[akkyagrawal]

All the best to everyone for their L interviews and please do post in your experinces.It would be good if we can use an earlier format.

For the benefit of everyone concerned, please keep the format like this:

PROFILE:

Acads:
X
XII
Undergrad Major - GPA/%age

Work-Ex:
NIL/Sector - Number of Years

CAT %ile:
DI
Quant
Verbal
Aggregate


Any other special thing abt u:


GD:
Topic:
Number of Ppl present
Time:
Brief Snapshot of Discussion:
Other Salient Details: As whether summary was asked to be written or not, Time given, and other stuff.

PI:
Panel Members Intro:
Questions:

MISC.
Any other relevant detail.

Request:
1. Kindly do not post anything other than your experiences of IIM L GD-PI.
2. For queries, you can visit this thread http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-an...iml-gd-pi.html ([2009-2011]IIML GD/PI Call getters Profile-Admissions Queries)
3. For appreciating an interview post use thank button, or if you want to show more, use PM.

All in all, keep this thread for what is meant!

[innocentdevil]

Does anyone know when the GD/PI starts?
Mine is on 28th..

[ljv]

Seems like I am the first one to post. Here it goes

PROFILE:

Acads:
X - 88.8 (Maharashtra State Board)
XII - 87.17 (Maharashtra State Board)
Undergrad Major - 70.1 % (Mumbai University, Civil Engg)

Work-Ex:
NIL/Sector - Number of Years - L&T, ECC , 3 years

CAT %ile:
DI - 93.xx
Quant - 96.xx
Verbal - 97.xx
Aggregate - 99.14

Any other special thing abt u:
1. Internal Mgmt Trainee @ L&T
2. Certified Project Management Associate
Some arbit certis for event organising, Gen Secy of Tech fest etc

GD:
Had my IIM-L GDPI today @ 10:00 Hrs @ HMATC, Dadar.

There are 5 panels with 2 profs each. The list was displayed outside having candidates' name and panel no. Panel 1 & 2 are on the ground floor, while the rest are on 3rd and 5th floor. There is no comman reporting area and you have report directly to your alloted room.

Panelists arrived on time and called us into the room. I was in panel 2, in the room 'Gateway II', same room where I had my IIM-K GDPI

The panelists began by welcoming us and introducing the process. We had 20 mins for writing the essay and then 20 mins for the GD. A single ruled sheet was handed out, where u had to write a 300 word essay. I asked for a rough sheet and P1 went out and got some. I recommend taking your own rough sheet as some groups were not given rough paper. Also the essay was taken back before the GD, so u need to do some scratch work.

Our topic was "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition by mediocre minds"

I guess I wrote a decent essay. In the hindsight, it wasnt very exciting as all the points got covered in the GD. The panelists mite find it more of a post -summary, rather than a pre-essay. Given the nature of the topic, I think almost everyone wrote along the same lines. We were not given any warning signal, while some groups got warning signal.

Number of Ppl present - 8 out of 10
Time: 20 mins for essay ; 20 mins for GD
Brief Snapshot of Discussion:

GD was pretty much along the lines of my essay. Reason for opposition - not willing to change - insecurity - hazaar examples Socrates / Galileo / Copernicus / Kepler / Raja Ram Mohan Roy / Jyotiba Phule / Dr. Ambedkar. Then at points there was a lull. People started running out of ideas. We got away from the topic a bit. Somehow Tata Nano / Ramlinga Raju etc came into the picture. Things settled down again. We discussed the role of education and other such things. Ended with Goggle and how companies should foster internal innovation by encouraging great minds.

All in all, we discussed a lot of stuff. I think the diversity in the group helped. At the start, we had some crosstalking, cutting etc but as time progressed we started having those awkward silent moments. We had around 3 of them. I spoke about 7-8 times. So I think I would rate the GD as okish, nothing great.

Other Salient Details: Panelists took a 20 min break to evaluate the essays and then the PIs started. PIs generally were very cool for everybody and were lasting for about 10-15 mins. Slight acads, slight work-ex, slight general awareness / current affairs etc.
No stress. Pretty cool panel.

I was the second last guy to go in.

