Acceptance and Rejections

Acceptance and rejections: there is a fun observation in both. Before you start reading, this post is in no way cribbing about internships or the rejections. Acceptance and rejections are both welcome in the same tone. As I have already mentioned in one of my previous posts on CV, I genuinely believe that there is nothing to feel bad about if you don't land an internship, and there is nothing to feel too great about if you do get one. So, this one is just about the funny way some things tend to happen in life- like the length of acceptances and rejections.

The most common aspect of applying to internships is the number of rejections you get. Sometimes we realize how many places we have actually applied to only when the rejections welcome themselves to your inbox. Usually, every rejection pans out somewhat like this:

        Dear Sandhya Varadharajan,

        We have received your internship application, and our recruitment cell has gone through your resume. 

That's good. At least they have seen the application. The CV has been amped-up as much as humanly possible. So, all that's left to do was pray for some magic to happen that makes the recruiters believe that the CV is impressive, in whatever way possible. 

Thank you for showing interest in our firm.

Of course! Why not? 

Unfortunately-

Ah, that's the reply. Usually, after this word there is a whole paragraph of blah blah blah, but the crux of the email is "unfortunately". There are a hundred reasons why we might not get an internship. Sometimes, the firms are not recruiting, sometimes the slots are filled, sometimes they are just unable to offer us one. Most of the rejections also come with- we thought you are a very deserving candidate, and we would love to have you apply with us again. A positive reply would hardly ever praise you even if you were the most deserving candidate that they accepted.

My dad keeps saying, that only when the reply is a negative there needs a lot of explaining. When the application is accepted, all they need to tell you is accepted! This is so true, and I literally got a confirmation mail once, from a partner of a firm I applied to, that said:

Sure. Let's do it. 

Acceptance emails also just get down to brass tacks. It would be with something like: 

Dear Sandhya,
Please provide XXX details in furtherance of your internship with us.
Best regards.

Somehow, observing this in every single acceptance or rejection makes it so very funny. And, either way, this is the first thing that does come into the mind. After all, we are bound by a code of how things happen normally, I guess! Next time you get an acceptance/rejection- maybe take a good look at it, and break a laugh! Good luck!

Online Internships

Online internships are getting more frequent now, thanks to the pandemic. Here's a simple post on what we gain and what we lose from these internships.

Pros:

1. Flexible timing.

2. A more at-ease structure of the internship programme.

3. Way more work to do, and interesting topics to discover- because you save time usually swallowed up by commuting.

4. No dress code, you don't have to wear formals every day!

5. Better opportunities to talk to the directly to heads of the programme.

6. Saving a lot on stay, commuting, food, etc.

7. You get to learn a lot of digital tools, and also how to completely collaborate and finalize a project with a whole team- all sitting in the comfort of your home. 

Cons: You miss out on-

1. Experiencing a new city, new work culture.

2. Making incredible friends, and bonding over lunch break.

3. Chit-chatting with co-workers and associates above you (this can give a lot of insight into the firm, the business, the whole landscape of your profession, actually). Sometimes, a lot of the ideas can come up on a casual coffee break chit-chat.

4. Meeting the head people of the firm, and having an opportunity to discuss your own ideas with them. 

5. A lot of fun, and company lunches, and free ice-creams!

Both have their own charm. And, we'd probably never really pick to intern online unless something like a pandemic forces us to. So, it's good to experience when we have the chance to! I am on an internship online with a legal startup, and I am very excited about it! That is why I decided to pen my thoughts on the pros and cons, and I sure will let you know more on my experience when I finish my internship. Stay tuned!

Mumbai: A City Of Unforgettable Memories

A view from Marine Drive

Mumbai. One name, and many tags- the city of success, the city of dreams, the city with a warm heart. I stayed one month in Mumbai, all by myself last year, and all of that is true. It is a city of magnificent dreams, a city that never sleeps, a city where the people are so warm you feel welcome and happy the day you land, a city where there is no dearth for help anytime of the day if you are in need of it, a city that encourages you and your spirit. 

I had the greatest time in Mumbai every single day that I spent there. I explored quite a bit from the alleys in Parel, its famed Lalbaugcha Raja (being there during Ganesh Puja time is on my bucket list), the spice markets, the flower markets in Dadar, the gigantic malls in Lower Parel, Worli Sea-face, and then went up to Bandra, the famed Prithvi theatre and cafe in Juhu, the faloodas, ice golas and street food in the Juhu Chowpatty, then down south went around to Churchgate, Nariman Point, Colaba, and Marine Drive was a staple part of almost every other day! 

