Together For Ever

Part 44

Sanjana's POV

My classes progressed gradually, I opted for an advanced course in the same organization as I felt it also needs to be done. After classes on Saturdays, if Shaam is free by that time we will go together, or else he won't come back that weekend. After that incident, Vidhya chechi is sort of Okay with her life, I asked her to not say that issue to anyone as it won't be good for both of us and asked her to not reveal Shaam's identity to anyone. When the basic course got completed, I started attending interviews, as I had a gap I struggled a lot in the initial interviews. My domain switch was also a concern for some of the organizations, they felt curious about my switching from Software development to Software Testing. I got rejected in many interviews, and I started working more. In one of the firms, I almost succeeded in all the rounds and waited for the final round, but they never called for that and it was a huge hit for me. It took some time for me to overcome that. But I continued to attend the interviews without fail.

Piku and Dudu started crawling and moving and recognizing people. They will smile and cry based on our reactions and listening to music is their main hobby. Dudu is more than happy if he is with my Papa and they will be in their world if we left them alone. Piku is also happy with everyone, but once he sees me he will never leave my hands. If I'm not there, he will be behaving the same as Dudu, perfectly fine with everyone who is around him, but they need anyone near them whom they are familiar with. Dudu will get attached to people easily bu Piku is difficult, some times Mom, Dad, and Shaam will get angry because of Piku's clingy nature. As they are in the 5th month, we decided to have the Annaprashan ceremony of them on, one of the Sundays in September month before Onam. From Shaam's side, his parents came, but Shivam and Anupama never came to see the kids. I think Shivam called me once during the time of the naming ceremony, Shubhangi once in a while drops a text or will call. Shaam's parents never fail to call once a day, first, she calls my mom and checks whether I will be free or with kids to confirm that the call won't disturb the kids. As decided earlier, we did the ceremony in the temple near my home. Both the parents, as a couple sat on the ground and held one kid each and give the first morsel to my kids as instructed by the Pandit of the temple. Pandit performed some pooja and officially granted permission to my kids to temple. As per our tradition, (Kerala-Hindu) babies will be allowed inside the temple after this Annaprahan. Shaam's parents returned only after Onam which was on the next week.

One Saturday while we were in class, I was not in good mood to attend as the topic was boring. I was struggling a lot to concentrate on the class, suddenly my phone started ringing gaining everyone's attention. I thought of ignoring the call as it was from an unknown number, but my trainer asked me to go out and attend the call. So for escaping from the class, I went out and attended the call. It was a lady who addressed herself as an HR from one of the IT firms to which I applied, but to be frank I don't even remember applying to that company. She asked me some basic questions and checked my availability coming Thursday to attend the interview and scheduled it for Thursday at 11 AM. After spending some time outside I went inside and resumed the class and later on checked with others they also never heard of that company. But again my trainer asked me to give it a try as it will give me more exposure and experience and I agreed. That evening Shaam told me he will also come, as his car is having some issues we have to go by bus. I was okay with that and waited for him at the bus depot, as he was getting late Vidhya chechi left by the first bus. After an hour he came and we boarded the bus after booking seats, and I slept immediately once the bus started.

The next day when I checked my emails, I noticed the interview invitation mail which was supposed to happen on Thursday and informed my parents that I will have to go to Trivandrum for the interview. I prepared for the interview and went there that day, I got a good impression of the company as it was inside the Technopark campus and from what I read I came to know that it's a start-up and launched back in less than 10 years. In total there were 20-30 employees and had a good atmosphere. Unlike other interviews, they gave me a system and asked me to design the scenarios and test cases for the condition, they give me a duration of 1 hour. I felt awkward while sitting there and I felt like the employees sitting there also trying to maintain and calm environment because of me sitting there. But after 40 minutes it seems, one lady asked me to stop and come to the conference room. I followed her, after saving the file in my name. There were 3 interviewers including the lady who asked me to come. They asked me a couple of questions and I answered 8 out of 10 but I understood that they didn't have much expectation of me. So I had a negative vibe, but still I maintained my attitude and left after the session. I went there in a bad mood as dad scolded me for not getting ready and leaving at right time and again the vibe I felt from there made me completely down.

To everyone who asked me about the interview, I said it was bad as their requirement was different from my qualification. In the coming days also I attended interviews but nothing worked. Monday morning we had a function at my Mom's sister's home, and we went there with my kids. Nowadays I feel bad to visit relatives, as they ask about rejoining the job as my munchkins are already 6 months old. I got a call, so  I excused myself from there and attend the call Surprisingly the lady said, I got selected for the opening and asked me when I can join. It was no less than a shocker because all the while never I got a positive vibe from there after the interview. I accepted the offer and confirmed to join on Monday. So everything happened in a short span of time, it took only 1 week, attending and the selection and all went fast. I was happy, I shared the news with my parents and Shaam. A week went too fast in the preparation of setting in Trivandrum and shifting and all. Finally, I feel like I am back on track.