Everytime it rains ... I get wet

I don't know how this bug of blogging took a bite of me and I keep on scribbling in this space with the useless posts of mine. A real torture for the readers I know :)

But every time I decide not to do any more of this crap, I get a brand new reason to express myself ... I am right now in the Orange City - Nagpur- my home town. Scorching heat, high flaring temperatures will welcome you here in summers, the heat is simply unbearable. But today this city has given me a chance to revive the real 'Me' ... a chance to re-cherish the childhood fetish of enjoying the exquisite aroma of earth getting completely soaked in the first showers. I am wondering if this is the same place I was cursing for being dry - it has been rechristened to nothing less than a Heaven thanks to the first showers !

Like anyone, rains have always enticed me since my kid days. Whether it be the fun of cycling back to home from school without wearing the raincoat mom stuffed into my bag just for not getting drenched in rains or be it the joy of making and sailing paper boats into the rivulets formed in the home premises after some good showers. (I always believed in saving the newspaper or any scrap paper for this purpose ... instead I rightly utilized those test answer papers .... sshhh ... Mom I am sorry :P )

I somehow feel that the joy of the first rains match the aura of the first love ... may be I am wrong because I have never experienced the latter but it's an instinctive feeling. The first rains, lashing out the heat parched earth, to me symbolizes the flushing out of every damn negative aspect from the mind ... opening of an entirely new fresh chapter of life ... First rains every time ... every single time has succeeded to kindle a joyous smile on my face ... pretty same as a small child has when he sees the toy he likes the most ... for the first time.

Someone has rightly said, life is what happens to you when you are busy planning other things. A perfect fit for the feeling today ! As I am writing this, my mom and dad are stepping up the pressure on me to start packing my bags as I would be leaving for Bangalore in 2 days to pursue my MBA, but today I am not in mood to worry about it so much ... Today I just want to get wet, in the first rain!!

Please Help ME !

Hello folks, how are you doing? Bewildered?? No no .. this is not the stupid blog owner, it's Me!! The 'One' whom you place an emergency call with when in any problem, whom you curse that something ... sorry NOTHING has happened as per your wish and the 'ONE' whom you very easily forget when all the things start falling in place as per your wish .. at that time it is not due to ME but your destiny/hard work/ you deserved it ... blah blah ... It doesn't matter to me as long as I see you all happy.

Ok, what I am doing here? Well, like you, I too have a right of celebrating some joyous moments, crying over something not being fair. And this time I have an occasion of celebrating something ... it may be small in everyone's eyes but I see it as a beginning of a new era in the making of the largest democracy of this world - India!!

Yes it is about the enhancement of prison term of Mr 'X' (I fear to take his name here ... He is a very powerful man you know!) from six months to Eighteen months ... whoaaaa .... I am so happy and so are my children ... Ruchika, Bhanvari Devi, Jessica Lal and Priyadarshani Mattoo ... well the list is too long !! We all are celebrating this pie of success. Frankly putting it across, I used to become very sad seeing them begging me for justice. I hate situations in which I can't do anything. Yes !! I was, am and will be helpless in all these matters. Don't mess with them, they have the might to wipe you out - advised my 'well-wishers' when a freak thought of opening up a aar-yaa-paar battle with these useless demons wreaking a havoc in your otherwise serene world crossed my mind. I preferred to keep quiet.

But now I am on cloud nine! And I must congratulate the Indian media on behalf of all my colleagues here. The work they have done on grounds was IMPOSSIBLE for us even from Heavens. Kudos to you Media - the intense pressure from your side on the bureaucratic and political class helped to bring Mr 'X' to book. Keep it up !

