All these years at this place ..

You take it once, you take it twice, you take it thrice and in the end you realize that you’ve actually taken it 24ice (if that even makes sense actually) times.  And, this 24 is a number very-very potent. (Not like the one they say 42 is!) Every time this count increased starting from one, two and so on and so forth, you moved one step forward. Forward in terms of loads of things: months, semesters, years, song-collection, mobiles, e-gadgets, life, learning, maturity, development, et al.. Not only this randomly random forward-list, but number 24 also changed many naïve, inexperienced school-brained kids to mature, experienced, fine-tuned grads ready to lead and face the challenges of the world. This transformation journey accompanied by 24 has been extraordinary and inexplicable. 

I wrote a blog post some months/years back whining and ranting at this college/place pointing out certain flaws in the system/academics/placements, etc. etc.  Now when I sit back and read it all again, I am nothing less than shocked. All I think is: “What was that? Why was that?” For every statement of that post I now have something handy to oppose its validity and robustness. I have matter and experience to contradict every line of that post. I can belie the writer of that post left, right and center. This place has been, shall be and will be a wonderful place for learning and fine-tuning naïve, unripe individuals like the one writing this post.  

In an environment where every individual is exemplary in one field or the other, one gets an impetus to learn. Every frickin’ individual here can make you learn one thing or the other. If your own IQ is let say x, such an environment can shoot your IQ manifolds. Apologies for this lame connection. Such has been the beauty of this place. 

With only a fortnight left for this journey to end, there is emosan, sentiyaapa and nothing else. All these people, all these Professors, all these tutorials, all these practicals, all these submissions, all these presentations, all these night outs, all these football discussions, all these what-not what(?). Every single thing of all this shall be missed.  Department of Chemical Engineering shall/will be remembered for many many things. They say “I am what I am.” The statement is undoubtedly as lame as it sounds. I’ll just say, “I am today what this place has made me through all these years.”   

There is still one paper left followed by final year project viva-cum-presentation. However, clearing all this is within radar now.  All said and done, if all goes well my next stop would be in the place to ‘B’e. (For any of the uninterested lot, all three of the Interviews I attended I managed to convert all three of them. If only this fact actually mattered. Dang!)

P.S: Just in case, if number 24 is still beyond comprehension to one and all. Here’s about it: Every semester accounts for 2 Mid-Term examinations and 1 End-Term exam. Thus, for 8 semesters the number comes out to be 24. ‘24’ refers to 24 exams taken in total to be able to write this post. 

P.P.S: There are many more things I could have written. I could have written this post endlessly. However, there is something called 'Brain-Jam' and 'Sleep-Deprivation'. Both of which are prohibiting me from carrying this post any further. Next post. If only.

IIM-B: Bang Three

So, the bang finally happened and it happened in a manner so as to prove the old adage notion yet again. The notion that whatever you read or study for the interviews, every single bit of that would eventually turn into utter waste. Out of the blue questions are always there to be shot at you.

This time the interview was on 14^th March at IHC, New Delhi. It was scheduled at 1400 hours, and the reporting time was 1300 hours.  Reaching the venue was followed by a long search for the actual spot where Interviews were being conducted. The IHC was so vast in size (1 million acre) and with no directional arrows or whatsoever provided within the premises, it took quite some time to land the actual destination. Moreover, some big weird seminar was also being held inside. The worst part was the fact that all the candidates were made to sit for verification in an area where lunch of a particular section of people was going on. People were eating delicious food and all the candidates were sitting and just smelling it. It seemed a big embarrassing joke going on. Nonetheless, verification happened followed by the division of candidates into 3 panels. I came in Panel-2 and was allotted No. 4!

Soon we were called inside a room for the essay writing. My panel included 8 people – all present. Out of these 8, a guy was from IIT-K, two guys from NITs, 2 girls from SRCC and 3 more people I don’t know. I happened to be one of the only two freshers in that batch. Everyone else had some wok ex in their kitties.

Essay topic: "The celebration of days in some way or the other like Mothers’ day, Fathers’ day, etc. is nothing but a means to unleash consumerism."

We were allotted 10 minutes to think and organize our thoughts on a rough sheet of paper. And, further 20 minutes for writing the essay. The topic seemed easy to almost everyone, and almost everyone came out happily.

Very soon they started calling people inside on the basis of numbers allotted for the Interviews. My number this time luckily came after just waiting for an hour or so.

I was called in at 03:30 pm by one of the panelist (I’d call him M, as he was sitting in the middle). There were other two panelists sitting inside – smiling L (who was continuously staring and smiling at his laptop) on the left and silent R (also staring at his laptop) on the right.