PI:

Panelists
P1 - Prof Himanshu Rai
P2 - Prof Dharmendra Sengar

P2: Wow, a Civil Engineer ! After a long time I am seeing one. So what made you choose Civil Engg ?
Me: Blah Blah

P2: I think you took it because your 12th marks arnt great
Me: Sir, thats my total percentage. My PCM group marks are higher ... blah blah

P2: Good !
Me:

In this time P1 glanced through my file and returned it back.

P2: Ok tell me how as a Civil Engineer you will reduce global warming ?
Me: Some trash about construction equipment...etc ... some gyan about how DMRC has got certified by TUV for reducing 90,000 carbon credits ...

( I am not satisfied by my answer, neither was he. )

P1: You talked of Socrates and Galileo in the GD . Were they contemporaries ?
Me: No Sir

P1: Where would you place Socrates in time ?
Me: I would say around 300 BC (Its actually 469BC to 399BC)

P1: Hmmn, If I say Aristotle was around 300BC then what would you say ?
Me: :-|

P1: Arrange Plato / Aristotle / Socrates / Alexander in ascending order?
Me: Who Alexander ? Do u mean Alexander the Great ?

P1: Yes of course Alexander the Great ?
Me: Sir I know that Plato was Aristotle's teacher and that Aristotle was Alexander's teacher. I dont remember about Socrates.

P1: So Alexander and Socartes were contemporaries ?
Me: Mumble something

P1: You also talked of the Renaissance in the GD. When was it ?
Me: Around 16th century (Its from 14th to 17th century)

P1: What was it about ?
Me: ( I wanted to talk about how earlier there was a pagan society, then the church came to the fore front. Start of the Middle Ages and then the cultural transformation through Arts etc. But the moment I uttered the word "Pagan"....) Sir, initially there was the Pagan society ....

P1: What is Pagan ?
Me: Idol worship ( I guess he wanted me to say nature workship and polytheisim )

P1: So Hindus are Pagans ?
Me: Yes ( I am not sure, but I think this is right )

P1: Good that you arnt a humanities student ?
Me: Why ?

P1: Coz, ur making a mess of it all !! (Smiling)
Me: :-|

P1: So you were with L&T huh, Tell some landmark structures ?
Me: B' ahai Temple , Krantiveera Stadium, Sir J C Bose Flyover.

P1: What is so special about B' ahai Temple ?
Me: It has a lotus shape. It was very difficult to construct.

P1: Why was it difficult to construct ?
Me: Talked about precast elements, parabolic curve etc ...

P1: What is this B'ahai ?
Me: A religious faith orginating in Iran

P2: What is Sir J.C. Bose known for ?
Me: He is a wellknown Indian botanist. He proved that plants are living beings by showing that they respond to external stimulus. ( He has done work in radio and microwave optics also. Wow! didnt know that )

P2: I am not very good in economics. Tell me what is this liquidity and liquid ?
Me: Explain using 'money in hand' and gold example.

P2: But see, money is made of paper and paper is solid, so why call it liquid ?
Me: It can be easily transacted.

P1: Since you say that money is liquid, tell me the viscocity of money ?
Me: Sir, I dont think such a term exists.

P1: Tell me how will you make a building earthquake resistant ?
Me: Talked of shear walls in buildings. Gave example of Bhuj Hospital constructed by L&T using base isolators etc

P1: What is a theodelite ?
Me: Survey instruments used for measuring angles.

P1: I thought we used protractor for measuring angles ?
Me: Explained about close traverse surveying.

P1: Have you heard of the Leaning Tower of Pisa ?
Me: Yes sir

P1: Do you know where it is ?
Me: Pisa, Italy

P1: Why does it not fall ?
Me: Load line, CG some other such trash fundae

P1: How will you prevent it from falling ?
Me: Gave the cause of tilting, differential settlement of foundation etc .Tried to give a long term solution, foundation treatment.

