Happy Womens's Day!

Now when is Men's Day?

IIMK - GD and PI

6th March, 2 PM, IMI New Delhi

Loads of trepidation as I entered the IMI building for the first IIM experience of my life. Slept at 3 AM the night before and the nights before that were a series of night outs in a bid to prepare on everything I could think of. That included engg acads, general awareness and the usual HR bullshit such as - Why MBA etc. So needless to say, it had been one exhausting experience but made me look forward to the whole GD/PI experience all that much more.

One more thing which I'd like to add is that the whole experience of having prepared for the interview has been tiring, yet in a way a, its been a very exhilarating one too. Something which I really enjoyed and through which I also learnt a lot. Only the Ahmedabad interview left but now I wish there were more calls! So at least I could repeat this experience a few more times!...:p

Anyway, so there were around 25-30 people, divided into 3 groups, I was in panel 1. There were a couple of people from my CL Gurgaon center and we'd been in GDs before so I should add that I felt a little comfortable because of that.

As we entered the room, I could hear my own heart bang against my chest. I have usually been quite good at GDs so I had enough reasons to be confident but I guess it was just the sense of occasion that got to me. Plus the FMS rejection last year didn't exactly make me feel better. Stupid, in retrospect but what the heck...:p

So, there were 10 people in my group, a chit of paper was given to each with a small paragraph

'Indian bureaucracy and procedures are hampering growth of Indian industry. L.N. Mittal and Ratan Tata had to go out of the country to establish industries of a true global scale. Why doesn't the Indian environment provide the kind of support the industry needs? This question needs deep introspection.'
Something like this. Not sure of the exact lines we were given.

I started off by saying how we could discuss this topic on various parameters such as - political, societal, economic, financial etc. Saying this though didn't really prove useful I guess because people started discussing discussing random topics anyways. I came in a few times with some good data such as Budget '07, SEZs, comparison of India and China etc. On the whole I was very satisfied with the GD. Felt my apprehension going, confidence returning and was now looking forward to the interview

I was the fourth person to be interviewed and was expecting a barrage of technical questions since I have only an 8 month experience and a few questions on Budget '07 too because I had brought in a few points from it in the GD.

There were two panelists - an old male prof(M) and a youngish lady prof (F).

M - Tell us something about yourself
Me - blah blah
F - so u work in the consumer goods vertical, what is CPI?
me - half right answer
F - WPI?
me - told her I was not sure but was still going to give a definition as I understood it then.
F - What are Consumer Goods?
me - told her something, but missed out on a few items in that class of goods
F - whats your Rh factor?
me - huh?
F- you have organised a blood donation camp and you don't know that?
I remembered I had done that in college. Told her I didn't find out Rh factor, instead organized the camp

F - How do you organize a blood donation camp?
me - blah

F - you have done a course on human values and ethics. what did you learn?
me - (it was a non credit subject, didn't remember shit!) said a few things, couldnt answer beyond that.

F - a few more questions on usefulness of ethics in business, how the film Guru could be relevant by showing the required business ethics or rather the lack of them.
me - blah

G - questions on my company - profit margin, locations, employee strength, market share, why my salary is low (its not and I still don't know why he said that), my work in my vertical, competitor companies.
me - answered all of them

G - another expected question on academic marks(marks could have been better).
me - I had prepared for that and I had some good non academic achievements to talk about, my campus job was one of the better ones, but somehow just didn't handle this one as well as I could have. Only thing I said was that I realize my mistake by not having focussed more on marks instead of extra-curriculars and will rectify this in future and that I am conceptually strong, nothing else. I still don't know why.

That was the interview. NOTHING TECHNICAL!!! And I was waiting for something technical!!

My interviews too go well usually but just don't know what happened then! Besides the marks question, I am not satisfied with a few other areas too but most regrettable was the marks question which I should/could have handled a LOT better, but not worried about it now. I guess whatever has to happen will happen...:)

Overall - a good to really good GD and average PI.
Your comments if any would be welcome...:)

Really pepped up about preparing for the IIM A interview now. Hoping to give it my best shot.

A Blueline, a female and a little vanity

An incident which happened in one of the Blueline buses (Delhi's buses; famous for killing people). My friend Rohit was travelling in a Blueline when he overheard three females talking. Two were good-looking (F1 and F2), third one(F3) was average.

F1: aaj kal to in ladko ko koi tameez hi nahi
F2: aur kya, koi acchi ladki dekhi nahi ki chedna shuru
F3(the average looker, who was probably feeling left out): nahi nahi, aisi baat nahi hai! Desaaent ladkiyon ko bhi chedte hain! (desaaent = decent)

F1:Boys these days have no decency!
F2:exactly, they see a good-looking girl and they start hitting on her/eve-teasing her...
F3(the average looker, who was probably feeling left out):No, no...even the desaaent looking ones are eve-teased! (desaaent = decent)

Wow!!!...thats all i can say.

