A stroll in DU ..... Part 2 - The Dilemma

Previous part [1]

As fate would have it, I got through the cutoff list of all colleges comfortably, even at Stephens. I made it there as well but it was too close. It was quite a surprise for me to get through so easily. I had heard of horror stories from students and parents about how tough it is to make it to the North Campus. Of course, I had applied for a B.Sc. degree but still people told me it was tough to get through. Anyways, amongst Hindu, Khalsa, Ramjas and Karori Mal, I decided for Khalsa college. People suggested me that Hindu would be a better choice but I personally wanted to go to Khalsa college.

I asked my father for the admission fee to register myself for the same. Again, my father asked me that why don’t I go first for the Stephen’s interview? I told him that it would take a long time for their process to finish and I don’t want to risk my place at Khalsa. Moreover, I always thought that Stephen’s was just over-hyped. If a student is really interested in studies and has talent then it does not matter much where he graduated from. But he insisted again to go for the interview first.

More than anything else, I was trying to save myself from the Delhi heat and the next numerous rounds I would have to do if I decided to go for the interview. One to go block my seat at Khalsa, then for the interview, then to go and check the result, if I made through (0.0001% chance) then cancelling Khalsa’s seat and registering again for Stephen’s. Since my place was quite far from North Campus, I hardly had any will to get into that ordeal. But parents being parents, I had to do what they said.

So, I blocked my seat at Khalsa and checked out the date for the interview at Stephen’s. It was not immediate so I was quite relaxed. So much so, that I almost forgot about it. Just 2 days before the interview my father asked me how were the preparations going for the interview. I told him all is good though I had hardly even opened up any books. Actually, the interview was supposed to be both Technical and non-Technical. I didn’t even knew anyone who had been for such an interview before so there was no one to consult. I was not much Internet-savvy back then since it used to cost (I think) Rs. 25 per hour for a dial-up connection. Yes, I was so cheap back then. So, I did not even cared to check for interview questions online. I think it was the only interview I remember for which I had been so casual about. Maybe the reason was that I has no hope or interest for it. I was pretty satisfied with my seat at Khalsa college. Still I decided to go for the interview just to see what actually goes around at the pride of North Campus.

More about the interview in the next post.