Pure Blood Gets A (Vomitting) Taste of In-House Pressures

The pure blood felt upbeat now. When things occur to one’s natural choice, it gives a euphoric feeling and the mind, body and heart work more in congruity. The resultant effect of this coordination was that his stomach growled a bit and with every passing minute the growls only got louder. He looked around frantically for something to satisfy it but this was more of a residential area and nothing was visible to satisfy the need. He walked as briskly as possible to the main road on the other side. However, it was not before 20 minutes that his nostrils picked up an aroma. Like a remote controlled car his body automatically moved in that direction. The small eatery was located at the corner junction of the main road intersection. It was a self-serving arrangement and his thali (Indian meal with various dishes served in small bowls placed around a plate where they can be mixed & eaten) was ready quite fast. In no time half of the plate had been gobbled up by the pure blood. Then the marginal utility theory kicked in and it took him more than triple the time to finish the rest of the plate. The crudest reason to earn money had now been taken care of.

 

With a full stomach and ample time in hand, the pure blood pulled out the list of contacts he had prepared over the past weekend. From the physical map before him (GPS or Google Maps were not known at that time!) he could make out that one address was in the vicinity. He looked around for the signboards or road indicators. Unable to seeing anything to that effect, he asked a couple of bystanders and was given some directions. He moved in that direction and with the help of people he met on the road, he was able to locate the place without much difficulty. He went to the reception of the law firm and enquired for the contact. The receptionist sought the purpose and dialed the extension. She hung up in about 10 seconds and requested him to have a seat. The pure blood sat down on one of the cushioned cane chairs in the reception area. He did not have to wait long. His acquaintance from college came around and they got talking. He did not have to explain much – we all know when an acquaintance suddenly comes to meet, nine out of ten times the most likely reason is help in hunting for a job!

 

He was back on the streets in about 15 minutes, with visiting cards and email addresses of the partners and a promise for a word to be put in once his application was sent across. He took a walk around but did not find any further workable options so he started the journey back home. It took him more than one and a half hours, changing three buses and some walking to get back. His friend had not yet returned. His mind was already on the next day’s schedule, which was an interview with a leading IT company.

 

He would have a brush with the corporate world, which not familiar to him. He began the next day early and was ready much ahead of his planned time. But he did not wait at home. The venue was at the other end of the town in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) where most of the IT companies were housed. There were no direct buses and would entail changing atleast thrice to reach. Starting early certainly had advantages. He was able to secure a seat on two routes. The last bus was overcrowded since it was towards the end of peak hour. He could afford to wait for a few more minutes for the next one. Soon after tall commercial buildings come into view signifying that he was close to his destination.

 

The bus dropped him at the gate of the building of his visit. He couldn’t help smiling at the close proximity to the main road. He walked in confidently. The company’s headquarters was located on the eleventh floor. He reached a few minutes before the appointed time and went through the stipulated security checks. The receptionist directed him to a large conference room at the left side of the lobby. The room, large enough to seat about 20 people, had a long brown table with matching wooden chairs. The walls were adorned with photographs of various award ceremonies and corporate events. A few minutes after the appointed time, a short stout man in his late forties entered the room. He introduced himself as the legal head of the company.

 

The pure blood shook hands confidently and they sat opposite each other. The interviewer began the discussions on a familiar note asking basic information from the pure blood. This was the fourth interview in as many days; hence he rattled it out like a bullet train. The usual questions on transactions followed which he could now explain quite mechanically. He did not have in-house experience, so the next natural question was why the shift from a promising law firm practice to a restricted future. He was prepared for this – understanding business from close quarters, specialized knowledge, no client pressures, good work-life balance etc. – he blurted out. The interview’s ears pricked up on hearing the last 2 reasons. He shot back – do you have any idea what pressures are there in this role? ….. Or for that matter do you believe this is a 9 to 5 job?  

