Another call, another out-of-station interview. But this time it was Mumbai - The city of dreams! And the college was Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies.
So the day started at 2 AM. Well technically it continued, as I don't consider a 2 hour nap as sleep. My sad alarm goes off again. I had to get to the bus stand by 3 AM. Unlike last time, I am more prepared this time (experience matters ;-)) I comfortably reach the airport. And surprisingly there is no rush in the airport either. So I end up an hour early. To kill time, I went to the Crossword store. This has become an obsession to me now. Whenever I need to kill time, I go to one of the book stores, unashamedly open the books, cross my legs, and sit and read. This time it was Kautinya's Arthashastra (was highly recommended by Pande). After nearly 45 minutes of turning pages, I check in.
There is a huge difference between KingFisher and KingFisher Red Service planes. Even in the quality of the air hostess. I decide that from next time I must catch only a proper KF plane, not a relabeled Deccan plane. Very uneventful first hour. But as the plane was circling the Mumbai airport, the cabin pressure started to rise for some reason, and I had a huge head ache and my ear were about to explode. What I generally do in such situations is to close my eyes. I did the same thing. But an alert air hostess, noticed not only was i grimacing, but also bleeding from the nose. She was quick to alert me of my condition and get me cotton. But unfortunately she was not quick enough. I had a drop of blood on my trouser. Thankfully not on my sky blue shirt(I dint even carry a spare one). As soon as I arrived at the airport, I realized that the Mumbai airport was very similar to the Old Bangalore airport. I managed to ask directions to a bus stop. My destination was Ville Parle(W), Mithibai College. Caught a Best Bus to Ville Parle(E), and walked the rest of the distance. NMIMS building is a shocker. My primary school was bigger than that and definitely better maintained. It hasn't had a paint job in ages I guess. But the atmosphere around the college is electric to say the least. I was awestruck with the Mithibai college crowd in particular.
Since my GD slot was at 1 PM, they did not allow me inside the center. So I had to somehow pass 5 hours. So I walked. First I walked to Juhu beach. Around 1.5 kms from the college. Juhu beach is huge. Its wide and long. Standing in the middle of the beach, I could not see the ends. I sat under a coconut tree and started reading a book (The Afghan - Fedrik Forsyth). I got bored as the beach got crowded. Saturday joggers were flooding that place. The mercury was also on the rise. So I went into a Barista outlet and spent around 1 hour there. Then I walked to Iskon Temple which was around 2 kms from there. The temple is beautiful, but sadly there was no devotion. Somehow seeing foreigners inside temples is a turnoff for me.
I walked back to the GD center. Washed my face, tied my tie and went for the GD. We were led into a AC room, asked to finish our registration, given our group numbers. Later a senior Professor came and talked with us. He gave the rules and selection criteria. This year the weight-age was 120+10+10+10 for NMAT, GD, PI, and Work ex respectively. With a NMAT score of 111/150, I stood a good chance and I knew it. With a decent GD and interview I should be getting through.
The GD had 12 members of which 10 were present. Since we had been grouped alphabetically, all our names started with M. There were 9 boys and a single girl in our group. We were given 2 topics to choose from.
1. Watching TV affects self-learning
2. Marriage is a necessary building block of the society (i think)
We chose the first one with a majority of 6:4. I had no points initially, so I decided to sit back and see how people go about it for couple of mins. We had also agreed among ourselves that we would avoid a 'fish market' scenario and give chance to others. But the exact opposite happened. The girl (who was a fashion designer by profession) started to become aggressive and refuted every other point made by the group. Seeing her, others also became pretty aggressive and started to cut in others points. I managed to put in 5 -6 points and also concluded. The GD was not really great and the group as a whole will lose out on points because of one egoistic bitch.
Next we went back to the same waiting room. By this time, I was damn tired. With very little sleep (almost nil for my standards) and all the walking I had done and the soothing AC made a extremely conducive environment for sleep. So I did! I asked the person sitting next to me to wake me up once my name was called and dozed off. I had an amazing 20 mins nap. Unfortunately my name was called and went into the interview room with a blood shot eye. It was a 2 member interview panel. P1 : was a pretty old professor (of finance i guess), P2 : was a middle aged lady professor (of marketing i guess) and of course Moi
M : May I come in Sir? (I managed to not commit the same mistake I had done in the SCMHRD interview)
P1 : (Was really happy for some reason) Please come in Madhu, we were really waiting to see you (An extremely hearty welcome. Best part is I felt that he really meant that)
P1 : You look really tired Madhu. Are you feeling OK?