Well, regarding the Indian Judiciary process, I think that it follows our time frame. One year in Heavens = 100 years on Earth (If you find discrepancy in this data, please let me know. Counting the number of years required to 'lodge' a case, then comes the time wasted ... oopss... utilised in giving 'Tarikh Pe Tarikh' for its 'careful' analysis, then the time taken to roll out the verdict and even after the verdict is done the time required to actually implement that - Ghosh !! I have completely lost interest in figures. So please bear with me)

When you are happy you want to keep on talking and talking. But just now I remember that I have an important meet for which I have to actually run. But before saying you folks a bye, I want to ask you people a favour. A promise that you will not let the guard down now. Please don't allow this success to be a flash in the pan. A promise that YOU will fight tooth and nail with these elements and make the JUSTICE prevail.

When you are in agony and see no way out of an impasse, you call me ... " Oh God, Help me!!" ... right?? Now allow me to do the exact same thing. I am in a deep agony and an helpless situation and the only one who can help my out of this is YOU people .. it is YOU only who have done it so far and it is YOU only who can DO it in future also !

So PLEASE HELP ME for once and see the wheels of the CHANGE churning for yourselves !!

Think upon it. Bye !

Dil ... Dosti ... Hyderabad !!

It's almost 11'o clock in the night ... the aura of the glamorous Hyd Airport and the feeling of a start to a new chapter of life was slowly gripping three guys who had just come to Hyd from Nagpur .... hhmm .... I don't know about the rest two but yes .. definitely one of them. It was just a beginning to a series of events that were going to happen in the guy's life.

In fact this kid is quite known for his great contribution towards betterment of humanity by serving as BLACK HOLE for all the worldly loads, worries and tensions and hence while the other two chaps were having time of their life, this kid was being highly skeptical. Actually speaking, it was not his fault at all, he was genuinely childish in many aspects ! Some people do take a bit longer to grow up. He was one of them. Maybe the new job life will help me grow mature- he thought.

Unknowingly he gets involved in a plot which actually speaking serves as a perfect recipe for a typical flop-before-release masala movie, flop ... because it is devoid of all those things which are normally required for a film to be at least a 'film' ... be it cheesy romance or some thrill ... nothing is there! (Action is out of question!) ... in fact it lacks the most basic ingredient of any damn film - a Heroine (poor guy!)

But still it gives the guy many many reasons to smile and laugh out like a drain, to cry like a baby that nothing good is happening in his life, to despise someone beyond limit, to fall prey to someone's cute smile (He learns a simple lesson in a hard way - Beautiful girls ... naaah 'ALL' gals in his vicinity are ALWAYS in a relationship' :P).

He is a witness to the worthless discussions happening in 205, Silpa Emeralds, Silpa Park, Kondapur (you should this visit place once before leaving hyderabad, it's a melting pot of all the damn ideas which will change in-and-out of you forever :P) on almost all the global issues culminating with an 'intellectual' fight (Point to be noted - Though the 'group discussion' includes everyone, the fight is limited to only between him and 'someone').

Then he also undergoes a torturous and rigorous training by three idiot gals on how to shed his 'I-am-still-a-child' image and how to be smart while 'tackling' a girl (He is still trying to figure out the connection between the two things, he thought his 'mentors' would be knowing about it, but later realized that he was nothing more than a guinea pig for them ... bloody idiots mentors !!). The class venue used to be Barista or some other random party place and the timing used to be flexible. And the course material, of course it was AWESOME ! (Helpless to do any more elaboration on this).

Apart from this there are many facets to his mundane life ... The walk in the night with friends up to chai tapri to sip a cup of tea ... The normal bachelor lingo in the group ... "Saalo izzat se dekho use, tumhari hone wali bhabhi hai woh :P" ... even though the 'bhabhi' ... oops ... that gal is seen by the junta for the first time, The daily early going to office to see that he is always the first to come and then his lingering around at his friends' place … each one of these events have left a twist or a turn or a speed bump in his journey !

