CATography - Part 4 ( January 10th - March 17th)

Last episode on "CATography!!! " ... if you really wanna know what happened last episode, go read it !! You just need to scroll down you lazy bum! And here I continue with my journey..


So there I was.... One IIM call ... it was time to start my preparations. And it started with some advice from Mr. Krishnakumar. There was one seminar conducted by him and in that he stated that atleast 50% weightage for the final selections was the CAT score itself. And I found that extremely disturbing. So I went and talked to him. I asked him, "My chances arn't very good are they?". And he said, "Nothing like that! No point taking probabilities. I know many people who have had one call and converted and I also many with all 6 six calls converting none."

And so I decided to give it my best shot. The TIME GDPI sessions started and I tried to be as regular as I could. And as active as I could. I used to participate in as many GDs as possible. And I pretty much got a technique all worked out (yea ... you can have a technique in GDs as I learnt later). One thing I hate about myself is my lack of general knowledge. So I had to spend these two months working on that. I needed to learn some history and some geography. Mainly political history. I received a lot of help from my friends during this period which helped pack my brain with as much knowledge as I could. This was supplemented greatly by explanations by Mr. KK and Mr. Raghu during the TIME GD sessions. These helped so much. The best part about GDs are that they teach you so much in such a short time. You get to see various angles of the same topic. And KK sir was someone whom I used to fire lots of questions at. Because there were a lot of things that I needed to know but had no idea about, and he was right there to help.

And so with my GD preparations done somewhat, I went for my mock interview ... and it was bloody scary !! That was a huge huge wake up call! I was nowhere near the level required. And that made me work a little bit harder (Atleast for the first few days :D ). And then came the 2 day TIME worshop sessions at Bangalore. And those two days were so much fun!

The first day, I participated in one GD about SEZs and got my butt kicked bigtime!! Wasn't able to say a thing. Unfortunately I din't have breakfast that morning and ended up ill. I decided to go back to our hotel room after I had my mock interview.
I being the brilliant person I am, forgot to bring either a resume or the form to be filled in the actual call letter. So the staff had to get me a temporary resume to fill out. The interview went pretty well surprisingly and that was an extremely huge confidence boost.And the rest of the day was ruined as I was not well. So the next day again we had a couple of rounds of GDs and that is when I learnt the most for my GD preparations. There was a guy called "Sandeep" in our of the GDs I was a participant of. That dude was controlling the entire GD. And I dint mean that in a negative sense. He was the undisputed leader of the group. And that GD I spent watching and analyzing him and trying to learn as much from him as possible. And that I must say, was extremely handy later on.The GD sessions at Bangalore were mini world wars! They would end up as arguments. During one GD, people were actually pushing each other with their shoulders and arms. Was so bloody hilarious! Luckily I wasn't a participant of that one, or mostly I would be at battle as well :D.

And then after that we came back to Trivandrum and resumed our regular GD sessions at TIME. And that was where I practiced and refined all the techniques I had stolen from Sandeep. And whoever was there for that particular GD at Bangalore understood what I was doing. And so I was pretty well prepared to handle most GDs by the end of the GD sessions. And I had also increased my general awareness thanks to Mr. Krishnakumar and Mr. Reghu and some of my closest friends. And that was it. .... my last few days of preparation were also over. It was time for the final battle ... this was where I would win or lose. ... It was a matter of my future ... a "turning point" of my life as my mom says! ...

And so I made my way to Bangalore to attend the interviews. I reached my sister's house in Bangalore on the 8th of March. One of my friends Lijo was there with me for the entire day and we were discussing the forms to be filled and went online to check out some facts and figures about our fields of interest. Luckily he mentioned that they usually ask for a favourite subject. And God knows how awful I was at any subject at that point of time. That night I spent the whole time giving a lot of thought to the answers I would be filling in the form and then finally penned them down. And whatever time I had left, I spent reading through the only area of Mechanical engineering I've liked the first time I read about it .... IC engines. Easy stuff. So i spent close to half an hour reading about two stroke engines and read about how "Scavenging pump" type engines have an inlet port and stuff (Abhi ... thanks for that book!! ). And so I slept early because I wanted to go for the interview after having a good night's sleep.