M : Yes Sir, It has been a pretty long day and I'm a bit tired. But I have been really looking forward for this interview. (For which P1 offers some water and biscuits which I politely decline)
P2 : (Reading the SOP) So you have worked in IBM. Tell me how your experience there
M : I started off from the internship and ended and the current day. Full journey with lot of small stories
P1 : What do you mean by insatiable thirst for learning? Can you give us instances? (Again taken from my SOP. Had written "With an insatiable thirst for learning new things, doing an MBA is the logically right step for me")
M : Gave example of my flute, my home gym, and couple of others. They seemed satisfied with my answer.
P2 : Which specialization do you want to pursue?
M : (A typical MBA question). As of now it is Marketing Mam. But might change later with my experience.
P2 : Who are you role models?
M : My father, my brother, Mahatma Gandhi, Sachin Tendulkar, Mother Teresa, Vijay Mallya.
P2 : Nice variety you have! (I grin)
P1 : What do you think is the USP of Indian youth?
M : Blabber about culture, adaptability, etc... and they seemed pretty impressed with my answer
P2 : Why do FMCG companies change their brand ambassadors so often?
M : blah blah
P1 : How do you market India
M : blah blah
That's it. The end. Barely 5 mins. P1 gets up, comes around the table and shakes my hand and tells 'All the best beta'. I really felt the warmth in his wishes and touched his feet to take his blessings. I did namaste to the mam and left the room. :-D The entire process was over by 3:30 PM
After the interview, I was feeling damn sleepy. I thought, which is the cheapest place to catch a nap in Mumbai. I realized that a cinema mall is the place for me. I caught an auto and went to PVR cinemas in Bandra. But unfortunately there were no shows for 4/5 PM. So decided to do my favorite pastime. Spend time in Crossword. Spent like 2 hours there. Read the book Its not about the bike by Lance Armstrong. He is one of my favorite sport personalities on par with Sachin and Fedrer. I have been follower of Tour de France since 2002 and know all his accomplishments in cycling. What I was more interested was in his life. His cancer. And his foundation. Got so addicted to the book that I eventually bought it. I also bought 'Stay Hungry Stay Foolish' (an impulsive buy). Later I ate awesome vada pav's, pav bhaji, pani puri and what not. Really great place to have chats. Similar to Bangalore ;-) And finally I caught a Local to Dadra. My first time in a Mumbai Local and the experience was fun. Very fast, cheap and comfortable way of travel.
Reached Dadar station well in time. Continued to read Lance's autobiography. It is really a very engrossing book. You don't even feel like looking up. You will be kind of fixated to the book(review on this later). The train was on time. Got into my compartment and surprise surprise. A cute chick in the seat next to me!! I still cant believe my luck. Not just because, she was cute, that is obvious. But because she was travelling alone!!! Ok. Before you start to judge me, let me clear the air. I'm telling all this because she was a big time FLIRT!!! So lets for know call her "Cute Train Stranger" (CTS)
People who know me well, know that it takes me time (not measured in hours or days but in months) for me to speak with a stranger (girl). Well I must have changed. I immediately started off a conversation with CTS. CTS was a talkitive girl, who blabbered anything and everything that passed her mind. We ate somethings together (read shared) like bhel puri, cucumber etc.. Sad part is CTS got off in Hubli (her hometown). So after that I was back reading the book. I loved this part equally well. After finishing Lance's autobiography, I continued with The Afghan. And finished that too. Listened to lot of music. The train journey was for a complete 24 hours. Really not that tiring. It must be because of CTS. Caught a bus from Yeshwanthpur to Majestic and then a bus to my home. Lots of memories from this trip.
PS : I know CTS would probably be reading this. I hope you don't mind. And knowing you as much as I do, I think you would'nt.
