Traffic Signal's

Some say nothing is happening in their lives. For most  life is boring TV show. They fill petrol in the Easy Monthly Installment cars, Wear their branded clothes and proud Sunglasses and go to work. They spent an hour in the Traffic cursing their fellow men and some biker scratches paint of their  rear view mirror. Its normal, the smoke, the heat and the loud honking of horns. A paleness of noise, dust and of men trapped in metal.

 Perhaps a sweat drop traversed between her Bosoms and lost itself in the confusion of flesh and clothes. She looked into the rear window which said that objects in the mirror were closer. She could see herself in the mirror. The cold winter morning had gnawed on the edges of her lip.

She looked outside casually on either side. A man on a vespa scooter whispered something to his wife on the pinion and his kid got squeezed in the venture. Perhaps a sexual joke.  Maybe even an unfinished conversation about their son's future. A plump lady spoke on her phone. If one observes her mouth closely they would find the sources of all the honking. A kid crossed between the traffic with some books in his hand. 'The kite Runner ', he shouted. 

She lowered her side windows and waved at the kid. the kid looked happy. She never read books but suddenly she wanted to help this desperate kid. His charred brown shirt and a never ending trouser reminded her of her son. He ran towards her dodging vehicles.

She asked him, "what's the price ? " He replied, "75 Rs but for you 50"

She opened her big fat purse. In between the medical prescriptions and bills she found a 500 Rs note. She took it out. He looked surprised. He didn't have the change. The traffic signal changed all of a sudden. The vehicles in front started moving. There was a loud honking from behind. She released the clutch. "I will buy it some other time ". She moved forward as the kid kept staring at her. 

In two minutes she will reach the next traffic signal.

THE RECRUITMENT CEREMONY

The paper was of better quality than usual. ‘Please return the question booklet after the test’ a fair lady shouted.

The question were simple though twisted

‘If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men to build it?’

Hari turned around to see a guy wearing a light brown shirt peep into a green salwar wearing pimpled girls answer sheet. She let him. He smiled at her.

Someone shouted on a microphone on the podium. ‘ 5 minutes remaining’.

Hari turned the question booklet around. More than half the questions were left unanswered. A 50% complete answer sheet will never fetch him a job. ‘Every answer sheet has a pattern’ he thought. ‘I will mark ‘C’ on all the options. When a person puts an Objective question he has more tendency of putting the answer at C’ .he had this notion about objective question papers.

The test was done and someone started collecting the anser sheet. The girl in the green salwar discussed the answer with the guy in the brown shirt. Hari stood up and walked out of the large auditorium in which the ‘placement drive’ was being conducted. He knew he wouldn’t get this job.

Hari had presumptions about everything. His head spokes to him in numerous ways. On odd days he blurted out what’s up in his head and screw things.

‘The refreshments will be served near the Automobile Engineering department’ the fair lady shouted on the microphone.

Hari ate his share of ‘goodDay-biscuits’ and drank Tea. The place was littered with disposable cups and biscuits packets in no time.

The list of candidates who qualified in the written exam was put up on a notice board. The crowd shifted from the refreshment counter to the notice board. There were a lot of indexes pointing at the paper. Someone spilled a cup of tea. A crumbled biscuit made it out of the hustle into the tea puddle. The outsole of black leather shoe trampled on the biscuit. The outsole was suddenly trampled on by a set of enthusiast who found there names on the ‘notice board’.

Hari found his name at the bottom end of the list. 35 people qualified. He was one of them. He didn’t feel happy. He rather felt disturbed. He hated interviews. He hated the air and deception. He hated the drama and the mask. He loathed the inevitable description of himself to a total stranger. He disliked being evaluated by his mockery. ‘The judgment whether to select a candidate is made in the first 30 seconds’. He remembers this gumption an expert threw at Career development meeting.

The interviewer was dark with a dark framed spectacle and a deformed nose. His eyebrows were bushy and brown and his receding hairline was grey from the sides.

He didn’t look up as he was staring at the resume that Hari had submitted Earlier.

Interviewer –“So Mr.Harikrishnan Ramakrishnan Puthenveetil.. How are u feeling now?’”

Hari-“I am feeling great… fine and you can call me Hari.’

Interviewer-“Yeah..Tell me about yourself. Mechanical Huh?’

(‘How do you think I am feeling…u dark fat old man. After expanding my name to more than 100 characters’)

Hari-“I am Hari. Born 9^th may 1988. My father is a security officer with new India Assurance. My mom is a housewife. I have a brother and he is in the army. I did my schooling…………college …. Hobbies include..”

(‘I know you don’t give a rat fart about who I am or what I am? so Why all this Drama?)

Interviewer-“Oh so you read books?”

Hari-“Yes..”

(‘I don’t. I had to say I had a Hobby. That’s what my career guidance cell expert told me.Everybody should have a hobby’)

Interviewer-“So what do you think about ‘The world is Flat ‘ ?”

Hari-“It’s not. Magellan sailed……Oh the book. I haven’t read the book. I am more into fiction.”

(‘I almost blew it. Should be more cautious. the world is flat ..Whoever wrote that book? It didn’t sound fiction to me’)

Interviewer-“Oh… So what about the Kite Runner?”

Hari-“A good book . I like the beginning and The Kites and the plot. A very convincing book.”

(I haven’t read that book either. Must be about Kites and runners..cricket ???’)

Interviewer-“And you listen to Music as well. which is your favorite band ? “

Hari-“I like all bands. Esp. the Loud ones”

(‘I hate the Loud ones ‘)

Interviewer-“Oh so ….you must like Rascal Flatts ? They are my favorites ?”

Hari-“ mmmm.. I like their first album but the latest one is not up to the mark..?”

(If they are really good they must have made more than one album…. Hope they did..)

Interviewer –“Why did u make a choice to have a career with our company?”

Hari-“You are one of the most reputed software companies in the world. and to choose a career with u is probably every engineers dream.”

(Nobody is recruiting mechanical engineers. Everyone is looking for experienced people. I need a job…. I will quit if I get a mech-Job’)

Interviewer-“tell me ..What do you think about the present economic scenario?”

Hari-“Recession … is a serious issue both in the west and in the east. But the market is recovering from the shock.”

(The recession is a thing of the past companies use as a reason to fire, underpay, exploit employees…)

Interviewer-“Do you have any question?”

Hari-“What Trainig should I Equip myself with before joining the company ?”

Interviewer- “We have the best training facility. Don’t worry about that. You can wait outside in the common room. Someone will come and inform the result”

Hari-“Ok. See you in the company”

Interviewer-“mmm..Take care.”

As Hari walked out of the room he felt feverish. He felt it throughout the interview.

‘If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men to build it?’

‘ They have already built the wall..why would they want to built it again.’ He smiled to himself as the result was announced.