The Hero

That Monday morning, we were going for an interview in a multinational company. You probably know how excited, happy and nervous freshers are on their first interview.

Our batch consisted of five students, and almost all of us were quite bright and sharp. We had demonstrated remarkably well at computers and had sharpened our soft skills in the personality development course which was designed for us. Our teachers at the Indian Confederation for the Blind used to say that our batch is the best; we all have extraordinary talents and skills.

I was confident that I will give my best performance. The same spirit was in Alice, Meena and Ritu. But Vibhore did not seem to have this feeling. He was the only student in our batch who had only studied up to matriculation, otherwise we all were graduates. More to it, his English communication too was not so good.

We reached the interview venue a little before time. The human resources person, who arrived late in the interview room, greeted us warmly. He humoured with us to make us feel comfortable, and it did alleviate our nervousness to a certain extent. He inquired our names, and then asked whether we wanted to be interviewed in a group or separately. We decided to have a group interview.

Alice was the first one to be asked the typical interview question: “Tell me something about yourself.” She stammered in the beginning, but once she got into the flow, she went on to tell about her education, hobbies and achievements, which were pretty impressive.

Meena was asked to tell her achievement. “I feel that the greatest achievement of my life is that I am happy and undeterred despite my visual impairment. I have learnt how to work against odds, and this makes me feel that I can achieve a lot in life.”

This answer of Meena earned praises from the HR and we too appreciated it.

Ritu, on being asked her weakness, said that “I feel that I am unduly passionate about work. Sometimes this passion compels me to do more than I feel I have the stamina of doing.”

It impressed the HR probably due to the genuine spirit with which it was spoken.

Now it was my turn. “How do you pronounce it {Ghazenfar}?” inquired the HR, trying to take my name looking at my CV. I pronounced my name and tried to clearly emphasize each syllable and vowel. “G-H-A-Z-E-N-F-A-R.” The HR was still unable to pronounce my name, and preferred to address me by my second name, Khan.

I was asked to tell about any unusual event of the recent past. I told how we celebrated the birthday of one of our friends. “We did not wish him for the entire day because we had planned to cut the cake on his bike. That poor guy was worried to think that we don’t remember his birthday. But we wanted to give him a surprise, and that could have only happened after our classes, so we waited till the evening.” “A creative idea – cutting the birthday cake on a bike!” said the HR, appreciably.

Vibhore’s turn came. He too was asked to tell about an unusual incident. Instead of his cheerful expressions, which had impressed many, his face wore a dull look due to nervousness. He tried to speak, but neither his grammar nor his pronunciation were good at all. He stammered, and abruptly halted in the middle – probably feeling how poor his performance is. The HR, who had a remark for all of us, seemed to feel it unnecessary to say anything for Vibhore. I felt sorry for him, and could not properly enjoy the high appreciation I had received by the HR. 

All of us were offered jobs. Well, everyone, except Vibhore.

As we came out, I was thinking hard how to encourage Vibhore, when I heard a cheerful voice calling my name from behind, “Ghazenfar! You have cracked the thing!”

It was Vibhore. He had brought refreshments for all of us to celebrate our victory. I knew that his joy was caused neither due to frustration, nor was it to kill the sadness of his failure. The life in his heart had caused it. His never-give-up spirit had made him so happy. And I must confess here that I felt jealous to see his happy state of mind, despite his failure at the interview. I was able to sense the same jealousy in the shocked expressions of all the job-getters. I got highly inspired by him and craved to get his positive energy.

Vibhore had an uncommonly courageous heart throbbing in his chest. Such people never give up, because they focus on the real, larger picture of life. Failing in interviews or examinations are small matters for them. They know that this world offers so many more opportunities that failing in a few fields would not be able to deter them. Getting sad over a failure is pretty natural. But such people soon overcome their sadness, and keep going ahead.

Now Vibhore runs two booming petrol pumps, has three cabs running in a company and few of the employees under him earn quite like us. But he could never clear an interview.

Tell me who is the hero?

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Shadab Husain works in the front office at Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University, Lucknow. He has an MA in English literature, and has pursued a diploma in computer applications as well as a personality development course. He also writes a blog on personality development and improving English at PersonalityAndEnglish.blogspot.com.