The Grey Interview
"How much is enough?" A question that clings to my thoughts like ivy on crumbling stone — persistent, quiet, but impossible to ignore. Today, that question has anchored itself deep within me. The interview didn’t go as I had hoped. Not even close. When we prepare for interviews, we expect a binary outcome — either we crash and burn or we emerge victorious. For me, I was bracing for the former. I’ve always had a tempestuous relationship with interviews. Once, I grew so anxious that I forgot foundational terms from my own profession. That memory still burns. The interviewer, expression unreadable, had said, “Ma’am, if you do hear from us, it will be solely based on your stellar CV. The person described there and the one who sat here today are worlds apart.” Two years have passed, yet I recall every detail — especially because, in a 20-minute interview, all I managed to say was: “I don’t know, Sir.” Not “I don’t recall,” but the raw, unfiltered, and utterly unforgivable: ...