. The only problem for Pranika was that she had done very badly in her first semester and was about to
repeat her performance during the second semester. If she repeated her first semester performance, then it
was certain that she would be asked to repeat the year – also known as ‘year back’ in our college.
Professor Tripathi, our economics faculty, was in the habit of giving us assignments and then asking us to
stand before everyone and discuss the concept. His teaching methodology made the subject come alive and
made it easy to understand. I was explaining about the activities of the Asian Development Bank when
Professor Tripathi asked Pranika to repeat what I had just said. He always did this with weaker students to
check their understanding.
Pranika stood there and kept staring at the white board. The professor tried to encourage her by looking at her
and smiling. This made her even more uncomfortable. She began to sob. The professor did not know what to
do. He asked Madhavi to console Pranika. Madhavi took her out so that she could wash her face. Professor
Tripathi asked the class:
What is the problem with this girl? Anyone?
“Sir she lacks self-confidence” said Rishabh.
Professor Tripathi walked up to Rishabh and asked him “How do you know Rishabh?” The whole class was
looking at Rishabh now though we knew what he was saying was correct.

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“She’s done badly last semester. She does not mix around with people. She’s doing badly this semester. She
may get a year back” explained Rishabh.
Everyone nodded because this was the truth. The professor looked very concerned and was about to say
something when Madhavi walked in with Pranika. He asked Pranika to stand in front of the class along with
me and Madhavi. He then went on to explain to Pranika:
“Pranika there is nothing in this world that man cannot do. Action is the most important thing – without action
there cannot be success. Did you try to work harder this semester after your failure in the last?’
“Sir even if I try, I don’t get marks,” said Pranika.
“You have to keep on trying if you want to succeed. There are so many very talented, unsuccessful people
and there are so many less talented, highly successful people. The difference lies in trying till you succeed.
Action is the key to success. Failures are part of the routine of trying” said Professor Tripathi.
“Do you want to be a manager Pranika” asked Professor Tripathi.
Pranika nodded.

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“You are a lucky girl because your parents have given you this chance to become a manager. Life may give
you only one chance at many things, but it gives you many chances to learn, make mistakes, learn again and
get on with the game. There is nobody on earth who does not make mistakes. All of us make mistakes but
only very few of us learn from these mistakes. It is never too late to learn, to begin. You must get some help
and start working on your weak areas. The end semester exams are about six weeks away and we can still
change the story of your second semester,” said the professor.
Professor Tripathi went on by saying “Confidence in oneself and one’s abilities is essential for action. Persons
who are ridden by self-doubt are never able to achieve good results. Achieving results is the only way to gain
confidence in your abilities. The results may be negative or positive. Even failures give you confidence. Look
at scientists, players, explorers, artists! Unless you achieve results, you will never have self-confidence. Self-
confidence grows with achievement of results. All actions that lead to achievement of desired results bring
greater self-confidence. Actions that bring positive results boost the confidence of a person. This also leads to
motivated action.”
Professor Tripathi then explained positive thinking. I reproduce below what I learnt from his thoughts on
positive thinking.
Positive thinking is a result of a positive mindset that looks for the best in everything. Some qualities of a
positive person are given below.

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A positive person is enthusiastic, eager to perform, & never looks for excuses: S/he looks for
opportunities to perform not excuses for non-performance.
A positive person gives off his best, always, without anticipating or expecting rewards: S/he takes joy in
performing and does not work solely for rewards.
A positive person is neither vindictive nor abusive: Stable and well adjusted – not irritable or constantly
on the edge.
A positive person listens attentively & talks sensibly: Gives others a chance and thinks before s/he
speaks.
A positive person is practical and result oriented: Looks for the best way to achieve the desired results.
A positive person tries to find ways to solve problems rather than create them: Is on the lookout for
answers and does not pose problems in the way of solutions.
A person who is negative may show the following behavior.
A negative person may look lethargic, bored and battered.
A negative person seldom takes the initiative.
A negative person makes excuses finds faults.
A negative person seldom helps those around him/her.
A negative person looks for rewards without labor and practices one-upmanship.
A negative person is a deterrent to positive action.
We can become negative or positive at different times to different situations. No one is fully negative or fully
positive.
It is good to create a positive mindset so that you remain positive most of the time and your actions reflect
your positive mindset.
Professor Tripathi also spoke of ‘persistence’. If you can persist in your attempts to succeed only then will you
be successful.

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At the end of the day only persistence pays. If you decide not to give up; if you decide to brave all odds; if you
decide to learn from all mistakes; if you decide to remain positive no matter what; if you decide to keep trying
till you succeed; nothing can come in the way of your success.
Success belongs to those who deeply desire to be successful. Only those persons who decide to ‘keep at it’
are the ones who stand out among the crowd. Persistence is the key to success.
The magic of positive thinking coupled with persistence is the magic formula for success. No one knows
everything and no one can say s/he has learnt enough.
Keep learning! Keep thinking of newer ways of doing old things. Remain positive in the mind and all your
actions will bear positive results. Remain negative in the mind and the results of your actions will not be so
good.
A positive minded person also makes mistakes, but s/he learns from them and does better next time. Are you
one of those? The magic of positive thinking can start working for you from day one. There is no better day
than today to start this magic for you.
Think positive thoughts and act on them. Do not restrict your actions but expand them. Go beyond. Learn
more. Try harder. Work better. Work smart. Smile. Give yourself another chance.
There’s so much good waiting to happen! Go, make it happen! This alone is the magic formula for success!
The success mantra!
The thoughts of Professor Tripathi had stirred us all. We were used to getting ‘gyaan’ from Professor Sahay
but now we realized that there were more ‘gyaanis’ in this college.
“What do you think you should do Pranika – give it one more attempt or go into a depression and lose
everything” asked Professor Tripathi.

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Pranika was quiet. She seemed to be thinking. She raised her head after a while and said “Sir, I would like to
try”.
The whole class clapped.

