I've just got back after taking time off to interview for a few days. Before I left, I was considering how dull my life has become lately. There are no lessons on Keats and Coleridge to make me dwell enough on illusion and art. There no classes on the Brontes to enable me to reside in their world for a satisfactory length of time (but I suspect I'll never be satiated in this regard). I haven't had any stimulating conversations with my mentors, my Professors,that exhaust my brain in a rewarding manner. And if it wasn't for the Neddy-licious conversations and Jane Eyre discussions that I've had with my supervisor, and the posts and comments on my blog as well as on blogs I visit frequently (Thank you Frankengirl for the comments!), and the rare joys at work, I would have sunk under the weight of all that Dullness, in the pit of Boredom, with its days of "busy nothings."

So it came as a surprise that day before yesterday, the first of my interview days, was filled with drama!

My trip started off with a mishap in the train. The lights didn't work and since I had to take an early train, we ended up traveling in darkness. It was really hot outside and all this did not blend well with my agitated spirit. When I got to the bus station, the conductor gruffly and sneeringly told me, 2 minutes before boarding, that I had brought with me the wrong ticket. I simply needed to catch that bus in order to have enough time to get to my interview and no matter how I tried to convince him that it was indeed my name in the ticket, and that the details were correct, he would not budge an inch. He sent me off to get the correct print-out of the ticket, and I knew that I didn't know of any internet cafes or such places in the vicinity of the station. I didn't know what to do and I was going berserk. However, I called my friend S, and she was my life-line for hours afterward. She suggested I should take just take the next bus even if it doesn't take me to the location I had planned to go and she offered to tell me the directions if necessary. So I ended up doing that, and landed in a strange town, utterly unknown to me. If I had been less nervous, I don't know what I would have done. It is not merely that I was in a new place, but that I was running out of time for my interview. So once I was there, I scrambled to get myself into a cab, but try as I might, all the cabs seem to be occupied that day!!! So I walked and walked hoping I'll get closer to the address somehow, and walking with interview shoes is NOT pleasant in the least. Anyways, after what seemed like miles and miles of walking with blisters, I finally got into a cab that took me to where I wanted to go. So I walked into the upscale building, and immediately I was greeted with an annoyed look by the receptionist who graciously informed that I was expected 15 minutes ago. I apologized as well I could, but honestly, this was totally unexpected and I tried my best to get there. However, the secretary of the woman I was supposed to see came over to me and told me that her boss was "engaged at a meeting and that it was too late because (I) was 15 minutes late". I was dumbfounded at first but then gave a fake smile and told her to contact me if resheduling was necessary. We both apologized to each other. Then I ran out of there (if that was possible in those shoes) as fast I could. Once outside, I wondered, if the woman had seen me as planned surely the interview should have lasted for more than 15 minutes! Anyways, I suppose such busy people have no patience for others for whom things take an unexpected turn.
However, I was glad this was the interview for the law firm. I wasn't into this position anyway and I think I would have had little say during the interview even if it had taken place. I don't think I would have been as excited about it as the interviewer could have wished me to be. I suppose, in hindsight, things happen for the best then.

My interview at the publisher's was yesterday and no such drama happened. I was able to find the place on time and I think I told them everything that I feel. I didn't have anything to hide or pretend and I could be as excited as I wished. If they don't take me, then it will be because I might not be the best fit for them and vice versa.

I know that these are the early days of interviewing for jobs. I do hope I don't have to go through this for long. I hope I get a job I am pleased with, one which would allow me to be say anything I want to say, do anything I want to do, instead of forcing me to hold back or pretend things I don't feel.