An Airforce Debacle (a personal experience)

We somehow seem to accept inefficacy and callousness as part of most Government run enterprise,  but believe that the defence services are a different story.

Atleast I did, until yesterday.

I had a personal experience that bust that bubble, and bust it bad.

The experience:

A couple of weeks back my parents showed me a newspaper advertisement from the Air Force station, with a requisition for a 'psychological counsellor'. I mulled over it for a week...'should I shouldn't I' apply. 

A part time post, just eight half days a month. Worded well. Sounded nice.

I finally did. And it wasn't easy. My earlier few applications seem a breeze in comparison, all online kinds. This one they wanted on letter head, sealed envelope, the makes...yet very conservative. And I didn't have a letter head. So needed auditor and tax guy consultations. Then design, then printing. Then the resume, application, certificates (I had all my new Counselling Certifications, but old ones? ....no easy task when you're hunting for certificates from thirty years back, which also they wanted). Anyways, finally done, sealed and sent.

A couple days back I get a call from the Air Force Station for an interview, at nine hundred hours he said.

Day of the interview I'm there at the designated space and time. They take a full two hours of parsing through papers, getting themselves organized. By the time I'm called in it's almost 11.

The first thing I hear  "An MA Psychology is an essential pre-requisite, I don't want to waste your time doing the interview"

Just that.

Not even an apology. No acknowledgement of the waste of all the number of hours gone into it. Or of the emotions of preparation and waiting. Nor of their own inefficiency of not having put this into the advertisement, or of having figured this when they opened the application. Nothing.

And she seemed a senior enough officer. It reeked. It reeked not just of inefficiency and callousness, but of arrogance and ill manners.

Like Dhruva and Diksha said, "damn ma, that's so messed up", "why did they even call you for the interview then" "to top it they're not even apologetic?" "we've always gone as guests, and have seen only the bright side of it, but I can so believe this".

Dad's like "don't take this lying down.... write to the Chief of Airforce and Ministry of Defense, let them know how their organization is being run........ if this is the way they operate, what will they do on the battle field".  And he says, add in a line saying "it's not a surprise that your people shot down our own helicopter" :)

And he meant it. He said "don't take it lying down Smitha, it's not about this job.... it's about voicing your experience, letting the authorities know..... if I were you, I would do it"

In fact he quoted the Bhagavadgita to me "karmanyev aadhikaarasthee..."

And I think I will.