Page 113
Ethics and CSR

We were studying so many subjects that gave us a 360-degree view of the world of management. It was said
that we needed to know a little bit about many things to be able to manage well. For us it was not about
knowledge but about passing out and getting a job.
Ethics & Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was one of the papers we were studying. Our professor was
a visiting faculty who had retired from the Faculty of Law, Delhi University. His name was Professor Lalwani.
He was a very jovial person who loved to laugh and joke while he taught. I considered him one of our best
teachers who made learning fun.
One day he came to our class and asked me “Saurabh what is your motive in coming for this class”.
“To get attendance Sir” I blurted and the whole class guffawed.
Professor Lalwani started smiling and said “I should not have asked the question! I should have known that all
of you come here for attendance!”
I started to say something, but he stopped me and asked the class another question.
“Why do investigating agencies always look for the motive behind a crime?”
“The motive is the reason behind an action” said Malvinder, a boy from Punjab.
Professor Lalwani nodded and said it was very important to have the right motives if one wanted the right
actions.

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“Law abiding citizens and companies need to have the right motives” said Professor Lalwani. He then
proceeded to write the following questions on the board:
What is motivation?
Why do we say one person is motivated and another is not?
What does motivation do to a person?
“Someone tell me” said Professor Lalwani “What is motivation?”
Prajwal, a student from Kanpur said, “Motivation is the key to success”.
Professor Lalwani looked at Prajwal and asked him “Why is motivation the key to success Prajwal?”
Prajwal looked a little confused, so Professor Lalwani asked the class for the answer “Tell me, anyone, why is
motivation the key to success?”
Rishabh raised his hand. Professor Lalwani nodded and Rishabh spoke “Motivation brings our best out of us,
so motivation is the key to success”.
Professor Lalwani looked deeply impressed with what Rishabh had said.
“Motivation is the driving force behind all triumphs, successes, & climbs. By motivating yourself you can work
to realize all your goals and ambitions. By motivating others, you can become a leader of men and
organizations” explained Professor Lalwani.
Professor Lalwani then wrote the following on the board:
What are your motivating factors?

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What drives you to do what you do?
Professor Lalwani asked Malvika “Malvika what motivated you to choose management as a career?”
Malvika said “My parents motivated me to choose business management as a career”.
Professor Lalwani asked the class “How many of you were motivated by parents to choose this career?”
A lot of us raised our hands.
“Still kids! Most of you!” said Professor Lalwani. “Why couldn’t you choose your own careers?”
Rishabh asked “Sir, are you saying we should not listen to what our parents say?”
Professor Lalwani answered “No Rishabh I just want to know whether you listened to your parents when they
asked you not to smoke or drink?"
The whole class started laughing.
Professor Lalwani was serious now “Do you know why a lot of you do not do well in a course or profession?”

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Nobody answered. Professor Lalwani went on “Because you do not choose your professional course or
profession on the basis of your motivation but go by what others say – and this includes parents, teachers,
friends, relatives.”
“If you know what talent you have and what kind of a profession would keep you happy & satisfied – you
should go for it. If not try and find out what interests and motivates you to do your best. You will excel only
when you do your best and you will be inspired to do your best only when what you are doing is interesting and
you ‘want’ to do it,” said the Professor.
“This ‘want to do something’ is what is needed for motivated action” explained Professor Lalwani. “We are
motivated by our desires and wants. Our wants propel us to act. Wants may be physical, psychological,
spiritual and of many other kinds. One must define one’s wants in order to really achieve what one wants to
achieve.”
Professor Lalwani now looked at all of us and said, “Please give me a very honest answer “What is it that you
would want to be doing now – at this moment?”
“Go to the hostel and sleep” said Rishabh.
Professor Lalwani looked at Rishabh and smiled.
“You are motivated to go and sleep Rishabh! This is exactly how we too felt when we were in college. Who
would you like to do dream about in your sleep Rishabh – Katrina Kaif?” asked the professor.
The whole class began to laugh because Rishabh was mad after Katrina and his whole room was plastered
with her posters. How did the professor get to know?
“All of us want different things at different times. The idea is to want the right things and enjoy the right things at
the right time.”

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Professor Lalwani now made us undertake the following exercise by making a ‘wants’ table. This wants table
made us define our wants over the next few days, weeks, months, years and life's desires. The table let us
focus on our wants by categorizing those wants into 'must-haves' and 'may-haves'.
Professor Lalwani said “Wants are unlimited. The more you get the more you want. You only have limited time
and resources at your disposal. Decide what you want most – after your basic necessities or wants are
fulfilled and go for what you want most.”
A lot of us were nodding our agreement by now. There was nothing that we had not understood in this lecture
because a lot of us always got what we wanted – by hook or by crook – just that most of the time we badly
wanted cigarettes, beer, pornographic literature and DVDs etc.!
Professor Lalwani now said “just as you have wants and desires, companies have targets and goals, which
every employee has to work for. Making ever larger profits is a goal pursued by all companies, but if this goal
harms the environment and society then there is a problem”.
I understood how important it is to define and evaluate goals and how they would impact the environment
around us.
Progress should be evaluated periodically. Clear cut targets and evaluation of progress made is the only way
to ensure efforts are made in the right direction. Everyone should be correctly motivated to fulfill goals that will
not harm the larger interests of society.
“Profit at any cost is a paradigm that is changing now” said Professor Lalwani.
“Companies are critically examining their processes, products, goals and motivation”.
“Ethics and corporate social responsibility are playing a very important role in the corporate strategies of
companies” said Professor Lalwani.

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“When you become managers, you must learn to manage not just within the laws of the land but also keep in
mind the ethical considerations and corporate social responsibility” explained Professor Lalwani.
Professor Lalwani then gave us a project. It was a group project. The whole class was divided into eight
groups. Each group had to surf the net for information about several blue-chip Indian conglomerates. We
needed to go to the company websites and find out what their corporate focus was. How did the company try
to fulfill its corporate social responsibility and if there were many customer complaints against the practices of
the company?
My group chose the Tata Group and made a presentation. Our presentation was appreciated by the whole
class, and we got a pat on the back from Professor Lalwani.
Professor Lalwani created a sense of ethics in our minds and showed us how our jobs would impact society. I
decided that day that I would always evaluate the ethical angle before taking any action.