Now, Delhi is famous for the lack of safety for women, but what do you say to someone like this?

I'd like to end this post with a law of nature as revealed to me by one of my friends.

'Behind every girl, no matter how she looks/talks etc., and it really doesn't matter, there would always be atleast one guy (if not more) who'd be crazy about her and would be pursuing her'

Touché

My personal take on females? I love them all!....;)

Holi = Another reason to get high

Hope you had a fun filled Holi!

I never knew that a simple beer could get you high too. Agreed I did have something like 2.5+ litres of it, with 1.5 litres in one go, as in 'ek ghoont mei!', thanks to the Bong, I loved it!! A beer is definitely the most cost effective way to get high.

I planned to study the whole day, for the IIM K interview on Tuesday but then Anosh (my good friend who has had a huge hand in corrupting me) convinced me to come to Malik's house for a holi get together. My learning from the day is- no matter whose party it is or where a party is, daaru (alcohol) is the real life of the party. Write that down.

I had fun but what about the interview? At times, I wish the IIM calls weren't there. Imagine a life without the calls -
1) One more guaranteed year of FUN
2) No anxiety about the damned interview preparations. Although, this is thinking really short term.
3) Right now, I feel like the sacrificial lamb, which is going under the knife, for the next two years atleast. I am talking about the horror stories i've heard of people not doing anything but making presentations, studying reports, case studies etc. etc during MBA. And if you look at it, even after that. I mean, I think that it is going to be serious work after MBA and not the bullshit that I do now.

So is that what life is about? work and work and work? I mean it is what we are supposed to do I know, but the whole idea of yout life totally revolving around work puts me off and frankly doesn't even motivate me to perform. The only thing I am scared of right now is of not ending up doing stuff I really want to do, being a photojournalist for example. On that note, I should say that my friend Saurabh Malik is definitely one of the few lucky ones I know of, who know what they want and are working towards their aims.

But then, my aim right now is to have only fun I guess, not too encouraging either...eh? I think I am a little lost and confused, as my orkut testimonials rightfully say!

Oh well, I'll just go and study for the interview on Tuesday. I am probably the first person in the country who regrets getting IIM calls! sorry God! this is a sin!...:p...and all the stuff I wrote doesn't imply I won't crack the interview. I definitely want to and working towards that...:)

MBA - Season 2 Begins

was just reading my older posts. In fact the last to last post was on my FMS call last year. And this year its IIM Ahmedabad. Weird how time flies so fast. In spite of so much that happens in between. Anyways, I got an interview call not the final call. Lets see if I can convert it. After the FMS fiasco last year, I am playing it really cool and cautious.

I had planned to write lots more but its 2 in the night and i guess i'll sleep now. Will be back

And yes, though I find wishing on stuff like this highly stupid (Don't ask me why, it's a long story) but I'd like to wish you a Happy New Year...:) Hope things turn out well for you.

Bin Ticket ke Yatri!

Home sweet home! Back in Delhi, really looking forward to the IMS workshop for call getters tomorrow in Connaught Place, which for me is the liveliest place in Delhi. Also hoping like crazy that there are some extremely hot looking females at the workshop, probability of which is less since hot looking females don't really go after IIM's and the likes of it because I guess beauty and brains don't seem to go together and when they do, I'll fall in love with whoever she is.

I came to delhi by train today. Ticketless. For the second time I guess, since joining Thapar. As I was leaving college, Sorab, a friend from first yr commented that since we are travelling ticketless today, we are sure to run into the TT. And sure enough, just as I had settled comfortably into an empty seat, Sunny, my co-traveller came running to inform me that Murphy's law had once again proven itself true- when something can go wrong, it will. There were two TT's standing right next to the seat next to ours. In my 2-1/2 years of travelling in a train I swear I have never ever met a TT and each time I bought a ticket. Just when this one time when I thought of being slightly adventurous, a man named Murphy spoils the party.

So finally, we ended up running towards the opposite end of the train, luggage in hands, away from the villains of the story, hoping fervently that the train doesn't start moving. But in the end we did find the seats, avoided the TT, did our nation a great disservice by saving ourselves 75 bucks each, so a little bit of running is a small price to pay.

Next post on my trip to my favourite place- Connaught Place

After the Massacre!

Exams are finally over!!!! and boy am I relieved. In one plain simple tiny little word , exams were as I have already said- a MASSACRE!

