I flew in to San Jose this Thursday for an interview with a very big firm. Fortunately, I got an offer from them late last night for the summer Internship. I can't explain how happy and excited I am after the long and arduous process. The offer takes a little bit of pressure off me, as I can be a bit relaxed for the interview I have next week. I won't have to worry too much, knowing I already have an offer. Even though the upcoming firm is my number one choice for now, I am really not looking forward to two more days of the same smiling, nodding routine.
I read somewhere that it takes 22 muscles to smile and 37 muscles to frown. They made it sound like you could smile for the rest of your life and have no trouble physically. Keeping the same smiling face for elongated period of time is stressful. I am sure everybody has felt this before. Remember the time when you visited your rich important uncle? Or the wedding reception of your mom's best friends daughter? I felt similar at times during these in house visits. There were some presentations that I really enjoyed or conversations that brought a natural smile to my face but there were many other situations when I had to fake it. How could I not? All the other candidates were doing it. How could I give up the competitive advantage to them by not smiling?
Actually, there was this one girl who was much better that anyone else at faking it. She grinned like she was about to star in a toothpaste commercial every time a presenter looked into her face and she became normal as soon as the presenter looked away. She was automatic. I was more interested in observing her than what the presenter was actually saying during that whole presentation. Did I mention that she was very good looking as well?
Of course, I had my own smile ready whenever the presenter looked anywhere near my vicinity :)
I read the latest story by sum_off on sajha today. It was a refreshing break for me, specially after 3 straight hours of classes in the morning. As I was reading through the story, I realized how much I really love reading this guy. I went through the whole long story in about 30 minutes and longed for more even after it ended. We all owe something to this guy for the satisfaction that he gives us with his stories.
It is somewhat difficult for a guy like me, a passive sajha reader, to appreciate what sum_off does. I have never really been big on Sajha postings. I have made a few posts here and there but not lately as sajha has been mediocre (at best) for the past year or so. The site has transformed from a witty portal for ideas to a raucous mess of political, racial and sexual slurs. I am sick of the usual "Another Song playing in my mind..", "31000Maoists but 3100 weapons.." ,"free phone to Nepal.." posts. The only occasional visit that I make to sajha now is to see if sum_off has come out with a new piece.
I like to read stuff that I can relate to, and may be that is why I like Sum_off's writings so much. He may not be the greatest writer of all time or the best story teller I have ever read, but his material is something that I can relate to the most. I think his descriptions are believable because he mostly uses his own experiences to tell his stories. The descriptions of the events in his story are sometimes so close to my experiences that I am simply amazed. This is probably because the background of most people who grow up in Nepal and come to the US to study is very similar. The only difference between him and the rest of us is that he is much better at narration than the rest of us.
The way he captures the lives and the thoughts of us Nepalis here in the US is simply superb. He not only understands our way of thinking but is skillful enough to put that into great writing. The best aspect of his writing I think is how he is able to exploit our subconscious dilemma. He understands how deep down we cannot let go of our roots yet how we still long to be americanized. Therefore he includes details from both of our worlds to tantalize our minds. His characters are mind boggling. Even though most of them live in the US they have that eastern perception and thinking. I could give several examples but since I am not writing this for a class, I won't bother to go back and look.
Another interesting thing about reading Sum_off is that you get to read his replies to the comments left on his stories by other sajhaites. I think that these comments are not just hilarious but they expose his insecurities. Somebody once commented that sum_off''s writing had holes in it, he stopped writing for a couple of months. I decided that he was another egoistic loser like the rest of us. He probably is, but believe it or not, his actions made me feel that I understand him better and know him at a more personal level. I guess you just like people who have something in common with you.
I wish I could narrate my blog the way sum_off narrates his stories. I wish I could make my descriptions so vivid that it is difficult to separate fiction from reality. I wish I had the skill to put a scene from a porno, and lord Ganesh's trunk in the same context and still make perfect sense. I wish I had holes in my writing.