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Summer Internship
The second semester was coming to a close and all of us were supposed to take up six to eight weeks of
internship during the semester break. The purpose of the summer internship was to prepare us for the job
market. Very few of us actually had any job experience. The summer internship was to be our first brush with
the job market. It was supposed to make us better employable.
I was in the placement cell and was working to get summer internships for our entire class. I thought getting a
good internship for my own self would be just too easy. I was wrong.
The internships we wanted were not the ones that were offered. Most of the summer internships were
available in the ‘sales’ area. A lot of sales involved moving around door-to-door. A lot of students wanted
summer internships in ‘core finance’ because they had chosen finance as their major specialization. No luck!
All they got were opportunities to sell financial products, open de-mat accounts, or sell credit cards. Students
doing ‘HR’ were the worst hit – no takers for them!

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The market had slumped, and companies were looking for ways and means to cut employee strength. They
were not willing to take on some-one who they did not know what to do with – even an intern who came for
free. They asked what the intern would be doing during the six or eight weeks of internship, when we called
them for internship vacancies.
Most companies had no requirements at the moment because business was low, and their own employees
were surplus!
I was very perturbed. I wanted to get an internship at one of the good firms in Delhi, but the chances seemed
quite dim now with the economic slowdown threatening to put an end to jobs and internships.
A lot of my classmates had decided to seek internships at their native place. At the end of the internship, we
were required to present a report based on the six-to-eight-week exposure to industry.
I spoke to my father. My father spoke to a friend of his who had a petroleum dealership. I was chosen to carry
out a customer satisfaction survey at that dealership in Bihar. As I needed to go back to Bihar, I made my train
reservations. My hopes of staying on in Delhi had been dashed.
My father introduced me to his friend who ran a petroleum dealership. The dealer was so big that he had no
time to even hear what I intended to do. He just told me he would sign any papers that needed to be signed to
prove that I had done an internship at his dealership. He also asked his manager to extend all cooperation to
me. He then asked me to take it easy and go to my village and enjoy the break. ‘You have to work all your life.
So you might as well enjoy this break!’ he said spewing paan juice from the corners of his mouth. My father
looked at me and smiled. I just nodded my affirmation and decided not to say anything. After some juice and
snacks we made our way back to our village.
The eight weeks of internship were spent at my village telling my friends stories about my exploits in college.
All of them were very impressed with my performance in a play at the best girls’ college in Delhi.

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My mother prepared fattening meals for me because she felt I had lost too much weight in Delhi and could do
with some high calorie food.
My sisters seemed proud of me and wanted to know about fashion in Delhi. My grandfather was full of elation
that his grandson would become a manager now.
When it was time to board the train to Delhi my eyes were moist. I wanted to get back to Delhi ASAP, but I had
really enjoyed my stay at my native place.
I had not carried out the customer satisfaction survey. The survey would be carried out in the hostel by filling
out forms and questionnaires using different colored pens and handwriting.
I had taken a certificate from the petroleum dealership which said that I had been with them for eight weeks
and had carried out my duties with the utmost dedication and to their satisfaction.
What is the use of such internships? Why have such provisions when the university is not able to arrange or
monitor what the student would be doing during the internship?
Would it not be better to just give a guy eight weeks at his native place and not burden him with the submission
of a report on activities he has not been involved in?
The journey to Delhi was uneventful. As I trudged up the steps of my hostel I was greeted by friends, and I
immediately forgot all about my village and what I had done in the past eight weeks.
I was in Delhi once again. What a delight it was to be back in the hostel, with friends, once again!

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Attraction – Once Again!

My course was in its second year now and I became a senior. I could rag now!
As the new batch joined the seniors became active. I was not interested in ragging. I was busy with a new play
that we had planned for the fresher ’s party. Miss Roy had requested me for a short play, and she would come
for the rehearsals along with that nerd – Professor Sahay. Every time I saw them together, I tried to picture
myself alongside Miss Roy.
Piyali was our program assistant. She took care of day-to-day running of the program. She was always
surrounded by students. Being young and smart she was much in demand. Piyali used to help students a lot.
She always sent mails and messages when classes were suddenly cancelled or scheduled. She warned us
of low attendance if we were in danger of not being allowed to sit for examinations. She advised us about the
best way to approach a professor who had been angered by an act of ours. She also helped us understand
that these two years would decide our career growth. In all Piyali was like a friend, philosopher, and guide to
many of us.
I used to share information about my plays with Piyali. She was always quite appreciative. She was always
the first one to ‘like’ and ‘comment’ on my play photos on Facebook. After one of the rehearsals, which
normally ran late into the evening, I found Piyali still working. It was late and I got a bit concerned.
“Madam you’ve been working very late today” I queried.
“Yes, Saurabh I had some urgent work that the Dean had given me. I am scared to go home alone now” she
said.
“I can accompany you” I said.
“Oh, that would be nice” said Piyali.

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I accompanied Piyali to her residence. She lived a little distance away from our college and it was almost nine
o’clock when we reached.
“You won’t get any food in the hostel when you get back, isn’t it?” asked Piyali.
“I’ll manage Ma’am” I muttered.
“What manage? Let’s have some street food Saurabh! My treat!” she said.
Before I could say anything, she turned towards the mini market near her home. I had no option but to
accompany her. She took me to a small stall which was quite crowded. It was a stand-and-eat kind of joint.
Three four kind of rolls, kebabs, rumali rotis, and other such stuff were on offer. Piyali was a good host. She
ordered kathi rolls – kebabs wrapped in rumali roti and treated me to ice-cream. She also asked me if I wanted
a coffee or something. It was nearing ten o’ clock and I felt I should make my way back to the hostel.
I saw her off till the gate of her housing society and made my way back to the hostel.
Piyali thanked me profusely the next day. We became friends. Piyali and I would talk to each other a little more
than we did earlier. I got to know a lot about her. She was two years older than me and was the only child of
her parents. Her parents lived in Dehradun. Her father had been in the army. She had toured the country with
her parents, and she loved north India though they originally belonged to West Bengal.
Her education had been top class – in central and army schools. She had finished her graduation from Delhi
University and had joined this college as program assistant. She planned to work for a couple of years before
taking a call on what she wanted to do next.
When I told her about myself, she listened with great interest, asking many questions, and laughing out aloud
when I narrated some of the funny incidents from my life.

