Placement
/ˈpleɪsmənt/
Noun
* The action of placing someone or something somewhere.
* The state of being placed or arranged.
* The finding of suitable accommodation or employment for applicants.
Synonyms: positioning, placing, arranging, deployment, location, disposition, disposal, emplacement, installation, install, stationing.
I’m sure that some stout Indian professor teaching ‘Professional English’ would have attached the last meaning to the word. And one of the synonyms is disposal? What ra dei!
It all would have started 2 or 3 years earlier. Having walked through ‘counseling sessions’ after consulting with experts, well-wishers, good Samaritans, confused contemporaries and a few more emotional people, one wouldn’t think beyond the college ‘seat’.
Two years down the line, this unassuming student meets people who talk about the ‘future’. What ra, have you joined the GATE/CAT/whatnot classes? I’m joining this weekend. My uncle’s friend’s brother’s son joined there and found it very useful. The student would try to evade the question and perhaps, talk about a new movie releasing. A month later, he would be sitting with his friend in the weekend- in the Prep classes. Everyone sees the whirlpool and jumps into it.
The seniors give a pep talk on placements for them- a fully blown statement of their tryst with future. They ask you to be prepared for ‘whatever it is’. The father is worried that his son/daughter is not consulting his seniors enough. He asks you to read the ‘Opportunities’ page of The Hindu. You wonder why! When he tells you, “Dei, my friend’s son got placed in an MNC today. They are paying him (indistinct chatter you refuse to hear)”¸ you give him a poker face. He asks you if the company will come to your college for ‘placements’. You show the same how do I know face, plug back your earphones and continue watching that TV series on your laptop.
By the time the final year starts and companies start showing up (or viceversa), the Xerox shopkeeper would have sold 1000 copies of R.S.Aggarwal’s Quantitative Aptitude. Once you buy and read it, you will realize that ‘Tenth grade Mathematics is also called as Quantitative Aptitude’. Nevertheless, you spend your precious free time wading through it.
On the eve of a company’s placement drive, we religiously immerse ourselves in the books and hope the lady luck offers us a bounty. One round after another, all we expect is our name to be at least the last name on the list. The moment it vanishes, the heart goes plays an ‘atom bomb drop’ manual and the ego takes a beating. When the first company departs, a small bunch gets jobs and the rest get back to the (whirl)pool of eligible candidates. Some lose hope after the first company departs. Some throw the towel after two months. And some simply go on and on. Irony plays violin and the HRs dance to the tune. Some look beyond the bad music. Some get absorbed in the frenzy. Before you know it, the next company comes playing the guitar.
On the eve of a company’s placement drive, we religiously immerse ourselves in the books and hope the lady luck offers us a bounty. One round after another, all we expect is our name to be at least the last name on the list. The moment it vanishes, the heart goes plays an ‘atom bomb drop’ manual and the ego takes a beating. When the first company departs, a small bunch gets jobs and the rest get back to the (whirl)pool of eligible candidates. Some lose hope after the first company departs. Some throw the towel after two months. And some simply go on and on. Irony plays violin and the HRs dance to the tune. Some look beyond the bad music. Some get absorbed in the frenzy. Before you know it, the next company comes playing the guitar.
To the loving parents, a job to their child is, at times, a matter of posterity. Eppo da company varadhu! keeps ringing from the rear door. Worst is when you actually get a job and they tell you, “Adutha vara company nalla pay pola irukkey! You could’ve waited for that!” (The next company seems to offer a better pay package! You could have waited for that). The concerned (read: Nosy, jobless) well-wishers add to the hysteria and amplify the parents further.
When we potti-kadai bajjis (yes, I am one of them) joined in the first year, we were all packed with bubble-wrappers, our self-esteems in proper shape, well oiled. Three years down the line, how do we fall like a house of cards? What has happened to all the uncut diamonds that dropped in and greeted each other on the first day? The answer is blowin' in the wind.
P.S. The graph is made up. Any correlation is absolutely true but entirely coincidental.
- Gopsay
When we potti-kadai bajjis (yes, I am one of them) joined in the first year, we were all packed with bubble-wrappers, our self-esteems in proper shape, well oiled. Three years down the line, how do we fall like a house of cards? What has happened to all the uncut diamonds that dropped in and greeted each other on the first day? The answer is blowin' in the wind.
P.S. The graph is made up. Any correlation is absolutely true but entirely coincidental.
- Gopsay
