January 16, 2014

The I-Day

Hello Friends..


First of all, I have an apology to present.

Apology, because I was not able to post this article well on time due to a few technical  problems that surfaced on my laptop.

This one is thrid in series of the Inspiration journey that I came to seek here at TISA. The previous ones being

Seeking Inspiration

Effort

so now I'll continue with my story..

The I-day

2nd of janauary, 2014.....

Yes, it was the day, when I had to apply all that I had learnt in the last month, rather, all that I had learnt all my life .

No one ever pushed me through this interview. There was no external pressure on me to prove my worth. I had every bit of encouragement and faith that my parents, my siblings, my friends, my teachers or anyone for that matter could have given me. I had all the support on earth.

Inspite of all this I was feeling this enormous pressure, all self built.
I wanted to excel in this interview because I wanted to prove to myself that I am not worthless. Time and again the memories of the numbness I felt when I had to read out a chapter in class, or attend a roll call, or present a seminar flashed in front of my mind. I didn't want to feel that again. I tried to relax myself, but well.....trying cannot relax you, Inner Peace can. But that peace had turned brittle, ever since I received the call letter for interview.

Deep down I knew, the importance of this one opportunity, and I was determined to get the best of out it, regardless of the pressure that it was building.
I practiced...... A LOT..
Starting with telephonic interviews with Sachin Sir. Needless to explain how helpful, supportive and infulential he was.  I got the best start while practicing with him. But as he guided me I realised that it was very important for me to come out of my comfort zone. It was the time when I had to move out and practice these mock interviews in a more formal setting Face-to-face with someone. I joined a coaching class, where I met other prospective candidates.

Swaying a bit away from the topic, as a kid I, like most of us, was extremly hesitant to let anyone know about the fact that I stammer. Over the years I have developed the courage to willingly tell people (the non-PWS) that I stammer, and it has helped me a lot. It makes me "understood" in a better way.

So, this was what I did. I let my instructor know about my stammer. She said that it was totally fine and motivated me to be confident.
In addition to this I also went to my neighbours who are retired teachers of very reputed schools here in my city and asked them to interview me.
During the day I did this mirror activity, that Sachin sir adviced me to do, where I watched my self answering questions. It helped me with the body language aspect of the interview.
Along with this, before sleeping everynight, I used to have self mocks. Sounds kind-of funny, but yes I talked to myself to frame better answers.

Finally, it was the day... the 2nd of january, 2014.
8:00am

Chilling cold...which was acting as an excuse for my "out of fear" goosebumps.

At the interview center I met many other candidates and talked with them.
After talking to them, I had this strange feeling. For no reason I was surprisingly not nervous. I dont know why so.
The month long wait and pressure and fear was gone. I kept chatting with a few companions there, and they were as nervous as I was a day before. Well, they didn't stammer, then what caused them all this worry..? I thought to myself...!!
We had our document verification done followed by our interview.
I waited  for quite a long time and finally was called up by the panel at about 12:30 pm.
By that time the "Not nervous" status had changed to "A bit nervous". I had no fear except the fear to relapse back to my excessive nervousness mode.
On enetering the room, I greeted the panel members, there were four of them. They began the interview and asked me to introduce myself.

Now this was the moment.

Prior to the interview I had asked a lot many people should I let the panel know about my stammer before hand?

There definately were varied answers to this question. Some said that you should tell them for them to judge you better. Some said that telling it before hand could be a bit negative. Till this moment I too wasn't sure if I should let them know, but then something within urged me to confess this to the panel and so I did tell them.

As expected, they were very considerate and urged me to answer their questions calmly and that my stammering has nothing to do with my candidature.
Their words made me at ease. And what followed was a "Wonderful Experience".

I answered most of the questions, with a bit of stammering here and there, which really didn't bothered me. Hopefully it didn't even bothered them.

It was an approximately 20 minutes long interview. When I came out I was "Elated". Not because "Finally it was over", but because I was very happy the way it went. There were questions that I was not able to answer, but still I had this strong feeling that I presented myself as a strong contender. To me that satisfaction was the thing which mattered the most.

 Eversince this interview was on the list, I didn't wanted to end as a looser. I didn't wanted to come out of the interview room defeated. All I wanted out of it was a "Satisfied self" at the end of the process.

The happiness that I felt after the interview made me feel that I have accomplished my goal. That undoubtedly is a wonderful feeling.

And for all this, I have been,  still am and will  forever be thanking some very important people who played their respective parts in my achievement. They being my parents, my siblings, Sachin Sir, my teachers and every other individual who wished me to sail through this interview pleasantly.

In a month or two I will get the final verdit. I am very hopeful that I will get the job. I will share the good news with you people here.
Keeping fingers crossed.

Thank you for reading.
Take Care.

8 comments:

Satyendra said...

Voila- it made my day..
Congrats!

Joy deep Majumder said...

Inspiring !!

ABHISHEK said...

very inspiring...let thy wish be true :)

Manimaran said...

Really great Priya, I am very sure of getting you the job. My advance congratulations.

Avi Mane said...

Really very Inspiring
Congrats Priya

Priya said...

thank you for all the appreciation and wishes :)

Er. Umesh said...

Wow!! what a inspiring way to write.. I dont know how some people express their stories in so much great way. Really a breath stopping article of hard working and self-belief. we all are waiting for the good news. thanks for sharing

Upasana Nayak said...

very very inspiring Priya.... A strong example of ACCEPTANCE..... all the very best for your future......keep posting....:)