Nostalgia is amazing, I would not trade it for anything. Last night,a friend of mine and I were chatting about things from back home and condescending our life here in the US at about 2 in the morning. He had a shot or two of Vodka and was a bit giddy, I did not have anything but I was pretty damn motivated and excited myself. You probably won't believe this but we spent almost 30 minutes debating whether Kalikasthan ko bato is parallel or perpendicular to the road from putalisadak to Maitidevi. Naturally I won, I was sober.
This has become a bit of a habit among us in the past year or so. I can tell that some (MOST) of us are missing Kathmandu greatly. It's been almost three years that most of the guys in my group have been here in the US, and most of us haven't been back home yet. Hence, every time we gather for anything, we become deeply nostalgic. Somebody inevitably brings up a memory from the past and our conversation immediately takes off on that tangent. It is usually a complete waste of time and does not really accomplish anything. At the end we are usually left wondering what we would do if we were in Kathmandu right now or just remembering some of the best moments we have had in Kathmandu.
For instance, about a week ago after one of those conversations the sights and sounds of the Pashupati Nath temple got into my head. For a moment, it took me back on time. I felt as if I was siting on one of those benches across the Bagmati river, staring at the flames from the burning pyre at Aryaghat and smelling that distinct smell of cremation. I remembered how I loved to go to Pashupati and sit on those benches wondering about life and existence.
The fact that you can feel a moment like that, even for a second is what makes nostalgia amazing. Like I said, I would never trade it for anything.
My Cell Phone rings
"Hi B I have some good news for you. You have been selected for second round interviews with P. bla bla bla"
I am not making this up. I was at work making a blog entry when my cell phone rang. I was particularly depressed yesterday before the call because I had gotten my exams back that morning and the results were not good. I had even started the depressing entry when I got the call. Here is what I had so far:
"It's official, I am not in my groove right now. After an unproductive year filled with bad luck, I was hoping that 2007 would bring waves of change. Nothing seems to be different, Yet!, and I don't know what happened. I can't even remember where I shifted from smart, confident and witty to boring and ..."
I was so excited after the call that I did not even finish the entry yesterday and therefore doing this today. The thought of going to San Francisco for free for a couple days was just too exciting. I called my friends after I got the offer and found out that my roommate had also been offered a second interview. Great! Now we can have fun together. Well! I don't know if there would be much time to see San Francisco considering the fact that we will be in P-----'s office all day. Anyways, a free tip is a free trip, right? I am going to enjoy it as much as I can.
The call was very good news for me but not for all of my friends. Most of them were called to say that their application would not be considered further. Anyways, I wondered all day yesterday about the reason for my selection and what I had said that impressed Bobby (the interviewer) in the first interview. I did not have a very good feeling when I got out of that interview especially after I almost put Bobby to sleep. He seemed genuinely disinterested in me and hardly ever looked at my face during the whole thing. The whole time, he took notes on a piece of paper and had a crummy look on his face.
He asked me a couple of leadership questions and a couple of technical questions. The technical questions took me by surprise because I had not been asked anything technical in any of my earlier interviews. One of the questions was how I would audit accounts payable in a company if I suspected that something is not right. I did not have an answer prepared. I knew that I had to say something, so I started off with some materiality BS and talked for about 5 minutes, mostly on Controls. I guess he liked what he heard, which is good for me.
Another interesting segment of the interview was when I got to ask him questions. I gave him a really hard time. No, really. The question that he had the most trouble was when I asked him where he sees himself in 5 years. I put him on the spot. He was very unsure if he would stay with this independent risk consulting firm or he would go into industry. I further asked him why he was so unsure if this firm is so great and if he is trying to attract me to it. Anyways, I did not really get a definite answer from him and that was not a surprise for me because I know how our industry works. people just don't stay put, they jump around like kangaroos every time a better offer comes up.