Well as I type this stupid and non-sense anecdote of his life on his part, the nostalgic feeling is already taking a hold of him ... but he knows that he has to move on ... Destination is more important than the Journey .... he explains to himself to get over the nostalgia ... even though he very well knows that the actual fact is the other way round ! As the time for him to leave this city of Pearls is nearing, he realizes that he is still childish, in fact has 'grown' even more childish during this voyage .. But then Growing Old Is Inevitable; However Growing 'Up' Is Optional .. He tells himself. The life has come a full circle for the boy and also the time to bid adieu to all ...

This one straight from his heart ... to everyone who once bumped into him at some point of time in his wonderful journey

Bye Hyderabad ! Bye All !

India Bleeding - I

Dantewada - by this time must have become known to almost all those who take a slice of time out of their hectic schedule to either peek into the newspaper and go through the front page headlines or look at the media news channels updates. From suddenly no where this place has become an epicenter of war. A war BY the people of India AGAINST the people of India. Whether it is FOR the people of India or OF the people of India is altogether a different issue to debate and I don't have enough knowledge to comment on it either.

I was at Delhi airport when this news got flashed on the big plasma TV - "76 CRPF jawans killed in an ambush by the Maoists". At the same time there was a race going on between the news channels - who would be the first to bring in the LIVE visuals from the spot of encounter. A Hindi News Channel preferred to play safe ... rather than getting into the race it continued to air the show named something like Shoaib-Sania ke Shaadi ka Sach ... at that time - 'The Wedding' was of more NATIONAL importance than this 'everyday' incident, it must have thought !!

No fault of the channel also ... the cruel fact is that a major chunk of the 'educated' junta likes to watch such 'masala' news more than any other dry, non-interesting stuff.

Well, coming back to why I am scribbling here ... Yesterday I happened to go through an article by Arundhati Roy, who in this article of hers calls the Maoists as "Gandhians with Guns". Mahatma Gandhi - I don't know how 'He' would have reacted to this but my take is that Madam Arundhati should have at least thought for a moment before calling the murderers as 'Gandhians'. Also at the time when the real heroes of India were bleeding the so called "Human Right Activists" were probably sleeping like a log ... But an interesting fact is that as soon as even if a single terrorist (this term includes the Maoists also) is 'murdered' by the Indian Security Forces .... ooops .... sorry the real 'Terrorists' in their terms, these very same activists are in the front condemning the 'brutal act' - it's democracy at its best !!

Agreed that India is a country where an ordered pizza arrives before police at any place, but still all this is a temporary situation, I think so. Surely there would be light at the end of the tunnel. It's just a matter of time - yes - a huge wait has to be there. Probably it will not be possible in this era in which you and me are living. But it IS going to happen for sure.

It may be possible that I am sounding more philosophical, stupid ... whatever ... I don't care. Whatever I wrote above was my actual 'knee-jerk' reaction to Arundhati's say on her 'comrades' (Link posted above). Whenever I feel that my emotional limit of sustaining something is crossed, I can't live with it anymore. It's simply 'Me' !! You will surely see more on this space whenever the 'Indian' in me feels offended again.

My journey into IIMB - The Interview Day

(You can read the First Part - here)

I can't forget the awesome and marvelous hotel on Juhu Beach - Hotel Sea Princess. I was the first one to reach the venue (as always). Slowly the whole batch assembled and the whole process started. The first part was Essay Writing. I think that I wrote quite a decent essay. "Your hand-writing was so decent and neat !!" - remarked a guy who had sat beside me for Essay Writing task. For a guy who has not penned down a single paragraph of even 10 lines after leaving college(it's almost two years that I have left the college), this comment really proved to be a big morale booster ! Somehow I started feeling that I will do well in interview as well.

One after the other my panel guys went in the interview room and each one came back with a smile on his/her face which clearly indicated that how well his/her interview had gone. It is a mixed sign actually for a person who is last to be interviewed in the group (Yes, I was the last !). Either the panel must have by that time decided and done with its quota of candidate selection and your interview is just a formality or TOO MUCH OPTIMISM would be that they still have not got the right one (at least ONE) so far, and they are eagerly looking for you to fit in that slot (if at all you are worth it).

