Comedy, before the drama could start: – IIML, the institute that I would love to attend if i am lucky enough to get an opportunity. Not that I am belittling IIM K or I, but just because L is very near to home(comparatively) it had a place right after A and B for me.(donno what I would do if at all I get L and C call ..I am just talking about what I feel now).
So it added some pressure as well, because for me somehow it was an interview for the big one. Lets start with the fateful morning of 15th Feb itself.
This time I was determined to reach a bit early, as the PagalGuy forums indicated that the GDs are starting at sharp 9’o clock. I knew that reaching on time is as impossible for me as taking wickets is becoming for Irfan Pathan. The harder we both will try the more difficult and impossible it will get for us. But still I tried and induced my mind into believing that I have to reach there(again the familiar Monarch Hotel) by
But I think that getting late is always in my fate, its an habit that I should meekly surrender to. Its an eternal law, Just like a S/W engineer can never find an intelligent manager, I can never turn out anywhere on/before time. Accepting the fact, at best I should try to minimize the damage.. because even if I try to change this, my luck will make sure to discourage me further ..just like the way it happened this time.
I was getting dressed when I looked at my mobile..it’s hard to read screen had “3 messages received” on it, believe me since when my love story has stabilized I only get 1-2 promotional messages per week, interrupted with 1-2 forwarded messages from friends/3 months(holi diwali types). So out of curiosity I decided to check them out. All of them were from ICICI they were like –
Msg1- the entered pin is wrong ..card will be blocked if tried more than thrice
Msg 2- 500 Rs withdrawn from your account/card
Msg3- balance enquiry done
I panicked as I had applied for an ICICI credit card(with some debit limit) and had not received it yet(a day before this also I got 2 msgs with saying wrong pin etc ..but I ignored them). Maybe it was already in some wrong hands.(and the guy now knew the correct pin as well)
Though I know that my fears were a bit stupid but frankly I am still not fully comfortable with cards, so I tried to call ICICI call center.. to my surprise they open their shops at 9’oclock for complaints. Wasted around 10-15 mins on this.
Then opting for the old trick I went in to the enquiry/new cards queue to finally get hold of a customer executive.
He confirmed that I have only one card in my name which is still to be used for the first time…that lead to a written mail from my side to customer care etc etc..
Time –
Rushed out of the flat, I had the Scooty (courtesy Sangs) to bank upon. Gave it the full accelerator..my tie was flying like a torn flag of a ship that was about to sink in the storm. You can understand the frustrations I went through while facing the Bangalore traffic and its jams when I was counting each and every passing minute.. Finally reached at brigade road(Time
Seeing me in this bizarre state he felt a lot better. Very similar to the feeling that I had when a fellow programmer had 11 bugs against his code within a day of QA taking it, while I myself had 9 😀 or probably even more close to what you feel after scoring a zero in some test to discover that there is at least one more person sharing the regal score with you.
We were in the same panel(I was just so happy to see him with me that I almost forgot to worry about my own pathetic situation, .. standing outside a closed GD room which according to the attendant outside was closed since
At last we knocked(while he knocked .. I prayed.. [-O< ) A Prof came out, looked quite disgusted to see us there. I peeked in to see that guyz sitting inside had already written about half page of summary.. I knew at that instant that its gonna be really tough from now on.
We pleaded .. gave excuses of Bangalore traffic(which magically strikes a cord with anyone who has faced it even once) etc etc ..finally he went in to talk to the other Prof..and ..and EUPHORIA ..he signaled us to come in. 🙂
But just when I was about get in with a much relieved state of mind..the attendant asked me to come to a side., signaling in a manner that could have easily been mistaken 😉
I was greatly annoyed.. asked him in quite a crass manner.. whats the problem?
He still asked me to come a step towards him..(now everyone from inside was looking at me through the door)..
I was really not amused and with my eyes straight on his face I advanced towards him..repeating my words ”Whats the problem?” :-L
He said in a contrasting low voice “Sir your zip is open” ..
WHAT??
Whew !!
OMG.. zipped the pants ..thanked the kind man. Cursed myself and entered in the room with a smiling face as if nothing happened outside.
Guyz who were in there looked at us coldly(saale ye kahan se tapak gaye..7 hee bande rehte to achcha thhaa)
He gave us the chits and told that we will get only 5 mins to read it and write the summary.(others were stopped after a couple of minutes)
The GD:- I opened the chit and the sentence written on it was –
“In business world, the rear view mirror is always clearer than the windscreen”
I knew that I had less time so tried to come to the point quickly ..the only point I could think of was about relating the windscreen to future and the rear view mirror to the past. I opted for the TATA example(as they had recently acquired corus) how there is uncertainty about their future while their past is certain and clear to all of us, was about to add something when we(both) were stopped.