So this is a brief account of whatever happened. Read on!

As soon as I entered the room I greeted all of them.

L:  Okay Abhishek! Have a seat.

Me: Thank you, Sir.

L:  [Sill staring at his lapiop] What would you like to name your daughter?

Me: [Whaaaat ?] I’d like to name her Abhilasha as I love this name. Moreover this also happens to be the name of my sister, so yes. This name I’d prefer.

L:  But, here you have written Aradhaya in your form?

Me: [Whaaaat is this joke all about?]  Where in my form? I don’t think I mentioned any such thing anywhere.

M suddenly chips in by telling L that Aradhaya is Abhishek Bacchan’s daughter. He also tells L that what he is reading is not the form, but a news headline. L is convinced. [I was still trying to figure out the weirdness going on]

M:  You were the Head Boy of your School? How and why?

Me:  [Rattled off highlighting my academics, good and disciplined behavior and teachers liking me]

M:  That means you were the nicest guy in school?

Me:  I won’t consider myself to be the nicest guy at school, but according to the teachers and their criteria of selection, I think I was considered so.

M:  Okay, do you follow cricket?  

Me: [Should I say yes, and expect hoard of questions] No sir, I don’t follow it. However, I am little aware of it.

P2:  Fine. You must be knowing about Dravid and Ganguly. Dravid was always a nice guy and all but he never was a great captain. Ganguly was just the opposite. You seem to be just like Dravid – a nice person but I think you can never be a great leader.

Me: Contradicted him by citing certain examples. Told him various initiatives I took at school, especially related to Wildlife.

While I was answering, M and L were smiling for only-God-knows what reason.

M:  You like Wildlife a lot. Is it?

Me:  Yes Sir. I do.

M:  Tell me the number of tigers remaining in India?

Me:  [Number?] I cannot tell the exact number, but their population is tremendously declining.

L:  No! I want the exact number?

Me:  I cannot make any guess, Sir.

L:  How can you calculate their existing number?

Me:  Umm .. Based on the National Parks in the country, and their presence.

L and M again start smiling for only-God-knows what reason.

L:  Where is their number the largest?

Me: [For God’s sake: STOP talking tigers!] No idea where, but their presence is large in Bangalore and even in Uttarakhand.

L:  Which national park is in Uttarakhand?

Me: Told about Jim Corbett National Park

L:  Who was Jim Corbett?

Me:  Told in detail

L started laughing contemptuously for only-God-knows what reason

L:  Jim Corbett was a ‘Man-Eater’? Who told you?

Me: [Whaat?] No Sir, I didn’t say Jim Corbett was a Man-Eater. He was the slayer of tigers which were known as the Man-eaters.

L & M [in unison]: No. You just said.

Me:  I am sorry. That might have been a mistake.

M: Why do you think should we take you? How are you different from every other candidate we are interviewing?

Me:  Rattled off something related good academics, good extracurrics, et. al.

M: Whomsoever gets a call from Bangalore and is sitting outside is good in all this? Why only you?

Me:  I have displayed consistency … [interrupts]

M:  Every second person we have been interviewing is consistent.

Me:  Speechless for a second, but rephrased my statement again. He seemed satiated.

M: We cannot ask anything about your Work-ex because you don’t have any. Why MBA now?

Me: Told mentioning “….effectively and efficiently…” in my sentence to which I was interrupted

L: Define ‘effectiveness’ and ‘efficiency’.

Me:  Arbit bakar

L:  Differentiate between efficiency and productivity. According to your definition both of these should be same. Are they?

Me: Arbit Gyaan

L:  Tell me something for which efficiency can be calculated and not productivity?

Me: [Stuttering] Efficiency and productivity .. umm ..

L: [Repeats his question] I wont repeat it the third time.

Me: Cited certain examples. He seemed conviced.

So finally R, who was continuously staring at his laptop and intermittingly at me, spoke.

R:  Some question on the present energy scenario of world and globe.

Me: Rattled off. Was cross questioned in between. Answered them effectively, to which L said, “This is all newspaper stuff.” To this I wondered, from where else can one know of the latest happening. Imagine? Dream?

While I was answering to one of the question on Nuclear crisis, I was interrupted by M abruptly.

M: Thank you, Abhishek! You may leave now.

Me: [At least let me complete my sentence] Fine, Sir. Thank you!

Subsequently, I came out bewildered at such an abrupt ending, abrupt beginning, shortness (15 minutes), crispness, shocking nature of the Interview. No current affairs. No academics. No project. No internship. Nothing was asked. I wonder what would they even judge me on! Weirdest Interview of them all.

