U kNOw - What a CATastrophe ...

Three weeks gone since the results of the CAT were declared - three weeks since the dates for 6 interviews and 6 group discussions have been looming over my head - three weeks of staying up late in the night, not because i am studying, but simply because i am hanging out.

Now with a tryst with Lucknow coming up next week, all those nights screaming 'UNO' and 'caught' need to come to a halt. Those random visits to movie halls and tea stalls, the getaways to Khan markets in the middle of the night, the working back after dinner - must take a backseat.

Academics is something, they say, i must know well. If that were the case, pray explain why I hadn't gone about doing an MS. How does one prepare 4 years and 40 core subjects in a span of 4 days.

They argue, you fool. How can you not know GK and current affairs of the entire world. You are after all a global citizen. Yes please, i ask. If my examiner knows the prime minister of Tonga, i will devote my entire life to studying politics and world economy.

Which incidentally brings me to another cheap-skate they want to pull of at my expense. I am a stupid engineer. A computer one at that. Why the deuce would i have the remotest idea of GDP and fiscal deficit, given that i don't even know my own subjects. Tell me those numbers and solve a problem i might. But no, they have to ask me the problem and my opinion. In a country as diverse as India, there are going to be a billion opinions on macro-economy and the budget and the atrocities of the Finance minister. Does my liking or hating the budget going to change my way of living. I am going to pay the tax irrespective of the slab. I can crib about it for hours even if he eases the rates. I am here to learn these things. Knowing them is not getting me the Nobel Prize for sure.

If some gyaan guru from the IIMs reads my blog and decides to not select me, then so be it. Their justification would be that a leader of tomorrow does not express such negative chi. But i am not asking to become a leader. I simply want to be a better manager. And this involves all of Planning, Leading, Organizing and Controlling.

And this whole stupid basis of a GD is beyond me. Obviously, when the great B-schools consider selection or rejection on a GD, then they might be having a very good reason for it. Probably, if i do get to that B-school, i might just figure it out. But today, all i see is a fish-market, with the most vocal trader trying to sell of his rotten stock, while the genuine guy keeps waiting for the correct customer to sell his good quality fish. Ultimately, the entire market closes down and everybody is put out of the misery of the bad smell

Last week i attended this workshop on GD and PI, trying to take away some pointers. I met all kinds of people. Some with "Black Eyes", and some without. What i did see in commonality was the fact that there was always one guy in these group discussions who wanted to start, conclude and keep speaking on for the entire 20 minutes, irrespective of whether he even knew anything on the topic. There were others who did a blitzkrieg attack, annihilated the opponents and went back. There were others like me, the Silent night ghosts. They came, they saw and they went away. Sometimes, they would bring the ball to the ground, and then the rest of the field would play football.

Well amidst all of this what i have learnt is that Simon and Garfunkel still are the best duo around, and listening to them lets me keep my mind of such petty matters. Oh how i missed my long forgotten cassette tape, only to feel rejuvenated again.

So the keyboard stops now. I am homeward bound and feeling groovy. Old friends and bookends have gone by, and even though I might not find Mrs. Robinson, let me search for my Emily, wherever she may be ...