A -- Agonizingly close

On 5th I had my A interview .. the biggest of 'em all .. and it seems befitting for the situation that there should be something 'extra' for the occasion .. or so thought the intitution (mayb the profs are fed up of teaching and want to roam around brigade for a change .. ) so there were 3 instead of two .. everything else was the same .. the same waiting rooms .. the same GD rooms .. and more than that my GD group had 6 ppl (out of 8) the same as in the IIM L interview .. ( we could hear ppl saying : "Last time (during L) , u spoke so much, is bar aisa karega maar daloonga !!" )

We entered the GD room, got three papers on our seats, (one with the case study, one paper for rough work and one for summary) .. and the prof told us "no writing TWO or THREE extra words after I say STOP .. ) and I was like *wat the hell .. who is listening to this crap*

the GD was abt some transcriptionist company on the boom and some recruitment problems faced by them .. I was making a very conscious effort to come in early in the GD and brought out some obscure point that I myself thought would be of relevance in the later part. I was given some 5 seconds to elaborate my point and then the whole group shot me down *whooooosh* .. I tried to listen and then wen the oppurtunity presented itself made an attempt again .. this time mayb they gave me 3 seconds , *bang bang* and then i decided that it was better to keep my trap shut and nod my head at the points that they were dishing out ...

Once the GD was over, we were given 5 minutes to summarise. I was the BEST listener (!!!) in the group and obviously had a lot to write down (in chronological order) and by the time I reached the long term solutions discussed, the Prof said STOP, but me in my endevour to bring out the best summary, kept writing furiously. The next I noticed, everyone in the room is staring at me, including the Prof (the one who had said NO writing once i said STOP) , I tried to mumble something .. but alas .. no cognitive syllables came to my mouth. that I thought was the end of my A interview.

Came bak to the waiting room, and we discussed and cribbed ( and I was sulking) abt wat transpired in the GD, the other 7 were happy that they got to speak , two of them even ventured on to say " maine aaj tak itna kisi GD main nahi bola .. aaj to maza aa gaya" (at my expense, of course) :(

I was no. 4 in the panel, biding my time by feasting on the tea (n coffee n biscuits and snacks) made available by the Hotel .. at last my turn came and in I went ..

there were 3 of them .. P1 (the one who was staring at me) P2 (a paavam person) P3 ( lukd lik paavam .. but naah 'first impressions can be deceiving' ..

P1: so you are working at Motorola for the past 8 months ?
Me: yessir (please ask me abt Motorola)
P2: Please name 4 methods of coding ?
Me: (!!!!!!!!) wat sir ?
P1 :repeats the same thing again, this time slowly. methods ..of coding ??
Me: sir, I did not understand .. *err, this is not going according to plan*
P1: there is one method where you do a requirement document and then plan and then code ..
Me: *very eager to tell him the rest* ..sir thats the way coding is done at Motorola, thats the process that we follow.
P2: *sigh* so can you tell us the other methods of coding ?
Me: no sir, am not aware of 'other' methods...*voice trailing off*
P1: ok, leave that .. then wat are you doing at Motorola ?
Me: try to emphasise that the project is mature and we just do maintanence and no coding !!! also mention that we are the best in the market in streaming ..
P2: hmm.. what is streaming? and is it used in india ?
Me : explain .. also try to hint abt 3G phones .. (luckily they let me lead them on .. )
P3: so, wat is 3G ?
Me: explain.. bandwidth, downlink rates .. streaming RDJ, video telephony .. etc etc. also put in 3G licensing in India.. (but they dont fall for that)
P1: which countries have 3G ?
Me: explain .. europe and all .. also mention abt Japan and Korea (pioneers and all )
P2: what abt 4G ? what is diff?
Me: try talking abt QOS .. and also higher quality services .. and Japan .. and Nextel and al
P1 : ok what is the difference between RDJ and normal FM ?
Me : explain that also in detail ..
P1: ok, I will come in later .. now you can grill him .. (luks at the other two .. )
Me: (turn my head to them) ..
P3: Do you watch movies ?
Me: yes sir .. a little bit .. (i did not want to get into that ..)
P3: have you seen 'Pyaar ke Side effects' ?
Me: Rahul bose and Mallika Sherawat ?
P3: *impressed* yes ..
Me: sir I have seen the ads and the posters .. but did not get a chance to see the movie.
P3: but still persists .. did you see Mallika's coffee with Karan yesterday ?
Me: No sir I missed that also ..
p3: then no point in asking you abt Mallika then (sad luk on his face .. wat does he want me to tell him .. that she thinks that she is 'Viagra to the Indian movie industry' and that i completely agree on that with Ms Mallika ??? )
P1: ok, which is the last Movie that you saw ?
Me : sir I watched the 'ghost rider' (thats one shitty movie btw) day before .. at REX (and at this point i point to the theatre which is a stones throw from the hotel)
P2: no no .. the last Hindi movie that you saw?
Me: (smell sumthin fishy) .. I go for ..DHOOM 2 ..(no story, no suspense, so no chances of questions on that one ..)
P1: hmm .. thats so old ..
Me: i watch more regional and English movies .. (excuses *grin* )
P3: ok leave that, what is the single most important event that happ to u this week ?
P2: and please NO budget and NO samjhauta express !! (gud I had forgotten abt the samjhauta one .. )
Me : *move the conversation to futball* .. sir the victory of Chelsea over Arsenal in the Carling cup final .. talk abt Chelsea n the owner .. Ramon Abrahmovic .. billionaire et al

