Showing posts with label IIM Bangalore. Show all posts

About 5 minutes before the scheduled start of a test, we heard loud sighs of relief from the floor below, one that houses 2 classrooms. As we were wondering what had resulted in this came the announcement that the test had been cancelled. What resulted was a marked deviation from the usual in "L cluster", most importantly decibel levels . About 350 of the so called "leaders of tomorrow" were celebrating the momentary relief by clearly putting their vocal chords to best use.

But most people walking back probably had no clue what they would do in this new found free time (or wondering about the next deadline that has to be met). This has more or less what the last 2 months have been for me. A schedule has been made for me and all that I do is run with it. It has gotten me thinking about what has really happened to the things that I used to enjoy and those that I used to look forward to eagerly. Maybe the life around here is designed to be hectic and as the lines of poem Leisure goes , "there is no time to stand and stare".

There have been some special moments that I cherish, but most of them just zoom past me and it eventually takes some time for me to realise that they would indeed fall in the "once-in-a-lifetime" category. These are the times that I would like to live through longer, enjoying them in it's full beauty without the worries of what the future holds for me. I can picture the look of disbelief on the faces of many people inside the campus as they would disagree with me writing this. For, the reason is that I have succumbed to the pressures of the environment and am truly left wondering at what cost have I changed myself to suit this place. I no longer find the time to be in front of the T.V whenever Arsenal steps on a football pitch, have a track of the cricket tournaments happening in the world, read Dilbert at a stretch, watch "The Contest" for the 186th time, stubmling upon random blogs in the cyberworld and probably most importantly writing the occasional post on this blog about whatever leaves a mark on me.

These and many more are the things that I would truly like to be a more significant part of my life in the next 2 years I spend here. Everytime I walk in front of the room M-14, memories flash in front of me, a re-run of an old episode which could have led to a very signifcant change in my "script".

And yes, A Happy and Safe Diwali to everyone of you reading this post (as long as that is within 2 days of posting :) ).

6 weeks and a set of mid-terms down , I have finished more than half-a-term in this place now. The words most often heard inside these walls are " This too shall pass" . Many of our classrooms are interesting for those special "examples" through which "concepts" are taught.

A few excerpts from our classes so far :
(I fail to relate what concepts most of them relate to, for they mostly went somewhere over my head)

Managerial Economics - Prof. Ranganathan. V

"Mere inefficiency cannot get you fired in the public sector"

"It is always wise to opt for education ahead of sports, for here, a lot of mediocres are tolerated"

"It's all over. It's like marriage" (On Sunk Costs)

Financial Accounting - Prof.Padmini Srinivasan

"All accountants know the cost of everything and the the value of nothing"

"If one of your legs is on ice and the other on fire, on an average you are fine".

"In India, we do not know which way to follow - the U.S way or the U.K way" ( On Accounting Standards, but I guess it can be generalised to everything).

Manish Sabharwal , Founder Teamlease (Guest Lecture)

"Why bother digging with shovels, when you can do so with spoons? " (On NREGA)

"Secret to success is being at the right place at the right time. You never know what the right time is so you hang out at the right place all the time" (Quoting Calvin)

"You dont have to be Cleopatra, you have to be less ugly than your competitors"

"Strategy is the art of creating an unfair advantage"

"We did not write the 11th plan, but the 11th version of the first plan" (On working with the Planning Commission)

"Know your customer or Kick your customer" (On Banking Infrastructure in place)

"Most of my competitors are either criminals or politicians, often both"

"The notion of a taxpayer paid social security is science fiction"

"MBA is the most intellectual wine tasting session that lasts longest"

"Post mortems have a certainity over prescriptions"

"You married a pregnant bride , you can't take credit for what happened" (His dad's comment on his company's success".

"You have to kiss many frogs, before you find your price/princess"

To end it, something which acts as a comforting factor for me most of the time, heard in Prof. Rishikesha.T.Krishnan 's class :

"In the long run , we are all dead" (Quoting Keynes)

It has been more than a fortnight since I have reached the campus of the place to B - IIM Bangalore. Life has been a "Series of fortunate/unfortunate events " over this period of time. Each week has been characterised by a particular theme and significantly none of them have been the magic word - Academics.This was more or less on the expected lines for that is what a B School is supposed to be , not just the Education , but much more than that.

The first week that was essentially spent in getting oriented to life in IIM Bangalore , will probably remain the most interesting week I shall remember after these 2 years. With the second week going off with the facchas trying to prove their worth to seniors through Aarambh , the cultural show put on by us to entertain our seniors. Sleep is the most luxurious thing inside these walls in Bilekhalli and something which the freshers realise in the first week, for I hear "Zombie" has become an annual feature at Aarambh.Amidst such activity , something else started off - Classes. They have just become another of our daily activities, we can either choose to be prepared for every class with all the prior readings or you can be present at the class, sign the attendance sheet and try catching up on some lost sleep if the professors do not mind. Fortunately for me, every professor has taken a different approach to the subject and none of them which is scaring me about it. I have opted to attend the classes, but as to contribution I doubt what I can do on those lines.

