Summer Placement

With all the hype and hoopla surrounding the IIM Bangalore summer placement it is time to take stock of the situation. Well to say that it was a huge success in terms of numbers would be an understatement. The entire batch getting placed for summers in 5 days, 105 dayz and so on but the real test was how the batchmates supported who needed the support during those days and is the process really justified after all. I would not comment on the first thing as there have been a lot of discussion on this but there are certain opinions that I would like to voice on the second point. To say that the process is stressing would be an understatement especially for people who could not make it on the first day. It is definitely the case that there were many good people who could not make it on the first day because they did not have a good profile. Looking at it subjectively it is possible for people to come to IIMs not study at all and leave with one of the most coveted jobs that IIM can offer. Why and how is it possible? I am not the right person to answer the why question and it is the matter that the institution has to decide. As to the how part let me explain. In case you have a good profile and you enter IIMs you work hard on our resume and get selected in a good company(say a dayz); this is after 4 months of joining when you have not learned anything and have no idea as to what different streams have to offer. Since during summers your first term marks are not taken into account it is quite convenient not to study hard. Again once you have got a good summer you tend to relax and not mug at all. After that when you go for summer internship you work hard and get a PPO i.e. Pre placement offer and chill out for the next year as well since only place where your CGPA matters is final summer placement which you wont sit in as you have a PPO. There are always cases like these in all the batches and all the IIMs I guess. Now one may ask what is wrong in this? There is nothing wrong except it makes IIMs no more than a placement office and if that is what IIMs want to become then so be it. But I think that this is not what IIMs would like to end up as. So if they have to live up to its expectation of good academic institutes they need to change the culture in the institutes and make summer a lower profile affair.

A bitter sweet experience

The IIM results were out yesterday and it was bitter sweet experience for me for several reasons. Let me first highlight why I felt sad after the results. Firstly, I was not able to convert IIMA which I was very sure of converting. One of my very close friend suffered the same fate and the other one who had B and C calls was not able to convert either. All this left me a little bit sad.
The saving grace coming from my conversion of IIMB as well as one of my close friend also converting the same. This made me happy for several reasons and the most important of all being that we would be again together for the span of atleast 2 years. Two years that could and would shape our future to a great extent. I communicated the result to one of my profs. and he was happy and gave me a advice. "In life most of the time it does not matter where you are rather it matters what you are". I am sure of keeping this with me for a long long time. So let me get on with work now and hopefully by the time I write the next post I would have enough enthu to be ready to face what lies ahead.

IITians and IIMians should be exclusive!!!

I was just thinking about what to write next and then I came across an article in economictimes.com about whether IITians should be allowed to do IIMs and whether IIMs should be allowed to take non managerial jobs after graduating. Well I would like to state upfront that I am an IITian and trying desperately to get into IIMs. So my views would be biased and but then whose are not!!! Any comments are more then welcome.

Well to start with where has this question arisen from? Why the thinking that IITs should not do any other thing but technical work!!! (There was a debate few years ago they IITs should be banned from civil services as well). Why this kind of mentality.

I think that there are 2 reasons for this kind of mentality. One being the fact that there is a lot of investment by government on IITs (plus the man hours spent by the Profs. there) and secondly I believe that these are voices raised by people who either can't make it or who don't have the guts to do it. To answer the first I am among the people who believe that government should stop financing the premier institute(IIMs and IITs). They are more than capable of running their own finances. Apart from it I also believe that fees should be increased as no bank in right mind would say no to education loan for a person who is entering either of the Institutes. As for the second reason is concerned I don't think that it is worth discussing. If people like these have problems let them have it.

I also believe that IITs have what is typically known as analytical qualities which they can in fields like I-banking where analytical qualities are required. If you take IITians away from IIMs it would not be as good a place and it would not have as good placements. So IITians in fact help the IIMs make its brand image to a certain extent.

