The only call of the season...

There is more to write about the talkative Indians. But before that I would like to post my recent GD/PI experience at IMT. For those of you who are curious ( ??) to know my CAT results, I must tell you that all I had this year was an IMT Nagpur call. Expecting to get a 95-97 percentile and a score of 19-28 in English, I was surprised to get 4 marks :). All I got was a 90.01 with a low verbal i.e 38 percentile. CAT says I am bad at English. I disagree though ;). XAT was a relief with 96.4.
But then as I said the only call I had was from IMT Nagpur. I did not take it seriously and did no preparation. But the day before the GD/ PI, I was worried. Converting it will not be a matter of great happiness, but not converting it will make me feel too bad.
I reached IMT Ghaziabad, changing autos, quite on time. I was not feeling very comfortable in the formals because I borrowed them from a junior and they were quite loose for me. Two things I learned were - wear your own clothes and carry a deodrant!

The GD started at around 2 p.m. There were 3 people in the panel – one from KPMG, one from IT, and one lady from commerce background. There were 10 people in the group - 4 from commerce, 1 from arts and others were engineers. They gave us time to interact before the actual GD started. The topic for the GD was – Consumer is the GOD of today’s market. I did decently in the GD, though not outstandingly well. It was followed by a monologue for 1 minute which I kind of screwed. I fumbled as I started and till I warmed up and recovered, the man in the panel rang the bell! They asked us to write a summary of the whole thing in 5 minutes.
Then came the interview. Here it goes:

I1: You played national level in badminton ( thanks to U.P.T.U for conducting that sport event and granting me a national level certificate ;)). Why didn’t you choose sports as career?
Me: (felt like he he ha ha…) Sir, sports as a career option is not too promoted in India.( as if had it been so I would have become the Shariapova of badminton ;) )Moreover, it was a mixed doubles match, so the credit goes to my partner too.( I am modest)
I1: But since you were also a part you share the credit too!
I2: Are you placed? Which company?
Me: Yes Sir. I am placed in I-Flex.
I2: You have a low verbal score. Why don’t you devote some more time and efforts this year? Why MBA at this point?
Me: Well, sir being a girl I have to take care of lot many things. I want to do certain things before my parents want me to do them.
I1:(laughs) that is a smart answer.( looked convinced that I don’t want to give CAT again!)
I3: Ohkkk…so what is your take on women managers?
Me: Maam, to be honest, I sometimes wonder how will I strike balance between my work and family. My mother says that it is rather important to find a suitable guy than doing an MBA. But I think I can perhaps leave my job if my family suffers, but I cannot leave the degree at this point of time. This is something I will possess for life.
I2: (nods) yeah…so the degree will be a permanent asset…
I3: (smiles) And the guy wont be a permanent asset!!
Me: (smiling)
I2: Rupali, but why suddenly MBA after your B.Tech.
Me: It isn’t sudden at all Sir. Infact whether it was school or college I was always managing things. I worked for this literary society in college for 3 years and now I am its president. I was also the Head girl in my school. I was always doing n number of things simultaneously!
I2:Your academics aren’t too good.
Me: That is because I was too involved in other activities. Infact the drastic fall you look in my 2nd year marks was because I participated in everything possible in that year!( Oh no…he didn’t notice it before…he didn’t even ask me....why did I say this at all! And I won’t stop here.:)) I was playing badminton in may be Agra or Bareily or may taking part in a ramp show!
I2: so basically you had fun :)
Me: ( yeah you are right…I was actually having fun). I think I learned a lot from all that.
I1: But management is all about multitasking. This is no excuse.
Me: Sir, I agree. You can look at my third year marks. I eventually learned to manage and got a decent score again.
I1: Your role in GD was too confusing. You made 4-5 good points but you were never able to steer the direction of the GD to your side. What do you have to say about that?
Me: Yes, probably I wasn’t able to steer the direction of the GD but never in the GD did I feel that I was not involved. Infact , when I was not speaking I was actually consistently listening to what others said. Moreover, I was geographically well located ( they smiled) and therefore I was kind of serving as a bridge!
I1: so you blog…What do you blog about?
Me: Sir, I blog about abstract things….about what I see in my daily life…for example it can be something related to how people converse in a passenger train.
I1: What will you write about today’s GD?
Me: I will probably write about the informal promises that were made before the GD started that we won’t make it a fish market. The calm faces of the people made me wonder if they will speak at all. But as soon as the bell rang, they sprouted with ideas!

There were few more questions I do not remember. But they seemed happy with me. Even if they do not select me I think they enjoyed the conversation, and not to mention, I enjoyed it too.
Oh I didn’t tell you about this guy from bangalore who was sitting next to me in the GD. He was fantastic in the GD. I went to congratulate him for his performance which resulted in a further conversation and much more…..I will write about it in my next post which will be a continuation of “Being talkative”.