So the day started at 2 AM. Well technically it continued, as I don't consider a 2 hour nap as sleep. My sad alarm goes off again. I had to get to the bus stand by 3 AM. Unlike last time, I am more prepared this time (experience matters ;-)) I comfortably reach the airport. And surprisingly there is no rush in the airport either. So I end up an hour early. To kill time, I went to the Crossword store. This has become an obsession to me now. Whenever I need to kill time, I go to one of the book stores, unashamedly open the books, cross my legs, and sit and read. This time it was Kautinya's Arthashastra (was highly recommended by Pande). After nearly 45 minutes of turning pages, I check in.
There is a huge difference between KingFisher and KingFisher Red Service planes. Even in the quality of the air hostess. I decide that from next time I must catch only a proper KF plane, not a relabeled Deccan plane. Very uneventful first hour. But as the plane was circling the Mumbai airport, the cabin pressure started to rise for some reason, and I had a huge head ache and my ear were about to explode. What I generally do in such situations is to close my eyes. I did the same thing. But an alert air hostess, noticed not only was i grimacing, but also bleeding from the nose. She was quick to alert me of my condition and get me cotton. But unfortunately she was not quick enough. I had a drop of blood on my trouser. Thankfully not on my sky blue shirt(I dint even carry a spare one). As soon as I arrived at the airport, I realized that the Mumbai airport was very similar to the Old Bangalore airport. I managed to ask directions to a bus stop. My destination was Ville Parle(W), Mithibai College. Caught a Best Bus to Ville Parle(E), and walked the rest of the distance. NMIMS building is a shocker. My primary school was bigger than that and definitely better maintained. It hasn't had a paint job in ages I guess. But the atmosphere around the college is electric to say the least. I was awestruck with the Mithibai college crowd in particular.
Since my GD slot was at 1 PM, they did not allow me inside the center. So I had to somehow pass 5 hours. So I walked. First I walked to Juhu beach. Around 1.5 kms from the college. Juhu beach is huge. Its wide and long. Standing in the middle of the beach, I could not see the ends. I sat under a coconut tree and started reading a book (The Afghan - Fedrik Forsyth). I got bored as the beach got crowded. Saturday joggers were flooding that place. The mercury was also on the rise. So I went into a Barista outlet and spent around 1 hour there. Then I walked to Iskon Temple which was around 2 kms from there. The temple is beautiful, but sadly there was no devotion. Somehow seeing foreigners inside temples is a turnoff for me.
I walked back to the GD center. Washed my face, tied my tie and went for the GD. We were led into a AC room, asked to finish our registration, given our group numbers. Later a senior Professor came and talked with us. He gave the rules and selection criteria. This year the weight-age was 120+10+10+10 for NMAT, GD, PI, and Work ex respectively. With a NMAT score of 111/150, I stood a good chance and I knew it. With a decent GD and interview I should be getting through.
The GD had 12 members of which 10 were present. Since we had been grouped alphabetically, all our names started with M. There were 9 boys and a single girl in our group. We were given 2 topics to choose from.
1. Watching TV affects self-learning
2. Marriage is a necessary building block of the society (i think)
We chose the first one with a majority of 6:4. I had no points initially, so I decided to sit back and see how people go about it for couple of mins. We had also agreed among ourselves that we would avoid a 'fish market' scenario and give chance to others. But the exact opposite happened. The girl (who was a fashion designer by profession) started to become aggressive and refuted every other point made by the group. Seeing her, others also became pretty aggressive and started to cut in others points. I managed to put in 5 -6 points and also concluded. The GD was not really great and the group as a whole will lose out on points because of one egoistic bitch.
Next we went back to the same waiting room. By this time, I was damn tired. With very little sleep (almost nil for my standards) and all the walking I had done and the soothing AC made a extremely conducive environment for sleep. So I did! I asked the person sitting next to me to wake me up once my name was called and dozed off. I had an amazing 20 mins nap. Unfortunately my name was called and went into the interview room with a blood shot eye. It was a 2 member interview panel. P1 : was a pretty old professor (of finance i guess), P2 : was a middle aged lady professor (of marketing i guess) and of course Moi
M : May I come in Sir? (I managed to not commit the same mistake I had done in the SCMHRD interview)
P1 : (Was really happy for some reason) Please come in Madhu, we were really waiting to see you (An extremely hearty welcome. Best part is I felt that he really meant that)
P1 : You look really tired Madhu. Are you feeling OK?