And the last 5 days have truly been the benchmark of the ratrace, the mad fight for that single biggest bullet point in your resume which can get you the coveted Day 0 Shortlist.Noone really knows how significant that line can be and how that can give you a "spike" in the resume which your past 20 odd years of existence has not given , but you just do not want to risk missing out on that. And let me tell you that, I too am running, partly worried as to why truly I am doing this and partly being ready to agree to the fact that it is the fear of a being tortoise in this ratrace.

354 other people have joined me in this journey , many of whom are just simply exceptional and to say the least , it's plainly scary to know that I will be competing with them.But I dont think that will be bearing heavily on my mind throughout the next 2 years ,for slowly everyone of us will become just another PGP1 (and hopefully PGP2's next year) who is trying to prove Darwin's theory of "Survival of the Fittest" wrong . As the days progress , the challenges increase and we either will ourselves to fight it out or we just know what we are best at , realise our limitations and know where we stand in the crowd. The last 20 days have been intimidating, frightening and overwhelming but I am slowly realising that this place is Mostly Harmless.


P.S:
The theme for the next week is the magic word , 4 quizzes and I get the first true taste of "competition" around here , I hope I survive to narrate the story.

It is only in the last 6 months that I have truly experienced what "Bachelor Life" is all about in an Indian city. Even though I have been away from home during college too, this was something different , not in a hostel, no running for tuts , no curfews , no supres/wardens to watch out for and watching CL matches in your own hall, not a lodge.Lest I forget all this was funded by the wonderful "hands-on" experience creating internship ( aptly title Practice School) which was very very educative indeed.

The fact that all of this happened in Hyderabad , a city which I had been in last summer , was slightly familiar with and had a little knowledge of helped . After using the expertise of people around me for the first 1 month, I knew which were the eat-outs to which you could go to , where would be the best "ambience" for sports matches and of course the hip and happening places in the city. For those planning to visit the city , know that Chutney's is the place to go to for the Steamed Dosas, Guntur Idly's, Babai Hotel Idly's , exquisite Sambar and mouth-watering coconut chutney , Malgudi for authentic south Indian food and any of the Ohri's for the ambience. K Circle at YMCA and HQC proved to be the occassional tonic to keep myself in touch with the Quizzing world. As time moved on after the interview phase , I had more free time than anything , making more friends , having more "fun" and the only complaint I had was about the"Paying Guest" I was staying. Thankfully for the last 2 months, I live in a house and not a hostel.Friends from last summer - Arun and Kaushik ( who have now started on with the second "child" after Lootstreet ) were also around for the occasional get-together and Poker times amidst their busy schedules.Sandeep Prakash too could always be met in one of the book outlets on a Saturday evening for a pre-Poker conversation, looking forward to you making me familiar with Bangalore too.

The best part is and will remain my stay in the flat -Praveen , Pradeep, Thiaga and Mani being the other inhabitants. During this period , I have evolved into a fairly moderate "cooker" under the guidance and mentorship". The 5 of us have cooked 4 course meals and had lunches/ dinners while watching all-time favourite "Jest 4 Jolly" comedy clips from Tamil movies. There is nothing that can beat getting up in the morning, making a cup of coffee for yourself, watching the 1 hour back-to-back F.R.I.E.N.D.S episodes with a newspaper in your hands.All the conversations in the flat - the tips for becoming an excellent "peanut farmer" , Sports/Politics related arguements with Praveen ( more so when both of us were sitting in adjacent buildings in Oracle with absolutely nothing to do and debating over the transfer policy and brains of Benitez,Wenger and Florentino Perez) , cursing Dhoni for the CSK loss,disapppointment at India's catastrophic failure, ex-flatmate Psyche's nonchalance, "Ok Boys", never ending comedies and many more such special moments are just a few things I will miss.

Goodbye Hyderabad , I will miss everything from here - Hi-tech City, Rock View apartments, Cafe Nandhini, JMJ meals and being around each one of the above mentioned people. Here is to knowing that we will definitely be meeting again sooner or later .

The last 12 months have easily been the most eventful period in my life so far . There have been some unforgettable experiences , over-the-moon periods , down in the dump despair times and of course just the fun of the exciting life in the city and not a village . But taking into account everything, it has been the most enjoyable spell irrespective of successes and failures.


The Good :

There is no guessing what occupies the top spot. The entire experience, preparing , trying to make sense of completely random terms in the Economic Times , making new friends , "selling myself",learning about Mr.TKGR (the above-God authority) - all this compromises what I call the B Experience .

But I should say something that I enjoyed more would be the summer of 2008 , which is more or less responsible for the above mentioned result.Working for 2 months with Arun and Kaushik , the benefits of learning while you work , the chance to visit the campus of IIM Ahmedabad ( which now unfortunately has become the taboo word ) and of course the chance to see a lot of surprised faces when being told that I was still a student who was trying his hand with work in the firm . It truly was something which changed me in all terms and will probably be a part of my introduction to anyone for a few more years to come.

Even though its significance has been lost in view of the present situation, getting the job at Morgan Stanley was another thing which gave me an "unrecoverable" high. I had people abusing me for the grin on my face while walking on the roads for even a week after the results.At that point of time, I was completely overwhelmed by the same.