 

Although inwardly the pure blood felt exactly this way, something in the interview’s tone made him narrow his eyebrows. He calmly replied in the negative. The interviewer’s cheeks flushed as he barked – there will be 20 departments sitting on your head to meet deadlines that they have sat on; they will always expect documents reviewed as of yesterday; they will repeatedly force you to attend negotiations at unearthly hours since bid submission is due next day, they will make you travel to remote locations at the drop of a hat; your opinions, however legally sound they may be, will be disregarded in the name of “business targets”; and God forbid if something goes wrong, they will calmly point out “this went through legal, why didn’t they point it out?”.

 

The interviewer’s frustration at the sorry state of affairs in his organization poured out like a toddler vomits when forced fed more than his or her liking. The perplexed pure blood was left wiping the whitish liquid with obnoxious smell!

 

The Pure Blood Gets His Due...At Last!

For a few moments the pure blood stared blankly at the passing traffic. He was dejected at the sordid affair. All his plans for the day did not seem to matter much. The sun was beating down on him now. Sweat trickling down his face generated a tingling sensation in his numb body. He looked around and realized that it was almost lunch time. The road side eateries were briskly going about their business catering to the regular crowds that had gathered. He did not have any inclination to eat. With no particular direction in his mind he ambled along. He passed through various places, city landmarks, parks, streets till his feet grew tired and led him into a small tea shop. The lemon tea had a unique flavor and was refreshing.

 

It was late afternoon by now and the pure blood felt a bit better. He sifted through his pocket and retrieved his mobile. It had been switched off since he had stepped in for the interview. He swiftly switched it on and within a few seconds familiar pings attracted his attention. His friend’s anxiety was reflected in the numerous missed call alerts. It was then that he realized that more than 8 hours had passed since they had last spoken. He instantly dialed the number and heard the reassuring voice on the other side. He fumbled to explain his location, taking help from the owner of the tea shop.  It appeared he was close to his friend’s office and they decided to meet up an hour later. Later that evening the pure blood narrated the baffling experience but his friend was not so perturbed. He explained that in most corporates soft skills played an important role and the trend was perhaps spreading to law firms as well.

 

The pure blood was back to usual cheerful self when they reached ‘home’. He didn’t bother to do anything further and plopped onto the inviting bed. He was physically as well as mentally exhausted and was in his dreamland in no time. Having your full quota of sleep is essential to ensure the body is rejuvenated – a rested mind works faster. His caring friend ensured that the alarm had been set and when it rang, the pure blood woke up with a jerk, once again!

 

Today the pure blood was in a different mood – the ‘don’t care attitude’ had returned. It was quite hot outside and so he chose to wear a half shirt. He ate a hearty breakfast and after a careful check of his attire in the mirror, he stepped out. Today’s primary agenda was to meet up with the lawyers who had earlier had a telephonic interview with him. The first round was already done in this case and he believed he had made the right moves that day, so the pressure was presumably less.

 

His route had been chalked out in advance and he simply followed it to perfection. He had a bit of difficulty in getting to the exact location inside the myriad of by-lanes but the receptionist was very helpful in guiding him over phone. He arrived barely a few minutes before time and was received very cordially by the receptionist. The law firm was housed in what appeared to be a spacious two storey bungalow at the end of a most ‘missable’ side lane in the heart of the city. At first he was made to sit on a small sofa beside the reception area in the main hall of the bungalow. He was able to catch a glimpse of the first floor room where a small head seemed focused on a computer screen. Soon after, he was asked to move to a conference room opposite the sofa. As he got up he could make out that the head has risen revealing broad shoulders and a longish face moving out of the room.

 

The pure blood took his seat on the chair towards the right side of the door. No sooner had he sat that he had to get up. A tall stout man in a light blue full shirt and black trousers stepped in. He instantly recognized the head he had seen a few moments ago. He was followed by a short statured woman with a round face dressed in a white salwar kameez. The man introduced both of them and the pure blood was able to recognize the voices he had heard a few weeks ago. It always gives a feeling of completeness to be able to put a face to a voice. Both of them spoke softly which belied the stern appearance.