"Kaustubh Agnihotri, please come in", I was called in. During the time I took, to get up from my chair till to knock on the door and ask the formal "Excuse me Sir, please may I come in", my whole life played a cine-style flashback before my eyes. Actually too many things were happening in very quick time. From nowhere, Aamir Khan's famous song suddenly chipped in the plot and my hand unknowingly started cajoling my heart - " Aal izz welll .... Kaustubh ... Aal izz well ..." It was simply incredible, this filmy type line really worked wonder for me. I too came out of the interview with a typical 'colgate' smile on face. (Since my idea to utilize this space is to only highlight my roller-coaster MBA Admission ride right from CAT Day till IIM-B Results day, I am not posting my IIM-B interview questions here)

Next Part Link - here
Previous Part Link - here

My journey into IIMB - CAT Day

Anyways, the D-Day arrived

Day of CAT, 2009 : Dec 6
Time : 10.00 A.M

Arrived at the center with no confidence at all. I explained to myself - you have nothing to lose, comeon. You never did any preparation for CAT, never cracked a single MOCK, so just chill. To my relief I had the company of my friend - Sahil - who at that point of time also was brewing with confidence of taming the dangerous CAT. I always liked his attitude of never giving up in any case. "I am always the best :) " - is his punch line - with that smile of course !!

Soon the process started in batches. My friend went in. I was in the last batch. After all the batches went it, our batch was told that our lab's computers have gone awry. There is high chance of our test getting postponed or even cancelled and we will be further notified about our next CAT exam day by mail. I was shocked - after just 5 days I had to leave for US on company 'trip' and what if the exam gets cancelled. I said to God - agreed that I was taking this exam lightly but it doesn't mean that You should also take this lightly. Suddenly God was showered with many 'Please don't do it to me, Please save me' requests. He said OK. Lab suddenly started functioning. We were called in. I was happy. The test went fine. Actually it was plain simple test. I called up my friend Sahil, thankfully his test also went fine. After completing this episode, I left for US for a month expecting that when I come back to India, I would see my CAT result- hopefully a good one.

Well what all happened after my India arrival, what the CAT result had in store for me, how things actually turned out to be - in the next chapter :)

Waiting for all friends' comments/suggestions on the above :)

Next Part Link - here
Previous Part Link - here

My journey into IIMB - I get a call from the place to 'B' !

Soon office work started taking better of me and I happily allowed it to do so, I just wanted to clear off my mind of any single thought of MBA this year, because my dream was simply not possible this year .... !! Hhmm .... may be possible, I thought. Ahhh ... hope never dies .... and in fact it should never do!! Somehow I felt that God will have some pity on the poor creature and the day of 7th March proved it right. I just could not trust my eyes - I was indeed called for IIM-B 's PI/Essay process. The first thing I did was I pinched myself - a quick reality check !!

Next 'smart' thing I did was that I enrolled for the GD/PI program of two well-reputed MBA institutes in Hyderabad. I was hoping that enrollment in these programmes will motivate me further, but these very damn classes each and every time made me realize how far far far behind I am .... in comparison to all other 'B' call-getters !! In fact in one of the MOCK Interview at one of these institutes, I was indeed mocked !! (Like ... tu bhi karega MBA ??? .... woh bhi IIM-B se ??) . My Statement of Purpose seemed to be more of a shocker to the MOCK interview panelists .... one of the panelists face gave me an impression as if I have written in my SOP that I indeed know where Osama Bin Laden is right now! (Meaning that I have all bluffed in the SOP because not even Laden himself must be knowing where he is right now :P)

A feedback message came for me after the interview; although the tone in which it was communicated to me was very sober (and very sweet too :P, in fact SHE was the only good thing that I found worth in that whole stupid course program :)), its crux was straight forward and rude .... Chod naa yaar .... kaha MBA karta hai ...mast job kar.... ye CAT , Interviews dena tere bas ki baat nahi .... waise bhi tune SOP itna mast likha hai .... ki use sirf dekh ke hi IIM-B waale khush ho jaenge !! (It's a figure of speech they had used - Euphemism - Harsh Words expressed in Mild Terms !)