The Bad :


Even though , it should not be counted as bad if you get paid for doing nothing except occasionally being asked to do something which even Zimbu, the monkey could probably do,PS 2 falls in this category for me. But fortunately, the people and the firm are really a great place to spend 6 months and it has been a mixed bag to say the least.

Despite spending 4 ( ok, not 4 , 3.5 ) years in Pilani , there was absolutely a lack of "emotion" if I can call it that when I left the campus. Most people have been taken aback by my obvious relief on leaving the place.Like many of my previous posts, it is always the people that made the place so enjoyable for me and I shall be ensuring that I get more of those moments with the people whom I spent those 3.5 years in that village in Rajasthan.
Unfortunately , the times have changed since the time we were on campus for our placements.

This semester has been particularly bad for many friends I know and I am sure everyone will find / make their own way out of this messy situation, if I might add , all that it takes might be some patience and compromise for better things to happen to you soon.

The Ugly:

Fortunately/Unfortunately this happens to do with only my sports affiliations .

Arsenal F.C has progressed from bad to worse in this period. The signing of the wizard Andrei Arshavin must have injected some sense into the all-knowing, kids-loving Professor we fans hope. Development or not, the club needs to progress and it is the time to make a few inspired signings rather than harp on the talent present in the academy. 16 year old Luke Freeman is not going to win us anything next season.


I shall still call him by the same name I always refer to him with : His Royal Highness Roger Federer is going through his worst slump of form and for the love of the game I hope he returns to his stylish and devastating best.

Formula 1 is being hijacked by teams who previously had nothing significant attached to them. Ross Brawn is a technical genius beyond doubt , but I do hope that things return to normal soon and more importantly Scuderia Ferrari getting things back in place.

That ends what is a brief description of how my last one year has been. Though , I am not celebrating my birthday or anything of that sort , I just realised that the technical 1 year - 365 day period for which I have mentioned the activities above will be coming to a close soon.

P.S:

1. Of Course something are just priceless , such as the 5 months in Hyderabad , where I have had the opportunity to meet so many people, weekends spent just watching football and playing UNO , learning a few nuances of poker - everything has made this a really enjoyable experience .

2. I co-hosted a quiz last week for the K Circle with Psyche(less popularly known as Vijay ), Hyderabad Chapter whose review can be found here, written by dear friend Praveen. Thanks to him for portraying the quiz as not the complete disaster it actually was.

The wait has ended and the title must have more or less given it away . I have made it into IIM Bangalore for the PGP Batch of 2009-2011. What I feel at this moment is relief, more than anything else .After all this, I wouldn't have really wanted to go through this entire process again, fortunately I don't have to . This post if any longer wont make much sense and I stop it here.


A special thanks to the Great Man Above .

P.S:

The madNavin most of you know is in some other dimension and cannot be reached at this moment due to the state of euphoria he is in. This post is by his alter ego : N Madhavan.

The long wait has not yet ended for me. The results for admissions to IIM Bangalore have come out and I have been Waitlisted for admissions with WaitList No : 48 . I do not know whether this is something which I should rejoice or be dejected about, for my next 1 year is still a mystery to me . My results are such that when told to someone they do not know what would be the right thing to say . It is very evident to me that most of you are stuck without knowing what my chances are and whether this result is good or bad. Frankly , even I have absolutely no idea as to what I should expect based on such a result. To help you interpret my chances here are a few facts:

Fact 1 : I am amongst the last 5 candidates to be shortlisted by IIM B in the General Category (52 is the total number )

Fact 2 : This Waitlist no does not indicate that 47 people not taking up their seat would result in me getting admission. The admission panel is smart, they have already given 23 buffer offers from whatever I know and this would mean at least 70 people turning down their seats for me to stand a chance of making it .

Fact 3 : Last year , the Waitlist moved till 46, with a probably lesser number of buffer calls and a lesser number of seats. This might indicate that my chances are better and I hope they are .

Besides the above facts remain the choices that people make . The growing popularity of IIM Calcutta and its outstanding finance expertise is also going to be a factor which will influence my results .

Today, I know that there is an extremely high probability that I would either be amongst the last candidates to make into the institution or be amongst the first ones to miss it . The latter will be a very difficult fact to digest, rejection is simpler to face , but knowing that probably not guessing one answer in the verbal section might have resulted in me making it will haunt me . Whatever the result, I still have hope to hang onto for at least the next 1 month or so and at the end of it I will be a different person.

P.S:

1. The Killer - I will be getting an admission letter from IIM Bangalore, I hope it turns out to be more than just a souvenir .
2. Congratulations to everyone who has cleared the final hurdle and heading to the best B Schools in the country to spend the next 2 years.

Before Nov 16, 2008 :

I knew that in all probability I would be spending the next 1 or 2 years working in Morgan Stanley , something which seemed really exciting at that point of time and I was more than happy to take up the same .Even though before I had reached campus for the semester I was intent on taking CAT seriously and trying to continue with education , the "dream job" offer changed my mindset.