M : Yes Sir, It has been a pretty long day and I'm a bit tired. But I have been really looking forward for this interview. (For which P1 offers some water and biscuits which I politely decline)
P2 : (Reading the SOP) So you have worked in IBM. Tell me how your experience there
M : I started off from the internship and ended and the current day. Full journey with lot of small stories
P1 : What do you mean by insatiable thirst for learning? Can you give us instances? (Again taken from my SOP. Had written "With an insatiable thirst for learning new things, doing an MBA is the logically right step for me")
M : Gave example of my flute, my home gym, and couple of others. They seemed satisfied with my answer.
P2 : Which specialization do you want to pursue?
M : (A typical MBA question). As of now it is Marketing Mam. But might change later with my experience.
P2 : Who are you role models?
M : My father, my brother, Mahatma Gandhi, Sachin Tendulkar, Mother Teresa, Vijay Mallya.
P2 : Nice variety you have! (I grin)
P1 : What do you think is the USP of Indian youth?
M : Blabber about culture, adaptability, etc... and they seemed pretty impressed with my answer
P2 : Why do FMCG companies change their brand ambassadors so often?
M : blah blah
P1 : How do you market India
M : blah blah
That's it. The end. Barely 5 mins. P1 gets up, comes around the table and shakes my hand and tells 'All the best beta'. I really felt the warmth in his wishes and touched his feet to take his blessings. I did namaste to the mam and left the room. :-D The entire process was over by 3:30 PM
After the interview, I was feeling damn sleepy. I thought, which is the cheapest place to catch a nap in Mumbai. I realized that a cinema mall is the place for me. I caught an auto and went to PVR cinemas in Bandra. But unfortunately there were no shows for 4/5 PM. So decided to do my favorite pastime. Spend time in Crossword. Spent like 2 hours there. Read the book Its not about the bike by Lance Armstrong. He is one of my favorite sport personalities on par with Sachin and Fedrer. I have been follower of Tour de France since 2002 and know all his accomplishments in cycling. What I was more interested was in his life. His cancer. And his foundation. Got so addicted to the book that I eventually bought it. I also bought 'Stay Hungry Stay Foolish' (an impulsive buy). Later I ate awesome vada pav's, pav bhaji, pani puri and what not. Really great place to have chats. Similar to Bangalore ;-) And finally I caught a Local to Dadra. My first time in a Mumbai Local and the experience was fun. Very fast, cheap and comfortable way of travel.
Reached Dadar station well in time. Continued to read Lance's autobiography. It is really a very engrossing book. You don't even feel like looking up. You will be kind of fixated to the book(review on this later). The train was on time. Got into my compartment and surprise surprise. A cute chick in the seat next to me!! I still cant believe my luck. Not just because, she was cute, that is obvious. But because she was travelling alone!!! Ok. Before you start to judge me, let me clear the air. I'm telling all this because she was a big time FLIRT!!! So lets for know call her "Cute Train Stranger" (CTS)
People who know me well, know that it takes me time (not measured in hours or days but in months) for me to speak with a stranger (girl). Well I must have changed. I immediately started off a conversation with CTS. CTS was a talkitive girl, who blabbered anything and everything that passed her mind. We ate somethings together (read shared) like bhel puri, cucumber etc.. Sad part is CTS got off in Hubli (her hometown). So after that I was back reading the book. I loved this part equally well. After finishing Lance's autobiography, I continued with The Afghan. And finished that too. Listened to lot of music. The train journey was for a complete 24 hours. Really not that tiring. It must be because of CTS. Caught a bus from Yeshwanthpur to Majestic and then a bus to my home. Lots of memories from this trip.
PS : I know CTS would probably be reading this. I hope you don't mind. And knowing you as much as I do, I think you would'nt.
3 comments:
You know CTS would be reading this?
And from the title I guess I can safely assume that you are not keen on joining NMIMS.
yep i know for sure, because she mailed me back ;-)
and i'm still not sure abt NMIMS. first of all i haven't got an offer yet... so no point in thinking abt that decision now... will bridge the gap when i reach it!
I really liked this part - The train journey was for a complete 24 hours. Really not that tiring. It must be because of CTS. Caught a bus from Yeshwanthpur to Majestic and then a bus to my home. Lots of memories from this trip. I also find this nmims sop pretty helpful. Hope you will like it as well. Best of luck!
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