This might appear to be a continuation of the previous post, well, it is.
I was delighted to have got through the phone interview. I received a mail asking me to attend the shell recruitment day on march 15& 16. What blew me away wasn't the prospect of working with shell, but the all expenses paid trip via PLANE (kingfisher airllines) to bangalore.
I hadn't travelled by plane until then, and was really thrilled about it.
Shell has a really neat way of recruiting people, they have rounds which test more of your managerial skills rather than technical expertise.
Simply put they want a manager who doesn't have an MBA,(i wonder why).
Coming back to my maiden flight: all the formalities to board the plane were completed.
The plane was the size of two buses put together, to my dissapointment. The puny size made me uncomfortable too. It made me feel insecure. How was this tiny little thing going to get me to bangalore safely. Hell, couldn't they have given us a bigger plane.
We boarded the plane took our seats. The plane looked even smaller from within with hardly any space to stand. by this time the air hostesses were doing there job, smiling widely at all the passengers. Where does Vijay mallya get these "barbie dolls" from? They seemed to be from some other planet!
The tubofan engine revved and the plane started taxing. Curses to air hostess, was this the time to warn of of posssible mishaps and the precautions to be taken?. It was comical to hear when she said we'll have to blow the air jacket ourselves in case it failed to deflate. "Falling from 25000 ft it doesnt matter whether the jacket works or not", i thought.
The plane shows great pickup, we were upto 150 kph within 6 seconds i guess and my ears started paining. The takeoff was abrupt and within no time we could see the horizon. Fortunately it was a clear day and that meant we could see the landscape below.
That was the most beautiful sight i ve ever seen. The earth looks o beautiful from above with its unique blend of colours. I was completely mesmerized and caught everything on my friend video camera. We tried to spot our college from above , but everything was so tiny, we couldn't place a thing correctly.
While i continued to stare through the window the air hostess came up with an assortment of dishes. I refused all, i didnt want to vomit during the landing, i made sure i kept my stomach empty. She asked me twice, as if it were a crime to go hungry on there airlines.
30 minutes into the flight and i was getting bored, everything seemed so monotonous. But , hey within another five minutes the pilot informed us to prepare for landing. The plane seemed to go round in circles for a while, and for the first time i could feel the G-forces. Man, how do the F1 drivers put up with these forces for 77 laps!
After getting the signal the plaane descended and as we got lower and lower and speed at which the plane was travelling became really evident to us. All the buidling s underneath us were whooshing by. We should have been travelling at about 250 kph. At higher altitude it must have been much faster.
Finally the plane landed safely and the fun seemed over. But no, we were greeted by a chauffer who took us to a star hotel. The rooms were well furnished. We felt like part of a royal family to be there.
It took us about an hour to absorb all the facilities that were available to us. And didnt we enjoy ourselves. Yeah and we broke a couple of glasses during the process , by cleverly hid away any evidence of it.
We rested like kings that evening, and the dreaded interview was on the next day.
The less i talk about it the better, the interview went well, atleast i believed so. But they didnt want people with technical skills, they wanted managers, so it seemed. I didnt make it through the first round. In some corner of my heart i felt happy because that meant i could enjoy more time in the Royal rooms now that i was eliminated. I am crazy, you may think.
We spent the rest of the day exploring areas around the hotels. Well everything was in sharp contrast to the rooms we had been given. there were hardly any lights on the roads
and piles of mud lay wherever you set your sight. disgusted we returned to the comfort of the hotel.
The next day we got ready for the return flight. The novelty of flying was lost by now, and the return flight seemed less exciting.
Nontheless i felt happy though i hadn't been selected, Shell had infact spent around Rs 15000/- for the entire trip. And i hadn't spent a paise from my pocket. Now that's life!!
posted by Ranjit Prakash . S @ 8:50 AM
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