P1 -> P2 : I dont have anything to ask
P2 nods

P1 & P2: Thank you very much
Me: Thank you sirs

My ratings
Essay : 6/10 ( After the GD, I thought that my essay did not have any differentiating factor. I guess everyone wrote the same stuff)

GD : 7/10
PI : 6/10


Thats all folks

I am not sure how it went. Lets see

RESULT : CONVERTED

[shantanushekhar]

Venue: Dadar, Mumbai

PROFILE:

Acads:
X - 95.8
XII - 94.9
Undergrad Major - B.E. (Comp) 64.4%... Pune University

Work-Ex:
NIL

CAT %ile:
DI 99.23
Quant 97.84
Verbal 99.82
Aggregate 99.95

Any other special thing abt u: Writer, Blogger, Army Background, Decent extra-currics, tennis


GD:

Topic: Education is the progressive discovery of our ignorance
Number of Ppl present 10
Time: 20 mins
Brief Snapshot of Discussion:
The process started with an essay - 300 word limit, but the space provided was deceptively excessive. We were given the topic 'Education is the progressive discovery of our ignorance' with a time stipulation of twenty minutes. While writing the essay, I completely forgot that there was a GD to follow. That in itself was another twenty minutes, and all of us were bored by the end of it - as the points all ran out, we naturally digressed to giving examples as far fetched from sex education (ignorance!) to the Satyam fiasco (ignorance as an ethical shield!). Overall, again a peaceful GD - everyone contributed.

Other Salient Details: No summary. Don't try to fill the space in essay as you will super-exceed word limit

PI:

Panel Members Intro:I was the third guy in my group to be called in and the first two were both done in 12-15 minutes each. As I went in, one of the panelists, P2 - young, chill-looking, stepped out (to the washroom, perhaps?). P1 was a little older, looked a little forbidding.

Questions:

P1: Give me your file.
(given - he started looking through it. Thank God! The form hardly had any space to mention your interests)
Tell me about your background as I look at your file.

(I was about to start with my version of 'Tell me abt yourself' when he interrupted me)

P1: So, your marks had a sudden dip in graduation. Why?
I: (Explained how PU employs a stricter marking regime)

P1: You switched to AP Board after 10th. Why?
I: My school which was the best for CBSE in Hyderabad, in my opinion, discontinued 11th and 12th because of less demand from students, who all wanted to join State Board colleges to prepare for engineering entrances.

P1: (Looking at my CAT scorecard) You have a good balance in all sections - good.
(P2 back in now)

P2: You are from Army Institute of Technology. Army background?
I: Yes, sir. In fact that has made me adaptable...

P1: (Glancing at my first year marksheet)Why do you have such a pathetic subject - Engineering Drawing?
I: (misunderstood him to be criticizing the subject in itself) Well sir that was in the first year.
P1: But forty marks! You must have just passed
I: (cottoning on to his context) Oh, I don't quite have an aptitude for drawing sir. Also, it's a tough subject and 50-60 is considered a good score in this subject.

P1: What's this 'Financial and Industrial Management'? You appear to have scored more here than in other subject?
I: (Explained that it had basic economics concepts as well as management principles. Resisted the urge to give out any terms which might lead to more questions.)

(P1 kept turning pages in my file, going over the extra-currics. No questions there)
P1: You are a fresher, right? (I was the only one in the entire group of ten) So why MBA now? Why not after gaining work-ex?
I: (Rehearsed answer)

P2: So which all calls do you have?
I: Sir, IIM Ahmedabad..(then suddenly remembered that my preferential order of ACLIK had been pointed out in a practice interview!)..then IIM L, of course..then there's IIM C, IIM K and IIM I.

P1: (He'd by now moved to the tennis certificates) So you play tennis. What other hobbies do you have?
I: Apart from playing tennis, cricket and football, I love writing. In fact my works have been published on CNN IBN and rediff.com. I also maintain my own blog.
P2: What is the recent event in blogging?
I: (Had read in the papers yesterday about the case against a 19 year old boy for defaming the Shiv Sena and how the court allowed the boy to served notice. Mixed them up with VHP, but remembered the case anyway)

P1: You write. Do you read as well? Which books do you read?
I: I'm currently reading Unbound India (Gurcharan Das) and I generally read from a wide range - fiction, bestsellers. I also read The World is Flat and have a typical interest in fantasy books like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.
(No question on books from here)

(P1 handed over the file to P2)
P1: So you have been in Pune for the last four years right? What do you do there apart from academics?
I: (Mentioned sports. Then somehow spoke of trekking to different places like Lonavla and Rajmachi. I have never been to Rajmachi, I don't how it came up! He asked me if there was a village there and I said I don't know as I hadn't noticed)

P2: (Luckily he cut in before P1 could catch me out) How do you get admission to AIT?
I: Explained how it's based on AIEEE merit and restricted to Army wards

P1 and P2 looked at each other and decided that there was nothing else to ask me.
P1: Thank you, you can leave now.
(P2 asked me to show him my CAT admit card and handed me my file)
P1: (as I showed the admit card) I like the ordered way in which you've set your file.
I: Thank you sir. Good day.