Another point raise in the article was that if you have to choose your own field like making an album then you should not come in IIMs. I saw WTF. Because the guy who does this has some guts which normal IIM grads dont have they should not have done IIMs. I think that it we have more people like these in IIMs it would make it a rocking place to be. I take a bow to these people. To have self belief to quit multi million dollar salaries and do what they want to. This is entrepreneurship at its best. Go guys!! I hope you make big very big to shut up your critics. All the best to you

The ultimate disaster!!!

Well it could not have been worse thats for sure. It was worse than the worst night mare I have ever had. What am I talking about ....what else then IIM Calcutta interview. It went very very bad!!! You be the judge. My only hope is that it was a stress interview but I got the feeling that it is not. Anyways lets see. As usual there were 3 panelist. We had a horrible GD. There was a time when every one of us was talking. As usual we were supposed to talk about the topic at the end of the GD for one minute. I was the last to go and most of the guys were summarizing the topic. Well I did not and went on to speak about the topic for a minute as I felt this was what they wanted.

Venue: IIM Bangalore
Date: 16th March 2006
Time: 9.30AM

3 panelist. Left(L); Right(R) and centre(C)

C: Have a seat. Tell me something about your self!!
I: (It was what I had mugged up for the last one month and vomitted out there....)
C: What was your favourite subject?
I: Theory of Computation. (i guess he did not know much about it so he went into other field)
C: You are from CS. Tell me about Neumann architecture?
I: Dont know sir.
C: Can you tell me the P4 architecture
I: Dont know sir?
C: What comprises an architecture?
I: I was able to answer it and he added on a couple of points.
C: Did you do any microprocessor in your courses? (Before i can answer) Ok what is clock stealing?
I: remembered something but what I spoke was wrong.
C: What is over clocking
I: (Finally i know something!!!) I was able to answer this.
C: What are advantages and disadvantages of this?
I: was able to answer this as well
C: you are good at maths?
I: Ye, Sir.
C: What is chaos theory
I: (I had no clue!!!) Dont know sir.
C: You should read not just read the text books especially of the subjects you like.
I: I nodded( What was i supposed to do?)
R: Can you draw a sine curve for me on the black board?
I: Was able to do this.
R: Can you draw a tan curve?
I: easy again
R: How many maximas and minimas does a sine curve have?
I: infinite sir
R: How about tan. Would it have a maxima or minima?
I: I said no sir it wont as it goes to -infinity and plus infinity as we approach pi/2 and -pi/2
R: what is the periodicity of sine curve?
I: (screwed up big time here) I said pi. (I don't know how!!!)
R: Take a seat.
I: Thanks sir.
L: You read news papers?
I: yes sir.
L: which one
I: The Hindu
L: There has been a change recently in it. Do you know about it.
I: (I had no idea!!!) No sir.
L: who is the editor
I: (there goes the last hope!!) no idea sir. (all of them smile)
L: where is it printed from .. i mean originally
I: no clue sir
L: u had done a course state polity and society. what is the difference between plity and politics.
I:(I did not remember much of it anyways!!). did not say a single word.
C: Ok! you may leave now.
I: Thanks sir.


well I had hoped C would be a cake walk and i was brought down to earth like anything. Hope that it was not as bad as it seems to me. Anyways bbye C. lets hope i can covert B and A and then choose among them

Are we getting rude?

I was reading through a newspaper supplement (Hindu's metro) where there was an article on are we as a nation getting rude day by day. I had never realized it before but it seems to be true. The f-word and the finger gesture that we use so often is clearly a sign of what is happening. Well people who know me would like to point out that probably I have no right when it comes to writing about rudeness. I can be very rude some times and I do admit it. At the same time my rudeness just shows that its not just the uneducated but even the educated that are suffering from this syndrome. I would go further to say that although education is meant to teach us humility its that educated one that are more rude than the uneducated one. Probably because they are under more pressure or probably because they drive a bigger car which can be blocked easily. Either way these are no the excuses that can be given to cover over rudeness. What has happened to us? We as Indian were considered the most tolerant of nation. Look how we have engulfed different religions and taken the best out of them.

