As the convocation weekend approaches, the campus has now begun to take on a semi-festive atmosphere. The roads are being scrubbed clean and the auditorium is beginning to look like the venue for the local Oscars! The hostels are getting a fresh coat of paint and overall, the campus is looking like it's just emerged from a very refreshing bath in the middle of a hot summer afternoon.
The members of the senior batch are back from their various sojourns to different holiday destinations in the country. Right now, they are busy uploading their holiday pics and showing their parents around the campus. We are happy to see that the senior generation is suitably impressed. They also carry themselves around with a slight spring in their step, proud of their children for having emerged successfully from these hallowed halls, bloody yet victorious! :-) On Saturday, the seniors will line up in their graduation gowns and embark upon the march which will mark the beginning of a new chapter in their lives.
At the same time, there is a slight amount of wistfulness on their faces. After all, they are leaving their home of two years for good! We juniors, apart from feeling slightly sad at the seniors' departure, are happy that we have a fairly free weekend to recover from the intense firing we have been subjected to in the past 2 weeks!
A year has passed (almost to date) but my recollections of that day seem crystal clear. The date was 13th March 2008 and the place was Delhi wherein I walked into the venue about an hour before the scheduled time. I was ushered into what seemed like a class room of some sort. I saw some people listening to a huge guy talking animatedly. He was from Boston, US and was loudly complaining loudly about the Indian heat. Oh! I thought another of those showoffs. Hardly did I know that Mr Boston here would end up in my dorm, being my neighbour and we would end up sharing some of the most wonderful experiences of our student lives.
As time passed people started filtering in and we all had that meaningless conversations that you have in all these GD/PI groups (one in which no one believes what the other is saying but fails to bring that to everyone else's notice). Soon the panel was called for the GD. The topic was about the apparent competition between Dictatorship and Democracy. I made a couple of points and was happy with my performance. The GD lasted for about 12 minutes after which we were again made to sit inside the classroom to wait for our interviews.
My interview was third in my group so I had some feedback about the process followed by the panel. The average time for the interviews seemed to be 15 minutes. The second guy finished his interview and my name was called I go with my usual apprehension into the room. The first questions are about my GD stand. I think that I fend them off well when one of the panelists delves into my academics (Difference between Flywheel and Governor........) I think that that went well too. Then they ask about my XAT percentile (which stood at a no too bad 99.42). And then when I seemed to be ready to get into the darker dungeons of the interview, the panellists just thanked me and told me to leave. I was shocked and so were the others. My ordeal seemed to have lasted only about 5 minutes. I was sure that I had made some blunder and that the panellists were livid and sure to chuck me out.
But due to some divine intervention I made it. When I joined I found out that there were 3 others from my GD group to make it to XIMB. And so began the journey which continues till now........
Looking into the mirror, I parted my hair neatly wondering how the the next few hours would pan out. Scourging through the GD/PI experiences at PG had left me with a sense of preparedness. A few self-check questions later I was on my way to St.Xavier’s. Stories about XIMB and the Jhabier Effect ran through my head. How I would love to be there, I smiled to myself. With 2 minutes to go, I panted into the waiting room at Xavier’s. Damn the Mumbai traffic!!The XIMB panel always start in time they said. My relief was interrupted by curious eyes greeting me. Some friendly, others seemingly evaluative. Socialize man, I thought. Few cursory greetings later I quickly sized up my group. Mr. Confidence talked aloud about his exploits in XAT. A 99-point-something, he waxed eloquent about how with a few days preparation he had cracked XAT. The fat Mr. Nerves watched with awe and admiration. Concurring with almost everything Mr. Confidence said, Mr. Nerves had already anointed him his mentor for the day. There was also Ms. Coy alone in the corner mourning perhaps the fact that she was the only girl in this group of 8. Mr. Amiable was a fellow TCSer. We tried identifying common friends in TCS. But in vain. All this while Mr. Confidence was weaving a web of charm around his cronies(Mr. Nerves and a few others). This time it was about his XLRI interview which he supposedly screwed.
“I was wearing a coat with Peter England label on it yaar....they said my suit distracted them and that they were more impressed with it than me( guffaws)....You what I said??(A pause that piqued the curiosity of his already spellbound audience) Sir this is like a gift wrapper. I am the gift. I wont mind if you take me in for this reason only.” There were collective gasps all around.
“What an answer!! I think you are in yaaar..”
He was beaming by now. He knew he had half the group in awe of him even before the GD had started.
Soon we were summoned in for the GD. I tripped at the door while I entered the room. Not a good omen,I thought. The topic was “GDs as a selection tool for MBA admissions-A Farce?”. Hardly had the moderator signalled start when Mr. Nervous started the GD frantically. A false start, I thought. The group was surprised by this sudden start. Slowly the GD settled into a decent discussion. Made a few points about how GDs judge your ability to handle chaos and some other politically correct points. It lasted for about 10-12 min.
“Arey Mr.Confidence, yaar you ruled the GD man. When you said “The crux of the issue is...” it stole the show man.”
I was amused.
Before the interviews, Mr. Nervous was requesting Mr. Confidence to give him tips on how to answer the why-mba questions. He gladly obliged parting with his supposed gyaan. I wondered how a candidate with borrowed answers would ever be selected. I waited for my turn patiently. I was the 6th candidate in order.
When my turn came I made sure I dint bump into the door this time. Clumsy me.
“So Madhukar, you read PG posts?”
“Yes I do Sir.”
“So you have read the GD/PI experiences posted there huh?”
“Yes Sir”(Sheepish smile). Honest old abe, I thought.
“You discuss interviews of other candidates in the corridor don’t you?”
“Well, yeah. Just to enquire how the interview went and all”(Super-Sheepish Smile!!)
“Then you must be knowing it all huh? Lets do one thing. You ask your questions and then answer it as well.” The panel sat back and smiled seemingly devilishly.
Ah. Signs of a stress interview huh, I thought.
“To begin with, on your behalf I would like to know a little bit about myself.” I liked the mysterious start. I went on about the stuff I wanted to tell the panel about myself. So far so good. They played into my alley.
“Thats it? Is there nothing else you would like to ask?”
“Sir. I would love to answer your questions rather than mine (Angelic Smile).”
Questions on my work-experience followed. Having steered them comfortably I started feeling confident.
“Why should we admit you in XIMB?”
Gyaan on how my experience would enrich the class discussion and how being a good student throughout I could weather the academic storm at a b-school, I seemed to have convinced the panel.
“Hmm...So you are a guitarist. If you are so passionate about music why then don’t you do a course in music instead?”
“Have already done B. Mus in Tabla Sir.(blah blah)Music lends me an extra dimension and is something I hold precious.(blah blah)But it is finally Finance that I want to do. And what better place to do it in than XIMB.”
Few questions later I was away. Bid the panel goodbye and wished Mr. Nerves and Mr. Confidence luck and drove back reflecting on a good experience overall. Coffee beckoned back home.
