MY IIM BANGALORE INTERVIEW

The first of the so called "BIG THREE". It was on 5th March at the huge and imposing Indian Habitat Centre, New Delhi. I lost my way inside this sprawling maze of a place. My knee had still not healed and so I was in some pain before I reached the small two-room centre in some basement of IHC. Nobody was there. I did not see any other soul there and so, vexed, I opened the first door that came my way and walked in on an interview. The interviewer glared at me and I made my exit with a meek sorry....Talk about getting off on the wrong foot!!

I found myself a seat nearby and started studying some economics notes that I had taken from my juniors. Slowly the crowd trickled in..There were only 14 candidates in all...7 in a panel, by far the least among all IIMs.

GD:
It was a case study. Something about people not joining the Army, and its problem in recruiting people due to its inability to offer increased pay etc...We were asked to identify the problems and arrive at a consensus..We were given 20 minutes for the GD. Since there were only 7 people it was a great discussion. We ran out of pnts after 15 minutes and winded up before the allotted time. Then had to summarise in 10 minutes.

PI:
I was a bit nervous before I entered. [One of the "BIG THREE", questions on acads(After the eco debacle of IIMK I was pretty scared of acad stuff.)]

Two young profs on the panel: P1 & P2


P1: Hello Karthik. Sit Down.
Me: Good Afternoon Sir.
P1: Sit Down.
Me: Good Afternoon Sir(to the other one)
P1: Sit Down!!
I sat.
P1: Karthik, Tell me....What do you want us to ask you?
Me: Puzzled...(the last question I expected...hemm-hawwing...)
P1: Come On ...Be quick..
Me: Sir.....Acads, Extracurriculars..
P2: Karthik...Are you placed??( Saved..Thank You P2)
Me:Yes Sir, Futures First....a Futures Trading Company.
P2:What is a futures contract?
Me:Some Fundae...treading on thin ice..
P2: Starts laughing...
Me: (Defensive) I just learnt some basics from my Seniors and the company's PPT.
P2: So you took a job two months ago and do not know anything about it now?
Me:Sir... I was focussing on my interviews.
P1:(smirking) What will you do if you do not get into the IIMs??Will you go to the job without knowing anything?( They exchange sarcastic looks)
Me:I will be fully prepared by the time I take up my job...fundae...
P2: Karthik, You have in your SOP said that playing basketball has honed your team skills?
Me: Yes..
P1: Did you not know about team work before that?
Me: Basketball taught me ....team work answers that I had framed in practice...real beautiful actually..
P2: But in basketball you get so many opportunities to score...Tell me how may baskets are scored on an average in basketball per game??
Me:35-40...(in professional leagues)
P2: Ok...Now take a game like football....how many goals are scored per game..the average?
Me:2-3
P1: You are an engineer...Is that an average?
Me:2.3(How did I arrive at this number??)
P2:Ok...Now tell me is team work more important in football or basketball?
Me:Equally important.
P1:In which is it more important..even slightly..
Me:Probably football...there are 11 players...more difficult to coordinate...and the match can be won by a single goal...
P2:So what did you learn from basketball if teamwork is less important there(huge laughter amongst themselves..I just paste a smile on my face)
P1: Karthik, Coming back to the question I asked you...What should we ask you questions on?
Me:hmm.....
P1: I'll make it easier for you...What should we not ask you questions on...
Me:hmmm...1 second..
P1: Over....(loud laughter) Tell me..I'll give you 10 seconds to tell me the answer...
Me:Finance, economics[ :) ]..
P1:So I can ask you questions on anything else...you are an expert on everything else,huh?
Me:....(silence)
P1:Ok..I'll ask you 10th standard civics...What are the fundamental rights of India?
Me: I dont know...
P1: What do you know..You just said you are an expert...(laughs)
Me: I dont know civics..
P1:Ok..Politics
Me: Oh Boy....
P2: The elections are coming up right.....Tell me what are the major coalitions possible?
Me: Told..
P2: But the BSP?Is it not part of the third front?
Me: It was...but at the tme of the elections I cannot predict....Many leaders not comfortable with Maya as a Primr Ministerial candidate after the debacle during the n-deal majority vote last year...(smiles all around)
P1: But right now you would say its in the third front?
Me: Yes...
P1: Write it all down...
P2: How many seats are in the Lok Sabha?
Me: A few seconds Sir...542...
P2: Close...very close...its 543...
P1:Good...Can you tell us how many seats each party will win?
Me:The three major coalitions??
P2:Yes...Do that...The real fun begins after that...
Me: I start thinking....
P1 shows P2 my SOP and says "Look at what he has written.." They laugh out loud...I am perplexed...Then they go on in Bengali....
Me: Done sir...
P2: So this is it?? So tell me how many seats in Lok sabha from UP??
Me:Not Sure...But I think It must be around 80...(luckily it turned out to be right)
P1: So ...Tell me how many do you thik BSP will win?
Me: Told...
P1: SP?
Me: Told...
P2: Ok....If you make it to IIMB we'll definetly talk about the results and your predictions...
Me: Definetly Sir..
P1: Thank You Karthik...You can Go..
Me: Thank You Sirs...

Thats it, I guess..It was a feel good interview...All smiles, all laughs...But thats how it was with everyone in my panel...