![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sureshdinakaran.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/httpswww.canva_.comdesignDAE5uz0Olmk2Jr5tDLfTNsRFtlUBeys2Qedit-52.png\")
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Caveat Emptor<\/i><\/b>: Written purely in jest with malice towards none and deep respect for all, living and demised. May relate only to people with one foot in the brave (or baby boomers<\/strong>, it\u2019s contestable, respectable pseudonym!). If at the end of this(or well before that) so long a rant, you want to call out \u2018 so long \u2018, I will understand perfectly! It also hedges that the 1.8 people who will read this(after circumventing the social media algorithm), have seen the movie Don<\/b>(the original one starring the Big B)<\/b>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Caveat Emptor: Written purely in jest with malice towards none and deep respect for all, living and demised. May relate only to people with one foot in the brave (or baby boomers, it\u2019s contestable, respectable pseudonym!). If at the end of this(or well before that) so long a rant, you want to call out \u2018 … Continue reading “DON a hue: Your thoughts on INTERPOL\u2019s recruitment policy ?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[545,538,554,556,142,550,560,537,544,553,559,546,540,542,541,555,543,558,549,551,539,547,548,557,552],"class_list":["post-747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ajit","tag-amitabh","tag-arms-and-the-man","tag-balcony","tag-big-b","tag-chandra-barot","tag-dawn","tag-don","tag-france","tag-g-b-shaw","tag-godfather","tag-iftekhar","tag-inspector","tag-international-police-organisation","tag-interpol","tag-lower-stall","tag-lyon","tag-mario-puzo","tag-may-day","tag-mayflower","tag-om-shivpuri","tag-pinchoo-kapoor","tag-psychometric-testing","tag-tickets","tag-wh-davies"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sureshdinakaran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sureshdinakaran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sureshdinakaran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sureshdinakaran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sureshdinakaran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sureshdinakaran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":749,"href":"https:\/\/www.sureshdinakaran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions\/749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sureshdinakaran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sureshdinakaran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sureshdinakaran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}For the purpose of brevity, acronyms have been used as below:-<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOS: Late Om Shivpuri (RIP)<\/div>\n<\/div>\nPK: Late Pinchoo Kapoor (RIP)<\/div>\n<\/div>\nBig B: (if you don\u2019t know who he is, time to get a life!)<\/div>\n<\/div>\nNI: Nariman Irani (RIP)<\/div>\n<\/div>\nDS: Dileep Sharma (RIP)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nMay 12, Circa 1978<\/b>. A typical summer day in Bombay<\/strong>. Oppressive, sultry, so much so, you wanted to send out the\u00a0May Day\u00a0<\/b>signal. But, aborted the thought. And lived to see another day. Yours truly, with one of my best friends Nazir<\/strong> had set out as usual with wasted interests to do what we did best. Nothing<\/strong>! The breeze was stiff, so stiff, it refused to move. It was when our expectations were close to nadir, did we hear a call, from up above. No, don\u2019t get your expectations that high- it was from the third floor of one of the buildings in our society and DS<\/strong> (one of the most amiable blokes you can find with a perennial smile and hockey skills that would have given Mohammad Shahid<\/strong> a complex) and through the thick foliage of the Mayflower<\/strong> tree directly under the building, we could see he was calling out to us from his bedroom window. He had two tickets to NI\u2019s Don<\/strong>, Amitabh\u2019s movie that had released the same day and asked if we wanted to go. Since he was not. If there was anything called manna from heaven that was it.\u00a0Big B<\/b>\u00a0in two doses(if anyone wanted a masterclass on how to deliver suave with wow and awe, this was it): our excitement knew no measure! Thank you so much Chandra Barot<\/strong>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nThe next thing we know we are gaping open mouthed as DS decided to fold the tickets and hurl it (what an inappropriate description for such a gracious gesture) down. Now, if you know anything about movie tickets of those days, they were not exactly printed on 350 GSM Hand Crafted Wood Free Paper<\/strong>. And if they are Lower Stall<\/strong> tickets( Not Balcony<\/strong> or Dress Circle<\/strong> as they were in the day), the paper quality reached a new low. Lower Stall<\/strong> for the uninitiated are seats that are very very close to the screen, sometimes so much so that you go beyond the screen and do an auto-rotate of your neck to discover new laws of concave and convex (apart from discovering that Amitabh<\/strong> could also be right handed and if it\u2019s a double role it only added to the complexity). That being said, the two of us are now witnessing a descent of the tickets of unprecedented volatility- one moment sashaying as if\u00a0Shakira\u2019s Hips Don\u2019t Lie\u00a0<\/b>was playing in full blast and in another defying\u00a0Newton<\/b>\u00a0and gravity as it decides to hang nonchalantly, stubbornly, mid air. In the midst of all these, we had one of those brilliant\u00a0WH Davies\u00a0<\/b>moments (yes of the \u201d\u00a0what is this life full of care \u201c<\/i><\/b>\u2026fame) as we look awestruck at the mayflowers blooming in unabashed, glorious beauty on the society\u2019s showpiece tree(also our controversial boundary indicator during cricket matches), which every May kept it\u2019s unfailing date with it\u2019s namesake. That \u2018 moment<\/strong> \u2018 of distraction (shouldn\u2019t it be attraction?) overcome, we see the tickets land firmly on the road, which at that time would have made the lunar surface look like a green top billiard table.