My strength of character weakened when I went for a job interview for a TV channel. By the way, I derive my strength of character from my apparel, which over the past 30 years has remained unchanged. Had my tailor not told me so, I would have remained unaware. All and sundry know that the foremost requirement for the above, specially in case of females, is face value.
I gave myself a critical look in the mirror. I was staring back at a stranger with crow’s feet and a frown. An immediate facelift was the first requirement. But due to shortage of time and resources, it was postponed until I got the job with a presumably high salary. To look chic, I cut my hair short that I had grown with considerable effort. I found a trendy dress in my wardrobe and headed for the face-to-face battle, laced with roaring confidence and a CV in hand decorated with ribbons and medals.
After dropping my husband off at work at one end of Karachi, I dashed to the hotel located at the other end, close to the seaside, for the interview. I had hoped to be the first one to arrive at the venue. To my surprise, the hotel lobby was full of candidates. The boys wore a look between hope and hopelessness and the girls were pretending not to notice anyone else around. I was the oldest amongst them all, but then I was sure that no one could beat the CV in my hand. I calculated that my turn would come around afternoon. I started chatting with the boy standing next to me — an engineer soon to leave for France to pursue a Ph.D. He came for the interview thinking that if he got the job, he would earn a few bucks before he left for Paris.
All of us received a form to fill up. It was not hard except for the age column. I slashed a decade off my years on Planet Earth mercilessly. It was only yesterday that my neighbour had told me that I looked ten years younger with short hair. An assistant took the forms into the selection room, shortly bringing them out and redistributing them again among the candidates. He said that we would be informed about our fate within a week.
In the first round off went the prospective Ph.D. student. In the second, I was shown the exit with the dead hope in my heart to speak my expertise to the interviewer. I was happy for one thing — it did not take the whole afternoon to know that I would be informed within a week. On second thought, I realized that the show was arranged to pick up chicks to be rewarded with exposure. In return, they were to work free until they gained sufficient experience.
Born to meet challenges, I did not give up and found a way to see one of the bosses of another TV channel, again wearing the same trendy dress. The gentleman used some technical terms, asking me which one of the jobs I had in mind when I decided to see him. I told him plain and simple that I did not know anything about the working of the medium, as I was a word wizard. He asked me why I thought of working for a TV channel. I did not beat about the bush and told him that it all happened when Sadiq the cook entered my life. With the best of merit certificates, Sadiq took over my household in no less than a manner as that of Rooster’s Jeeves (P.G. Woodhouse).
For the first few days, I fluttered in my room like a butterfly and before he asked me, I told him that my room was my world and outside was alien territory. On the forth day, after finishing my item for Woman’s Heaven, I found a challenge in TV channels and I came to see him. And if he wanted to know the real truth, well, in that case, the fact was that I was already freelancing for various newspapers and without leaving my house, made as much as he paid to his producer. It was for better money that I wanted to leave my house.
Before I could proceed further, he cut me short and said that as I knew nothing, I would have to work as an apprentice for six months. I told him that I was a very quick learner and as he was the master of his trade, it was for him to know better and decide what I could do best for the channel. I knew where I stood, and I was relaxed.
Meanwhile, the real big boss entered the room. The first thing he said was that they did not pay. I wanted to tell him that now I knew why we saw so much trash on TV. Instead, I told the junior boss that after the dialogue with him, I had reached the conclusion that I should just pick up my bag, go home, finish an unfinished article and e-mail it to the editor.
My strength of character weakened when I went for a job interview for a TV channel. By the way, I derive my strength of character from my apparel, which over the past 30 years has remained unchanged. Had my tailor not told me so, I would have remained unaware. All and sundry know that the foremost requirement for the above, specially in case of females, is face value.
