Experience....How much do u have??

This was during my pre-final year in college. It was a saturday afternoon. Being in a college in the " Silicon Valley" of India we were trained in every other way for the very challenging, high paying jobs in the software industry that most of us would land up in. We followed the five day week schedule just like it is in this booming industry.

But to actually show us that the managers would never let you have a relaxed weekend we had to attend a student developement program on saturdays ( this was I guess to make us truly employable!!)

It was going to be a lecture on HR. As it was my favourite topic, next to digital signal processing (!), I decided to attend it. ( I did have some hopes that SHE will also come ) . So after successfully forcing a couple of my classmates in the hostel to come with me the three of us walked to the lecture hall about 100m from the hostel. My friends had accompanied after I convinced them that SHE will surely come and I would also pay for a couple of mango milkshakes.

There were around twenty of them present to honour the "attendance compulsory" phrase. We were loitering around the lecture hall waiting for the guy supposed to take the session. None of us had seen him before. He came in a rickety old Bajaj that was painted maroon. He had a tie and a blazer on. Both my friends were giving me a cold stare and it was not difficult to interpret the "we want u to get us dinner too " looks....

We followed him into the hall, occupied the last bench and left the rest for the nerds.

Guy to my right (GTMR) : "Let us start a game of hangman before he starts about the HR policies "

Guy to my left (GTML) : " Hey is he going to get into labour laws too ?? "

He spent around 30 seconds looking at us and then asked this question.

How many years of experience do u have?

GTMR : "How can he ask us this. Doesnt he know he is talking to a bunch of pre final year students? "

GTML : "The heat must have got into him"

Quite a few were thinking on the same lines and then the guy looked at me. Before I could lower my eyes as I usually do in situations where a question is posed, the guy chose me to answer his question. He could sense my discomfort as I looked around to see the relief on the faces of the others. They were not the chosen one.

HR guy (looking at me) : How old are you ?

And with that question I suddenly understood that he had led me to the path of enlightenment. I didnt need to answer both his questions. He just smiled.

Do we ever consider every moment of our life as a learning experience ?


PS : SHE never came........