I was just reading Aman's blog

....What is the most important factor that makes an engineer a good one? Knowledge? Being innovative? Revolutionary thinking? Inquisitive nature? Well, thats what it should be ideally. But at TIET, thats not the case. What is it that makes a topper at this institute? Not knowledge, not being innovative, not being inquisitive, but rather the ability to score marks. Marks, marks, marks and marks. That is what a Thaparian is all about....

What you read above is what he wrote. The very valid point he raised was about our institute-TIET and how bullshitty it can get get sometimes. But I read this somewhere, that how good or bad an organisation or institute (in our case) actually is , is decided by it's culture which in turn is decided by the kind of workers or students and faculty members(in our case) and their attitude. Now our faculty is a synonym for the word hopeless but looking at us students, I am sure theirs gotta be something going on in our minds and actions too which is not the way it should be, that the culture in TIET is the way it is. I am sure you know what I am talking about. Just wanted to put my thoughts across that it always takes TWO TO TANGO!...;)

Coming to the Saturnalia front. We've made the impossible possible. Our batch will go down in the annals of Tiet's history as THE BATCH who revived it. Having been in the forefront of the Resource Generation committee which raised the money, I can tell you with total conviction that it's no mean achievement to go to any company A and ask them for a lakh rupees in exchange for something as trivial as publicity in a college which many hadn't heard of, at a festival they had never heard about. But, things worked out fine and I guess our numerous visits to Chandigarh, Delhi and trips within Patiala have paid off.

Talking of money, there is a lot of resentment among the final yr students who have 'contributed' Rs.200 each for saturnalia to happen. I'd just like to make it clear that your money is not the only money we have raised, as according to some people. It forms about 30% of the total money we have confirmed for sat. We have worked hard to raise the rest of the 70%. In this final lap, we need everyone's willing co-operation to make sat happen. Many of you might not share my enthusiasm for sat but as Aman rightly said- Thapar is all about marks, marks, marks and did I mention marks? and here's your chance to do something which is different and you've never done before and something you know will help you because of the kind of exposure you'll be getting. After all, have all of us been to a Mood-I or Rendezvous?. Agreed we won't get something as good as that, but something is better than nothing and this something will be better than any mudra or acumen or izhaar(for which you give 150 bucks anyways). I promise you that.

For those who still don't agree with me- eat your hearts out!...you've 'contributed' 200 bucks and you can't do shit about it!!!ha ha ha....;-)

EXAMS!!!!

Exams are on from this saturday and I swear I am going to get a royal bitchslap on my ass. For the past 1.5 months studies was a concept that existed on the outside fringes of my life and Now that its turning into the nucleaus, I am one scared man!...that sounded weird but you get the idea. Just a matter of one week though. Hope it gets over soon. Pray for this poor soul!

Professionalism: Don't expect it from professionals!

Today, me, sahil, bengali and jassi went to Chandigarh. I missed a very important YKC lab to be in Chd by 5 pm. Reason? An appointment with Coke regarding sponsorship for Saturnalia(Sat). What do we see when we land there? No coke representative, inspite of having confirmed the appointment. I mean, however busy you are Mr. "professional", please take into account the fact that even though we are mere students, our time and resources are also important.

This is not a solitary experience. During the course of my work for Sat, I've encountered loads of such "professionals". This attitude of taking us complacently and giving us the short shrift, just because we are college students, really irritates me to no end. This isn't just about taking US setriously. It's about simple courtesies(hope the spelling is right) you need to extend towards your fellow humans. Had that idiotic coke fucker called us in advance to tell us about the change of plans, it could have saved us a lot of time.

Rest of the day was pretty good though. The best thing about life these days though is that I am not killing time doing nothing. There are loads of things to work for and look forward to. More on that next time!...:-)

Bull's Eye!!!

Today was my first GD(group discussion) class at Bulls eye institute Chandigarh in preparation for the FMS interview call. Nice experience and without too sounding too boastful i think i can say that i was probably one of the best speakers in class. But this was just 10 odd people, how the real fms session goes is still making me jittery, though today's session does leave me quite confident. Life is now going to become one big busride from Patiala to Chandigarh and back. Very tiring and hectic but atleast I won't just while away my time now.

On the Saturnalia front, things are finally looking bright. Sat looks like a very real possibility now. Don't ask me the exact figures but I'd give it 90(sat happens)-10(sat doesnt happen) chances. One of the most important lessons I have learnt through this experience is the value of the homework that is required to be able to organise an event of this scale. You can say that currently we are working in fast forward mode, but again, we wouldn't have understood it, had we not even tried.

One more issue that could snowball into a big controversy is the fact that we are taking Rs.200 from each student of the college in order to help finance sat. Obviously, we don't expect everybody to agree with this decision. I was talking to a few people in the mess just now and they registered their opinions with me. I expect the Dean of Student Affairs to receive atleast 10 applications signed by 100 students each in opposition to this decision.