Chinchpokli

 And, while commuting so much around Mumbai, I got a guilt-free, embarrassment-free opportunity to try out all the Hindi that I learnt in two years of University. That way, Mumbai people were the absolute sweetest! It is heartwarming to see them break into a small smile when I communicate with my error-ridden phrases, and when I struggle to find the exact word of something and drag my phrases when my mind tries to scan the vague Hindi vocabulary in its racks. Every cab driver, every helper, every waiter always took that much time and effort  to give me a small compliment, and I felt so good about it. Till date, the compliments closest to my heart are the ones given to me by the benevolent Mumbai people- "aapki tooti fruity hindi humko bohot acha lagta hai".

Prithvi Theatre, Juhu

Food was great in Mumbai. Since I lived in a heavily Maharashtrian-populated area of Mumbai, I had the best and authentic taste of their vada pavs, bajji pavs, misal pavs, usal pavs, maska buns and the rest. I was also thrilled by the number of totally amazing dosa shops there. A couple of my favourites were eating in Juhu Chowpatty, I loved the faloodas and ice golas there. Another place that I went to repeatedly over that month-long stay was K.Rustoms & co. Ice Cream Parlour near Marine Drive. They had such beautiful and homely flavours, and for the first time I felt like I was eating an ice cream that was mindbogglingly tasty and yet didn't give that highly-processed feel. It was a great experience!

But, Mumbai is an expensive city. Either you had all the fancy restaurants that billed you in thousands, or you had those dirt-cheap restaurants that costed you less than a hundred for a meal. I found very, very, less middle grounds in Mumbai. For all its fame, I was very surprised to find Prithvi Cafe with great food at very nominal costs. I was lucky to have a lot of food joints that were sided towards a middle ground around my area, so that went better for me. 

Another thing that I clearly despise in Mumbai is its traffic- it is plain sickening. Having known this before even I went there, my only criteria for the place that I need to stay was that it has to be close to my office that I was interning in. And, I think that was the sole decision that made see the beauty of Mumbai. I don't think you can enjoy the city as much when you get stuck for 4 hours in traffic every day of that month!

What became my all-time-favourite ice-cream destination
in Mumbai

The pace of Mumbai is so fast, that whether you want it or not you have to match the city's pace. There is a certain energy that Mumbai demands of you every single day, and if you don't have it then it may not be a city that you would enjoy. More than whether you can match the pace or not, it is more about whether you want to. Coming from Chennai, I found cities like Ahmedabad, even though not as big as Chennai, more similar to the pace and culture that I have grown up being comfortable in. 

Mumbai is a beautiful experience, and an all-accepting one! It taught me many things, and this is a city that can make you feel welcome instantly. The beauty of Mumbai is its vibe, and whoever you are and whatever you like, given a month, you are sure to start jiving to the vibe! It was an unforgettable experience!

How Should A CV Be?

Should a CV be interesting? Should it stand out? Should it show them why you you are good enough for the job you apply? 

Applying frantically to all the big shot law firms with a CV that thousands of other students will also have, I always wondered how they select on the basis of a CV. Let's be honest, here. The CV has to be in a given format that is prescribed, and most of the details that are asked is about your academic performances, and academic achievements. 

Another honest point that we must encounter is that there are a lot of brilliant students out there, and a lot of them have good CVs in a way that there is nothing to say one is better than the other. So, how then do they decide to give internship to one over the other?

I have two internship experiences, and on the last day, I asked this very question to the partners in both the firms. 

Firm 1 Partner: If you are a topper, I care, and if you are failure, I'm interested. If you are in the middle, it doesn't matter. I took you in because you had good scores. 

Firm 2 Partner: I don't really check the CV much. CV is a fraud, students obviously make it in a way and with the view to impress. I rely on the cover letter they write. If they have taken the efforts to write a genuine cover letter, I take them in. 

Well, within this meager sample space that I took opinions from, I have a conclusion that getting the internship-

a) it's mostly just luck, hahahahahaha(contd...)-  but not all of it!

b) there is nothing to feel bad about if you don't land an internship

c) also, there is nothing to feel too great about if you do get one

d) networking and keeping in touch with people you get to know from your internships is important- if you think you'll get on merit every time, you may be just wrong

e) you can't give up on the CV building

Be open to learning. Keep working, not just to get an internship. And, at least be brave enough to face truth, and write true achievements on the CV. You can state some achievement in a more polished way than it actually is, that's a talent (with which I feel I have come close to mastery). However, please don't write things you never did just so you can amp up your bio. 

COVID-19 has put an end to all internship talks for now (I have absolutely no complaints, and in fact, yay). So, focus on actual skill building, and not plain script building! This is a great time to do more productive things (of course, only if you want to) and then you can actually include them on the CV! Whether or not the list of things you did gets you a job, I am sure you will be that much prouder about yourself! 