 

The interview initially was almost a repeat of what had happened earlier. Then came the specific questions.

 

Interviewer: Why do you want to move from a comfortable job?

Pure Blood: I like to take up new challenges.

 

I: What made you choose the faraway city?

A: I believe that there are better opportunities here with respect to this area of law.

 

I: What made him interested in changing his area?

PB: A few transactions including due diligence.

 

I: I can assure you that you will be bored of due diligences

PB: (Smile)

 

I: Why should we consider you?

PB: I have handled some transactions and would like to gain experience in this area. When I was new to the profession I did not have any knowledge but have been able to learn and gain experience on the job. It will always be my endeavour to learn this new area with the same spirit. You can ask me any question on my current area of practice to understand my knowledge and experience.  

 

The man’s eyebrows were almost automatically raised on hearing this matter of fact reply. The calm composure came apart revealing piercing eyes and stiffening of features. There was some more discussion relating to the pure blood’s monetary expectations. He was given the customary opportunity to ask questions. He had a couple of queries around the prospective position which were answered somewhat to his satisfaction. That signaled the end of the interview. The interviewers politely closed the discussion by informing him that they were considering him but would need some more time to come to a decision. With this they rose and led him out of the conference room.

 

The pure blood walked out through the doorway and main gate without looking back. For the first he felt positive. He also drew a conclusion that they would not have met him a second time if they were not considering him seriously. Perseverance and patience was paying off. He was certain that this time he had got his due…at last!

Pure Blood Fires The First Shot

The pure blood slept peacefully in the first few minutes but somehow restlessness crept in after a couple of hours. He kept tossing and turning until he could not bear it any longer. He woke up silently without waking up his friend and looked out in the darkness through the bedside window. Would his coming days continue the dank darkness of his life or would the divine light intervene to make a difference – that was the question which was playing on his mind. He got off and drank some water from the bottle on the table. He had a sudden urge to leave it all and run away. The foolhardiness of his thought struck him the very next moment and he returned to lie down. He tried to convince himself to keep his focus on the agenda the next day. He double checked the alarm before closing his eyes. Sleep would not come but he forced his eyes to remain shut.

The jarring alarm jerked him from his slumber. He sat up immediately and rubbed his groggy eyes. In a minute the day's agenda flashed before his eyes which prompted him to get into action without further ado. Within a few minutes he had shaved and showered. His ironed clothes had been brought out last night itself which he donned gingerly. He neatly brushed his wet hair and sprayed the latest deo all over. Although he was not hungry, yet he did not want any growls later during the day, so he partook of a light breakfast of toast and cornflakes. He collected his bag from the corner and checked its contents for this CV and other supporting papers. He sought the blessings of the Almighty before moving to the door. After putting on his polished black shoes, he hoisted his bag on his right shoulder and bid goodbye to his friend, who had just woken up.

He briskly walked to the nearest bus stop on the main road and waited for the one which plied on the route to the interview location. It had not been 2 minutes when the bus arrived but it was quite crowded and he didn’t want to risk any distortion to his attire. Within a few minutes 2 more buses on the same route came but both were equally, or if not, more crowded. Monday morning had its share of madness on the road! He made quick enquiries and found another bus which would get him part of the distance and since this one was relatively empty he hopped in. This was good thinking and in reasonable time, he reached half-way from where he took an auto riskshaw to the law firm’s office. The map of the place was ingrained in his mind and there was no need to pull out the physical one. Very soon he reached his destination, paid the auto driver and got off a few metres away. His watch told him that he was much before scheduled time. He took a stroll around the place and then stepped inside the standalone building.