MISC.

The first thing that crossed my mind as I came out was that it was a really short interview (8 mins?), and they hadn't grilled me at all - on anything. I was also happy to note he hardly asked me any technical questions although the guy before me mentioned he got stuck on graph theory, in depth. Except for the Rajmachi slur, was a pretty satisfactory interview. Well, that's another one gone. On to March, with more interviews to go.

[ganeshiima]

PROFILE:

Acads:
X 86.8
XII 90.17
Undergrad Major - 70%
Work-Ex: 19 months n still wrking
NIL/Sector - Energy Services -Honeywell
CAT %ile:
DI 99.35
Quant 99.12
Verbal 96.67
Aggregate 99.71


Any other special thing abt u: not much-won few awards at workplace, district chess champ n few extracurric . good acads.


GD:
Topic: 'Education is progressive discovery of Ignorance'
Number of Ppl present 10/11
Time: 20min
Brief Snapshot of Discussion: decent discussion.......... i chipped in 3-4 times............. had some good points to talk abt.........
sometimes people went tangential with topics like Naxalism ; Nazism -Hitlar; Satyam (this is new fashion these days . people somehw bring these two topics in all discussions - Satyam n Recession )

i gave example of Einestain (im nt evena drop in this vast ocean of Physics ), someone came up with good example of Dr. Ambedkar etc. Overall average discussion.

topics in IIML are very arbit. so you need nt to be in any hurry coz 20 min is a lot of time to discuss such topics same applies to essay as well.


Other Salient Details: No summary was asked

PI:
Panel Members Intro: two veryyoung n east going proffs P1 & P2

Questions:
p1: Plz cm in n hv a seat . asks fe folder.
P2 left fr smthing
Me: just thinking.
P2 joins
P2: tell us something abt urself?
me: started with i did my engg.....
P2:tell us abt ur scholling
me: answered
p2:why LIT(my engg college) n Chem Engg?
me: answered
p2:family background?
me:answered
p1: write abt ur job responsibilities( i had nt written anything abt it in dataform)

i wrote it hurridly

P1:tell us abt wrk u do?
me: told
P2: u know anything abt Caron credit market
me :yes sir, i hv fair idea (didnt ask any further question, i shud have said i know abt it -one of my areas of interest)
p1:honbbies:
me: reading, spending time with frnds , puzzles, chess etc......
p2:wht kinda of books u read? tell us abt last 10 books u read etc
me:told some names ......P1 cut me n asked me abt one book (i cudnt recollect name of author of one of my favourite books der )
p2:talked abt one of the book (Mritunjaya -life of Karna in Mahabharta , very famous marathi novel ,fr few seconds)

p1: hw many other calls u have
me:told (first said CLIK then remembered i hv A too apologised n said ACLIK n IIT B n Xl)

p2: looking at P1 , sir i dnt hv any further questions.....u can ask ? p1 i too didnt hv any question......
you can leave .......

me:thnks.........

It lasted just 7-8 minutes........ another feel good interview fr me.

MISC.
IIML interview of one of my frnd was very arbit........
frst thing panel said was " your acads are very bad" n then why we shud select you?........... n then he was grillled on acads........ so guys expect something unexpected in the interview...... n try to be crisp in the intervew.

Be cool in GD as well as in PI.......

Good luck everybody

Converted this call. i believe before PI they had decided my fate. May be good essay n good GD n good acads helped me sailing through.

[maruti1986]

Venue: Dadar, Mumbai

PROFILE:

Acads:
X - 87
XII - 88
Undergrad Major - B.Tech (Comp) 6.29, IIT Bombay

Work-Ex: 7 months in an internet company

CAT %ile:
DI 99.55
Quant 99.98
Verbal 97.89
Aggregate 99.97

Any other special thing abt u: Football Magazine, NTSE, Maths Olympiad


GD:

Topic: He who knows being poor knows everything
Number of Ppl present 8
Time: 20 mins
Brief Snapshot of Discussion:

People talked about Slumdog, and what happiness is . Also about what being poor means. Examples like Dhiru Bhai and some other chap given.

