Nevermind the Nuisance

This is an account of events of the past few days leading upto my Duke and Tepper interviews.

Disclaimer: Readers are advised that any attempt of re-enacting the sequence of events could be disastrous and should do so at their own risk.

Last week around this time I was down with cold and fever and contemplating taking couple of days off to recover. But that was not be!! I had to struggle to office to resolve ‘critical’ issues on couple of projects I was managing. Needless to say I was irked at the prospect and gave every indication that my colleagues were to keep distance from me if they had no wish to be innocent victims of the confrontation.

I had already received interview invites from Duke and Tepper and was working to schedule them appropriately to allow time for some preparation. Duke was scheduled for Monday with Tepper still undecided. At this point I learnt that one of my projects was in deep shit and we would have to work the weekends to cover that up. Not surprising considering that we were trying to fix a problem in 2 months that another project was fixing spending millions of dollars in one and half year just because a 3rd project had almost completed their work and were looking to implement in march/April but forgot to analyze one system altogether. But we had to commit to this didn’t we; after all we have people (as me) who have nothing to do but to spend days and nights in office.

Anyways I already had my calendar full for the weekend as I was to play back to back cricket matches for our company in our home tournament. No question of missing these matches but first I had to recover and get fit. I was beginning to wonder how exhausted I would appear for my Monday morning Duke Alumni Interview. Well I had to make sure that I got a good night’s sleep on Sunday.

Oh, just remembered Saturday evening I go for volunteer work and there is no question of skipping that. So, that left Sunday for getting my project back on track and that would have to do for now. By Friday fever had subsided but was replaced by a headache courtesy our business partners on my 3rd project. Late on Friday I learnt that my Tepper Telephonic interview was scheduled for Tuesday. Not what I had in mind, it would not give me enough time to prepare. Prospects for preparing for the Duke interview were also getting slimmer by the hour.

Cometh the weekend and I braced myself for a disaster. No... not today. We won our match, I played well. Was able to take a quick shower, head for my volunteer work and reach home in one piece. The fever had returned but couple of medicines ensured that it beat a hasty retreat. To bed then….

Next morning was up and ready early for the match but we lost this time around. I shelved my disappointment temporarily as I had to get back to work. Surprise, Surprise, my team decided not to show up!! There was nothing that I could accomplish on my own, so decided to postpone it till the next day. Headed home early and managed a quick preparation for my Duke Alumni interview the next day. Slept early and thankfully and unlike experiences of other applicants there were no disturbances – no young kids partying, no dogs barking no robbers, no music… was so looking forward to these..

Up early again and got ready for my interview. I attired in formal wear, Dark blue suit, white shirt and polka dotted tie. Was at the interview location half an hour before time; I have a good habit of reaching early for all appointments. The interview went well from here on expect for the fact that my sore throat was preventing me from speaking clearly. The fact that I am very clear about my goals and need for MBA really helped and the standard questions were cakewalk. I’ll put a detailed account of the interview later. I guess I was able to create a good impression on the interview; in spite of the fact that I looked exhausted and my face was bore a reddish tinge thanks to 2 days in the sun and a light fever.

With the interview done I had to reach home quickly change and get back to work. Rest of the day is not worth mentioning.

Any hopes of making a recovery were squashed early morning as I woke up running a high temperature and my throat was equally bad. The good thing, atleast I thought so at the time, was I couldn’t possibly go to work and I didn’t. However, I had to coordinate and handle so much work from home that I wished I had gone to office. This didn’t help my throat one bit. I was hoping that I could get that in order before the Telephonic interview. Only option was to visit a doctor and get a prescription of heavy dosage of antibiotics. This did work but it made me really drowsy and I spent most of rest of the day sleeping. I did manage a quick preparation before the interview. Against the run of play my interview went great. Probably the best interview I have ever given. I’ll post the detailed account of this later.

At this point looking back at all the things that transpired, I said to myself with a smile “All’s well that ends well’ – “Nevermind the nuisance”

There was time I believed that so many things were happening at the same time that my interviews were more or less doomed from the start. But it’s funny how things tend to work out if you keep at it!!