Am I being too judemental here. Has the definition of rudeness changed over the years. As the article pointed out that the fastest way to get your work done in today's word is being rude. You shout at some one and you would be listened and obeyed. But when you point this out to some body not even a single one admits the same. Argument being hey thats the way it is. I would also like to blame the media here. They stress so much about being aggression without actually defining it. Its very easy to mix both of them up. Parents not having time for children (how can this be but it is true) as both are working parents, long working hours and high ambition can be other reasons for us being on the edge all the time. well what ever the reason might be we need to turn the tide and start being sober again!!

What a match!!!

Well after all the euphoria has settled down of the match between Australia and South Africa let us see what implication it has for the ODI cricket. Is it a harbinger of what is to come?? (I hope so!!). Will 450 be a chasable score in crciket some time from now on? All the indiactions are there and pointing to the fact that this might be a possibility. Powerplays (20 overs available for hitting), lightning fast out field and short boundaries allow more runs being scored now. With better bat technology and also stronger and fitter players run scoring has become quicker in both the ODI as well as the test form of the game.
But still then, to chase 434. My God!! I can't still believe it. I am out and out Australian fan (my roomates hate me for it!) and was disheartend to a certain extent at the end of the game to loose a game like this. But I was on SA side after the 35 overs of SA innnigs. The way they came out after conceding 434 thinking about the chase showed immense mental toughness. This has to go down as the best one day ever played and it is going to take some doing in making this as number 2.

Chelsea defeated!!!

Well it has been almost 2 days and I had promised one of my friends of this blog. So here it goes. To start with I must say that I am extremely happy that Chelsea lost to Barca not because it was a victory of "good football" over "boring football" (though Chelsea are boring) but only because I am a Barca fan. But there are few out there who seem to be unhappy and clearly this is an example. So lets see what I think...

Well if you want to save your time and not read the blog that follows completely I am summarizing it here for you. MOURINHO STINKS. Well thats about it .. but to read why you need to read it completely!!!

I am not saying that Mourihno ("The Special One" as he calls himself - TSO in short) is a bad coach; I believe that he is a great coach tactically and has a great future. Any team would be lucky to have him as a coach and any team would be benefited by his "god given talent". I also admire the way Chelsea played the 2nd half of the first leg with 10 men. But the point is that football is a sport and it's meant to entertain. If its not entertaining than its not football and here is where TSO fails. He makes football a mechanical and non-entertaining event (I can't call it sport any more). He even forced teams like Barca to give up "beautiful football" and play like Chelsea. This is bad for football as such and hence I would like to see the back of him ASAP.

Coming to the match as such. I believe that over the 2 legs Barca were a better team and Rijkaard proved to be a better coach then TSO. He played the waiting game knowing perfectly well that they can back on Ronnie to create something out of nothing and help Barca through. TSO fell to the bait perfectly and the result is in front of us. Moreover to say that Barca won just because of Ronnie would be wrong. He was the difference ..no doubting that but football is a team game and an individual never wins in football. Thats the beauty of this sport. The same Ronnie was in PSG but they never came close to winning a CL trophy while he was there? Apart from that I think Messi was good enough to give the entire Chelsea team nightmares.

10 Men!!! When the Chelsea fans would give us a break :-) and stop making excuses. Well I believe that Del Horno did not deserve a Red for that foul but he did deserve a Red... seems like a contradiction .. well not. I would like to bring to your notice that Del Horno did deserve 2 yellows..one for the tackle on Messi for which he got Red and one for the tackle he had made 10 mins ago on the same guy who had terrorized the Chelsea back 4 all night (Messi .. not Ronnie!!!). That makes it 2 yellow which is equal to one RED. So things did even out.

As a parting note I would like to point out that fans and players reflect the mindset of the coach. You heard a referee retiring last year due to Chelsea fans' death threats and this year there have been more of the same after the first leg. Did you hear a sinlge Milan fan threatening the referee for the penalty that he awarded to Liverpool in last year's final for a blatant dive by Gerard or do you remember a protest from ManU fans for disallowing a clear goal by Scholes in 2004 round of 16 against Porto (then managed by TSO) for offside. This just proves that Chelsea are bad losers and this change has come about after TSO came to Chelsea. He is a sore looser and needs to learn that there are people and teams better than him or his. So he needs to accept that Barca was the better side (which he does not!!). I hope TSO grows up.. for his own good and even more importantly for the good of football in general.