Nov 16, 2008 - Jan 9, 2009

After what I thought was not a complete disaster as expected on the day of CAT, I harbored hopes of a few calls, with the more important question being whether any one of them would be from the big ones. As the days went by and I kept hearing scores of 200 and increasing, I had doubts as to whether anything good would come out at all on Jan 9th .

Jan 9, 2009 - Feb 23, 2009

When the results did come out , the time-tested weightage to academics pulled me through for a call to one call that mattered - IIM Bangalore . The next 45 days were a mad rush with me trying to get things in place and get them perfect and polished for the big day . The 4 hours spent in IIM Bangalore on the actual day was not the way I had dreamt of it, with a GD that was more than peaceful and an interview which was completely out of the blue. I did come out of the interview room with a big grin on my face , but that was more because I knew I had given my best shot, the preparations were over and now all that remained was to wait for the results

Feb 23, 2009 - Now :

Despite all the post-mortem analysis,PagalGuy visits to see how other competitors fared , I am presently back to a preparation phase. Preparing myself for the Chequered flag , trying to be ready to digest the message that will popup on the results page. Whatever the results , I will have to brace myself and face it. Easy to write and say,but when it does dawn on me , I have absolutely no idea how I will take it. To be honest,before this there has been nothing else for which I had put such a dedicated and concentrated effort to achieve.Unlike before when I was all geared up to work in Morgan Stanley, that would be a disappointment for me now.At the end of highly engaging discussions with Praveen and Psyche, fellow "wait-ers" hoping that April 10 comes sooner , the only conclusion that I could draw was that there is only so much we can do, the rest is the "secret ingredient" , give it whatever name - Luck,Destiny or Fate.

All the best to everyone of my friends and competitors who are expecting ( some including me - dreading ) and hoping that their efforts do not go in vain.

Saturday
I had reached Bangalore 2 days in advance , some last minute things pending as always , I needed a pair of shoes to complete my wardrobe for D-Day and this was purchased from Koramangla. The fact that I was not carrying sufficient cash resulted in me bumping into Shashank , Mandeep and Vaibhav out of the blue in a street corner in Bangalore . Shasank's interview experience lead me to believe that the route would be clear of academics and it was a "feel-good" interview that was going to take place .

Sunday
2 visits to the temple and no prizes for guessing what I was asking for . The typical last day with a rush to read everything I had written in my one-stop ready reckoner, ironing of clothes and polishing the shoe.

Feb 23rd , 2009:Judgment Day

The day that India had been waiting for years altogether , history would be made today. No, obviously it's not me being referred to here. I tried to see whether Slumdog had already received any oscars before I left home - Resul Pookutty and the maestro A.R.Rahman awaiting the judgment of their work, while here I was about to put my case forward for the same to a different panel for a different reason.

7.50 am :
No, this was not the time I left from home. I had reached the campus by now and was heading towards the M-Block, the scheduled spot where the jury was waiting. I saw competitors everywhere, one outside the gate, one signing in the register just before me and another already sitting in front of the rooms.Everyone had come prepared to plead their cases and put their best foot forward to ensure a future stay within the same walls.The list in M-14 had two "Naveen"'s and one "Navin" and one "Neetha Joy" , one person from the fairer sex in the group, might lead to some order in the GD, I hoped.

8.45 am :
The bonding process had begun , but surprisingly only 5 people had turned up till 10 minutes before the scheduled time.I guess some of prayers had been answered after all, the GD was going to be the easier part. So, it was only to be the 5 of us yapping our way to glory for 15 minutes in the GD . I played the role of the " enthusiastic fresher " who was keen to interact with everyone with the group.

9.15 am :
Prof NarayanSwamy called each individual as per the order in the list, ensured that we sat at the right positions and no it was not a U shaped table with the panel sitting in front of you, it was to be a round table conference with 5 people and the panel sitting in one corner of the room making observations . Prof Bhattacharya greeted us and explained the ground rules to us. So, the fun began, the Case Topic : In light of the current Recession, job losses or pay cuts . What is your stance and what do you think should be the approach of companies ? We had some one paragraph of facts on the same and were asked to start after 10 minutes of preparation time.As soon as the signal was given, I was out of the blocks, starting off the GD, trying to lay a basic structure and define the questions which we were attempting to answer through the discusssion. It did not look like anyone wanted to take the stage from me and I had to go on talking for around a minute before someone took over from me. Through the course of the interview , I managed to speak many times throwing in some management jargon about the "80-20" rule, manufacturing sector's impacts, performance based pay scales and moving employees up the value chain. And while the lady went on one more of her "I have read this article about blah blah" we were asked to stop in what was almost less than 15 minutes , but then we were not really keeping a count and we did seem to have run out of content.

As the other Naveen.C had put it , it is very difficult to "ace a GD" , so I believe I contributed well, had enough to speak about and managed to just write a decent enough summary filling the space they had given me to write. And now, I had to wait, I was the penultimate person in the list and would have a good wait before I had my interviews .

Amidst all this, I remembered that history might have been made and was elated to know that Slumdog did sweep the Oscars and both Indians - Rahman and Pookutty had indeed won the oscars. So that was a good day for India , would it be the same for me ? Would it be possible that I could carry off the interview in a similar fashion to what I had done in the GD ? Half an hour down, the first person with 19 months of work-experience comes out and says the dreaded word : "Academics" ! I was stumped , but I hoped it was not the case with everyone. Naveen C had an interview on Carnatic Music and Naveen N had an interview on his work-experience and again a course which he had done almost 5 years before .So,what would it be for me - Navin M ?