Anyway, three down. I next, which I might skip. If that is so, this happens to be my last bow as far as my Interview experiences were concerned!  

P.S: I penned down this post siting in the waiting room of New Delhi Railway Station waiting for the train scheduled at 2355 hours while on my way back to R.  

IIM-K: Kill Two

After a two day gap and feeling kozy kozy, I was ready for the Kozhikode Kill.

My interview was on 18^th Feb at Hotel Vikram, New Delhi. It was scheduled at 1330 hours, and this time breaking all previous records I reached the venue well … I reached the venue three hours in advance.

 

To my disgust, there was no proper seating arrangement provided for the students and the ones accompanying them. Most of the people were either standing or were glued firmly to their seats so that others don’t snatch them. Unlike Shillong, there were no refreshments, no tea, no water. It was all so agonizing!

Killing three hours this time sounded an uphill task. Chit-chatting seemed impossible because the only students present were of the morning batch and were busy with their interviews. Consequently I thought a wise option would be to read newspapers. I read 4 newspapers, each thrice. Subsequently, a little talk with an Aunty sitting close by followed which did put to death those idle hours.

As soon as the clock struck 1300 hours I went inside a big hall where document verification was being done. The WAT (Written Ability Test) started at 1345 hours. We were handed a 5 page sheet to write an essay.

WAT topic: "There are not seven wonders in the eyes of a child. There are seven million."

We were allotted 45 minutes to write. An easy topic to write on, as I’ve always loved these kind of abstract topics. Wrote decent enough in roughly three pages. After exact 45 minutes we were divided into 4 panels and were told our numbers. I came in panel 2 and my number was bloody 09!

The panel 2 was interviewing the candidates on second floor. I went there at 1630 hours. At that time, number 06 was being interviewed. Everything was audible from the outside of the room. The whole conversation could be overheard from the outside. I came to the conclusion that the panel was asking general questions. Sitting beside me outside was an IIT Delhi girl who told me that she was placed in BCG to which I wondered who prefers K over BCG? Even she corroborated the fact by hinting just for the sake of it! She was soon called inside.  Her interview went on for like 20-25 minutes. The next to go was a person aged 29 with 5 year work-ex. After another 20 minutes, I was called inside.

I was called in at 05:05 pm by one of the panelist, Dr.Kousik Guhathakurta  (I’d call him P1). The other panelist seating inside was Dr. Anandakutan B. Unnithan  (I’d call him P2). 

So this is a brief account of whatever happened. Read on!

As soon as I entered the room I greeted both of them.

P2:  Please be seated and give me your verified documents.

Me: Thank you, Sir. [Hands over all the documents]

P2:  [While checking my grades and scorecards] So, are you doing good in IIT Roorkee?

Me: Yes sir. [smiles]

P2:  Tell me what you are pursuing?

Me:  Sir, I am a final year student of Chemical engineering.

P2:  Where do you come from?

Me:  Told

P2:  Tell me about Dehradun.

Me:  Told

P2:  Any news about it. [Suddenly remembering] Oh, yes. Elections! How was it?

Me:  Told

P2:  Who do you think would win?

Me:  Sir, there is a stiff competition between BJP and Congress. Any party can thrash the other. God knows who would do it this time.

P2:  Whom do you support? What’s your analysis?

Me:  Gyaan

P2:  What are the problems faced by the people of Uttarakhand?

Me: Arbit bakar

P2:  Like?

Me:  Gyaan with examples here and there

P2:  How does Uttarakhand government generate revenue?

Me:  Told 

P2:  Is Uttarakhand an earthquake prone area?
Me: Yes, it is. However, I don't know which zone it lies in.

Now P1 chips in.

P1:  Are you placed?

Me:  Yes, sir!

P1:  Where?

Me:  Sir, Reliance Industries Limited.

P2:  Wow! Good. That is a wonderful company for Chemical engineers.

Me:  [With a smug gleam of felicitation] Yes Sir! It is. [I don’t know why, and there was no need for it. But I exaggerated it.] Actually, I did an internship there, and was offered a Pre Placement Offer.

Now, the real disaster snowballed. Read on ..

P1: [Unmoved by the second half of my answer] Tell me what is dead heat?

Me:  [Shocked] I don’t think Sir I’ve ever heard of this term.

P1: Okay, so tell me about Second law of thermodynamics?

Me:  [Stunned again. Knew it, but wasn’t able to remember] It is actually something related to entropy. [Also, out of nowhere linked it with H=U +pV  Started explaining him this expression which was not required at all!]
 
P1:  Leave this. What would happen to entropy?