The receptionist checked with the partner’s secretary and asked him to wait in the small front office couch. The pure blood maintained him calm both within and outside. Very soon he was directed to an inner conference room bordering the front office. He walked into the small squarish room with a bright blue hue and customarily took a seat opposite the door. Very unlike his previous interviews, this one started within minutes of his arrival and before the appointed time. A few awards and citations of the firm were displayed on the wooden panel at the other end of the room beside the lone window.  However, he had no time to view these as the door opened and a tall and stout man walked in. He was wearing a blue shirt and black trousers. He had sharp features, oval shaped face and long nose. His piercing eyes were momentarily hidden by the wide smile as he introduced himself and greeted the pure blood in a jovial voice.

After some introductory discussions on general topics, the partner slowly maneuvered the conversation to the job in hand and pure blood’s experience. Questions flew thick and fast at the pure blood, who responded with equal measure. There were times when the pure blood was short of an answer but still managed to respond impromptu. At times the partner was also left stumped at the high level of preparedness of the blue blood. Clearly both of them were having a field day! At the end of almost an hour the partner had exhausted all technical queries and started testing the pure blood on soft skills. There were queries on intra-team and inter-team relationship building. The pure blood did not have much experience in these areas since there was hardly a team in his existing firm. Although his boss had a sizeable number of associates working under him, most of them were the sole points of contact for their respective matters. Moreover  they did not have any reportees. The partner was able to sense this and the truth popped out on further probing. The partner explained that his firm had fairly large teams and it was of utmost importance that all team members gelled together. He further gave instances where aloofness among associates had reduced cooperation and coordination leading to difficulty in delivering large assignments. His firm has engaged HR consultants whose report had cited reputational risks from continued attrition on account of this critical but oft neglected area in law firms.  

The partner concluded the interview rather abruptly by declaring that although the pure blood was technically fit for the vacancy, but he would have to think it over in terms of the deficient soft skills. He mentioned that his firm would get back in the next couple of weeks if the pure blood could be offered the job. When the pure blood stepped out of the office he was confounded - did this sudden turn of events stem from a real experience or was it an excuse to reject him. The common understanding was that technical expertise was paramount in a law firm and everything else played second fiddle. He had never heard of soft skills being elevated to such high level of gravity in any law firm before! The first shot had badly backfired!!

Flight To The Faraway City

The day dawned finally for the pure blood’s travel to the faraway city. He was excited as well as apprehensive. Having stayed put in one place for about a couple of years had made him quite cozy and comfortable. All the way to the airport he had mixed feelings – should he be going? What is the use? Could he not have explored more in this city itself? The risk of venturing into unknown territory was preying heavily on his mind. The otherwise long journey from his home to the airport ended rather quickly at this unearthly hour. However, he had no time left to brood since there was a sizeable queue for entering the airport premises! And his flight was due in an hour’s time!

His mind mechanically told him to jump the queue and that’s exactly what he did, much to the shock and utter disbelief of those waiting for their turn. Back then, there was not much strictness on getting to the airline counter for a boarding pass. In his hurry the pure blood had missed getting his suitcase scanned though the x-ray machine. So huffing and puffing, he went back and loaded his luggage through the scanning machine. He did manage to get a boarding pass, with a sigh of relief, but as he turned around, it seemed his worries were not over yet. The lone queue for the security check was long and winding and seemed bigger than the one outside. He quickly joined it, dripping with perspiration. He nervously kept turning his wrist to check each second ticking. This time the Spicejet staff bailed him out. Loud shouts for passengers for the flight to the faraway city came as music to his ears and he promptly dashed off to the airline staff. VIP treatment was showered on him as he was personally led though the security check, escorted on to the bus and gingerly helped on the airstair to board the waiting aircraft. Eventually he boarded the flight with only a few minutes to spare.

This close shave had diverted his mind from the larger purpose of all this frenzy and running around. He felt hungry as well. After settling down and once the flight was airborne, he took out his notepad and chalked out a detailed itinerary for the coming 2 weeks of his stay. Even with little in hand, he listed other options that had been bearing on his mind for some time now. He also jotted down a list of known connections – friends, batch mates, acquaintances etc. in the faraway city. Clarity of thoughts helps, he smiled to himself. By the time his flight was touching down, he felt geared up for the challenge.