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I don’t know when Piyali and I became good friends.
“You are spending a lot of time with Piyali” said Pawan, my classmate from Haryana.
“How does it concern you?” I queried.
“Why are you getting angry” said Pawan.
“Mind your own business” I warned.
“What will you do if I don’t?” asked Pawan.
“I will smash your teeth in” I said.
“Come on Saurabh don’t get so edgy” said Pawan.
“You mind what you say about Piyali” I said.
“You are dating her?” queried Pawan.
“Is she your sister?” I queried back.
“Don’t bring my sister into this” warned Pawan.
I understood that this was getting too far. I also realized my mistake of mentioning Pawan’s sister. Everyone is
very possessive of their close relatives especially parents and siblings.
“Sorry Pawan, I should not have said that” I apologized.
“It’s okay Saurabh but why are you acting so edgy about Piyali?” he asked.

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I did not know what to say. Pawan and I went out for a cigarette and some tea. Pawan did not bring up the
topic again. We began to talk about our next presentation in which we were both in the same group.
I was not able to sleep that night. Was Piyali about to replace Miss Roy as the lady of my dreams? Was it
because of my upbringing that I was very attracted to ladies who were from English medium backgrounds and
were well groomed? Why did I get attracted to two females – older than me? Why did I not get attracted to any
of the girls in my class? Was Piyali attracted to me? Miss Roy had preferred that nerdy looking guy, what
about Piyali? Did Bengali girls like thin, balding, bespectacled men?
When I got up the next morning
there was no time left for breakfast.
A quiz was scheduled by our
operations research faculty. I got
ready and rushed for the quiz.

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Getting Advice
I met Piyali almost every day. Most days we went out for coffee during one of the breaks. It was not very
normal for a program assistant to get over friendly with a student, but this is how it was in this case. We spoke
about a lot of stuff but the story of the two of us did not seem to be progressing. I did not have the courage to
speak to Piyali directly and say that I had developed feelings for her. It would sound very gross. I needed to
talk to someone about this. Who could I speak to? Professor Sahay? No! Miss Roy? No! Professor Tripathi?
No! Professor Lalwani? Lalwani? Yes! May be!
The next day after Professor Lalwani’s lecture I went up to him as he was walking towards his car.
“Sir I would like to speak to you about a personal matter” I said.
“Yes Saurabh, tell me” said Professor Lalwani.
“Sir it is a private matter and may take a bit of time” I said.
“Let’s go to the staff canteen” said Professor Lalwani “we will have some peace there”.
The staff canteen was only for staff members, but students were allowed when accompanied by faculty
members.
We found a quiet corner and Professor Lalwani got two cups of tea.
“Is it about that girl Piyali” asked Professor Lalwani.
I was shocked. How did he know. If he, a visiting faculty knew, then what about full-time faculty and staff?
“Yes Saurabh?” queried the professor.

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“Yes Sir” I mumbled.
“Okay tell me from the beginning” said Professor Lalwani.
I narrated everything to Professor Lalwani. He listened attentively, asked some questions in between and
nodded. Once I had finished, he got up and got two more cups of tea. I was sitting there wondering whether I
had done the right thing by telling a professor something that I considered quite private. I had also told him that
I liked Piyali a lot and wanted to propose marriage to her. Professor Lalwani poured some sugar into his tea
and began to speak as he stirred it in.
“Saurabh it is a good thing that you have spoken to me about this. You are not the first one to have feelings for
a girl and certainly not the first one about to propose. But have you thought about the girl? Does she feel the
same about you? Has she ever said something that makes you feel she would like to marry you?”
He had asked the questions and was looking at me for an answer. Why did I talk to a lawyer about this? He
will ask so many questions that I will never find answers.
“No Sir, I have never asked her about her feelings. She has never said anything that makes me feel she would
like to settle down with me for the rest of her life. But she is very happy in my company, and we like to talk to
each other”.

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“Does that mean she wants to marry you? Will you propose marriage to every girl who talks nicely or enjoys
your company? Come on Saurabh…….”
I was taken aback. The professor was talking against me now! Why did I go to him for advice?
He then explained to me the mistake I was about to commit.
“Saurabh, a lot of us, including myself, come from conservative backgrounds, small towns and villages and
have grown up not having enjoyed the company of girls. As a male there is nothing wrong in being attracted to
the opposite sex, but there is something wrong in jumping to conclusions” he said.
“Please explain a little more in detail Sir, I could not understand” I said.
Professor Lalwani now explained the whole scenario in detail.
“Saurabh you were caring and courteous when you offered to escort Piyali that evening when she got late at
work, right?”
“Right” I said.
“She was kind and courteous in treating you to a kathi-roll because she felt it was late and your mess would be
closed by the time you got back, right?”
“Right” I said.
“After that evening whenever you met you laughed, joked, had coffee, right?”
“Right” I said.
“When did Piyali say anything about marriage Saurabh?” asked Professor Lalwani.

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I was taken aback. The lawyer in Professor Lalwani had caught me off-guard.
I thought for a couple of seconds and answered.
“Never Sir. In fact, she would like to work for a couple of years before taking a call on what she wants to do
next” I said.
“On what basis would you like to propose marriage to that girl Saurabh?” asked the professor.
I had no answer and kept staring at my cup of tea.
The lawyer now summed up his arguments.
“Saurabh, if a girl talks nicely to you and has coffee with you does it mean that she wants to marry or sleep
with you?”
“No Sir” I answered.
“Most of the crimes against women are a result of one-sided love” said Professor Lalwani.
“Most of the time a boy starts getting ideas about getting close and cozy with a girl whereas a girl has no such
intentions. The boy makes a pass and when the girl does not respond the boy reacts – sometimes violently”
explained the professor.
“Just imagine Saurabh, you propose marriage to a girl who has no such feelings and finds it so embarrassing
that she stops speaking to you. Would you like that? Would you like to sacrifice this nice relationship with
Piyali for this?” asked Professor Lalwani.
“No Sir” I replied.