Early next morning I woke up, excited and tense at the same time. I bathed, suited up, got blessings from my parents and made my way to the place where Vinayak and Adithya were staying. Lijo and Prasanth also came there and at 8:45 we made our way to the venue... "Monarch Hotel".. or "Hotel Monarch" cant remember correctly :D...We reached there and I was so bloody tense !! We entered the waiting room, and there we saw our "competition". And it looked scary. One of the panel members came in and called out everyone's names just to check whether we were all present and then went on to tell us which panels we were in. There were 3 other people in the same panel as me. Lijo, Abid and Ginoy (I dint really know him but I just knew he was absolutely brilliant and amazing in GDs as I had seen him in one). And all of us marched into the GD/PI room. There were 8 of us. I was number 3. We were seated in a U shape. We were given our case to analyze for five minutes and the interviewer stated that he would tell us when the time was up. After those alloted 5 minutes, he says "You may start the discussion". And to my greatest surprise (THANK YOU GOD!!! ), no one started! No one even wanted to start !! And I realised that this was the only chance I might get, and so I started the GD, giving a general summary and then adding a few points of my own. After a point of time, I had run out of things to say and was looking for somebody to please take over the reigns. And Ginoy thankfully took over. And after that it went pretty well. I was quite confident by now, having spoken for a long period. And I felt I did very well in the GD. And now happy and my usual energetic self, I returned to the waiting room.

And the interviews started! After Ginoy was back, he informed us that our panel was asking a lot of tech questions. And that was the last thing any of us wanted to hear. Apparently the one of the other panels wasn't asking too much tech. So I was busy biting my nails waiting for someone to come and call out my name. And then my name was called. I followed the gentleman who called me upto the door of the interview room and here is what followed in my favorite movie script format :D

Me( Entering room) : Good afternoon sir!! (Then I realise it's still just around 10 so I quickly correct myself after makin a complete fool our of myself) ... errr ... Good Morning Sir (And give him a very sheepish smile!)

There were 3 people in the panel, I shall name them (from left to right), Tech guy, Friendly dude and Strict man!

Friendly dude : So Rohin, You are a mechanical engineer, you must be doin your final year project... What is it?
Me: Portable bike ... or rather a foldable bike
Tech guy: How much does it weigh
Me: around 35 kgs
Tech guy: Thats too heavy
Me: Sir, we were looking for a moped engine but we got only a Bajaj Sunny engine blah blah blah
Tech Guy: What type of engine is it?
Me: 2 stroke
Tech Guy: Differences between 2 and 4 stroke engines
Me : blah blah port, valve blah blah yada yada
Tech:What are the advantages and disadvantages?
Me: blah blah
Tech: What material is used for valves?
Me : High temperature resistant blah blah
Tech guy: Earlier you metioned something about a flywheel, what is torsional vibration
Me: *blink blink* .... uh...er...ummm ... (and then i proceeded to try and answer and that proved to be the correct answer :D.... you wanna know the answer? Go search the net :D)

And I guess they were pretty satisfied with my technical know how by then and so the Friendly dude took over ...

Friendly dude : So you are a guitarist in a band .. what kind of music do you like?
Me : Heavy metal ...(and go on to name some bands and said that Metallica was my all time favorite!)

Friendly dude : Trace the genesis of Metallica
Me: Lrs Ulrich blah blah, Advertisement in paper, James Hetfield blah blah

Friendly dude: How did rock evolve?
Me: From Jazz , elvis, johnny cash, yadayada

Friendly dude :How did pop evolve
(And some more questions related to music, and then Strict man took over)
Strict Man: Name some Rock stars who have taken up social issues ...
Me: Um ...bono from U2
Strict Man: Anymore?
Me: Bands like Rage against the machine and System of a down talk about social issues...
Strict Man: There is a difference between singing about something and taking a stand.
(So then I proceeded to admit that I dint know of anyone else and that I was more focussed on just the music)

And then they were about to let me leave when all of a sudden the Friendly dude asks me ..
Friendly Dude: You are a guitarist right? How does the sustain on your guitar work?
Me: I have no idea :D. I just hold the note, there is an effects processor, it sustains (And I gave him one of my classis grins :D)
Friendly Dude: You may leave

After the interview I felt that I did only average, but it was an amazingg interview compared to the other ones I had. MDI was good as well. XLRI I got screwed majorly cos I was asked a lot of GK :D. NITIE too much Tech.