The Real Thing

Prof NarayanSwamy(RNS) came out and called out for Navin M , it was time for me to present my case . I walked in greeted Prof Bhattacharya(MB) and waited to take my seat . So, it began , the jury was out and I had to present arguements in my favour and as it turned out, they tried to flatten everyone of them .One thing which I did do before taking my seat was place my extra-curriculars file on the table in front of them. A file with all my certificates tagged and assorted with the hope that at some point this would draw their attention.

MB: So, Navin . 94 % in 10th, 96 % in 12th and 88.6% in Pilani.( Now , I was dreading where this was heading towards ) Where does that leave you in your class ?
Me : Sir, I think I would be 7th or 8th in my class, I am not exactly sure .
MB:In a class of ?
Me:108 students who did the mechanical courses with me ( Technically,our batch is only 80 in number, but then there were dualites who were passing out with us as well and 108 I am sure was the number in our attendance sheets and besides that sounds better than 80 :))
MB:You are in BITS-Pilani, why are you in Bangalore for your interview ?
Me:Sir,I am currently interning with Oracle,Hyderabad . All students of BITS-Pilani take up an internship programme called Practice School 2 as a part of our curriculum and since most internship centers are in and around Bangalore I chose to give Bangalore as my center for the interviews
RNS decides to poke me , the facebook way in a mild fashion
RNS:What is a mechanical engineer doing at Oracle ? (Smiles around)
Now, that was a free hit for which I had prepared for
Me : The internship stations are alloted by the institute keeping in mind various criterion. I believe that the institute found it apt to allot Oracle to me since I had been placed in the IT arm of Morgan Stanley. This would probably be a good experience for me in the case that I miss out on IIM Bangalore and have to work with Morgan Stanley.
RNS: Is this a programming job with Morgan Stanley?
Me: The profile offered to me is that of an IT Associate, but I am not completely sure about what would be the kind of work I am doing.
RNS: Do you think you will like it ?
Me: Sir, I have an interest in Object Oriented Programming cultivated through my 12th standard where I secured excellent marks and merit certificate for the same. This knowledge is what helped me secure the job, but as to how much I will really be "enjoying" it I am not sure right now.
RNS : It looks good on your resume doesn't it ?
Me: Sir, it just a fact really , I am not sure .
RNS: Just a fact huh , Tell me Dont Mechanical Engineering firms come for placements in Pilani ?
Me: Sir, I managed to get a job with Morgan Stanley on day 6 of the placements schedule and the placements norm dictated that once a student gets an offer he ideally opts out to give others an opportunity. Especially with the current situation I thought that would be the best thing to do.But, later on when Exxon Mobil visited the campus and was in the open for all slot, I did sit for it and secure a job with them .
RNS: So, you have an offer from Exxon Mobil as well ?
Me: There are a few formalities to be completed with Exxon before the offer is confirmed as such ( The fact is that I did get a job with Exxon and I knew it on the same day as my CAT results, so when the HR female called up CAT was one of the various excuses I gave for not making a commitment to Exxon, when she was kind enough to inform me that the results were out. I had no other go, but to tell her that ok , I have got calls and that is where I would ideally be spending my time. After that I have not been contacted for these "formalities")
RNS:And what would be your choice ?
Me: In the case of not gaining an admission from here , besides the above 2 offers , I also have an offer from Lootstreet.com, a start-up venture whose founders are from IIM Ahmedabad and with whom I interned in the summer of 2008. I would want to get more details on the same before I make a final decision.(2 Minutes into the interview, no mention of Lootstreet, I had to take a gamble here and hope that they would pick it up)
RNS:So you have not yet decided what to do , is it ?
Me: Ideally I would want to be in IIM Bangalore and not decide from the above .
A pause before MB decides to get back to me
MB:Navin, I see from your eligiblity sheet (Oh no , please dont see anything in that !) that there is a # in a few of your courses and that you are "Debarred to register" for it. Can you tell me what that means ?
Me:Actually sir, students in Pilani are given an option for repeating the courses for which they are not satisfied with their grades . But, these courses which you mention are Study Oriented Projects which we take up in different semesters. For these, we take up the time and other resources from the professor under whom we are working and hence the institute does not permit us to repeat these courses (I was really lucky to pull that one off,the eligibility sheet given to us was something which noone really pays much attention to beyond the first line)
MB:Ok, so I see that you have done courses on Probability and Statistics(No,please dont go down those lines) , Operations Research, Optimisation Theory,Numerical Analysis and Production Techniques, do you remember anything from all this ?
Me: Sir, Probability and Statistics is there somewhere in the back of my mind, but I dont really remember everything we did in the course.
Smiles from both MB and RNS
MB: Already, ancient you say, what about others ? When did you do it ?
Me: Sir in my second semester, first year.
MB: Is it , wasn't it later ? (Takes a look at the grade sheet and nods in agreement) .What about Numerical Analysis ?
Me: I remember that Numerical Analysis had something to do with the calculation of approximate values of functions , there were different methods like Runge Kutta Method, Newton Raphson(!) Method . I just remember them as names and cant really remember the exact algorithms of each of them. Optimisation Theory and Production Techniques are courses in which I remember the basics that I had read.
MB: So, what do you do in Optimisation ?
Me:We try to achieve a given condition such as maximize or minimize a function within a given set of constraints. We can solve these problems by different algorithms such as simplex or dual simplex.
MB:Do you know what these problems are called ?
Me: I think they are called Linear Programming Problems , but I have my doubts and I am not sure whether Linear Programming is another approach to solving the problems or is the name given to them.
MB: Do simplex and dual simplex come under Linear Programming ?