The pure blood’s best buddy from school was working in the faraway city and stayed in an apartment. He was overjoyed to learn that the pure blood was contemplating a shift to the faraway city. Since it was a Saturday, he had come to pick up the pure blood from the airport. They chatted merrily about their school days, laughing on funny anecdotes and reliving memories of their best years. They were meeting after 3 years and no amount of phone calls or chatting through the internet could take away the pure pleasure of speaking face to face.

Over the weekend, apart from going to a few landmarks in the city, the pure blood called up all his known people for advice and way forward. Some of them were not lawyers, yet they tried to reach out to their contacts rather efficiently. By Sunday night, he had got some sure shot contacts. Some were phone numbers and others email addresses of partners or senior associates. After dinner, he sent out applications and requests for meetings for the duration of this stay. For those law firms for whom he did not get a contact, he decided to drop in personally. He had a map of the faraway city at his disposal and marked out places close to his scheduled interview locations. He expected to be free after about 2 hours of the interview time, giving him plenty of scope to check out these places. He had enquired the availability of reliable public transport from his friend.

Before going to bed late that night, he felt a lot better about the whole visit. His first interview was scheduled next day in the morning and he didn’t want to be late, so he set up the alarm in his mobile phone and closed his eyes.
 

Disinvestment

The pure blood had a busy festive season. Although he tried his best to take out time for his studies, yet undue client pressures and chores at home somewhat took a toll at times. Visits to relatives and a steady stream of guests and visitors added to the time constraint. Since this was a new area for him, with every passing day he was getting nervous. His whole plan of targeting the faraway city would receive a setback if he was unable to crack this one.

He has researched extensively on the internet to make himself familiar with the subject. In fact the website of the interviewer company had all the requisite information. He downloaded as much as he could on to his desktop in office. In those days, laptops had not yet made an entry in his firm. It was not safe to save a lot of material not related to his assignments. His desktop could hardly be called ‘personal’ except that it was placed on his work station. Anyone could access it with the password generously shared with colleagues.

He also needed printouts of some material which he could read only at home. This posed another challenge since the room housing printers in his office also housed other staff. Either he dared to do it right under their nose or he had to wait for it to be devoid of them. He chose the latter. For that he had to wait till late in the evening. This was not feasible any day now since he was not the only one facing the client heat. Many other colleagues too stayed late and he felt it useless to wait endlessly for them to pack up. At last his opportunity came on a late Saturday afternoon. Office was half day on Saturdays and most of the staff cleared out by 3 p.m. He double checked to ensure that no one else was around and furtively clambered the stairs to printer room. He switched on one of the computers. Since most of them were quite old it took ages to boot. Finally once it was ready, he logged in and began taking the prints. While his prints were going on, he heard the creaking of the stairs leading to the room.

His heart skipped a beat. He quickly assimilated the printed papers below some of his client papers. Soon the office in-charge stepped in. Since it was not uncommon to find the pure blood in office at that hour, it did not raise any doubt in the mind of the office in-charge. He merrily chatted for a few minutes and then went about his assigned duties. The rest of the printing was uneventful. With a bag brimming with papers, the pure blood stepped out of office. He poured through the papers the next day, it being a Sunday. He had carefully avoided any engagements that day and devoted time for final preparation for his upcoming interview next week.

He had taken half day leave on the day of the interview. He patiently waited for the call at the appointed time. Keeping in mind the previous debacle, he had categorically instructed the consultant to convey to the interviewer to call on his home landline number. The loud ringing of the phone made him jump a bit. He picked up and got into the act immediately. There was a lady at the other end with a soft pleasant voice, who introduced herself as a manager in the legal team. After that she asked the pure blood to run through his resume, which he did. She asked him about his experience in drafting contracts relating to international financial transactions. He upfront mentioned that he didn’t have any but since he had read up he was familiar with the terms. She patiently heard and also mandated that experience in their area was a preference and not a pre-requisite for the position on offer. As the interview progressed, she was neutral to the responses. The pure blood was not sure where this was heading.