Family Court Warning: High Charge Emotion(Melodrama?) Zone Ahead

I can write a huge article, or give it to you in one line: the first time I entered a family court, I felt like I was watching a Tamil serial. Melodrama, melodrama, melodrama. Don't mistake me, it is not a joke. The family court is either highly melodramatic or absolutely boring for me, from the few experiences that I have had as a student of law. But, it is a court that has been made specially to handle the families with a highly charged emotional atmosphere. Family Court is a very sensitive place, and is a fully powered emotional zone. This doesn't come across as surprising, because the matters are of a nature that is deeply connected to the individuals and their families involved in the case. Thanks to a litigation internship that I did with working advocates in the Madras High Court, I was sent to the family court on the very second day of my first ever proper legal internship. 

Section 7(1) and (2) of the Family Courts Act of 1984, describes the kind of disputes over which the family court has the jurisdiction. A family court shall be deemed to exercise the jurisdiction under such law, to be a district court or, as the case may be, any subordinate civil court in the area to which jurisdiction of family court extends.

The suits and proceedings referred in the above-mentioned section are of the following nature between the parties to the petition:

- a decree of nullity of marriage (declaring the marriage to be null and void) or restitution of conjugal rights, or judicial separation or dissolution of marriage.

- the validity of a marriage or the matrimonial status of the person

- the property of the parties or property of either of them.

- order or injunction in the situation arising out of a marital relationship.

- the declaration as to the legitimacy of any person.

- maintenance.

- guardianship of the person or the custody of, or access to the minor.

Cases in the family court involve subjects of high controversy to which usually there is no one right or wrong that can be pinpointed. It may involve mistakes from either one party or both, and the mistakes may be deliberate or unknowing. And, most of the times, there is a lot of fleeting statements by both parties, especially in cases revolving around marriage, and it is next to impossible to determine whether the party actually means it or whether it was said in an emotional fit. 

A good judgment is considered to be neutral, based solely on the facts and evidences available for a case, devoid of bias or emotions overclouding justice. However, cases deal with humans, and when humans are involved it is seldom without at least a tinge of emotion. 

The first time I went into the family court, a woman was crying, loudly, and arguing her case for maintenance by herself without allowing her lawyer to talk to the judge. The judge requested the woman several times to calm down and allow her lawyer to speak, but in vain. There were some in the court laughing at the woman, the lawyer was trying to pacify her and get her to allow him to speak, and the judge was getting irritated. I have never ever seen someone cry that loudly until that day, and she was correcting the judge also when he was trying to talk. The whole air was so charged with high drama that I had to get out for a fresh whiff of air. The case was adjourned to after lunch after a full 45 minutes of drama and overreaction by the woman, and I never went back there after lunch. 

And, a few other times when I had to go to the family court, I overheard conversations and saw scenes that sometimes came across as way too dramatic. But hey, it is not for nothing they have a separate Family Court! As much as you want to appreciate and not mock the sensitivity, sometimes the sequence of events and conversations at the family court can be too funny to not break into a slight amused smile. 

Don't you dare take it further than slight- not unless you want a menacing glare from the judge that can make you hear the words GET OUT without anyone saying it!

I am not a fan of the family court myself. I usually took the first opportunity to exit and visit other courtrooms during my internship. But, if you ever get an opportunity, take a sneak peek into the family court. Not for the drama, but let it teach you the infinite lacunae in the pace of the cases, the inevitable backlogging true to the saying 'justice delayed is justice denied', the huge amount of familial issues that come up every single day, and the sensitivity surrounding it!

I can guarantee you that the high charge atmosphere has very important lessons to teach!

Work Experience In MLA Office

Avadi is a state assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu, India, newly formed after constituency delimitation by the Election Commission of India in 2008. It consists of a portion of Poonamallee taluk and includes Avadi. It is included in the Thiruvallur parliamentary constituency. Avadi is constituency No. 6 of Tamil Nadu legislative assembly.

In my short-term pro bono internship with the Avadi MLA Office, I was drafted to do help in filing, typing and system-based work. During the internship period, I gained basic knowledge about booths, booth officers and the polling systems as governed by the bye-laws in Tamil Nadu in line with the national norms of conducting free and fair elections.

The MLA Office of Mr. MaFoi K. Pandiyarajan, Minister of Tamil Language & Culture, and the MLA of Avadi Constituency, is highly efficient. It can be boldly stated that it is one of the very few MLA offices that is up and running to cater to the needs of the people from its constituency. The MLA office that works from 9 am to 6 pm everyday attends to the various grievances of the people of its Constituency, and promptly caters to their requirements by providing viable and immediate solutions. This is the only Constituency that has come up with the progressive idea of a “MyAvadi” app. The app works on the basis of the Constituency Information System (CIS) software. The map-location based app and software allows the people to exactly pinpoint the area of problem or nuisance to facilitate immediate and accurate attention to solving the problem. The online interface has been quite successful and seamless. Such developmental measures and progressive ideas for the betterment and the development of the Constituency is what that truly makes this office stand apart. The impact of the good work is clearly visible in Avadi, as the area is one of the most rapidly developing ones in the neighbourhood.