After coming back home, I verified my SOP multiple times, to see if I have mentioned any 'objectionable' words in it or what. I did not find any. I decided no more MOCKeries now of self ! Whatever happens, I will face it in my interview - I told my decision to God. I got no reply back. I assumed it to be positive for me.(Sometimes when you are in pressure cooker situation and are expecting something good to happen, you take any damn thing happening around you as a good luck sign, even if has nothing to do or has no thing in relevance to that situation .... at least holds true for me). I was simply waiting for my day and it arrived very soon - 5th April.

Next Part Link - here
Previous Part Link - here

Some US Pics - II

US Pics (continued ... )
















Previous pics can be viewed here

Dil Ki Meri Khata Yeto Nahi !!

Very nice song from Avdhut Gupte
** Courtesy Sahil Joshi :-)

Some US Pics - I

I am attaching some random pics of my US trip ...

More pics here

Those were the Best Days of My Life !!

I walked with my best friends across the campus towards my class, my final year engineering class. There was not even a single trace of any life in the college, except for we people .... me and my best pals .....

Another ten steps and there was our class with the doors shut !! Had a wish that the time stops at that very moment, but it was impossible, I knew. We opened the doors of the class for one last time ...Wished I could ask my teacher, "May I come in? (Please say NO :P) " and wanted to hear him shout , "You late again, come only for attendance " Looking at the walls and the desks .. all empty with quotes we wrote and the raised platform where the torture classes were held and the last benches, where we had fun, laughed, kicked out ... hiding from the teachers, pleading for attendance, million memories rolled like a muvee into our minds ... and there was complete silence for a moment .. and we smiled ... laughed !!!!!

We walked like heroes from the medieval times, jumped over the benches ... We drifted to our place ... sat there ... side seats..I didn't feel like the last day .... I feel like as if i was born in this college .... I feel like I was always here ...The entire class was still there alive .... the last benchers sleeping ... the gals chatting amongst themselves ... the teacher in his own world (?)

Sahil sitting besides me .... cribbing about something ..... Harshal sitting on first bench and even on this last day, taking down notes ... damn 'padhai baba' ..... Chaitanya trying talking to the gals outside the class (it's an audacity act he normally does and of course the gals didn't belong to VNIT :P)... Pravin making some sketches.. or bullshit poetry (don't underestimate his poetry skills, his poem has got published in one of the magazines also ... actually deserves some award :P).... Rahul engrossed in something ... God knows what (Even God must have got bored .... by hearing his dialogue of 'I hav got bored' over and over and over again)!! The 'Tech Wizard' ... Ankit ... Bill Gates was thinking upon some strategy to lure him in his company (Didn't have anything else to say about this 'great' ... and it's one and the same thing whether to say about what Ankit was doing or what Bill Gates was doing :P) Poor Me just looking here and there ....

Ghoda (don't know how he came to the class ... tughlul ... tughluk :P) waiting for the class to get over to go to canteen with Laddu (the only creature in hostel I know who used to be awake at 6 in the morning :-)) who along with Pandey (ye kya ho raha hai yaar !!) and Pappa (To Teacher -> aaj khush to bahut hoge tum ... aaj hum jo hai aapki class me :D ) had just arrived in the class (5 mins before the class begins ... oops ... ends :P). NVD lost in his own world (of ???) ... Awte showing keen interest in Teacher's talk (Displaying his Masters in Dramatics, Yes Sir, I am listening to you ..) .... till this time ... a whole Neural Network (or something weird the name of which even one must not heard) project idea was being contemplated in the great 'fuzzy' mind of Manu da .... Mahendar, Saurav and Paras ... all ... feeling sleepy .... Sushant and Munna... both ... helping them to stay 'alive' by cracking jokes (to understand these, one's IQ level should be tremendous !!) .... Mundhra (Who is he?? :P) ... present in 'invisible' mode in the class .... and like these many other actors/actresses performing their 'role' in the damn boring film called 'lecture' :D