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“Then go ahead and continue your friendship with Piyali – without any suggestions or thoughts of marriage or
sex. Let a friendship be a friendship – a healthy relationship, and not something that must lead to a marriage or
sex”.
I looked up at the professor and said, “Yes Sir”.
“What ‘yes sir ’? Have you understood what I have said Saurabh? In life you must have many friendships,
many beautiful relationships, and not contaminate them by thinking of marriage or sex. A girl too has a right to
laugh, joke, have coffee, and enjoy the company of boys without being proposed. Do you agree?”
I nodded vigorously. I had no choice. What Professor Lalwani was saying made sense.
All my lovey-dovey feelings for Piyali had been doused by this lecture. I had been thinking Professor Lalwani
would help me with advice on how I should go about proposing and here I was feeling like an idiot!
Professor Lalwani had read my thoughts.
“Saurabh don’t feel bad. Just think how bad Piyali would have felt if you had proposed to her, and she had
nothing of the sort in mind? It would have ended your friendship. You would have lost a wonderful friend”.
“Sir how can you be so sure that Piyali would have refused? She is so happy with me. I am sure she too loves
me” I argued.
“Then go ahead and propose to her this evening! Here – here’s my cell phone number – call me and tell me
the good news!” said Professor Lalwani.
I did not reply because I was feeling quite disturbed and agitated.

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“Saurabh, what’s the hurry? Why don’t you give it a little more time? If you have developed feelings for Piyali,
does it mean that she too has developed feelings for you? Give it time. If she develops feelings her behavior
will tell you even if she doesn’t. Then you can think of proposing to her. Right now, in my opinion, it is
premature, one-sided and uncalled for”.
With this Professor Lalwani got up. I too got up and he patted my shoulder as we parted ways.
“Think about what I have said and follow my advice Saurabh. You will not go wrong” said Professor Lalwani.
“Sure Sir, I will” I blurted out.
I felt very low and heart-broken that day and for days there-after. I had been looking forward to Piyali accepting
my proposal and planned to take her all around Delhi to celebrate! Professor Lalwani had given me advice –
and I felt he had been right.
I did not propose to Piyali. Piyali became an even better friend now. I enjoyed her company, and we went to the
college canteen whenever she could find some time. It was a good friendship, and I did not want to lose this
relationship for anything. I was waiting for a positive signal from Piyali.

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Final Placements
My course was about to get over and the college machinery was in top gear trying to get us placed in good
companies.
A seminar was organized over two days to give us tips on resumé writing and personal interviews. Professor
Sahay had asked a couple of his friends from a large head-hunting firm to come and give us these tips. Most
of it had already been covered by the professor in class. The following very useful tips were shared with us
over two days.
Resume Writing Tips:
A well-groomed young lady was taking our sessions on resume writing. This is how she explained it to us “A
resume will not get you a job, but it can take you to the beginning of the selection process – in other words – it
gets you shortlisted. It is also the first contact with a recruiter. Too many applications are received for too few
posts whenever an opening is announced. Your resume must stand out in order to be shortlisted for the next
step in the selection process. Recruiters spend as little as thirty seconds, or less, to go through each resume.
Only resumes that make a good impression, in these thirty seconds, are short listed for the next step in the
selection process.”
She asked us to keep the following aspects in mind to create a good resume:

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Your resume must help the employer get an impression that you possess the skills and attributes needed to fit
the job profile offered. You may possess skills other than what are required for that job – make sure your
resume highlights the required skills rather than all the skills that you possess.
Example: If the advertised position shows client servicing as a key job responsibility, you should look for and
highlight your client servicing experience. Only write what is true!
When trying to include something on your resume, always ask yourself whether what you are about to
include has relevance to the job you are applying for. If the answer is ‘no’ do not include that item in your
resume.
Recruiters are flooded with so many resumes that they are pressed for time in order to go through them.
They, therefore, like a crisp resume, as it does not waste their time. Entry level resumes should be no
more than one page and persons with some experience may create a resume that is up to two pages.
Many candidates include personal details like height, weight, father ’s occupation, brothers, sisters etc. in
their resume. This is not called for and has no bearing on the decision to offer you’re a job, in most
cases.
Example: If you are applying for the role of a quality surveyor it makes no difference whether you are six feet
tall or only five feet seven and whether you weigh sixty kilos or seventy! But while applying for the position of a
basket-ball coach your physical attributes may be important. Please include information adds strength to your
job application.

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Your education qualifications, professional qualifications, work experience and contact information form
essential parts of the resume.
Include your contact information in the header itself. This helps save space and makes the main content
look strictly professional. A resume without contact details, neither a phone number nor an email id, is
likely to be rejected even if the qualifications suit the job.
A crisp, strong career summary, mentioning your key skills and experience, in the beginning of a
resume helps as a preamble.
Some recruiters also view this career summary as synonymous to the candidate's positioning. Entry-
level candidates could put an objective statement instead.
Hobbies and extra-curricular activities can be used to strengthen the application in some instances.
Assume that you are applying for a position that requires exceptional communication skills then your
active participation in debates, elocution and stage programs will strengthen your application. Relevance
is the key to inclusion of details.
Employer ’s place great importance on leadership roles that you have undertaken in college. Key
positions in college societies, organizing committees, academic bodies and co-curricular clubs play an
important role in supporting your application. Again, it is important to write down what you did as part of a
committee or society rather than just mentioning that you were a member or held a post.
A good resume is uncluttered and has lots of white space to enable the recruiter to quickly see the
relevant parts.
For online applications use a plain text version because there are chances of formatting getting lost.
A resume should reflect your achievements. What actions you took and what results you achieved is
most important.
Finally, your resume should help you reach the interview table, because no resume got anyone a job,
but it helped the candidate reach the interview stage.

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All of us were eager to get our resumes ‘corrected’ by the experts who were come to help us. Hard copies of
resumes were printed and were doing the rounds. I felt strange creating a resume with all my drama
experience because none of the jobs would require skills in theatre! The experts told me to tweak my resume
to show my extra-curricular experience as relevant to my social, interpersonal and communication skills. They
also said this was a creative activity and I could claim to be creative!
I was eagerly awaiting the sessions on interview skills, the next day. It was a good initiative our university had
taken.
Interview Tips:
The experts for the interviews had said they would conduct mock interviews for us to have practice. Seeing
the large number of students, they said they would hold mock-interviews for some students, on stage, so that
the rest of us could benefit from the interaction. A lot of us felt very disappointed but there was nothing that we
could do. The experts explained personal interviews in the following manner.

