The interview call

As you may have observed that I have a passion for writing and journalism is something that I always was attracted to. With the hope of making it big, I applied for a PGDM course at IMII, Noida and below given is the interview(telephonic) that took place. For convenience I used letters in place of names.

S = Dean of the college.

M = Founder/ Faculty

D = Academic consultant

J = of course me (ms-cube)

 (the phone rings)

S: Hello! Is that Mr.J?

J: Yeah, speaking.

S: I am S, Dean of IMII, i have with me M and D.


J: Okay.

S: You are speaker phone so they can also listen to you.

J: Good afternoon everybody.

(gibberish)

S: J, you are finishing your engineering program in 2010? Haven’t you applied for any campus placements?

J: I haven’t.

S: Why is that?

J: Because I am pursuing a 6 month advanced wireless communications course, which is going on now.

S: ahhh…. Can you repeat it again? Advanced……?

J: Advanced Wireless Communications. It is related to my communications engineering.

S: Great! Aahhh…… can you just explain to us a little more about it?

J: It basically deals with the communication technologies like 3G, GSM, GPRS that are in use nowadays. It is an entirely technical course that deals with how these technologies work and can be efficiently used.

S: Hhhhhmmmmmm…….

J: As I was not interested in any placements or job, I thought why waste time. Why not join this course?

S: This course is also being conducted by your university?

J: It is by a private institute.

S: Okay. When does it end?

J: It ends after 5 months from now.

S: Ohhhh! So that will be cutting into our program as well which starts after 3 months from now.

J: Yes. Yes!

S: So how would you balance the two?

J: Haven’t figured that out yet.

S: Okay.

J: If I am lucky enough to be selected at IMII, I would cease the course that I am taking.

S: You’d stop that?

J: Certainly I’d stop that. Because, the main motive of talking up that course was to invest my time into something constructive.

S: Okay. Alright. Wireless as you know is the future. Both from technology point of view and content point of view, the streams remain same but the professionals would be completely different.

J: Ahaaan…..

S: Of course you have to decide which kind of a professional you want to be. A technology driver or a content writer?

J: Okay.

S: Soo.. Suppose if we offer you an admission into IMII what would you prefer?

J: aaahhhhh……. I don’t know. May be I would prefer the content over technology.

S: Okay. You live in Hyderabad and belong to Andhra Pradesh.

J: Yes.

S: If you have to move from Hyderabad to Noida, what are the problems you’d face?  Would be comfortable moving?

J: Yeah! It is absolutely fine as long as the accommodation is good and the place is nice, I shouldn’t have any problem.

S: Okay. We are only going to help you in finding a PG accommodation, ultimately the responsibility o finding the accommodation is yours.  We would only provide the support.

J: That’s is absolutely fine.

S: Great. Okay, aahhh…….now I noticed that you have done some content work. I mean you’ve been working on your college magazine ‘tech-zine’ and in an NGO magazine as well.

J: Yes.

S: What kind of work do you do in these magazines?

J: ahh….. In the ‘tech-zine’ of  my college, during the last year I was involved with the proof reading. Once all articles were compiled , I was the incharge to proof read them and correct and edit it. Regarding the NGO’s magazine, it is currently going on. Our basic idea at the NGO is to inspire youth and bring the young generation to the front row and made them aware of the problems our society Is facing. So, we have selected about 40 odd famous people from Andhra Pradesh, we’re interviewing them about their hurdles and hardships, so that the readers can be influenced. So I as a member, my work is to hear the interview a friend of mine has taken and write an article about it, which would be later published.

S: Okay. Good! So you are already working as a journalist.

J: Yeah! Kind of.

S: Hahahaha…….Good.

    Okay 'J' I’ll pass the phone to M, she has a couple of questions for you too.

S: Alright.

M: In India engineering has a higher status than journalism. What do ou feel about your change of direction?

J: aaahhhh…..As I’ve mentioned in my letter as well, from the beginning journalism has had a certain charm towards me, it always attracted me. It all actually began when in my school days I use to read news paper during the assembly every morning, and I use to think why a newspaper which is colorful and of about 20-30 pages costs only about 2 or 3 rupees. So the whole idea of picking journalism started right there. Secondly I believe that in order to reform the society, I can do it more easily by being a journalist. If I am an engineer, what would I do? I may invent or innovate something. I would earn a bit more thousands as an engineer than as a journalist. If I am a journalist I would have something very important with me. I see journalism as an art, all the modern forms of technology as tools and the society at large as a marble. So, if I am a good journalist, a good artist I can craft with my writing ability, may be another Taj Mahal out of the society. All this is not possible if am just an engineer. So I have taken up journalism.

M: Okay. I agree with you, because that is why I chose journalism.        What do your parents think?

J: hhhmmmmm…… my parents are unfortunately against me taking up journalism as my career.

M: Okay.

S: Okay J, that was quite impressive, I’m quite impresses with your determination to be a journalist. We would surely like to help you in your ambition. Now what we like you to do is write an essay about 300 odd words on anyone experience that you had which you found very touching or inspiring.

J: Can I write about a general topic, I mean anything that inspired me?

S: Yes. Your experience of working as a journalist, and can you mail it to us within 2 hours.

J: Yes I can.

S: That would be wonderful, once we get your essay we can decide about your admission in the college and we’ll get back to you.

J: Alright.

S: Thank you J, thank you so much for speaking to us. Do you have any questions about the institute?

J: No, not at all.

S: You’re sure?

J: Absolutely.

S: Great, thank you very much. Bye bye.

J: Bye!

The essay that I sent can be found here. One sad point to share with you is, despite me getting an admission into IMII, I couldn’t precede due to various unavoidable circumstances. May be next year if I try I may go through it once again (fingers crossed).