My Interview Experience

I am about to share with you guys my IIM A interview experience. As I had got a PPO from Intel and hence had never given an interview before this. So I was pretty nervous when I entered the room for interview. Luckily the Case Study went well and that settled the nerves a little bit. But when I entered the room I was pretty tensed. The panel had 3 persons; all male. Lets call then Left(L), Centre(C) and Right(R). I would represent my self as I.

Venue: IIM bangalore
Date: 27th Feb 2006
Time: 9.00 AM.

I: Good morning Sir(s);
C: Good morning. Sit down
I: Thank you sir.
C: Is the first person we interview out side??
I: (Not expecting this!!!) Yes sir.
C: Why is he not going home. Why is he wasting his time?
I: I don't think that he is wasting his time sir, I think he is talking to people and getting to know about them.
C: Did you talk to him about the interview.
I: I talked to him but not about the interview.
C: So you don't take this interview seriously.....
I: (What the hell is going on!!!!) Sir, I take this interview seriously but I don't think that last minute preparations are going to help me
C: So what did you talk to him about?
I: Generally, where is he from what is he doing now and background.
C: So what do you know about him. Well tell us about a few people out there.
I: I told them about a couple.
L: Thats it ..thats what you have been talking about for the last 45 minutes....(all of them started laughing)
I: smiled at the panel
C: OK so tell me what is the difference between ISB and IIM
I: Normal stuff about people having more work ex. as well as one year. hands on experience for people at ISB and stuff like that.
C: OK so tell me the current situation about Karnataka politics
I: well the government has changed.
C: no..no lets go in details... what happened on the first day.. what is the current position and stuff like that...he also questioned about which party does new CM belong to .... what is the anti deflection law says...
I: I was able to answer most of the questions.
L: which are the states going into election now.
I: I said kerala and TN.. (there were 5 but could remember on 2)
L: is politics your field of interest?
I: no sir.. not much
L: why do you know so much about politics
I: general news paper..
C: which news paper?
I: Hindu...
C: tell me the main points of the railway budget.
I: I said 4-5 points.
C: was it a deficit budget?
I: yes sir
C: are you sure?
I: yes sir ( I am still not sure)
R: so you don't take criticism well!!!
I: yes sir.
R: what do you mean by this?
I: some think about making excuses..Etc.
R: So u like being praised?
I: (bewildered!!!) yes sir. I think that every body would be.
All of them together: you are so nice.. U are great (started laughing at this point)
I: smiled back!! (what else was I supposed to do???)
R: go on
I: talked a little bit about how it has hurt me and what I am doing
L: so what are complex numbers
I: (why the hell is he asking me about complex numbers!!) I told him that under root of negative numbers and all..
L: where are they used!!!
I: solving rlc circuits..
R: where did they come into picture from..
I:( I forgot that ...) I don't know sir
C: what is bubble sort
I: told him
L: what is is complexity?
I: o(n^2)
L: what is quick sort?
I: told him
L: why is the complexity n*log(n)
I: explained that we had to break the array and stuff like that
L: what is the base of that log???
I: told to him that base would be depend on the kind of break up you get...
L: seemed pleased .... looked at the others in panel.
C: you may take your toffee and leave now..
I: (thats it!!!!) ... I took one toffee and was about to leave when.. (I am standing)
C: what would you change in Rajasthan?
I: I said education and infrastructure.
L: are you from the factory?
I: I am sorry sir.. I don't understand..
L: are you from Kota?
I: yes sir
C: Thanks Mr. Daga
I: Thanks a lot sir!!!


Well thats about it.... will add any thing if I remember more. It went ok ok I guess ... I answered a couple of questions incorrectly but I guess over all it went ok.
It lasted about 20 minutes..

well got to run .. need to prepare for C (on 16th March). keep checking this spot for more details about C.