all three were not that into futball .. but gave me a patient hearing ..

P2: ok ok .. you said you played in the Calicut district league and the inter-university for NITC ?
why did you move from Tennis at School to Futbal in colg ?
Me : explain abt 'team game' and also abt being versatile and ability to think and intercept ..

P1 : ok, Tennis has atleast some appeal in India, with Sania and Leander and all .. futball not even one star is there .. then why futball ?
Me: passion, live your dreams .. blah blah .. worlds most watched game .. global appeal .. blah blah

P1: name 5 indian futball clubs ?
Me: name around 8 teams .. (he asked me to stop at that time .. )

P1: if, Ramon Abrahmovic (he had listened to what I had said!!) comes and invests in India, what can be done to make India world class in 5-6 years ?
Me : There are two methods, either Import talent (Malaysia did that) and other grow talent, this will take a lot of time though.

P2: lets grow talent here itself ...
Me: then it will take around 12 -15 years .. have to train from a very young age .. have to target niches like Kerala, Kolkata, Goa etc ..

P1: do you think Media also has a role in this ?
Me: yes .. only then the talent pool would be larger .. otherwise parents would not allow their children into the game ..

P1: hmm . how many ppl watch games in kerala, I can tell you East Bengal and Mohan Bagan play to empty stands in Kolkata ..
Me: in calicut, the matches are played to semi filled stadium .. around 5000 ppl watch the game .. (wat the hell .. we used to play to absolutely empty stadiums .. not even ball boys *grin* )

P1 2 3 : surprised !!! explain ??
Me: sir, akk the league players have free pass to the games, then there are tickets for 50 bucks, those seats are full. Other costlier seats are not occupied .. so there is enthusiasm for the game .. maybe the revenue is not there.

P1: *sighs* ok do you like Math ?
Me: yes .. (apprehensive)

P1: ok .. do you like Calculus ?
Me: sir .. err .. I have done calculus .. (was sitting on the wal on this)

P2: ok draw a graph for the function ..y2 =3x2 + 4x + 5 without plotting points.
Me: convert it to a parabola and draw it ! *phew that was easy*

P1: how do you define differentiability of a function ?
Me : explain .. continuity and crap ..

p1: is |x| differentiable ?
Me: at which point ?

P1: at zero
me: (very confidently) yes it is .. (is it ?? if you know please let me know )

P1: ok , wat abt |x| / x .. at point zero ?
Me : no it is not .. since the left hand limit is not equal to the right hand limit .. so not differentiable.

P1: hmm .. think abt that .. anyway thanks a lot .. have a toffee ..and please bang the door wen u leave
Me: yessir .. and abt to get up ..

P3: wait .. who wrote the application form for you ?? (wt kinda question is taht ?? )
Me: sir I wrote it myself ...

P3: but your handwriting is so diff wen u wrote the summary ..
Me: sir, have two handwritings, one for assignments and one for class notes .. (smile .. ) *luckily for me they also smile*
moreover there was not enuf time to write neatly, so I was writing fast even then i could not finish .. this sir (point to P1 at this point) was glaring at me for not stoppin after he said STOP ..

P1: *amused* yes .. I did .. (and then he smiles)
Me: *phew* lucky esscape ..

P1: ok u can leave now ..
Me: thank you sir..


well all in all it was much better than building an SEZ in calicut .. but the GD was not upto the mark .. well dont want to crib abt that now .. watched Nishabd after that .. how bad can things get .. a y60 year old guy gets a 18 year old girl and a 21 year old guy is sitting without one ( ME ME ME ) .. *grin*
well as the 60 year old guy found out later in the movie .. girls are a pain .. (no i did not mean to the heart !!) .. so I am not complaining .. 'single and not ready to mingle' is the best way to be .. wat say guys ??