For the nth time the class ended with "No attendence".... we usually hated this ....attendance ke liye hi to class kiya yaar ...but on that day the class has just simply ended for us ... and my friends ... who normally would have been chatting and laughing .... going for a chai... or a samossa ... or a lemon juice ... in our canteen, were very much lost in something !!

And we sat there ..... I closed my eyes, for the entire world outside the walls of the campus was calling me ...Wanted to attend one last lecture ... but this time there was no one to take that last lecture ...and there was that door... open ... and we wished all the time ... to run away ..... to bunk.. but this time it wasn't..... one last time .... one last time ... attended the class ... with no one .. just we best pals....!!


** - Write Courtesy Sahil (One of his senti mails)
** - I am sorry to miss out many names over here :-)

My journey into IIMB - It finally happens !

After being done with all the Interviews,every moment wait for the results was killing me. But I received a bolt-kinda-shock when I saw the FMS and SP-Jain rudely rejecting me. I would regard SP Jain Interview as the best interview of my life, it was indeed chiller than IIM-B - still a REJECT !! My panic button got pressed, my point of fear was very valid, I asked God, it was my best attempt of the whole life ... and but gone vain ! How can I even expect getting through IIM-B once SP-Jain has showed me my 'place' ! It seems that Aamir Khan's song is favorite in the Heavens also .... "Koi Naa Jaane Apna Future Kya Hoga ...." was the reply I got back ! I had no other option also but to wait for what the destiny had in store for me.

28th April was the Day. I never realized it is going to change the in-and-out of me so drastically. I was in office handling some 'high-priority' work with one eye on the PagalGuy site where it was being said that it was supposed to be the 'D-Day'. A F-5 on it and the post appeared ... "IIM-B 20101-12 Final Results Out" ..... once last time I took out my wallet, kissed the photograph of God, which I always carry in it and decided to open the page. Bingo !! I jumped off my chair several times, I just couldn't believe it .... my CAT Reg No was in IIM-B Merit List! Wowwwww......

At that very moment, I wanted to hug my mom and dad, I wished they could have been there and I could see that joy on their face. But when I slowly came back to senses, I asked God, "How come?? I mean this is simply a miracle !". Immediately I got back a reply, but this time it was none of my imagination but He was replying through a friend of mine ... pinging me on G-Talk saying ..

" Life's like having a cup of coffee. You sit by the window, take a careless sip - only to realize that someone forgot to add sugar to it. Too lazy to fetch it, you somehow manage through that sugarless cup only to discover undissolved sugar crystals lying at the bottom -- and all you had to do, was stir it well !! That's your answer baby ... "

It gave me inspiration to write this stupid crying-baby story of mine for all those who have even an iota of doubt regarding their ability to do something big in their life, who think that no good can happen to them. I am damn sure that if it can happen to me, it can always happen with you! Even if you ask God for help, He is going to bring you till that moment but THROUGH it only ! His ultimate goal is to make you realize that if you are giving the best, you will surely, no doubt, get THE BEST, courtesy YOUR OWN MERIT!! The time when you get that may be variant yes, but the probability of you not getting it, is Zero ! I am not any great philosopher and hence do not want to entice wrath for pouring my emotions over here but please trust me ... whatever I have written over here is truly candid.

Thank you for bearing me all over :)

Previous Chapter Link - here

Mother 's Day :-)

"I always believe in Love-At-First-Sight ... Because I have loved my mom since I had my eyes open" - I woke up from sleep after this beautiful message buzzed my mobile in the early morning of 8th May, considered to be "Mother's Day".