The pro bono sessions under the Office of Mr. MaFoi K. Pandiyarajan, MLA Avadi Constituency, Minister of Tamil Language and Culture, was enlightening as I had an opportunity to understand the process of filing systems and could read the first hand letters that dealt with the grievances of the people of Avadi Constituency. Within the scope of 20 hours of service, I was introduced to basic concepts of electoral services and it’s prime importance in upholding the democratic setup ensuring free and fair trials.

With the completion of this pro bono work I took home with myself an invaluable experience.

Internships

We are back at that time of the semester when everyone is frantically applying to a hundred places for a place in the summer internship slots. And, on a such a momentous frame of time, I present to you an honest report that I wrote after my first day of my first internship ever. 

*

Day One of my month-long internship with the Tamil Nadu Human Rights Commission started off yesterday. I was asked to report to their office at 10.30 AM. Being a punctual girl, I was there right on time to be greeted by a lady staff. She inquired about me and then when she learnt that I was a student, she asked me to wait until “sir” came.

Slowly people trickled into the office room and smiled at me, and I smiled back at them too, expecting one of them to be the “sir”. No such luck. All of them smiled pleasantly and told me that “sir” would instruct me on everything that I had to do. It was eleven and most of the staff had come by then.

Finally, at eleven-thirty, an elderly man walked in and everyone greeted him. The lady staff who first spoke to me signalled that he was the one I was supposed to report to. I, an eager first-time intern, immediately stood up and gave him a bright smile, and informed him I had come for the internship. He smiled and just waved me to sit back in my chair again. And then, for another hour he went on with his job as I sat there just observing the people work.

The office room is a small space with six work desks and a few extra chairs. There are piles and bundles of case files piled up everywhere. There is a computer in one of the work desks that stores details of the cases in an excel sheet. There are also two telephones in the room for calls from the public.

At twelve thirty, “Sir” finally asked me to pull up the chair near his desk, and I got to know his name. He started briefing me about the Human Rights Commission. I am just summarising what I learnt from him yesterday.

The SHRC was divided into three wings- the administrative wing, the legal wing and the investigation wing. These three wings operated in sync. The Commission is headed by the Chairperson who is a retired High Court Judge. Also, it has two members- one of whom is a High Court Judge and the other is an IAS officer.

The State Human Rights Commission is for lodging any sort of complaint on the working of any government official. The complaint should be such that it is on something that is within the scope of their duties as an employee of the government. These cases that are filed on the officials are then sent to the Investigation wing of the HRC from the legal wing. After analysis, a report is sent back to the legal wing. Then a date is set for the trial and the petitioner and the defendant are allowed to present their case, they are questioned, witnesses are examined and cross examined, and finally orders are passed. The judges do not have the power to give out a punishment for the official found guilty as they are protected by the state powers. So, instead the order authorizes the HRC to send out a recommendation to the official which is filed on his name. Such recommendations for being found guilty of an offense can cut out incentives such as promotions and retirement benefits for the government official.

Sir gave me a bare act of the 2006 amended version of The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 with State Human Rights Commission, Tamil Nadu (Procedure) Regulations, 1997. I was pretty proud to read the bare act as I could now, after one whole semester at law school with Legal Methods as a subject, could identify parts of a statute such as the short title, long title, definition clauses, provisos and non-obstante clauses. It felt like something that I learnt was being put to use.

Sir then detailed me on how I should make an entry of the cases and their statuses (Pending/Closed) into the case book classified year-wise and case number-wise. I did this job for sometime. And then, I was asked to attend the phone calls and take down the name, district, case no. and the petition date from the caller. This was a lot of fun and I liked doing it. For every case, the entry must also be made in the excel sheet. I did this job also for sometime. The jobs that they made me do were kind of repetitive but that is all the job there is.

They also told me that I could go through some of the case files when I was making the entry if I was interested. I did try to do that but since all of the cases that I dealt with yesterday were in Tamil, and in quite unintelligible handwritings, I gave up after sometime.

There are also three trial courts in the campus and I would be able to see some of the proceedings in the future.

Overall, Day One went good.

*

Reading this now, I realised that none of my other internships were this chilled out. They were all hectic, and mostly with extended working hours, sometimes even on a Sunday.

But hey, they're all good, good memories, and I've met some of the most brilliant people thanks to the stints of internship.  And, looking forward to more!