I remember when I was around 19 years old, an engineering student who was preparing for his internship interviews. Many renowned companies were about to visit campus with some exciting profiles and internship projects. Companies ranging from operator PSUs such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited to service companies such as Schlumberger and Baker Hughes. I had been preparing for months for the selection process of these companies. Away from home, the pressure was building up and I also had to ‘groom’ myself for the process and the corporate journey.
Talking to my father one day, I mentioned the stress and pressure was mounting for the upcoming selection process. The competition was tough and the profiles limited. He sensed that I had prepared well enough but was still lacking confidence, he encouraged me to keep preparing and also buy a new formal attire for the process. My experience till that day of buying formals can be described similar to a dolphin’s experience of flying. Anyway, a few of my friends and I decided to set out to the markets of Dehradun in search of the right formal clothing which would show us as industry ready.
Anyone who has ever been to Dehradun knows that the place to buy anything and everything is Rajpur Road. We travelled to the road by ‘Vikram’; special Dehradun autos; and started going from store to store. Even though we had little experience of buying the formal clothing, we still had some sense of what would be proper and what wouldn’t. The first few stores we visited showed us some really good looking clothes but we had to skip those because of astonishingly high prices, which our student pockets didn’t allow at all. When we mentioned our budget constraints to a salesperson, he directly and cordially told us he did not have anything for us.
Tired, hungry and about to give up hope, we saw a showroom of Peter England. We thought of giving it a try and went in. The first thing we told to the sales person this time was our budget and the occasion we needed clothes for. When he said he had just the right options for students like us who were coming of age, we were relieved but sceptical. However, the products he showed felt like they were made just for us, except for a few alterations here and there! Delighted, we picked our shopping bags and returned to hostels, only the last but the toughest hurdle remained.
Looking back, it does not seem like a tough time, but at the time, the whole lot of us was nervous. I remember giving the first interview of my life, answering most of the technical and ‘HR’ questions. Later when the results for that company were announced and I got selected, I thought ‘I have arrived’. Even though the subsequent journey made me realize and I am nowhere near ‘arriving’, the experience nurtured a special bond between the friends who struggled together and Peter England.