Actually speaking, dedicating just a single day to the Earthly Saint - MOTHER - is like committing an injustice to her. In fact sometimes I feel that we are not empowered enough to pay back to her even a pie of what she has done for us throughout her life !!

If any organization aims to hire a person whom they think should be an all-rounder, any Mother on this earth would prove to be the best suitable candidate !! Right from being a perfect DOCTOR when you are ill, to being a perfect COUNSELOR when you are trapped in any damn problem, she handles all the roles with such a degree of perfectness that any professional in that particular field will start feeling dwarf before her !

To me, I owe everything what I am today, to my Mom. Here when sitting in the office, in this hectic schedule ... doing all the worthless things which suck me up completely ... my mind obviously looks out for something re-invigorating for its life ... in such case just remembering that endearing smile, the twinkling of those eyes of my mom, makes me feel so much at ease ... I can't describe it in words ....

I was fortunate enough this year to get a chance to be with my mom on this day and even got an opportunity to lie in her lap for sometime - a rare chance to get once you cross the age barrier of 10-12 years and are tagged as a 'grown-up' kid. (I am 24 now :P) Believe me it turns out to be the most relaxing moment of the life ! I do not want to pour more emotions here, my motto to write in this space was just to pay a tribute to all the mothers in this world ! Hope you all will be remembering your mom while reading this ...

If you too have a same feeling of awe as I do, on this God's most Unique Creation, next time whenever you get a chance to meet your mom, hug and kiss your mother... The smile that you will see on her face is worth all the treasures in this damn world. It’s a mother’s smile and believe me, it’s PRICELESS!!!!!!

A Salute To You - All Moms !

The Princess Space - Dia Mirza !!

Being a die hard fan of the innocent beauty - Dia Mirza, I am posting some wallpapers/pics I possess for other Dia fans to have a look at :)

Looking Beautiful in Salwaar

Chocolate Beauty !!

An Angel ...

If looks could kill ....

Beauty in Mirror too ....

Speechless to describe ....

Cute One ...

The Most Beautiful I have ever seen .....

An Innocent Beauty ...

My journey into IIMB - The 'CAT'astrophe !!

After having a dream journey of San Francisco and Los Angeles, I returned back to India hoping that the joy ride will continue (indirectly hinting God - I am expecting a good CAT result :) ).

28th February arrived and CAT scores were declared. I was shattered beyond imagination to find that I had badly .... no... very badly ... no ... 'tremendously' (I know this word doesn't fit into here but I was poor in guessing the 'Choose the right word for the blank in the sentence' questions appearing in VA and hence please pardon me) underperformed in one of the sections (DI). I thought for a moment the CAT result that I was seeing must be not mine. I crosschecked my test registration number multiple times, much to my dismay that the result being shown was indeed mine !!

Game Over !! - I thought, at least for 'MBA Dreams 2010'.

I got another chance of 'discussing' this point with God. (Since I was poor in GD's, I took this opportunity to develop my GD skills like how to keep on arguing on a worthless point in a 'fruitful' discussion, how to re-iterate the same point again and again and again when you don't have any other point to put forth etc. Thank You God for strengthening my skills ! ) He opened up his point first (In GD it is a general perception that one who initiates the discussion, has some advantage, believe me it is TRUE !)

He said, "So here you are .... now crying for your poor CAT score ... huhh ... but what about your US trip and all the fun you had there ? (He meant to say to me - Be Happy with what you get, specially when you didn't deserve it :P) While enjoying there did you ever think about the CAT and all? .... leave CAT aside .... did you remember Me even once ? .... Now that the fun part is over and you didn't get a good CAT score, I am brought in, in the game and all the blame is put on Me" ..... But I was prepared for this and aptly replied back, saying that I had not asked for all that fun in US, all I wanted was a good CAT result for my further career plan.