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An interview is an interaction. The flow of the interview can be influenced by the candidate or the
interviewer/s. A skilled candidate can lead the interviewer/s to his strong areas and direct the flow of the
interaction.
An interview is as important for the candidate as it is for the recruiter – the candidate wants a good job
and the recruiter a suitable candidate.
Employers hire for attitude and certain key skills. The rest of it can be developed through training. The
most qualified or experienced person may not, always, make the cut.
Good preparation is the key to doing well in an interview. What the company needs and how the
candidate can fulfill those needs is the key.
Final preparation for an interview requires getting all documents in order, gathering information about the
company and position, brushing up on basics, dressing appropriately, arriving early and carrying oneself
with poise.
Once the interview begins the candidate must listen very carefully to each question and try and
understand why the interviewer is asking that question.
The first question in an interview usually is: ‘Tell us something about your-self?’ Differently put this same
question may be ‘Please introduce your-self?’
Answering this question is tricky for most aspirants because they start with their name and qualifications but
then get lost in the maze of information about themselves, their achievements, aspirations, skills and other
attributes. This is the question that gives a candidate his first chance to influence the flow of the interview.
A candidate can lead the interview panel, through his/her answer, to his/her core competency, achievements
and strong areas. Here you can also talk about those aspects of one's knowledge/skills set and achievements
that are likely to prove most beneficial to the company. For example, for a sales job that requires extensive
travelling, one's familiarity with varied languages and cultures would prove valuable.
While introducing oneself, it is important to be factual without any traces of boastfulness.
An honest, creative introduction arrests the attention of the interviewer.

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The areas that one may include are: name; final qualification/multiple qualifications; work experience, if any;
major achievements (relevant projects, co-curricular and extracurricular activities); languages known
(relevance is again the criteria); one's strengths and hobbies, wherever relevant. Avoid any traces of
boastfulness. Never say 'myself, so and so' – this is wrong grammatically. Do not keep using ‘I’ before each
sentence. Talk about family only when asked. Never talk about influential persons in your family or those you
may know.
In every job interview there may be questions on projects, work experience, expectations from the
job/company, and future plans (Where do you see yourself five years from now?) The recruiter wants to know
how the candidate has built his/her skill sets and how s/he has planned about his/her future.
You must never give answers like 'a manager in a good company’ as such answers show a casual,
unplanned approach. A well thought out answer would show achievable targets along with an action plan.

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Awareness of what’s going on locally/globally plays a very important role in assessing a candidate’s
suitability. A candidate’s reading habits help develop an understanding of local and global contexts that
affect every business. Do not try to bluff if you are not sure of facts about a particular happening. Saying
you are not aware is better than trying to shoot in the dark.
A lot of interviewers ask a candidate the question ‘what were your favorite subjects in college?’ They
then proceed to ask basic questions from that area to test the interviewee's subject knowledge. A lot of
times these questions may come from area of specialization of a candidate. A recruiter aims at
assessing the skill sets that a candidate brings to the table and also areas where training may be
required. Every employer wants employees who can start delivering from their first day at work. Please
brush-up your knowledge of basics and how you would apply them on the job. A candidate may get
trapped during this part of the interview if s/he is not well prepared.
Employers are sometimes interested in knowing how much a candidate knows about their company.
They like to ask questions about the company’s products, services, verticals (if any), their USP/
reasons for their success, their annual turnover, the main people in their organization, their chief rival(s)
etc. A candidate should prepare well for this aspect of the interview. Possible sources of information are
– annual reports, publications of the company, the internet (from the official website only), and interaction
with past/present employees/people from the industry/customers, who are likely to know or guide in this
area.
There are some other questions that interviewers may put before a candidate. ‘Would you be ready to
relocate?’ An employer wants to see whether you would be willing to serve at various locations, if
required. If you say ‘yes’ and later on you refuse, then it could get complicated. If you say ‘no’ without a
valid justification you may get rejected!

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Another query from the recruiters is ‘Can you work on holidays, if required? Can you put in longer hours
during week-days?’ This is done to assess how flexible you are as regards your time and commitment
to the job. The answer to these questions must be ‘yes’ but you should also emphasize that most of the
time you would be completing your work during normal working hours but would never be averse to
taking work home or coming to work on holidays.
Another important question is ‘What salary do you expect?’ The employer would like to know whether
your salary expectations are in line with the prevailing industry norms for similar positions. While
changing jobs a thirty percent hike is standard but be prepared to negotiate and justify why you deserve
it. Your knowledge, experience and skills should justify such a hike.
After finding out your salary expectations the recruiter may ask ‘Would you leave the job if you get a
better offer/higher salary?’ This is to evaluate your interest in the profile offered and the organization. If
you say you are there to learn and improve as a professional the recruiter would be very happy. If you
say you are looking for challenging work and a good atmosphere you would be right on target. If you say
a plain ‘no’ it would mean you are lying. A clear ‘yes’ would mean you are not committed!
Another thing recruiters want to know is ‘Are you willing to take up additional responsibility?’ Your
answer should be ‘yes’ if it provides you scope to learn new skills and expand your knowledge.
Interviewers ask a candidate ‘What are your weaknesses?’ to assess how aware you are of your
shortcomings and what you plan to do to overcome them. You may point out some skill or personality
deficiencies, but one's which will not hamper your efficiency in the profile that is being offered. This
should also be accompanied by an action plan that you are following or plan to follow, to address these
deficiencies. Never say ‘I have no weaknesses’. Pointing out weaknesses like ‘I eat too much
chocolate’ or ‘I watch too many TV programs’ shows you are too casual about your weaknesses, and
have no desire to define them, or do anything for improvement.
An interview, like any other examination, requires you to be focused, cool and in command of your-self. You
must be honest, as a bluff whenever caught will have a highly negative impact, and not try to be some-body
else.