Me:  I don’t know, Sir. [But, told him the definition of entropy]

P1:  What do we mean when we say entropy is increasing?

Me:  It means disorder is increasing.

P1: What if it keeps on increasing and increasing and increasing? Would it be good or bad?

Me:  Logically speaking, if chaos and disorder is increasing around us, it is bad- really bad for the society and mankind.

P1: Ah! Come on, I am not asking about ‘Social Entropy’. I am asking about thermodynamic entropy.

Me:  Umm .. No clue, Sir.

P1: [Rephrasing his question. Now slowly.] What would happen if the entropy of the world and universe keeps on increasing?

Me:  I don’t think I can relate entropy to real life, Sir. [Became totally dumb, and felt like one]

P1:  What do you like about Chemical Engineering? I mean, what is your favorite subject?

Me:  In Chemical engineering, I love heat transfer as a subject. [Knew more horrific questions would be shot now]

P1: [Laughs]Yes, heat transfer. [Looks at P1] I knew it. I was coming to it.

P1:  Can heat be transferred via induction?

Me: [Crap! Holy Crap! Bowled again.] Heat is transferred from a hot object to cold object, Sir. However, I don’t know what induction means. I know about EMI (Electromagnetic Induction), but I’ve never heard of this term in heat transfer. Should I tell about EMI? [Didn’t even know this one properly]

P1:  Hmm?

Me:  Managed to put forth something on EMI. Wasn’t satisfactory at all!

I’d like to thank P2 who comes in with the rescue this time.

P2:  What do you like to do apart from studies?

Me:  Sir, I’ve been actively involved with … [interrupted]

P2:  No, I mean your hobby?

Me:  I like writing blog.

P1: [With a grin] Do you write on pagalguy.com?

Me: [Bewildered] No Sir. I maintain a personal blog of mine.

P2:  What do you write about?

Me:  I share my personal experiences.

P2:  Is your blog popular?

Me: No Sir. Not a popular one.

P2:  How many hits do you get on it?

Me:  Not much, Sir. I don’t like sharing my blog url and posts with people. I write it so that after 10-15 years, when I read it I can recall all these wonderful experiences. I don’t like to keep track of number of counts. However, the last blog post I wrote  about my IIM-S Interview experience saw many hits – roughly 200-300 hits in a single day.

P2: But, you told you don’t like sharing your posts.

Me:  This post I had shared on a forum on pagalguy.com so that my experiences could be helpful to the forthcoming batches.

P2:  What would you write about today’s experience?

Me:  I’d like to write whatever happened or is happening with me today.

P2:  What would you write about me? How would you address me as?

Me:  Sir, firstly I’ll try to search out your names from IIM-K website. The problem with IIM-S interview was that I couldn’t find out their names from the website, as the faculty profile pages didn’t have their photographs .So, I addressed them as … [interrupts]

P2:  How many Interviewers were there?

Me:  Three in my panel.

P2:  Was one of them very old? Like me? [smiles]

Me:  Yes. One of them was old. Not like you, Sir. You are young. He must’ve been 60+.

P2:  What about others?

Me:  Told about them and their ages

P2: Okay, so we hope you write about today also.

Me:  Sure Sir!

P2: Okay, so that’s it from our side. Do you have anything to ask?

Me: Not anything in particular Sir, but one thing. How is Kozhikode as a place like?

P2:  It is a wonderful place. It is on a hill top. When you’ll join it, you won’t miss your state Uttarakhand. The scenic beauty and everything is like Uttarakhand.

Me: Climate might be pleasant, I guess. Like, Uttarakhand sees a lot of fluctuations in the climate. We have very cold winters and very warm summers.

P2:  Yes. That you won’t have here. The climate remains pleasant throughout. Temperature remains almost constant throughout.

Me:  Okay, Sir. [smiles]

I stood up from my chair. Preparing to go out.

P2: [Scans me from top to bottom] Oh, but why don’t you have a boutonnière? Everything else is so gentleman-ish with you. Raymond [?] suit. Formal attire. Everything looks good, but that 5 rupee pen should be replaced with a boutonnière. This 5 rupee pen looks horrible.

Me:  Yes Sir. I would. However, earlier I had a costlier pen here. [Grins] But, that broke yesterday, so I kept it.

P2:  Yes. Something good should be put here. Not this cheap pen. Fine?

Me:  Okay, Sir. I’ll definitely do that. [smiles]

P1:  Do you have any Interview now?

Me:  Yes Sir. I have my Bangalore Interview on 14^th March now. [smiles]

P1 & P2:  All the best for that.

Me:  Thank you, Sir. [smiles]

Thus, I came out. 

Two down. Big Bang, next!