He said, "Haha ... What plan and all .... You can fool others, kid, but not ME !! Anyways just Wait and Watch" !!

I said what is there to wait for? All the topnotch IIMs (read A, C and L) have come up with their shortlists for GD/PIs except IIMB ; I explained to myself - Kaustubh, don't commit the mistake of even floating a hope for B's PI call - what is point in getting more disappointed after not seeing your registration number in the shortlist of one more premier IIM (B)!!

Though I had received PI calls from FMS, Delhi and some other B-Schools (IIMK, SP Jain and MDI) I had made up my mind of giving self one more chance next year to aim for the top 4 IIMs - A,B,C and L. So I had decided to take all the above calls light only, seriously light !! - what a gamble!!

Next Part link here (if at all interested :P)
Previous Part link here

My journey into IIMB - The Beginning !!

Well ... this is all about a boy who always used to complain about life (and has now decided he will NEVER !!)- life being cruel ONLY to him and he never getting anything that he wishes to or deserves to.

It is not just an interview experience but it encompasses his mad chase for his dream, his journey till he achieves his dream and all the other people who have made this journey colorful and interesting. Let me start ..... the boy describing his own story ......

September,2009 was the month !!. The alarm started ringing for me - probably a wake up call. I decided enough of job now! I need to do something different - but 'what' ?? (My friends would like to confirm about this - I have discussed various options right from M Tech , MS-even though I had scrapped GRE once, even joining an NGO was considered an option - phew !!!)

After doing a 'very very careful' analysis (99% of it revolved around what my roommates were doing - vigorously preparing for MBA and the remaining 1% was my dream - do nothing) I decided that it was time to do MBA (Don't ask me why I wanted to do an MBA suddenly - I couldn't answer this question satisfactorily even in my final interview). Wow just 2 months in hands and a mission impossible ahead !!

After getting fantastic percentile (there is sarcastic tone to this - please appreciate) in my first ever MOCK CAT of Career launcher, I immediately realized following points :

[1] This year's CAT is not for me. But I would start preparing nicely for CAT 2010 right from here. I advised myself many times - take this year's CAT as another MOCK, simple.

[2] The scariest factor for me, was turning out to be those very friends who once showed to me this damn MBA dream. Their everyday discussion about various 'interesting' DI sets, how one guy managed to crack a dare-to-solve-me puzzle while he was working in office (it shows his office productivity !!), one guy roaming about day and night in my room with word list in hand, guys giving one MOCK test after another so passionately and cracking all of them - a perfect demotivating scene for me. In short these all were studying more than me, scoring more than me, and having more fun than me.

[3] I naturally turned to my group of best-est Comp Sci - Tronix friends to find solace. But I realized almost all are busy with their own studies (PG studies). But to my relief there was one (who also hopefully will not remain anymore) - as dying as me to get out of this useless job life and do MBA for no reason. He has been my single ever source of inspiration - I really mean it. (Say thanks to me for this line, Sahil:))

There are some more interesting characters in the plot - read some NRI's - Pravin, Chaitanya- who had come to India, as if just to chide me - DON'T CRY ANYMORE !! There is one more guy nicknamed 'Padhai Baba' aka Harshal - who was my roomie in Hyderabad and had cracked IIMB in 2009 (phew he will be my senior in IIMB :)). Another is a Tech Wizard - Ankit, peacefully dwelling in Microsoft. Another kool guy - Rahul-who cracked IISc and always told me how the job life was lot better than PG life and hence I should enjoy my job and not think of any MBA. Then the Tronix guys - Ameya, Kadya, Nirmal, Pandhri - I can't do the mistake of missing their names here

All kinds of advices flowing in from all the corners in the last two weeks as the D-Day was approaching near. Quant me Probablity padhna, Puzzles jyada solve karna, RC's se jyada Grammar puchenge ... I always knew these are of no use to me this year. My preparation even at that point was not that great to really start looking into all these recommended areas.


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