My past few months...

The past 2-3 months have been busy months for me. Applying to management colleges, preparing for group discussion (gd) and interview (pi), ‘trying’ to read papers and whatever current affairs I can…hmm even thou I say all this with so much enthusiasm, I didn’t even put half of it into action ;-)

Life is one hell of surprises. And now I know why. How do you think I got 92 percentile in CAT?? :)Well not that I wrote the exam that badly, in fact I knew I did pretty ok in two sections and was confident after checking the answer keys that I may hit somewhere in 70 to 85 percentile, but 92 was not even there in my dreams. J No, I am not being modest. Well maybe this is the effect of the ‘Percentile’ system. You see, 92 percentile just means that my score was better than the 92 percentage of people who wrote the exam. So if you actually think, I owe more to those 92 percent category people..:D

Anyways after I realized it was actually my score, I started my maha search for b schools. I searched about the b schools that fall in the top 20-40 list in India. Since I was not expecting this, I had not applied anywhere before the results were announced and some b schools needed you to apply before the results. Hmm just another way of making money I tell you. Each application costs on an average 1000 (actually most of them were 1500), so even if they get like 2000 applications, think about the money they make. Yeah so I was in search of good b schools that would still accept applications. After some 2-3 days of browsing and talking, I decided on 5 colleges to apply. After some days it struck me that if I get a call for gd/pi I have to say something there. So I started going for Career Launcher’s(CL) gd/pi classes.

After my first introductory class in CL, they arranged me a mock interview which turned out to be more of a shock than a mock to me. After my last interview in May 2007 I had not attended any till date. Yeah I did enjoy grilling some juniors while taking mock interviews for them in college, but didn’t know it was payback time. J So I went for this mock one rather coolly. But the moment I saw the interviewer, I knew I will spoil it. He was a well built and very fair guy (was actually a lil pinkish too). Anyways he looked little scary to me. I knew he would grill me into pieces and he did. Even when I was talking in my interview I was thinking like what the hell am I saying and that too for simple questions like Why MBA and all(which I realized later on is not as simple as I thought J). Anyways after the interview, he gave me a piece of his mind and I accepted it. :D (as if I had a choice;)). Yeah one thing I tell you, it made me think a lot. For the next few days, I was pondering on Why Management? and things like that. You know the answer, but just that you need to get it out and frame it in the proper way. Then came my first gd experience in CL classes. I got into the class pretty late, but thankfully everyone was late even our instructor. Finally the instructor came and apologized for being late and introduced himself as an IIM Bangalore second year student. Then asked to introduce ourselves and say what calls (calls for gd/pi) we have got. Only when everyone started introducing I realized I was in a completely wrong place. They were all guys who got IIM and IIFT calls. Even I introduced myself and said ‘No calls till now’. :D (Well I had just applied to colleges and was expecting calls only after some weeks). Then IIM-B guy wrote our topic of discussion on the board: “Sub-prime crisis will affect India”. I was like “Shit”. I didn’t know what was sub-prime! Guess he read my mind, he said “I hope everyone is aware of the topic.” I wanted to say no but I didn’t. He added “Even if you don’t know, just listen in the beginning and then join the discussion.” So when the discussion began I listened and then I got little bit of what sub-prime should be, but thanks to my other gd mates, I didn’t open my mouth. During feedback at the end, the IIM-B guy asked me what happened. I said I didn’t know the topic and he said “It’s ok but do join next time”. Phew! So one of the first things I did after that was read about sub-prime that week. After some weeks, after I attended few more gds in CL, I got used to such gds and started to contribute more to the gd and also met some non-iim call getters ;)

I had applied to 5 colleges and I got a call for gd/pi from BIMTECH (Birla institute of management, Noida) first. All along, one website that I frequently visited was ‘pagalguy.com’. It’s an MBA forum for pagals like me. ;) But trust me, it’s really helpful. You have discussions for everything about MBA and about all the top colleges and you get a pretty much idea about how things should be done and also senior guys of the colleges will respond to your queries. So, naturally I checked in pagalguy for the gd/pi experiences of BIMTECH posted by people who has already completed it. I found that it was rather general topics for gd and also there was a write-up. Interview also sounded a bit relaxed. So, on the D day I dressed up formally and my bro drove me to the venue. After an initial introduction, our batch of students was taken into a conference room for the write-up round. The topic given was “Sky is blue, grass is green”. :D Well it was fine. I first wrote how normally people distinguish between things and that it’s actually each person’s perspective of seeing things and all. I think I ended it well n al and guess my writing was decent. Then we were made into 4 groups. Our group was called after some time and topic was “Are Indians safe in india?” Well after reading about gd/pi sessions of bimtech in pagal guy I was expecting a typical fish market and was getting ready to shout. But surprisingly in my group some guys were rather silent in beginning which came as an advantage to me. One guy started and I followed with some good points I think but yeah maybe in between I was searching for words while talking but anyways it went kinda ok. After some time, I got in for interview by 12pm. And there were three interviewers. They were pretty nice and laid back so I was at ease too. When I entered the room, one older guy was like “So Deepthi is it good morning or good afternoon?”. And I said good afternoon. And they were like “aha so it’s good afternoon for you” and I should have just smiled and kept my big mouth shut, but I had to add in a low voice “Well it depends on each person”. And they were like “Oh is it? It depends on each person and not on time huh. How is that?” And for a sec I was like “oh shit”, but I quickly said something like “ For someone who rises up early in the morning, its already afternoon..” (JI don’t remember the exact sentence). And the three of them started laughing and one of them was like “yeah good one” and told me to sit down. Phew: D …So this is how it started. It went ok. It was all questions related to job and interests and management. I could manage somehow. Finally when they said it’s over, I was relieved and I guess it reflected on my face too much and they were like “so a big sigh huh!” I gave a smileJ. I attended one more gd/pi recently for another college which went not that great and guess I got two more gd/pi coming up in the other 1-2 months.

Then what…I saw Delhi 6 last weekJ. It’s shot well. The events in the movie are symbolic which I think, is a really nice and simple way to bring up certain issues but the only problem being the audience understanding the true essence of it. Then, of course the A.R Rahman music to add to it. One thing the director could have avoided was the Abhishek’s fake US accent in the beginning, which went really weird at some point and yeah maybe a better ending. Hmm…whatever…I liked it. In fact it felt sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much better than our last one: Chandini chowk to china. :D

So that’s how it’s been the last few days for me..phew! I never thought I will write this post. Things have been changing so fast around me that I really didn’t know what to write. Hmm and at times there is nothing much you can do when things change around you or your loved ones, other than sit and think that it’s all for the best. I believe that when something bad happens it is to complement something better that is going to happen. But yeah like all others, in between even I forget to remember that during my bad times. :)