The interview

It was the year 2006 (last year, isn't it?). I was still very much new to my job, trying to get accustomed to the various protocols at office. Most of my friends were already placed in various multi-national companies, with handsome compensation packages. Few of them were still hunting for jobs, and almost all of them were trying to get a job in Hyderabad.

One of my friends wanted to attend a walk-in interview at some software company(call it Babloo Inc. for simplicity), and as it was on a weekend, I thought accompanying my friend would be a good idea, afterall I had nothing to do on that day. I've visited the website of Babloo last week, so by this point of time, I got the silly idea of taking the test myself. Not because I wanted to jump to Babloo if I get selected, but sitting idle for hours together didn't seem to be a good passtime. So we took off that morning (Babloo was far from the places we lived), hoping that it would turn out to be a good day for both of us. We were wrong.

It was a hot and sunny day, it was terrible driving under the scorching sun. What makes it worse is the the city traffic; it is the toughest thing to deal with. It is like you are one among a hundred rats running in a maze. I don't remember when I made a journey without abrupt braking on these roads. And this day was no different. I almost hit a few of cars, narrowly missed a couple of pedestrians (these are the ones walking in the middle of the road), before safely arriving at our destination.

Obviously, we were late by half an hour. But Babloo Inc. hasn't started it's business day yet. We had to wait outside the office for a good one and a half hour, before being let in. We waited near the reception, along with dozens of others, waiting eagerly for the 1st part of the selection process - the written test. But the Babloo staff had something in store for us. It was an introduction kind of thing for those who wanted to join Babloo. I would've called it orientation, but only if I hadn't attented it.

We were led into a small lab, which reminded me of the small internet cafe at the end of our street. We were told that we would be taking the written exam right there after the introduction. I thought it would be a computer adaptive test, but someone told me that it was a paper based test. After 10 minutes, a young lady (a few years our senior, I guess) entered the lab. She started talking about what Babloo is all about, Babloo's mission statement, Babloo's history, blah blah blah. I was wondering if she would ever tell us what their requirement was. She then put out the most important fact in front of us.

"There will be a written test & an interview, if you clear both, you will be put in a training program at Babloo. For 6 months, Babloo will teach you the latest technologies and real-time industry-standard project-oriented stuff. This will be unlike anything you've ever seen in your life, so tough and so hard, but you have to be committed towards it. After the training, you will be given placement assistance..."

Bingo. So Babloo Inc. is not where the shortlisted guys are going to work. Then why would Babloo train people, only to give them away to other companies? The answer came as I was still thinking, but it was not framed in a way I had anticipated.

"...and since Babloo has to make sure you take this training seriouly, Babloo charges 50,000 INR for every candidate it trains".

Very clever indeed. And why did I expect her to say something as stupid as "You'll have to pay 50,000 bucks as training fee"

She continued.. ".. Even TCS, Wipro make employees sign bonds for thousands of rupees, so it is what almost every other company does"

"Is Babloo really on par with TCS? Moreover, those companies pay back the bond money", I thought. Unfortunately, I said this aloud. The lady gave me an icy stare.

"Of course we are on par with TCS, but we are charging money because we spend lot of resources on each candidate's training"

I wasn't satisfied with that answer. "Babloo might be training people, but so does TCS", I said.

"Babloo is charging money only because the standard of Babloo training is very high".

I didn't ask her if Babloo standards were higher than those set by TCS, because by now I had a feeling that they weren't.

So she went on for another 10 minutes explaining how all their previous employees (or students, to be more precise) got placed in million & billion $ companies. She left the lab saying that she would be back with the question papers for written test. I could say from the look on her face that she didn't like me.

We were expecting her to return, but another girl came into lab, she moved in so quickly that I thought she was in some trouble. Of course, she wasn't in any right then, she was only in a hurry. She greeted everyone with a big smile and introduced herself (why don't we call her suhasini.. she was smiling more than anyone else in that office). Now I recognized her face, she was talking to someone at the reception earlier. But she wasn't wearing any identification tag at the reception, and she was wearing one now.

Suhasini told us that she was from the previous batch and she is part of some good firm now (flashing her tag at us). She talked for 15 minutes - in what she might've believed was an inspiring tone, but it was rather boring.