Me: I am not really sure about that , I remember that we also solved problems graphically, not very sure about the names.(trying to pull off a sheepish smile)
MB: I am still not able to get you, so take a piece of paper and explain to us what you really learnt in OT .(This is not something I had hoped for to happen in the interview)
RNS:Ok, take this paper and explain it to us with a problem you have solved before
I try to take out a pen from my pocket and 3 of them come out.
RNS: Navin, Why do you carry so many pens around ?
Me : (Smiles) Sir, just in case, backup,you never know and I slowly get to writing down the problem they had asked me to.
Sir, there is a function z which we are trying to maximize say z = 3x1+5x2+8x3 given the set of constraints 2x1+7x2+4x3<=30 , 5x1+6x2+7x3<=40 and 3x1+4x2+9x3<=50. We can use the simplex algorithm to solve these problems by introducing slack variables and so on. MB: Can you explain to me what the variables X1,X2 and X3 mean ? Me: They could be basic or non-basic variables depending on our solution MB:No No, In real terms, some real-life example Me: Sir, they could be the costs involved in running a company, say X1 could be the HR costs, X2 could be the operating costs and X3 the material costs/miscellaneous costs (All this with the hope that they would take one of these terms that I am talking about and forget Optimisation ! )
MB: (Smiles) Are you sure this is right ?
Me: Not completely, but I think this could be one possibility.
RNS: Wait , you said these are the costs right , and what have you written here that you want to do with the variable z ?
I had initially started off with maximize and my example had been in the opposite sense.
Me: Sir, with respect to the example I am stating it would be minimize, any company would want to minimise the total costs involved in the running of the organisation , I forgot to change that.
RNS: Thats what I thought as well, why would anyone want to maxmize the costs ! Anyways, continue.
MB: So, what are the co-efficients you have mentioned in the equation ?
Me: Sir, they could be the weights assigned to each variable and how significant they are in the final contribution.(Now his smile has become much more evident)
MB: (Looking at the grade sheet) This is is 3-credit course right ? So how many hours does that translate to ?
Me: Three hours a week and a common hour to clear doubts and solve additional problems.
MB: And how many weeks does your semester run ?
Me: Sir, August to Decemeber , around 24 weeks (that was random and I would not know the implications of this till later)
MB: Are you telling me that all that you learnt during these 72 hours and the additional problem solving session was just simplex and dual simplex methods ?
Me: No, sir . We did solve a lot of problems on the same with different special cases , learnt the same through matrix methods and also moved on to different classes of problems later.
At this point of time, RNS decides to adapt a BodyLine approach, coming out with something that could have lead to me being forced to Retire Hurt with serious injuries.
RNS: Navin, are you from the BITS Pilani in Rajasthan that we all know of or is there some other place where you studied and we are not aware of ?
I managed to break into a smile or something else close to it, to avoid any other evident feelings from appearing on my face .
Me: Sir, I am from the same BITS-Pilani you are talking about and I apologise if I am showing my institute in the wrong light here and projecting a wrong image about it. The fact is that the real-time examples that you are asking me is just not striking me at this moment.
RNS: But I thought that you being a mechanical engineering student with such good marks would grasp these concepts easily and be eager to explain this to me . It does not look like you are interested in Mechanical Engineering, is that the case ?
Me: No sir, the exact answer seems to be slipping my mind at present and I am not able to recollect the answer to this specific question.
RNS: Would you be able to answer the same question when asked in a casual environment ? What would you say if I asked this question while we were taking a walk in the park ? (This was nothing close to a walk in the park for me! )
MB: Navin, dont feel stressed, answer casually .
Me: No sir, if I know the answer I can answer the question when asked in any environment . At this point of time, the answer is not striking me.
RNS: What was the grade you made in this course ?
Me: I made a B in optimisation
RNS is still not clear about my grade
MB helps me out
MB: A is the highest right ?
Me: Yes, sir . An A is the highest sir a 10 and a B is the next an 8.
RNS: So, did you get all your marks by copying or something ? MB breaks into a smile
Me: No sir. I have had to work hard for all the grades and marks that I have made .
RNS: But it does not look like you can appreciate the applications of it , so dont you think whereever you join - Shell or anywhere else, it would be better for you to gain some experience and join an MBA later ?
Me: Sir, if it turns out that I dont make it here, I might learn while I am working. But I believe that I will have enough chances to interact with people with diverse experience in IIM Bangalore's selected batch of students and I will be approaching them to ensure that I learn anything that I have missed out on because of the lack of experience. Also, with such reputed faculty available to help me out, I believe I can learn things faster .
RNS: Is there anything else you studied in the course and you are confident about ?
Me: Other things we studied in optimisation was about Production Centers and Distribution Centers for a company.Costs involved in transportation between each of them is given and we try and arrive at a solution where the demand is met at minimum cost . Simultaneously I was drawing a table of the question and demonstrating it to them
RNS: Do you know what such problems are called ?
Me : Transportation Problems Sir
RNS: Ok, anything else ?
Me: We also learnt assignment problems where we had to schedule a certain number of tasks among a given set of employees such that the objective is met in the best fashion
MB: What do you mean by "best " fashion ?
Me: Sir, since this is a mathematical approach I do not think we can qualitatively say that the results will be best, the algorithm is such that we minimise a certain entity : in this case man hours .
They seem to be satisfied with my efforts to put across my limited knowledge of Optimisation Theory.
MB:Ok Navin , where else have you got calls from ?
Me: Sir, only Bangalore and Shillong have called me for the interviews.
MB: What was your CAT percentile ?
Me : 98.8 Sir
RNS: In the case that you do not make it to Bangalore and get an admission from Shillong , will you be taking that up ?