Now the GD started.
The lines on which I was thinking were put forward by someone else..i knew that this is the time or otherwise I will be too late(even in the discussion :O )
I quickly came up with my TATA-Corus example to support this view.
This was well heard by the group(and hopefully by the profs as well) , but it started a flurry of such examples(you know everyone goes through ET with a renewed sense of interested in these GD/PI days.. taking every merger and acquisition as seriously as if the multi billion deal is done for the sole purpose of pushing the reader into IIMA through some backdoor entry)
This mayhem went on for about 5 mins ..the topic was lost in this GD in which the group suddenly became very much interested about all the mergers and acquisitions that have taken place in near past..i just contributed with the correct figures whenever I could. Then somehow it came back to track with someone talking about viewing this from competition point of view….like some competitors ahead of you(windscreen)and some behind you(rear view ) and tried to fit the analogy. Great diversion.
I felt that I need to get in again with something substantial.. realized that my mind is still working and came out with this bluff(purity guaranteed) –
“When we are talking about competition I would like to quote Michael Schumacher who once said that when he is on racing track he never try to see who is behind him, he believes in just focusing ahead to see who is ahead of him”
Didn’t try to relate it completely to the topic given..but still It had its impact..looked like I am talking some substance and got much respect from the group after this.
After contributing here and there in the end I again came up with one point relating this to entrepreneurship..like an entrepreneur is gonna have the road clear when he starts”(as he is the only one on that road).. but as soon as he starts to make big profits others will start to jump in ..making the road crowded and his windscreen/future less clearer than his rear mirror/past .. something like this ..
Group supported this and 1-2 guyz discussed further, I supported it with Indian aviation industry example..saying that Jet and AirDeccan had it easier as they had early advantage when compared to newer airlines ..most of whom are running in loss blah blah …
Overall a pretty satisfying GD(satisfaction of getting away with the bluff included)
The Interview:-
Interviews were very short, guyz were going in and coming out within 10 mins. Maybe the profs were worried about their lunch.
Finally it was my turn –
Both the profs were just typical middle aged(I mean around 50) profs. Not much to differentiate so I will call both of them as P. they were not much interested in the answers so I expect something similar from you as well, so I will not provide my full answers as such-
P – Tell me something about urself
Blah blah ..
P – What was this JOSH? (I had a certificate of the same)
Sir it was our cultural festival..
P – but it is about Volleyball
(WTF) :-S Sorry sir it was our Sports festival ..(hee hee ..great going)
P – Why do you want to do a management course?
Blah blah..
P -Don’t you get learning opportunity in ur work?
Sir I do get ..actually I learned a lot in my initial days ..but these days it is getting easier for me and there are fewer new things to learn now given my work constraints.
And about IIMs, I would love to have that great learning opportunity of 2 years..where I will have some of the most intelligent persons of the country as my class mates and will be taught by some of the best professors, in an area that excites me.
P-Don’t you have intelligent persons around you in your company?
Yes there are but you can’t compare all of them with the batch of IIM..different settings ..blah blah
P – Dhiru Bhai Ambani, Bill Gates didn’t have MBA weren’t they good entrepreneurs?
They were ..but they still had to learn the things in a hard way..for example Dhirubhai had to directly interact with small vendors/employees and customers in his initial days..he acquired his man power management/ HR skills through such interactions. A formal MBA can help in this process. And I do believe that DBA or AP would have become even better managers had they undergone through a formal course.
Blah ..blahh
According to you, who was a better leader, Azim Premji or Bill Gates?
Bill Gates ..bacause of vision ..etc
But Bill Gates was charged with AntiTrust law?
Gave some gyan over Antitrust ..like the parameters considered predatory pricing , customer lock-in etc etc ..and tried to say that all of them are debatable. Whether they are good or bad for open business is questionable..so antitrust is not a crime as such. Its just an attempt to control few things. A business decision can come under its scanner even if the company’s intentions were clear.
(Could have given funde about great leaders working for the junta that they lead)
Do you know that Bill Gates has adopted a village in India?
No
1-2 more questions followed ..thats it
very brief interview. They were just stressing a bit on why MBA kind of questions..apart from that they were keeping it really short. Maybe the profiles are going to play a greater role.
18th Feb, 2007