Once the regular questioning was done, she began explaining the role played by the company’s office in the faraway city. The company, being a multi-national and having presence in multiple jurisdictions required various kinds of research and standard agreements to be drafted. These were generally carried out by the team at this office. Since the company’s global operations had increased manyfold in recent times, they were required to expand their team size to meet the growing demand. The position involved limited interaction with some other lawyers within and was generally backend in nature. She then asked him bluntly if he would be interested in such kind of profile where there not much involvement of Indian laws and the requirement was to carry out standard research and draft standard contracts with pre-defined templates. He was stomped. All the research, effort and time spent on planning for this opportunity with the world’s leading investment bank seemed going down the drain. It appeared that essentially this office was an outsourcing office. After some further probing and discussion, which reaffirmed his conclusion, he signed off after seeking time to think it over. Internally, though, he knew it was over and he would have to make his scheduled trip to the faraway city with not much in hand.

Exploring the Faraway City

After the lull, comes the storm. Having smelled the rose after many months, the pure blood was upbeat now. He shifted gears very fast over the next few days. With a little more effort he was able to complete the routine work much earlier, giving him the time for testing his thoughts. He had made up his mind to seek his fortunes in another city, much like Vasco da Gama or Amerigo! New things meant new thrills.

 

He began browsing various websites for more information on the faraway city. Some of the more profound ones had listing of law firms. A few of them also gave out rankings. Some of the so called big and reputed firms also had their offices there. But this was unchartered territory for the pure blood and he was not inclined to take chances. He preferred to be cautious before making a choice. The reliability of random websites was also doubtful. To some extent, he thought aloud, credible information was likely to be covered by the more popular websites such as Legal500.com, Chambers & Partners etc. The pure blood did not want to be too selective either, so he had kept an open mind even with respect to the small and relatively lesser known firms.

 

He jotted down the names of the firms he perceived would possibly have opportunities for him. The next step was to get their contact details. Most law firms in India don’t have their own websites due to restrictions imposed by the Bar Council of India. Hence the only option left was to fish out the details from the websites he had scanned earlier. Some threw up the desired results but some did not. Over a period of nearly 2 weeks he was able to gather contact numbers and email addresses.

 

Now came the most crucial element of implementation – initiating contact through calls and emails. This appeared to be more time consuming and certainly cumbersome at times. Getting to the right person was the eventual challenge. At that time most law firms did not have an established human resources person, let alone a dedicated team. More than often, one person would have an additional responsibility to respond to job applications. And the replies were typical one liners thanking the pure blood for applying and mentioning that there was nothing to suit his profile at the moment. Although they would agree to keep his profile in their database, which initially was a glimmer of hope, similar replies from some more firms assured him that these were standard responses and involuntarily included in replies to job applications. Sometimes his emails would go unanswered. He sent reminders and forwarded the applications but to no avail.

 

He had carefully drafted the cover letter, which was his only chance of introduction. Somewhere he had read that a job application gets about 5 minutes time of attention of the recruiter, so the margin of error was very thin. He had taken equal pains to get his resume in order -after drafting, redrafting, proof reading, down sizing, improving fonts, spacing between lines and paragraphs, increasing page margins… he was able to get the content to 2 pages. This was also a result of his earlier research – the more crisp the CV the better chances of being read. Otherwise it wouldn’t take long to be deleted from the recruiter’s already overflowing inbox. This editing had consumed more than a week’s time before the pure blood was satisfied with the output.

 

In his own database, he had created columns for the researched data as well as the results of implementation. However, the results columns did not fill up as quickly as expected, rather it was slow and at times very frustrating. But a determined pure blood carried out relentlessly. His perseverance bore fruit after about 2 weeks when the first positive response came. The managing partner of a local firm requested her colleague to fix up an interview with the pure blood. The pure blood’s ecstasy knew no bounds that day.