Me: Sir, I have not thought about that , I will probably have to look more details about Shillong .(What the hell, who was I kidding here, I decided to let diplomacy loose ) But I do not think that I will be joining it if that is the case . Since I have time on my hand and I think I am made for IIM Bangalore, I would learn from my mistakes if any I have made this year and come back and give it a better shot next time around.
RNS: But it looks like you put all your effort in making it to the institute and dont really do anything after that ?
An 8.86 in Pilani and still he says this .
Me: If you give me the chance to join IIM Bangalore I assure you that I will be making the best efforts to ensure that I put to best use the facilities provided to me by you.
Smiles
RNS: Giving an assurance is one thing and proving from what you have already done is something else
Me: Sir, I believe that I have done it to the best of my abilities and I have to work hard for an 88.6 in Pilani.
RNS: It looks like everyone else relaxed by the time they reached their final year and you just got away because of that.
Me: That is not the case sir, I am a part of the first set of students who entered BITS Pilani through BITSAT .Most of us had aspired to join the IIT's and missing out due to various reasons. All of us had high aspirations and ambitions for our future and most of us were working hard to ensure that we achieved what we wanted.(Batch of 2005, stand up and fight for your pride ! )
RNS: Fine, so what are your other interests ?
Me : I have been an avid quizzer since primary school. A quarter-finalist at the All Asia Bournvita Quiz Contest and Champions of the World, I also take interest in hosting quizzes, literary events for an interested audience. I am also a sports enthusiast and a passionate fan of Arsenal Football Club, Roger Federer and Rahul Dravid .
A brief pause, RNS smiles at me and I smile back .
RNS : So why do you want to do an MBA Navin ?
Me : It is my belief that the 2 years that I spend in doing my MBA will change me as an individual. At the end of this period, I will be a wise, mature and accomplished person who has the knowledge to make the right choices from the different opportunities available to me. This would also be the best way to achieve the targets that I have set for myself in terms of career in both the long-term and short-term.
Finally, one question I had prepared for and a line I added intentionall with the never-ending hope that a bait works for once in the interview. They decided to relent.
RNS: And what are those ?
Me: I want to enter consulting after my degree since this would give me the chance to work across different industry verticals, work on projects across various sectors and with time find an area of interest I would like to specialise in. In the long run, I would like to start-up my own organisation , it is just one of those things on my wishlist and I think would be a memorable accomplishment .
RNS: But you do not need an MBA for that, you can learn on the fly.
Me: Sir, but an MBA from an institute like IIM Bangalore with its diverse peer group and renowned faculty would be teaching me a lot, exposing me to different perspectives and I think will be extremely useful for me . Besides, the kind of experience that I will be getting after a degree from IIM Bangalore would be the best place for me to learn on the fly different aspects about the running of an organisation.
RNS : What about your schooling, where have you studied ?
Me: Till my 10th standard I was in Bhaktavatsalam Vidyashram, Chennai and for my 11th and 12th I moved onto DAV Senior Secondary School , Mogappair.
RNS: So you have done all your schooling in Chennai ?
Me: Yes sir
RNS: What do your parents do ?
Me: My father works as a Manager(Electrical) in Container Corporation of India at Delhi and my mother is working with the Railways Tribunal , Delhi as an administrative staff.(Thats the closest I knew about my mother's designation )
RNS: So, both are in railways huh ?
Me: Sir, ConCor comes under the Ministry of Railways, but I am not completely sure about its status as a part of the Railways (Now this is because of the fact that my mother gets free travel passes, while my dad doesnt , so I was pretty sure there was some difference )
RNS: Was he working in some other arm of railways before he joined ?
Me : He actually worked with Central Warehousing Corporation and moved over to ConCor after going on a deputation.
RNS: Ok, you were telling you joined through BITSAT right ? So what is your rank in the same ?
Me: According to the institutes records, my rank would be 340 .(That is my id no and my seniors had mentioned at some point that it was my rank, though it does not take into account many people who dropped out and joined IIT's and NIT's )
RNS: And how many students took the test ?
Me: Around 50,000 students in the year I took it I think
RNS: And where was the cut-off for Computer Science ?
Me: (Very confidently coming up with a number) The last student to get Computer Science had the rank 216 Sir
RNS: Oh, it goes down so low ?
Me: Sir, students have certain preferences, many opt for electrical, instrumentation and mechanical above computer science
RNS: Yes Yes, that is fine
Me : Actually sir, BITS still has a system of giving admissions to around 35 students from states based purely on merit.
RNS: Even after BITSAT ?
Me: Yes, Sir. So 340 might not be the exact rank, there might be a slight variation .
RNS: Ok , Navin. Do you have any questions for us ?
Me: Sir, I have heard a lot about the student exchange program in IIM Bangalore and it giving us a chance to interact with the best business brains across the world at B schools around the world. Can you tell me something more about the same ?
RNS: That is something where after you join, you give in your preference about various institutes with which we are associated: . The institute will be making a decision based on your options and previous performance and then allot you the same. You can either take it up or decline it after the results.We actually have tie-ups with more schools in Europe and anyone who wants to go abroad will definitely get a chance.
Me: Sir, Isnt Stanford a part of the list ?
RNS: No, what we have with Stanford is just a short 2 week program where students from here go there and a few of them come here. It is not graded .
Me: Fine, Sir. I had spoken to a senior who had the opportunity to visit Stanford through this program.
RNS: Oh, a current 2nd year student ?
Me: No Sir. He passed out last year , working in BCG currently, Gautham Krishnan.
RNS: Ok, Good luck Navin .
Me: Thank you sir, turn to MB and repeat Thank You sir .


