NITK- Chapter 8.1/The Big Battles

Semester 7 was done with a good note as it was the  best in terms of my grades.. Coming out of the semester I had a goal to reach & I was on my feet to take it on.. My abilities were on stake & survival needed a fight with the best to be among  the best of the country… Each battle ahead was big & I wanted to be the Dragon Warrior  🙂

My preparations had almost come to halt by the end of my 7th semester &  I thought I shouldn’t be putting extra efforts on my small brain.. I thought I couldn’t grasp anything new in the last month which I hadn’t grasped in the past 1 & half years..My concentration sticked on solving papers & analyzing them.. I was pretty successful in doing what I had planned..

It was time for “THE DAY” &  messages wishing me filled up my cell phone 🙂 I felt good that I had good support 🙂 I never went to write any major exam or attended any major interview till now without mom.. I feel highly confident when she is with me 🙂 After all Mom is Mom, none can be as good & supporting as she is.. 🙂

November 16th…I was still thinking of my dream on the way to my center.. It was a nightmare, where I had wasted 2 n half hours filling the feedback form rather than solving the actual Qs.. I had mistaken the feedback form as to my Q paper..Stupid dream.. 😦 I had my CAT exam centre in JP Nagar.. I was there much before time & was totally tensed.. Mom was with me & telling me to do as much as I can, to be calm, not to worry, etc.. 🙂 I felt nice.. I was searching for some more familiar faces & it was Shaany there, finally..Spoke to him for sometime & later we wished each other & I went in..

After all repetitive announcements( which were very irritating), Q booklet & OMR sheets were handed over to us.. I filled them up with atmost care & was ready for it ..Probably my heartbeat was 100 beats/ min then…I prayed God for the final time .. Saw thru the paper & I felt I din know even shit in it.. I always started with my strongest section (Quant)… I was tensed & 1st 5 mins led to no solutions.. I sat for 2 mins without doing anything & remembered mom 🙂 The calmer I got, the lesser was the time taken by each Q..In next 40 mins I could solve 13 with 100% accuracy.. From then on it was a bad paper.. My usually good DI went to dogs & it was my worst performance in VA till date.. My DI was as good as my Quant & I wasn’t ever good at VA, but this time I had crossed all limits in jumping to the bottom..I guess I had stored my worst performance for my CAT!! 😦 I had hit the bottom & by the next morning I knew it was over)..

After comparing my answers with TIME & IMS I told my parents , they felt very bad, especially mom..  Then left to meet Adarsh.. He was still counting his marks in detail by checking solutions of each Q.. “He liked slow death I must say!! ” He was one of those frens, who really felt bad cos I was depressed after my performances..He really cared.. He also had screwed his CAT & it was mourning time for both of us !! I guess those 2 hrs we spent chatting were the worst ever.. We both wanted time to run back .. We checked all the websites to get different answers which would match with ours.. We tried to find different logic to prove our answers were correct.. But in our hearts we knew it was over & I knew that I had lost the opportunity to study in an IIM…Parents & frens supported me a lot during my weak phase,especially Nikhil & Rashmi, who tried to bring some positive thoughts in my mind…

IIFT was scheduled for the next sunday.. Now I was not tensed 🙂 Not that I was confident of cracking it, but I knew how to take pressure & also how to take failure.. Of course Mom supported me in everything.. :)Without her support taking risks & career decisions were never possible.. Love her the most 🙂 I was in Sheshadripuram college on time for the exam..

Now everytime before entering hall I remembered the Chak De India dialogue 🙂 I know its filmy, but I am like this 🙂

Sattar Minute, sattar min hai tumhare paas. Shayad yeh.. tumhare zindagi ke sab se… khaas sattar minute. Aaj tum aacha khelo ya bura khelo, yeh sattar minute tumhe zindagi bhar yaad rahegi. Tho kaise khelna hai.. aaj mein tumhe nahin bataunga.. Bas itna kahunga, ki jao aur yeh sattar minute jee bhar kar khelna.. kyunki iske baad aane wali zindagi chahe kuch sahi ho ya na ho.. chahe kuch rahe ya na rahe.. haro ya jeeto..lekin yeh sattar minute.. tumse koi nahin cheen saktha, Kyunki mein jaantha hu ki aagar yeh sattar minute is team ka har player apne zindagi ki sabse badiya hockey khel gaya.. tho yeh satar min khuda bhi tumse vapas nahin maang saktha

That is what i thought everytime now..I just wanted to give the best I could in every exam  🙂 I knew I was good at this, I wanted to do the work which I loved.. Cracking aptitudes gave me a high which I guess ppl get when they booze..  Following weeks went in writing exams.. IIFT, JMET, SNAP & the last one FMS..

JMET was @ NITK.. SNAP was @ Christ college.. Rashmi had the same centre & we were in the same room.. She complains even now that cos I din show the answers, she didn’t crack the exam..Lol.. She is impossible 🙂 FMS was then the best ranked college after top 3 IIMs & XL.. This was the most important exam I had after CAT..I badly wanted to crack this, else I had to suffice myself with Symbi or IITs.. There was a task ahead..

After every exam I used to feel I wouldn’t clear that exam.. 🙂 So I was all ready to go to Symbi thru mgmt quota.. It was God’s grace that I cracked all the exams & that was the worst feeling after CAT.. Now I had taller hurdles to jump..:( I had Essay writings , GDs, PIs, GTs & Extempores in different colleges & had to crack them..