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nArmed with the most prized possession of our lives, it was destination\u00a0Topiwala\u00a0<\/b>( not tirchi but the name of the movie house). Before I move on, letting you in on an inside story. During the late 70\u2019s, there was a famous inner wear brand called\u00a0Dawn<\/b>( and without paying too much credo to phonetics, we all know even\u00a0Don<\/b>\u00a0sounds the same) and it was only\u00a0Mario Puzo\u2019s Godfather<\/b>\u00a0that gave the word\u00a0Don<\/b>\u00a0a sense of aura and passable respectability.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nEnough preamble. Will segue into the constitution now. For those of who have seen Don<\/b>, would recall the prominent characters from the movie. Big B<\/strong> apart, there was Zeenat, Pran, Iftekhar<\/strong> ( yes of the \u2018\u00a0born to inspect<\/b><\/i>\u00a0\u2018 lineage alongwith Jagdish Raj<\/strong>,\u00a0Inspector for All Seasons<\/b><\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0For All Reasons!<\/b><\/i>), PK, OS among others. OS<\/strong>, BTW, is not another\u00a0Operating System<\/b>\u00a0but\u00a0Om Shivpuri<\/b>\u00a0as already indicated right at the beginning. And here is playing the role of a \u2018\u00a0Responsible Interpol Officer<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0\u2018, assigned to crack the whip, as captain of the hip. Which didn\u2019t lie. Or so we were made to believe!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nSince our growing up days we held\u00a0Interpol<\/b>\u00a0in great esteem. The world\u2019s best\u00a0International Police Organisation<\/strong>. It had an unquestionable aura. Even Balram<\/strong> wanted to enrol(not from the Ramayana<\/strong> but of Ram Balram<\/strong> fame) into the organisation. So did Pathankar<\/strong>. From Budhawar Peth<\/strong>. And Saini<\/strong> from Munirka<\/strong>. It had a cult like following. If Ajit<\/strong> had his way (just like he had with Mona, Michael<\/strong> and Shetty<\/strong>), Interpol<\/strong> would have been headquartered in the\u00a0LOIN\u2019s Den<\/strong>\u00a0near\u00a0Dongri<\/strong>\u00a0but sadly it had to be\u00a0Lyon, France<\/strong>. The jury is still out on that one. How you wish geography could be history!<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nTime to get serious as the next few paras are all about the interview process at\u00a0Interpol<\/b>\u00a0and how OS got the plum(p) assignment for the roll, I mean role.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\nTo begin with, after acquiring diligent\u00a0espionage skills, we took a deep dive into the\u00a0Psychometric Testing Questions<\/b>\u00a0that OS was put through during the recruitment process @ Interpol<\/strong>. Psychometric Testing<\/strong> as we may know involves numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning, logical reasoning, personality assessment etc among others. Here goes:<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nNumerical Reasoning<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\nInterviewer: Why do you think your breakfast has to be 12 Aloo Parathas?<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOS: I always had a soft corner for having one two many. One and Two is 12. Hence..actually it\u2019s a no brainer<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nVerbal Reasoning<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\nInterviewer: In the fitness of things, what makes you so eligible for this role?<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOS: Two and a half hours of jogging, 250 squats, 80 push ups and 45 minutes of planks\u2026<\/div>\n<\/div>\n(he gets interrupted before saying \u2018 over the last 40 years \u2018)<\/div>\n<\/div>\nInterviewer: That\u2019s incredible..<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nLogical Reasoning<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\nInterviewer: What makes you \u2018 different \u2018 from other contestants applying for this role?<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOS: My name is\u00a0Vardan<\/b>(with a V<\/strong>), that means\u00a0blessing<\/i><\/b>. I am actually a blessing(in disguise- in this case he was pretending to be RK Malik<\/strong>, the role played by Weighteran Actor PK<\/strong>, worth his weight in old).<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOS<\/strong>(continuing in chaste Punjabi confidence): And mind you, I don\u2019t have any\u00a0Imposter Syndrome<\/b>!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nPersonality Assessment<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\nInterviewer: What is the one thing that determines your \u2018\u00a0style quotient \u2018<\/b>\u00a0?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nOS<\/strong>: It takes two to tango- so, I am afraid I have two to share:-<\/div>\n<\/div>\n1. People have bad hair days. I have a bad hair life.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n2. People wear trousers around their waist and use a belt to keep it in place. I have higher ambitions. My trousers are a little above my chest(Sorry, if I am hitting above the belt!) and instead of a belt I use both my armpits to keep it in place. Giving\u00a0G B Shaw\u2019s<\/b>\u00a0Arms and the Man<\/b>\u00a0due respect!<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAs an afterthought he adds<\/div>\n<\/div>\n3. Nobody can carry a\u00a0pinafore dress<\/strong> with a toy gun<\/strong> from Crawford Market<\/strong> with as much I mean business swagger as I can.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThat was the sucker punch. That landed on the right spot (yes, you guessed it- a little above the chest) and put OS firmly in the Interpol\u2019s HR<\/strong> spotlight. Appointed with Immediate Defect. To them a new H<\/strong>eR<\/strong>o was born! That will play the perfect Villain.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOM SHADY OM!! It was the Don<\/strong> of a new era for Interpol<\/strong>!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nENDS<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"