"Even I was worried about my future before I joined Babloo. I was sitting in this very lab, struggling to become what I am now. So tomorrow, you'll be in my place, and you'll all get great jobs.I guess you are all fresh out of college, and this training will be a great help for you". I was yawning at this point. Everyone was calm, some of them even nervous. Guess the Babloo hype got to their heads and they were worring about the difficulty level of the written test. I've decided to ease their discomfort, so I started a conversation with suhasini(her beautiful smile, remember?) , on everyone's behalf.

"Do you really think Babloo training will help us get jobs? All of us here are not 2006 passouts".

"Oh, that really doesn't matter. Babloo training is the best in the industry, so even a 2005 passout can get a job immediately after Babloo training.. and..."

"What about 2004 passouts?", I interrupted.

"I guess 2004 passouts might have a difficult time because that would mean they were jobless for 2 years"

"I am a 2004 passout, what are my chances?" cried out someone from the last row.

"Um.. uh.. you see, 2004 passout, you say? ok, no problem, Babloo can help you out, the year of passing isn't really important"

I refrained myself from asking if Babloo can help year 2000 passed out freshers. I continued asking suhasini various other questions, and I observed her smile slowly fading away. I heard giggles from the rear of the lab during the conversation. She finally asked me why I was at Babloo that day. I instantaneously made up a story .. "One of my friends joined a company like Babloo, and after training, she was placed in CA. I thought Babloo can get me placed in a similar company".

She gave a wide grin .. "Oh yeah, CA. that's a very good company. You know, if you join Babloo and work really really hard, you can also get into CA".

Great. This girl wants to help me get into the company I am already working for.

She finally said her best-of-luck & goodbye and left the lab, leaving behind a group of guys & girls eager to become Babloo-ians.

In came the first lady (the lady who spoke to us first), with question papers. She announced that we are supposed to answer 20 questions in 20 minutes, and we won't be given extra time. I took one, and I was actually looking forward to taking the test. How hard can such a test be? She made it appear as if it was going to be a tough exam. I have already come to the conclusion that Babloo is trying to make money, so I was expecting an easy paper. But when I looked at the very first question, I was stunned. It was nothing like I've ever seen. The first question itself was a shock for everyone.

If you have Rs.400, and you give your friend 25% of that, how much will you be left with?"


A. Rs. 100

B. Rs. 200

C. Rs. 300

D. Rs. 350


What did I do to deserve this? The remaining questions were no tougher than this. With all effort, I made up my mind to answer atleast 15 incorrectly. I too wanted to have some fun. I was surprised to see that some of the guys were actually happy to see such a paper. God save them.

After the test, we waited outside for the results. I didn't see suhasini at the reception. After 15 minutes, the results were announced. All of us were selected! Now I knew the cutoff for this exam. The cutoff was fifty thousand bucks. I was wondering what questions the interviewers would ask. "What is capital of India?".. or "How many thousands are there in a million?", perhaps.

Once the interviews started, I noticed that each interview wasn't for more than 5 minutes. The others were asked to fill in personal information in a sheet in the meantime. Though it was only 5 minutes, Fun is always fun. I wanted that interview. I always watched funny interviews in movies and I wanted to see it for real. My friend was interviewed first, only to be back in 2 minutes.

"What kind of interview was that? You just walked in and walked out"

"No questions pal, just asked me to consult with my parents and talk to them about paying the cash and joining Babloo"

I no longer wanted that interview. Afterall, what kind of interview was it without questions? We left before I was interviewed. I didn't worry about those people calling me up and asking to attend that so-called interview, because I gave my name as Konidela Siva Sankara Vara Prasad (Mega Star's real name) and phone number as 98480 22338 (Sivamani phone number)

We had lunch at a nearby restaraunt. That day was a funny experience for both of us. To this day I can't forget the expression on one of the girls' face, when she came out of the interview and asked her brother "They want me to pay 50 thousand bucks and join. Can I, brother?". She was literally jumping on her way back in after her brother said YES.

Babloo's head office is in Australia, and they opened their only branch in India in 2005. I scanned the entire website of Babloo the next day, but there was no mention of such a training program in it. Babloo is basically like every other product development company. Then why are the staff here conducting such apparently false training programs? I leave it to your imagination. To this day, Babloo Inc., Hyderabad, India continues its activities unperturbed.

Any Babloo-ians out there?