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One should thus never bluff, boast, exaggerate or hide one's inadequacies. Always provide examples as an
explanation/justification for one's claims, admit to one's inadequacies and provide an action plan, while living
up to the commitment of overcoming them. The workplace, is a temple of work, where one spends more time
than one spends at home.
Some things you must keep in mind when going for an interview:

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Choose what you will wear for the interview very carefully. It is going to your first impression on the
interviewer/s. Never go for an interview wearing jeans, tee-shirt, or sports shoes. Wear smart business
attire and present a clean, well-groomed look. Wear a pair of proper leather shoes.
Everyone likes crisp and clear answers. Always know where to stop. If the interviewer wants s/he will
ask another question related to the last one for further elaboration.
Learn to pick-up non-verbal cues from the interviewer/s. Make eye contact. If you see the interviewer ’s
attention wandering away, then cut that answer short and let the interviewer ask another question.
Remain attentive to what the interviewer/s is saying. Never let your gaze wander around the room or
start looking at your shoes or the ceiling.
A job interview is like a conversation. Be comfortable and make your interviewer believe that you are
interested in the proceedings. Let them know what kind of a person you are. Politely refuse requests for
tea/coffee. You may have a glass of water to soothe a dry throat.
Brush up on your basics. Do not say ‘I learnt it a long time ago’. Learning it a long time ago is no excuse
for not knowing it now – ‘then why did you learn it?’
It is always good to carry two copies of your latest CV. One for the interviewer/s if they ask for one and
the other for you. Read it on your way or while waiting.
Go through the job description before the interview. Also brush up your knowledge about the company,
its operations, future plans etc.
Towards the end of the interview the interviewer asks the candidate if s/he has any questions. Most of
the time candidates say ‘no’. This opportunity may be used by a candidate to ask about the company's
future plans or about how they are planning to expand. If you have researched about the company, you
will find some relevant questions to ask. You can always refer to something you've read on the
company's website or a news clipping you've come across in your research. Questions you ask at the
end are as crucial as the answers you give.

Page 142
A Farewell to Remember!
It was a day I will always remember. Our batch was passing out and there was a farewell that our juniors
organized for us, much the same way as the one we organized for our seniors, but it felt so different. Being
given a farewell is different from giving a farewell. It was the realization that we would be leaving the hostel,
friends and lifestyle for good, this was making us emotional.
I came from a village (bhillage!), wanted to be a cricketer (cricketier!), get into a professional course to better
my job prospects (settle down!), and knew very little about how I would actually land a job or ‘settle down’. As
luck would have it, I got involved in a whole lot of activities in college and everything changed for me. My
friends and family started saying that I changed as a ‘total person’. I think the following helped me transform:

Page 143
1. Leaving the comfort zone: When my father decided to send me away from home, he made the best
decision for my life and career. Moving out of my comfort zone meant that I had to fight – even to be
accepted as an equal human being – as brought out by my first interactive experiences with seniors and
classmates. I would have gone back to my village, but I decided quitting was not an option. I came out of
my cocoon and life forced me to learn to deal with a lot of things that eventually changed me as a
person.
2. Increase in awareness: I was not exposed to a lot of things in my village. As I moved to a big city, my
awareness about many things increased – some by design (reading newspaper, listening to news) and
some by just being there in a set up that had more to offer. As I became more aware, my outlook
towards life matured, my behavior changed, and I became a better-informed person.
3. Activities: My life changed because I gained a lot of confidence from stage related activities. I was a shy,
introverted, scared-to-speak in public kind of guy. Taking part in theatre changed all this. I became fear-
free, confident, and learnt to face a crowd. Nothing changed my life more than my involvement in stage
related activities. I also learnt the value of teamwork, dedication and working towards a goal.
4. Time Management: As I got involved in more and more activities, I had less and less time for leisure and
recreation. I had to learn to manage my time better in order to do justice to all important tasks. My
sleeping hours too got reduced. As I learnt to utilize my time better, my performance improved, and I
gained further confidence in my abilities.
My journey in Delhi had indeed made me an urbanite though my heart still remained that of a simple, village
boy. I was a little confused due to this. How could I become fit for the city and still remain a simple, village
boy? Had something gone wrong in my personality development? When and how could I become a true city
boy?
The answers were hidden in the farewell messages that the faculty had for us, during our farewell. The farewell
was a day-long affair. We had a nice auditorium, and the farewell began with our teachers’ giving messages to
the passing out students and wishing them well for their careers. It was an informal affair followed by lunch.

Page 144
The first message was by the Dean. The dean spoke about our journey and how the university had tried to
shape our careers. He also mentioned the efforts the faculty had taken to make sure all of us got decent jobs
and did well in future. It was then the turn of faculty from various areas to convey their wishes to us.
The best farewell message, as far as I am concerned, came from Professor Sahay. His message also
answered my questions about my development into a city-boy. Professor Sahay spoke for only a couple of
minutes, as we all listened in attention, and when he ended there was thunderous applause, with a lot of us
giving him a standing ovation. This is what he said:
“Good morning, ladies and Gentlemen!”
“I am reminded of my farewell in college every time I stand here to congratulate students. I was confused the
day I was being given a farewell. As a student all things were pre-decided for me – classes, examinations,
holidays, and what was expected of me. With so much pre-decided I was still the lord of my time. If I did not
feel like attending lectures some-day, no problem! If I wanted to go out for a movie one afternoon, no problem!
If I slept late and went on sleeping till lunch, no problem! With college coming to an end all these luxuries were
about to end. I had loved each and every moment of my stay in college, even the fights, scuffles,
misunderstandings. Stepping out into the world meant uncertainties all around. Would I find so many friends?
Would I ever be so care-free again? Would my boss excuse my stupidity, and still help me, as my professors
did? I was very-very insecure, and may I say unhappy, the day I was leaving college!”
The professor had put things in perspective in such a clear way. In college we were so secure and outside
there were so many uncertainties – waiting for us!
I continued to listen to Professor Sahay with rapt attention. He continued “two pieces of advice, from one of our
professors, changed my entire life. I would like to share these two pearls with you – my students.”

Page 145
“The first is ‘you cannot always do great things, but you can always do small things in a great way’. This is one
piece of advice I have tried to fully incorporate in my actions. If you start doing even small things in a great
way, everything you do becomes great! This translates to ‘doing your best in all that you do’ or ‘giving off your
best, no matter what’ or ‘being the best that you can be’. Everyone is not born with the same talent or skill
sets. Never compare yourself with anyone. You were born unique. No two persons are alike. We are all
different and yet similar in many ways. If you want to compare, compare ways of doing things, accomplishing
tasks and implementing ideas. Learn good ways of doing things from others. Be an example for others to
follow by ‘doing small things in a great way’.”
Doing small things in a great way! Being the best that you can be! What a wonderful way of looking at things. I
was amazed by the way Professor Sahay always managed to speak the right thing at the right time.
Professor Sahay looked at all of us and continued “the second piece of advice that our professor gave us on
our farewell was ‘be your-self’. Even if you try, can you be some-body else or behave like some-body else?
The core of every person is that of a human being. All of us are simple when we are born. As we grow, we
start going away from our simple, natural self. No matter how much money or success you have – at heart
you must remain a simple, natural human being. This is the meaning of ‘being your-self’ – be your true self, be
your best self. Behave well with people because that is how God wants us to behave. All the riches, success
and fame will be left behind. That is not your true self. Your true self is that simple, natural human being.”
I was extremely delighted to hear these words. My questions about my being a simple village boy and
transformation into a city-boy had been answered. No matter what I became in life, I would always remain
Saurabh, a simple village boy!
The professor was looking a little sad as he came to the last part of his speech.