Overall, I did not think that the interview was very smooth. I also had a hard time convincing him that I was very interested in the High Tech industry and I really wanted to do internal audit rather than Technology Risk. The call, I have to admit, has given me some confidence. I thought that P--- was probably the worst of my interviews. So that might be a good sign of things to come. I wouldn't mind flying into some of the offices of other companies. I am looking forward to next week when all the decisions are scheduled to come.
Feb. 13:
Interview season is finally here. We have all been trying our hardest to land an internship at one of many accounting firms, preferably at the Big 4. I have found a new talent during this whole debacle. The interview season has helped me become much better at BS if nothing else. I might or might not land an internship during the summer but I have realized that I can dominate conversations with my BS wherever I need it. That is a trait I have gained solely in the past four weeks. I knew that I had to put in some BS on the interviews and the pre-interview dinners to land a job at any firm, and since I had applied to more than 5 firms the opportunities to BS were abundant. I had been pretty happy with my BSing abilities at interviews but today I realized that the BSing has carried over to other parts of my life.
The first time that I realized about my new found ability was during my group's conference with our tax professor. My group is a super cool group and I absolutely love those fellas, but there is no one in our group who is too vocal. Everybody is kinda reserved. The professor we had the conference with is a laid back, cool kinda guy who shows up in nice sweaters everyday. The objective of the meeting was that he would ask us questions in turns. The meeting started that way but I put my new found talent into exhibition and dominated the conversation from a few minutes in. The main reason why I think I am getting so good at it is because of the extensive business Jargon I have learned over the past few weeks. Now I know how Surya from the apprentice must feel like. It is great, absolutely great!
Feb 14:
I have my last interview of the interview season today. I met the lady I am interviewing last night at the pre-interview social that the company I am interviewing with had organized. It was a fun little gathering. I loved the chocolate fountain but nothing else was quite as amazing. The worst thing about these events is that you are never at ease. Having to maintain that inquisitive, smiling face (Think Jerry McGuire) for an hour and a half is a challenge.
Well, it's around 1:45 right now. I am at work and my interview is at 3: 30. I will probably leave at around 2:15, go home, shave, take a shower and come back to campus for the interview at around 3:15 with my game face on. You know, the inquisitive and smiling one. This is the first time that I am interviewing with a lady this semester and I am kinda scared. I haven't had any butterflies on the stomach before this interview. The lady seemed very nice yesterday but she is a little bit intimidating. Also, she is from HR and I am sure she is tough to please. I am also the last person interviewing her today so she must be worn out already. I don't know what her mood will be like by the time I get there. On top of that today is valentine's day and I am sure that she will be in a rush to get back to her hubby. I hope her flight is late in the evening.
I have handled auditors and other accountants pretty well in interviews so far, but she does recruiting for a living. So, I have no clue how I am going to fare.
I am concerned.
I stumbled to a couple of witty blogs today. One from a guy in NY and one from a lady in DC. Pretty interesting blogs to say the least. Especially for me, someone who doesn't understand the single-middle-aged-American mentality. I think I am pretty good at understanding some of the college kids that I meet at school, but the single-middle-aged-American mentality has screwed my understanding of this culture. Reading about these people's frustrations, success, sex-life, and a whole lot of other random stuff has really amazed me. I do not see completeness anywhere in these people's lives. Where I come from, nobody's life is "just out there". In my part of the world society is really closely knit and everybody has a deep sense of belonging. That is probably why I am struggling to understand how people can live like that. Without having a reason that I expect (Want) to see.
May be it is just how they write, may be I am interpreting people's writing wrong or may be I just don't understand this culture as well as I think I do. May be that is the main reason that they write these blogs and may be what they write does not completely represent who they are, but I think it is scary to see what middle aged America has become - Lonely.
It makes me wonder whether I really want to live the American dream or not. The American Dream! To tell you the truth I don't even know if such a thing exists any more.