One guy who dint talk much was asked to summarise.

PI:

Panel Members Intro:I was the penultimate guy in my group to be called in. Everyone before me took around 10 mins.

P1 : A serious, no nonsense kind of a Prof, aged around 40 years.
P2 : Not really involved in the interview, was looking at the certificates.

P1 : Tell me about yourself
M : Born here, working here, hobbies including footer, fiction novels, football

P1 : Who won the first football world cup
M: Uruguay

P1 : When was it held
M: 1930

P1 : Who was the finalist
M : Brazil, I think. (He corrected me, its actually Argentina and even told me the score, very well read guys man)

P2: Why low grades
M: Immature, better than what my CGPA suggests, cliched anser

P1: Ok, whats a determinant
M: Told and some uses of it

P1: How do you know if an equation Ax = B has a solution
M: Gave an explanation, but was not able to tell them properly.

P1: Whats Posisson's distribution
M: :confused: Dont know Sir, read it long long ago

P1 : What is difference between your company and your rival company
M: Again blabbered, not convincing :(

P1 : What novels do you read
M : Erich Segal and Ayn Rand

P1 : Name all his novels
M: Told

P2 : You had a course in Environment Science, what did you learn
M : (Attended 2-3 classes and had no clue) Gave a very shady answer, like cleanliness and stuff

P2 : What did you learn in another elective
M: Told

P2: We have no more questions
M : Thank you

------------
I felt that they are concentrating a lot on your elective courses, as most of the guys in my panels were asked questions in them.

[kamalaandi]

Puys,
I had my L GD/PI today morning at HMATC, Dadar. Also had my A interview in banglore yday.. didn’t have much sleep.. tried sleeping for sometime in the Airport at night.. started early and reached the centre at 8am itself.. it was boring.. having given my A interview the previous day, it was difficult to sustain interest..
50 ppl were split into 5 panels. I was in panel -5. No AC L .. it was hot and sunny there.. no drinking water for a long time.. I cud see a lot of ppl with work ex..
PROFILE:

Acads:
X – 85 CBSE
XII – 89 TN state
Undergrad Major - B.E(ECE) 6.7/10, CEG, AU, Chennai.

Work-Ex: 20 months in Infosys

CAT %ile:
DI 98.11
Quant 97.48
Verbal 98.84
Aggregate 99.7 (OBC)

Any other special thing abt u: Usually very confident in giving wrong answers..
ESSAY:
Topic:
He who knows to be poor, knows everything..
Wrote a decent essay for a page.. others wrote a bit longer.. we were given 15 mins after being promised 20 mins..
GD:
It was on the same topic .. It was like a fish market in parts.. when ppl were allowed to speak, some really funny and totally irrelevant points were discussed.. I gave some 4 decent points and decided to be quiet for the rest of the time.. The seating arrangement wasn’t gud… I cudnt see 2 candidates who were seated to my extreme right..
After the GD was over, I cud see some candidates discussing with each other that there have been worser GDs and ours was decent

PI:
I was the 4th to be called in.. The first 3 interviews were over in around 30 to 40 mins..
M – middle aged smiling prof
O – older smiling sarcastic prof
K – that’s me yaa..


M – hey, close the door man..
K – ok sir… (wished both of them )
O – so, karthikeyan.. u did ECE.. my boy, ur grades are very poor.. why??
K – sir, I have to accept that my commitment towards exams in college wasn’t upto mark. It was a mistake.. In an effort to rectify that I think got a good CATscore.. and hereafter, I will make every opportunity count, and wont make the same mistake of getting low grades if given a seat in IIM –L . I will give my very best..
O – (nods) .. so, u work in Infosys.. where?
K – Pune sir.
O – do u like pune?
K – yes sir.
O – do u like ur work?
K – yes sir.
O – then why do u want to quit ?
K – Sir, I have worked in the IT field for 20 months.. now I want to get into a marketing profile.. and a PGP from a top inst like IIM-L will help me..
O – so, u have a good score.. how many calls do u have?
K – sir, I have ABC..
M – (cuts) hey where do u have the document to support this figure..
K – sir , its there.. actually my last salary was lesser, bcos I had to be on LOP for somedays due to poor health .. (its all in the game )
K – yes sir.. I have ABC LIK ..
O – so, where do u plan to join?
K – sir, as of now I don’t have any final call.. so every match is a final match for me now..
(M and O started )
O – k man, but If u get all the calls, whats ur preference?
K – sir, I haven’t decided yet.. I am not in the best position to answer this question.. I have to analyse the pros and cons of all the insts and have to get inputs from all my seniors..
O – seniors, cud mislead u..
K – yes sir.. that’s possible.. but I will try to take a rational decision..