Page 146
“With these words my dear students I bid you a very happy farewell. I am sad that you are going, but I am
happy that you are going out as successful post-graduates, ready to take on the world. Remember your
struggle so far and never forget to be your true self – a simple, natural, humble, human being. My
congratulations to all of you and God bless you every step of the way!”
While saying the last line the professor ’s throat got parched, his words became choked with emotion, and we
could see the hint of a tear in one of his eyes! As he turned away from the mike a lot of us got-up and
applauded. My eyes were filled with tears so I could not see whether there were any others who were crying. It
was one of the most unforgettable messages I have ever received.
The rest of the time was taken up by our juniors performing acts of entertainment for us. The best part was a
mimicry show of some of our faculty and some of us. I was also mimicked by a junior from Bihar. It felt great
to be mimicked! I was a celebrity of sorts!
In the evening it was party time in our hostel. A deejay had been booked and we had a gala dinner. Needless
to say, that drinks and tears mixed in our glasses that night. The drink tasted salty with tears, and I don’t know
how many times we hugged, cried and danced, till we flopped to the floor – so tired that we could dance no
more!

Page 147
Epilogue
It is as if I came to Delhi yesterday. I have become so familiar with the city, its people, their customs and
everything else in this amazing national capital region. I have gained so much with my interactions in this city. I
salute the spirit of Delhi and its people for making me what I am. I could never have asked for more.
I was thrown into the sea called Delhi and I was about to sink. I held on by a whisker. One night of ragging, and
my survival that night, became the key to my determination to fight and win.
I changed as a person in my two years in Delhi, or should I say I evolved? I did not realize I was changing and
still I changed. I was lucky to be a part of theatre which gave me tremendous confidence.

Page 148
Confidence to stand up and speak is one of the key skills. If you learn how to behave under different
circumstances and know what to say and how to say it, then nothing can stop you from becoming a
successful person.
The first job I landed was a job with an automobile dealership. The salary wasn’t much but there were
performance-based incentives. The training provided was by the parent company. The high standards of
training impressed me. I picked up the skills very fast and was team leader in no time.
I have been with the company/dealership now for five years. I am now floor manager, and my salary is pretty
decent. I own a four-wheeler and have invested in a flat in Greater Noida. My grandpa passed away last year.
He was very proud of me and told everyone in the village how successful I had become. My sisters are
married and so am I. My wife works for a neighboring school. We have no kids.
The idea of writing this book is five years old. What with the job, family and other matters taking up most of my
day! It has taken five years for me to write this book, but I want it to reach as many young people like me, in
the shortest possible time, so that they may use my experiences to make their lives better.
I wish everyone who reads this book tremendous success and happiness in life!

Page 149
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If you found this book useful and would like to access more
material of this kind, then send your feedback about this book to
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How I Got My First Job

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How I Got My First Job

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How I got

An Inspiring Story by Dr. Atul Sharma

sometimes so badly that it is very difficult to recover. My dreams

and was back in my village for a holiday.

An Inspiring Story by Dr. Atul Sharma

taking care of my parents and grandparents in their old age.

An Inspiring Story by Dr. Atul Sharma

was born! I wanted to board the train to Delhi ASAP!

"Life is what you make of it".

An Inspiring Story by Dr. Atul Sharma

The Orientation Day

very good companies!

An Inspiring Story by Dr. Atul Sharma

An Inspiring Story by Dr. Atul Sharma

the session and have a ‘puff’ before lunch.

begin working on my accent.

announce that we take our seats.

courage to stand up and speak.

An Inspiring Story by Dr. Atul Sharma

morning. Some seniors had started calling me ‘tilakdhari’.

about my troubles as I got involved in getting ragged.

An Inspiring Story by Dr. Atul Sharma

anymore. I had survived a pretty hostile session of ragging.

had almost enjoyed it all!

feeling of being rejected was gnawing me like termites’ nibble wood.

How would I become 'esmart'?

an instant I was in my village and eating 'meat-bhaat' cooked by my mother.

bastard, get up and get me some fags”.

An Inspiring Story by Dr. Atul Sharma

room "You son-of-a-bitch! Why are you still sleeping?'

I got up with a start. The second day had begun!

An Inspiring Story by Dr. Atul Sharma

An Inspiring Story by Dr. Atul Sharma

Malvika stood up and said “Malvika Sir!”

“Malvika, do you know Rishabh?” questioned the professor.

for acting over smart.

Delhi and am presently pursuing my Ph.D. This is my brief introduction.”

a word on the blackboard:

An Inspiring Story by Dr. Atul Sharma

He encircled the word and then turned to face the class.

Everyone stared at the professor.

“Tell me what you understand by the word ‘Personality’ Madhvi”.

because she had given a very good answer.

educated, or rich, s/he is."

An Inspiring Story by Dr. Atul Sharma

personality, the biggest impact is made by your behavior."

wanted to listen to what the professor was saying.

was serious now as he went on.

laughing and saying ‘hello bhaiya’ and ‘hello uncle’.

An Inspiring Story by Dr. Atul Sharma

winking. What is your problem?”

He looked at me and asked, “What is your name?”

“Saurabh Sir”, I blurted out.

about Rishabh being my roomie.

see me after the lecture”.

canteen during lunch time and chat with me.”

An Inspiring Story by Dr. Atul Sharma

much sought-after trainer in corporate circles.

later felt it was actually ‘paisa vasool’.

An Inspiring Story by Dr. Atul Sharma

Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication

communication. His first lecture of managerial communication happened to be scheduled today.