Parents–IITB

After postponing my N/Ws mid exam , I attended my 1st essay writing, GD  & PI process of IIFT at Coffee Board .. I met Ashray there.. From here on we met in almost every GD, PIs & we had cracked exactly same  exams.. He was my classmate in SKA , the IIT coaching center.. Incidentally we both are in FMS now 🙂

IIFT started with the essay writing for half an hour..I wrote an awesome essay quoting loads of no.s.. Then we had a GD process for 55 long mins..OMG!! It was killing.. 1 min of speaking by all 15 people ( Yes, 15 people!!), then discussion & finally summary by each one of them.. SO we got 25 mins for discussion.. It was a peaceful GD & I did decently.. I was the 1st one to be called for an interview, & he asked me everything about electronics & accounts 🙂 Mad man.. Now how many times should I tell him that I was from Computer science background.. I answered everything he asked me about Cricket 🙂 Thats when I had finally driven the interview to my strong area 🙂 I almost knew that I was out of IIFT after the interview 🙂 I had smallest hopes cos of essay & GD..

Next were SCMHRD & SIBM.. For these I had to travel all the way to Pune.. I begged both the colleges so that they could reschedule my process on consecutive days.. They did it 🙂 Went to Dharwad, stayed there for a day & then left to Pune.. It took just 5 hrs to reach there 🙂 Our driver is too good.. The same evening I had my SCMHRD process.. It was the best organised process I have ever seen 🙂 Beautifully organised by the students & it got over in just 2 hrs.. I was the best in GD & had done exceedingly well in my interview.. Met Vidya there, even she had her process on that day.. Met a senior from NITK (Comps), who was swearing at K.C.Shet..

Next day Ashray joined us & we lost the way to SIBM.. Our driver had to go thru bumpy muddy roads to get to SIBM cos we had come by longer route.. A shorter route was awesome, & we realised it while returning back.. SIBM’s process was totally ill managed & for the job which took 1 hour 15 mins, they made us wait for 6 full hours..:( 😦 It was bad to see this mgmt by mgmt students.. GT was awesome, GD  & interviews were ok..

It was then time to see IITB.. 🙂 Awesome campus.. Excellent infrastructure.. Beautiful atmosphere & the canteen food was good :)Even this process was extremely well managed & I got through my process in 1 hour.. Parents were seated in the conference hall, which looked awesome.. 🙂 GD was again a general topic & I put all my thoughts which made sense 🙂 Did well.. Interview was all about recession & my major project.. I told them everything about major project, which Nikhil had taught me 😀  I spoke non stop about my project for 15 mins.. Hehe.. Then they stopped me 🙂 Later had a good time at Mumbai & was visiting Taj after 26/11 attack.. So it looked even more special 🙂

In 2 days I had my IIT Kharagpur process @ IISC.. I was feeling extremely comfortable cos of the place 🙂 I had spent lot of time in IISC cos i stayed in Malleshwaram for 2 years.. There was some waiting but process was good 🙂 Speakers in GD were dumb & I changed the whole direction of GD.. I felt it was noted by the panelists when they appreciated me during my interview.. Interview was about Software Engineering & I smashed it 🙂 Was extremely happy  by then & had started feeling secured about atleast getting 1 MBA seat.

FMS was the final one on March 16th.. I ate wada in FMS canteen & it was awesome 🙂 I guess that was the last time anna

made good wadas.. Process started on time & we had GD as the 1st round 🙂 Again ppl looked tired & bored to speak on a simple topic & I made the most of it 🙂 I eventually turned out to be the best speaker in GD.. Happiness never stays for long at FMS, cos my extempore was mediocre & in interview they grilled me with electronics again 🙂 I was bugged up now.. Even after telling that I was from Computer Science background  D.D.Das asked me another electronics core Q abt some circuit.. I wanted to get up & go now, but I didn’t.. I gave a ‘No’ for 1 st 5 Qs with a smiling face 🙂 🙂 Narag sir liked my smile I guess,cos after that he gave a big smile..Few Qs followed about packets,routing,TCP etc.. A personal Q & then I was done.. I came & told my parents that I wld be rejected.. So we saw almost all major places in Delhi, before we left cos we never expected to come here & stay 🙂

March 23rd I went with Rama & Manish to buy my 1 TB hard disk 🙂 Then had to bring some clothes from laundry & on the way back to coll I had to pick up Rashmi.. Frens from PESIT had come to meet me.. Rashmi, Smita, Sujay, Priyanka, Rizwan & Shreya had come to meet me 🙂 I was so happy 🙂 Gave my HD & laundry clothes to Manish & roamed around till evening 🙂 Had a great day.. Played in beach, drank about 3 glasses of sugar cane juice, was damn tired.. Came back home & at 10 remembered that it was time for the result..Opened the website & it wasn’t still up.. Was so tired that I had dozed off.. It was 11.30 & I saw that I had not cleared the 2nd round.. Told it to mom & it was total silence..Then realized that the list ran into 2 pages.. I saw my name there in 2nd page 🙂 Mom gave a big hug & then we called up dad 🙂 Messaged Soniya, I called up Rashmi & her phone was off.. Smita’s cell was not reachable 😦 I guess bus was in ghats.. Nikhil Bhat didn’t pick up the call as he was with his aunt who had come from US.. Oh Man, none were listening to me 🙂 Calld up Shankar, Aditya, Adarsh & Arun.. Told Roshni online & messaged Yeshwanth 🙂 I was extremely happy & was bugging every1 at midnight.. 🙂

I was officially into FMS then 🙂  Adarsh was so happy that he actually gave me a treat when everyone was asking for one 🙂