AfterThoughts :
What could I have changed about the interview ? I dont think there was much scope for that, they seemed to be too interested in testing my optimisation. The fact remains that Optimisation Theory is not the only thing I have done in my life :) . Despite the overall tone of the interview, I have not lost all hope, I brought them down to the Why MBA standard questions had a few smiles in the 20 minute duration . Rather than a 10 minute chit-chat, it was a 20 minute long session where they either saw me crumble or decided I will fit in. What was the decision I will be knowing only later .

Unlike my other posts, this is one where I would want you to leave a comment with your verdict and comments on what I could have done better, I would greatly appreciate that.

For all those who google for the same: IIM Bangalore 2009 GD/PI experiences.

P.S:
The title credits rest with the master himself, Kaushik Mukherjee. People who know me will know that I am really pathetic at naming as my previous mundane titles suggest.

D-day is over , my 40 minutes of fame are up. "The Curious Case of Navin M" awaits its judgment from the 2-member faculty panel at IIM Bangalore . "The Curious Case of Navin M" will be aired soon through this media.But before I can take my time to finish off the script, I am going ahead with the credits and acknowledgments. The list of people who have been troubled because of the fact that I had been selected for the GD/PI process is really a long one. Irrespective of what the verdict is, I cannot thank enough everyone for putting up with me over this "preparations" phase of mine.

Undoubtedly , at the top of the list are two people I can never really thank enough - Arun Balakrishnan and Kaushik Mukherjee, the founders and directors of Lootstreet who had to read through every version of my SOP ,answer an insane number of questions from me and above all take mock interviews , listen and correct those ridiculous answers of mine.I am not sure how many seconds of the actual interview I could have survived without the insight provided by them to me.Others who were unfortunate enough to be interacting with me in close quarters over the past one month have also had to put up this with this different side of mine.The saint, Thrivikraman who had to share a room with me was forced to be at the wrong end of many long monologues where I rambled, cribbed and spoke about everything under the sun. Praveen and Psyce(aka.ivyjar aka.R.Vijay) also had to put up with my never-ending enthusiasm for preparations and discussions on what the actual interviews might turn out to be like. And of course, my PS Teammates - Srikanth and Ramya, who had to sit patiently and listen to me cribbing, worrying and narrating my experiences and thoughts everyday.Special Mention to Sandeep Prakash, the entrepreneur-in-making who always had something significant to point out to me.

Then there are those who have been lucky to be farther and have been troubled only by the g-talk windows and phone conversations . That list includes Srihari(aka Kutts), Dude Iyer (aka Shell Iyer aka Anand Iyer),Janani , Poornima,Avinash and Vinayakk.Also Diwakar who was gracious enough to run around the ARCD office in Pilani to secure my transcripts . And of course,students and alumni from IIM B who were forced to help me out despite their busy schedule - Mochu(aka Arun Prasath, I hope I am right with the real name !) for the interviews tips and Gautham Krishnan(Chitappa(Old man's) brother) for throwing some valuable light on what actual consultants do and what would be the best approach to take in the interview.

There are more people in the list and its endless. So, to everyone else, you have been saved from public view since you are special .

Releasing Soon : "The Curious Case of Navin M"
Location: M-14 , IIM Bangalore

Cast : Navin M( in a supporting role), Malay Bhattacharya , R.NarayanSwamy