IIM Lucknow Interview

Venue- IIM Lucknow, Noida Campus

Date: March 4, 2012; Sunday

Reporting time: 9AM

I reached the venue at exact 8:15AM. Sitting in the waiting room, I glanced over the headlines of the newspapers lying there. Exactly at 9:15AM we were called in. In my group, there were 11 people; 3 were absent. WAT topic was “bad news is ‘Time is flying’ and the good news is you are the pilot.” I wrote a decent essay on the importance of time and urgency of people and organisation to equip themselves better to race against time.

As soon as, we finished, GD started on the same topic. I was the second to speak. I think I took that opportunity to broadly define the topic. I made just 3 entries and made my points. A female candidate was hyperactive and blabbered most of the time. I didn’t speak much. I would rate my GD avg.

I was the fifth guy to be called for interview in my panel. The candidates before me were freshers and it seemed they were asked about lots of acads. My interview started on a very bad note. When the fourth guy came out, he told me to wait for 2 mins and then enter. I waited for 2.5 mins and knocked on the door and made an entry. One of the panellists signalled me to wait for 2 mins more. I again knocked, after 3 mins. He again told me to wait. And, he came out and started shouting on the candidates who were talking in the corridor. He then barged in, shutting the door behind him. I did not know what to do. I waited for 2-3 more mins and then again knocked. This time he lost his temper and told me that he would call me last. Now I waited outside cursing myself till he called me in.

Ombattugudda Trek- Failed

After a very successful KP trek, we were all very eagerly looking forward to another trek. Jain took the initiative when he proposed Ombattugudda in the first week of Dec, 2009. We did some online research about the place and were pretty much convinced that the trek would be more challenging than the KP trek. We gathered good deal of information about it. The trek trail went through dense woods and covered nine consecutive peaks (that’s why the name Ombattugudda- Nine humps in Kannada). We also came to know about the trek being infamous for its tricky trails. There are parts in the trek with no visible trails while others present too many options to confuse people. No doubt, the success rate of the trek was low and even experienced trekkers easily lost their way on this trek. That’s why it was strongly recommended that we carry a survey map and a good GPS during the trek. To add to my excitement, I came to know that the jungle was infested with elephants and some people had encountered bears also. Apart from these, every blog had their list of ‘Dos’ and ‘Don’ts’, which we very conveniently ignored then and later regretted.

Finally, Sankalp Gulalti, Rajeev Pandey, Ankit Jain, Viraj, Siddharth and I were ready and decided to do this trek on 12-13 Dec, 2009.  Mudit missed out due to his commitments at work while Sankalp chipped in at the last moment. Customarily, we shared responsibility for arranging essentials required for the trek. Viraj took responsibility for GPS while I procured the maps (Map No.48 P/9/NW and No.48 P/9/SW) from ‘Survey of India’ office. Jain took care of the ration (milk, ready-to-eats, Gud and Chana, Glucose, electrolyte powder etc.). Sankalp took responsibility for the tent, sleeping bags, rucksacks, and mattresses. There was a small problem however. Sankalp could get only one tent (suitable for four people). We also arranged a medical kit. I was in charge for getting the tickets done. Having experienced the KP bus ordeal, I decided to book the tickets in relatively more comfortable Rajahamsa Bus. Luckily, I got all six tickets in a single bus- one third row seat and the rest last row seats. I did not book the return tickets as I did not know at what place our trek would end.

Good Riddance !!

There was a man.. I hated every thing about him.. he was very careless about his everything.. he never made any efforts to pursue his dreams.. wasnt very confident in his approach.. he was very casual in his manners.. had a very fragile mind.. didnot stick to his words.. he was not a man of principles.. he had different measures for the same thing at different places and at different times...

I loathe him so much that I wished he better die.. Last day, that dullard died..

Main Nadi

To start with, I want to emphasize that this poem is not written by me. This is written by Nishu. This proclamation is to ensure that whatever credit or discredit this poem deserves should go the original author and not me.

But, yes, I too am related to this poem. Nishu have confessed that after reading my poems on my blog, she got inspired to work on this poem, which was imcomplete for a long time. That’s the small insignificant contribution I have to this poem.

She completed this poem and recited to me on phone. I was spellbound. She recited this so smoothly and rhythmically. Reading this poem for the first time may not give you that sense of rhythm. I feel a poem can best be recited by its writer because it is him/her who can get into the deep meaning and sense of each and every word/line. Anyway, she was not very happy with her ending of this poem. She felt kind of sad by her ending and wanted it to be changed/appended.

Since, I liked this poem, I took this assignment. I have tried to sustain the theme and the flow of the original poem. But, I feel the transition from her poem to my appendage is not very smooth. In fact, it is so remarkable that one would readily conclude that the pieces are not written by single person. It is quite understandable too. She wrote this poem with a different mind set, in a different environment, with a different pool of words. However, I have tried not to be very abrupt.