(Warning : its really long ,not by accident but by design so that u r not tempted to read on just like that ...)
Writing CAT had been like a hobby for me , as i had been following the same routine for last 3 years ! But this time it was a pleasant surprise to find out that though my effort put in had been low compared to past , i had actually cleared it ! Just though...
So was rewarded with a single interview call (IIM-Kozhikode), something is better than nothing , i thought ! Since then lot of frens had wished my loads of luck and had shot me loads of questions ranging from what this whole stuff is to how to improve their scores and all. After that encounter (my interview) got over , i had to recount again and again to each n every friend of mine what happned on that day , so after a point i decided that i will properly capture the entire details , made it as detailed as possible with the obvious aim that because of its sheer size ppl will stop proceeding unless they are very interested &/or were askin me the details of the interview for courtesy sake. Incase someone was really interested , here goes my exp ...
...the D-day was on Feb 8th , the month of Jan was filled with practice interviews and Mock-Gds at my coaching centre , which was fun initially , met a lot of brilliant guys n gals.
Then before i knew it the D-day arrived pulled myself out of my dreary n boring world to step into a world full of oppurtunity challenges et all and i landed up @ 1 in the afternoon at IIM-Bangalore campus and was almost lost in the whole new world, then spied a few guys wearing tie , with confused expression on their faces and my hunch that they had also come to attend the interview turned out to be rite ! We all somehow found our way out of the maze of buildings and reached the correct building.
10 of us in panel , 3 guys from my company !!! 8/10 ppl with IT experience , whoa is this the 'mixture' that CAT throws up , I wondered.
Chatted in Hindi with a guy from Delhi , met a Mallu guy and struck up a quick conversation and then met a tamil guy and again chatted in Tamil with him , used English otherwise , had everyone confused about my origins !
Stepped into the room for GD , was called in last and had a very bad position on the table , the fag end !
Topic was given in the sheet of paper kept before us , we were asked to read it and when they ( 2 profs ) say start , we were to begin and discuss for 10 min on it.
It was rite out of the world , archiac English , it was Charles Dickens or rather an extract from one of his books , a small para , gist of it was that American society was going to dogs and young ones are the only hope to bring it out of decay.
All seemed confused and were making frantic notes , i too had scribbled lots of thoughts , but then realised that even i couldnt actually make out what i had written !
Then came the sound "Start" ... I tried to jump inot the fray , knew that whatever little stuff i had , lots of others too would have , so better dump it first , But found that 3 others had the same idea and all started and we all found it jarring and halted dead in our tracks . Then one guy suddenly quoted George Bernard Shaw and all fell silent , someone agreed wit the quote and the discussion started , i jumped into the fray with some points of my own and made a few entries here and there about America , Hollywood ,materialism and what not , but i was sitting in such a way that panel wud never see my face when i spoke and was always afraid that my points wud be credited to guy next to me , who also spoke on similar lines , except for 3 ppl all others spoke but lack of ideas showed.
Overall ok , not good by any means ,personally and also for group.
we were dismissed after 10 min before we kinda warmed up and were told to wait outside , till they call us one by one.
We all waited , me being last in the list had the longest wait , the guys who had their interviews first , were grilled by us waiting outside and at every 15 min , one interview got over and the next one was called and all others left one by one wishing me luck.
So armed with all those wishes , i bravely stepped in to face them ...
Two Profs (P1, P2) were there on the Panel and they warml wlcomed me and asked the Q i was expecting and had a ready Answer .
P1 :"Last person to be called in for interview ,Long wait rite ?".
I shot of my pre-prpared answer with humility and humour. That was the only part where i was in control !
P2 (with a smile):"which IIM will u choose and Why ?"
me:gave Beggers can't be choosers kinda response n told them that this is my only call and hope n pray that things go well and i make it.
P1 and P2 (earnestly): All the best
me , though a bit surprised , said thanks sir
then the grind started
P1:What is the probability of clearning interview and gettin a seat at IIM
me: rattled of the fact that there were 800 odd seats ( dont know know from where that no: stuck in my mind) and 3000 ppl approx , so 1:4
he didnt agree at all and had long debate about it and asked me to repeat my reasoning again and then asked for IIMK hat is tha chance , i said , i read somewhere that 1800 ppl were called for 180 seats , he looked surprised and siad that seems to be too high a figure ( i was relieved ! ) and asked me my source of info , i said newspapers. P1 and P2 exchanged surprised glances
P1: So what are your interests ( going through the personal data sheet I had filled and submitted) , oh reading , is it ? Why do everone read ? Ok What do u read
me: rattled off a the last book i had read ( was a book about China , hence had done my full homework on all possible Qs about China n all ) , explained about the book for a while , he didnt seem too interested !
P1: Other books ?
me: continued mentioning names of other books i had read in recent past , finally said "The Alchemist" and interviewer seemed interested and i added that the book was really inspiring
P1: oh is it , tell me the story
me: explained the gist of it
P1: No tell me the proper story , from start to end
me: ( i had read it 2yrs back) started hesitantly and tried to tell the story , found going too tough and started explaining the gist of it
P1: No , tell me the story if u have read the book
me: i had read it 2 yrs back and explained that t was what u derieved out of the book that was imp and explained what i got out of it
P1: other books
Me: mentioned some more and stopped
P1: So u write ? What do u write
me: used to blog , just personal stuff .. I have written a few short stories
P1: tell me
me: explaining the plot and judging from the guys looks , gave up midway and told him that the stor was interesting because of the humour and fun with words that i had employed and i cant narrate that so well.
P1: So u studied Electrical engg , what is it
me: explained what and all i had in the course
P1: (cutting me off) how long has the branch existed
me: (clueless)offer my guess
P1: no its older than that , so whats the most imp electrical invention used in industry
me: motor
P1: ya , so let me ask u something which noone has answered properly before ( hint of smile on his face)
me: sure sir
P1: So How will Motor evolve in next 20 or say 50 years later
me: thinkin n blurting a few nonsesnsical replies , suddenly utter something meaningful about my idea for a smart motor !
P1: (smiles), ok
P1: so what r ur other achievements , anything diff than others ? , oh u have written acting in skits , what did u do
me: explains
P1: act n show !
me: really sir ? it was not a one man stuff ( suddenly was getting reminded of ragging during college days ! )
P1:fine do it urself
I got up and performed one of those skits ...
P1:hey i had seen this during my college days also , what is this ! Ok i will tell u some situations in life , u act n show it
(this seemed straight out of my days as fresher in college ! )
I did whatever he asked me to do , halfway thru he asked e do u find this funny , u have a trouble hiding a smile of embarrassment ! and sked me to take my seat
P2 (was observing me all this while , now full of smiles): ok Electrical Engg
P2: What is Corona ?
me: Sir, it comes in High Voltage , causes some loss or something , but can't remember
P2:asked a couple of other gen Q me:tried explaining but gave up halfway through saying I was familiar with these during college days , but it has been 2.5 yrs since i graduated , Now im working in another domain altogether
P1 & P2 nodding
Still no Q about my Company , Work-ex , my domain at work which i was fully prepared
my attempts to draw them to it was just not working !
P2:Who is the collector of B'lore
Me: No idea .Sir
P2:Who is the CM of Karnataka ? and a couple of sundry Q n some Q about cricket
me:answer almost all of em coz they were very simple
P2:what brand is this mineralwater , ame other popular brands?
me:answers that Q
P2 shot a glance at P1 who nodded his head and they wished me all the best and P1 escorted me out
Leaving me even more confused as i tried to find my way out of the maze again to step back into the dreary n weary world outside !
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