And at the end of the entire process. I was left tired and sick. The NITIE experience is another story on its own!!!

So then came the most heart breaking and gut wrenching period .... The wait...

The NITIE results came out pretty fast, and with that started a period of extreme sadness. I dint make it. But I said to myself.... I should get XLRI, cos I scored real high in XAT. And a few days later, things got worse, I dint get XLRI either. That was a big big big blow for me. Cos I had no hope of getting either MDI or IIM. I even asked KK sir about the repeaters classes and he was the one who gave me atleast a little bit of hope. He asked me to wait for the other results to come out and that it was too early to decide anything.

A few days later, MDI results were out. And then I had something to have atleast a half-smile about. I was waitlisted 168 for their PGPM programme and 25 for PGPHR. And it was almost sure that the waitlist would move past that for both.... maybe. Cos the IIM results were still not out because of the tussle between the Government and the Supreme court.

And finally they were out ... IIMA results .... I was waitlist 14.... And last year it went just to 16. And again the tension began. Will I? Wont I? I used to log on to www.pagalguy.com and sit and read the IIMA converts thread. Many times I was brought to tears... I was that scared and worried. So many people were rejoicing that they made it through, and I wasn't that lucky...This post in particular made me feel very very bad ....

Hearty congrats to all those who have converted IIM-A !

Welcome to India's pre-eminent and most exclusive Business School.

Relax for the next couple of months (you would be expected to join somewhere in the 3rd week of June) until the roller coaster called WIMWI takes you on board.Let me assure you that the following 2 years are not gonna be forgotten in hurry.You have come quite far and are going to go farther than ever once you have passed through these 'hallowed portals'.

We wear a T-shirt here thats sports a line : "IIM-A : Branded for life" and that by no means is an exaggeration.You are soon to become part of a brand which spans the who's who of not just India's corporate roster but the who's who of the global one as well. Imagine : to walk the corridors that once Vindy Banga roamed,to play footer in LKP where Harsha Bhogle did,to sit in the classroom that once Raghuram Rajan sat in..... To be part of a network which only 250 of the sharpest,brightest and most talented in India can lay claim to.

Welcome to IIM-A.

On the 5th of May, there was a electricity failure and me and my family were sitting and talkin in the dark.. about how much money we would lose if the MDI call got confirmed first and IIM got confirmed only after I payed the first installment at MDI and stuff like that. Suddenly the land phone rang. Unfortunately, I couldnt reach the phone on time in the dark. After a few moments, I saw a light flashing somewhere and realised my cell phone was ringing....I had kept it on silent mode. I answered ... It was somebody from IIMA and he said that he had called to say that "My turn had come for admission" and that they have sent me an e-mail. So the first thing I did when the power was back was to run to my computer and check my mail. This is what it looked like :

Subject: Admission Offer for PGP: 2007-09

Further to our letter dated April 27, 2007, placing you on waiting list, I am glad to inform you that your turn has now come for admission to IIM Ahmedabad’s Post-Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) for the session beginning June 21, 2007. We will be sending you our detailed offer letter on Monday by Courier.

In the meanwhile, can you please indicate to us by email your decision on this admission offer? This will help us in planning the admission process better.

Thank you.

Admissions Officer

I still wasnt sure whether that was really a confirmed offer. I needed to get my offer letter in my hands. And I did get it on the 8th. And then I was ecstatic!! Absolute joy! My dream had come true! And my work had paid off!!! And that is the end of my CAT journey!
This was one of the most important periods of my life in more ways than one... And in the last and final part, I will be thanking those people who stood beside me and lent a helping hand whenever I needed one ...