I just want everyone to know that just for once think of doing something for your college unselfishly. No, I am not in love with this place either. Not in a 1000 milleniums. We might not be able to change a lot of things we don't like in this place, but this is one thing we can and I believe we should change. Don't most people crib about the 'lack of exposure', 'too much stress on academics' etc. in patiala? Well, here is your chance to change things. I just want to improve this place, just a little bit because I believe that the opportunity to actually leave your impact and to change the system you don't like comes not very often. And we have that opportunity with us right now, to change Thapar Institute. So, instead of cribbing and criticising one more time, lets take the risk and see what happens with our 200 bucks. Hope my point gets through.

Latest news from my life!!

2 new developments-

1-I crashed a wedding today. Awesome experience.
2-This is by far the best new in a looooooong loooooooooong time
I GOT A CALL FROM FMS!!!

I'll just end it here coz am too tired and I really don't have any words to tell you how bloody elated I am...Thank you god!!!

On a parting note.. there is a 3rd development too but its still not concluded yet. I'll tell you when it does conclude. It's about...

Why Am I Doing What I Am Doing?

Well, its been a very long time since I felt like writing my second blog entry.

So as the title says- Why am I doing what I am doing?. This refers to the work i am doing in order to revive my college festival Saturnalia. Now to all those thaparians reading this, let me just tell you that sat still is not confirmed; it might or might not happen.

Today we went to Etc Punjabi's office in Delhi. There we learnt what event management actually is or to say the least, got a glimpse into what it is like. In one line- it's a logistical nightmare.
This is because sat(short for saturnalia) is just 1 month away and we learnt just today what the correct strategy to organise an event so big should be. This problem of the lack of experience was always going to be there, because when you try to do something on this big a scale for the first time, there will be unseen obstacles and hindrances. No matter how much you try and plan, like we did, you will miss out on something, because of your lack of experience. Since we learnt just today , of our shortcomings, it made me think, think really hard. Why am I spending so much money and time on a festival that might just get scrapped off once again. We haven't spent days and nights on planning sat, as I now think was required. We all knew right from the start, that there was a very strong possibility we might lose in this gamble,as ppl in college are saying now too,that sat won't happen and we're just wasting our resources.

All that might just come true and we'll have ppl talkin about us as one more batch who tried and failed.

But. A big fat BUT.

We tried. That's what matters to me atleast. Now this is not an obituary on sat because we will give it our best shot. And with the new ideas we have, it certainly seems like we can do it. Just a little more time is what we need. But looking at the bigger picture, beyond sat, there is a lot we have learnt. This sounds so bloody cliched but thats the truth and this whole experience of trying makes it worthwhile, even if Sat doesn't happen.

I'll shut up now coz one sentimental night= an embarassing morning the next day!!...;)

Inspiration strikes me!

6 months after registering myself on this site, I am finally writing down something on my blog. The will to do this instead of comfortably reading a magazine under my quilt in my hostel room comes from a certain Mr. Ankur Malhotra in my college.

Less an engineer, this fellow looks more like a wandering dreamer. He should have been a poet or something, looks more that part. One of those 'devdas' kind of fellows. Why I am talking about him is that in a hostel full of loud, aggressive and at times senseless guys, this guy stands out.

Anyways, back to talking about my life. Since I am doing electrical engineering, machines has been a bane and a major one at that. Today the last of the machines subjects ended. The Asynchronous Machines endsem exam was today. And in one word, it was - PATHETIC!! That minor detail aside, I am just happy that this word-machines, has been erased forever and ever from my academic curriculum. Currently, nothing is more comforting than the thought of finally graduating from this salt mine without anymore hiccups and never ever coming back to this place. Though there's one full semester before that happens.

I have to say that inspite of all the hate and spite I have for this place, it's taught me lessons I would never have learnt, had I remained in my comfort zone in Delhi. I guess that's a fact most of us will have to begrudgingly accept. I guess it's got more to do with the lessons you learn living in a hostel away from your families, totally on your own. Living in extreme, ok not extreme but still quite cold without the simple luxury of a room heater(which is not allowed),eating some sticky paste supposed to be vaguely edible. These things are a given. The most important thing though is the politics and manipulations you deal with from your own batchmates. Be it extra-curricular events, studies it's everywhere. Stuff like this prepares you for the outside world though. Makes a man out of kids. You learn to be more accepting of others, you learn to compromise, adjust, most importantly, you learn to be independent. This place completely bitch-slaps the kid out of you.

I sound too pessimistic I guess. There's some really good things too about this hostel (NOT the college) which make living here worthwhile. More on that in the next blog. Got an exam to study for