 

The office break was round the corner by now. The pure blood was working full steam to get as many hits as possible. God helps those who help themselves, goes the saying - a consultant also happened to fix a telephonic interview for him. This was for an investment bank looking out for a legal person in their India office located in the faraway city. With 2 successes in 2 days, the pure blood continued his hunt. However, nothing much happened over the next few days and with the impending interview, he now changed tracks and got down to some serious preparation for the same.

 

 

Long Distance Call

After a hiatus of about 4 months, the pure blood was beginning to come out of his cocoon again. It was akin to a cricketer going for practice once again after an injury break. Only in this case, it was not an injury break so to say, but rather a heart break! After as many as 3 attempts which came a cropper, self doubt had gnawed his soul and crept into his otherwise sharp mind. Somewhere deep down he had accepted self-defeat. This had some sort of a depression effect on him and consequently he had withdrawn into a shell. He existed only for his office, flow of assignments keeping him busy, superior’s continuous delegation of work leaving no room for any other thought - all of which had now become quite the order of the day and did not require much application of mind. So this way continued his mind more mechanically than ever.

 

This went on till one afternoon when something, that was long forgotten and a fading memory now, jolted him out of his autopilot mode. It was a call from a faraway consultant. His profile had been spotted by this lady in another city. She had a suitable position in a law firm in that city – would he be interested – she inquired. This option was comparable to a call received by a budding cricketer from a different IPL franchise after being rejected by his own city franchise. Without the slightest hesitation he agreed to share his latest profile. Outside his office window, the rain had just stopped and a rainbow was vaguely visible.

 

True to her words, the consultant arranged for an interview the next Saturday. Although it was a working day for the pure blood, he decided to take a leave. He stayed put beside the landline all morning. The call came at the appointed time but confirmed his worst fears. His mobile’s connection was generally fluctuating due to frequent loss of tower and now he would be doomed. After three rings he had no option but to press the green button. (p.s. those were the good ol’ times of keypad phones!).

“Hello Good Afternoon!” were the first words that he blurted out, out of pure nervousness and miscalculations of the call on his mobile. It was just past 11 o’clock. Fortunately, the bad connection came to his rescue – on the other side an echo appeared to say “Hello, can you hear us?” The momentary confusion had given the pure blood quick time to regain his composure. He continued the rest of the conversation in his usual confident and convincing style. There were 2 interviewers on the other side and being on ‘speaker’, at times their voices garbled. There were some further disruptions due to the mobile connection, but by now the pure blood had picked up momentum and continued with élan.  

 

It was more than an hour and more than one call (landline was the last resort!) before the interviewers got a sense of satisfaction. The pure blood could feel it in their voice as well as the choice of words and expressions. While at the start it was more of probing, now it was more of agreement. They seemed to be opening up more and more. So he took the opportunity to ask more about the role and work. The interviewers explained to him in detail. The job description was different from what he had done and he knew that his past experience would not count much. Yet he was intrigued that he was being considered for it. He also played along and listened attentively. Finally they came to the moot point – would he be interested in exploring this opportunity. “Why not?” he burst out instinctively, enthusiasm ringing high in his tone. One aspect of life that he had imbibed quite early, and followed it to the letter, was that he would not join the bandwagon.

 

The interviewers showed their keenness and did not waste another second in inviting him to their office. But law firms being law firms, they kept silent on the travel cost aspect. The pure blood was a perfect opportunist as well. He had just discovered a new opening, an estuary of new opportunities. And he was in no mood to let it go. He told them quite commandingly that if they would wait for a few days, he would arrange for the travel on his own. It was a win-win situation for the interviewers as well. They signed off on a positive note. It was settled that the pure blood would let the interviewers know of his travel plan.

 

An idea was brewing in the pure blood’s now active mind. After hanging up he sat on his mahogany desk and closed his eyes. It was important to create a blueprint in his mind. He could then draw up a plan and put it into action.