[kamalaandi]

K – yes sir.. that’s possible.. but I will try to take a rational decision..
O – so tell me abt ur work … whats ur role in it?
K – told.
O – whats the name of ur client?
K – told.
O – ok.. tell me what problems u face..
K – told.
O – that’s a management problem.. whats technical.. what technique u use in networking ??
K – no big technique sir.. we use OSPF(open shortest path first) kind of thing.
O – see.. that’s right.. tell me wat do u do.. wat approach u use..
K – (well .. that’s all I do.. ) blah ..
O – see, there are problems like travelling salesman, spanning tree etc..
K – yes sir.. we do have to avoid them..
O – ok, whats the spanning tree problem>?
K – told.. also explained the travelling salesman problem..
O – one final question.. tell me what technical problem u face?
K – sir, may be I am not getting ur question.. I don’t know the answer for it sir.. J
O – ok..

M –ok.. lets stop acads..
K – ya ya ..

M – (to O )hey he has won some quizzes in maths.. u can ask him some thing on that..
O – haa no.. whats his %ile in QA?
K – 97.48 sir
M – marks??.. oh its 43/100..
M – do u know how many states are in our country?
K – 28 sir.
M – union territories?
K – 7 sir.
M – then what abt goa? Is it a state or an UT?
K – UT sir..
M – it has a CM ya..
K – so.
M – if its under direct president rule, why its an UT?
K – UT can have CM sir.
M and O discuss abt how UTs have only governor general..
M – ok, how many official languages are in India?
K – 22 sir.
M – so, is hindi and English from the same family of languages?
K – no sir.
M – ya they are from the family @#$@#%@..anyway that’s too difficult.. J
K - J
M – how many seats are there in the parliament.
K – hmm.. 553 sir..
M – I want only the lok sabha seats..
K – yes sir.. last time the seats req for a simple majority was 272, I guess..
M – ya, Do all seats have elections?? if its 273, how do u get 553? see u r weak in Quants
K – oh yea, its 543 sir.. but some seats in JK don’t have elections as its in POK.. sir, i am not weak..i just got this simple wrong today.. may be i am nervous
M – so where is @#%@#% in Kashmir?
K – no idea sir..
M – hmm J ok.. we are done.. you can leave..
K – thank u sir.. thank u sir.. J

MISC:
As usual, whatever happened, I was smiling thru out ….
most of the interviews were short.. ppl werent stressed much..

[meshed]

Update --> Converted!!!

PROFILE:

Acads:
X - 87.4 (CBSE)
XII - 91.0 (CBSE)
BE - Telecom - 73.7 (Mumbai University)

Work-Ex:
IT - Investment Bank - 20 months

CAT %ile:
DI - 86.xx
Quant - 95.xx
Verbal - 99.xx
Aggregate - 99.24

Date of Interview - 26th Feb 2009, 2 pm slot, HMATC, Mumbai

Any other special thing abt u: Some extra-curriculars - but the panel dint care one bit

IIM Lucknow was my lone IIM call. My group had 7 participants including me. 4 were from IITs, freshers or otherwise. Remaining 3 from Mumbai colleges. I think everyone had atleast 4 calls (and many had all 6). Making my presence felt in such a group was gonna be a tough task

ESSAY:
Topic: Helping hands are better than praying lips
Time: 20 minutes
We were provided with rough sheets to scribble. Crap topic for me i thought. So not too much to write anyway (started off with something about Sai Baba and Mother Teresa and also cricket - did not bring these up in the GD - Some of my other points are covered below). Left writing after a while, and just sat there readying myself to start the GD (decided I should do this as my essay was screwed up anyway).

GD: Helping hands are better than praying lips
Brief Snapshot of Discussion:
I started with "Lets assume for a second that we're not in this room, but instead on the most beautiful beach in the world, with the sun shining brightly, and the waves lapping at our feet, and in this serene environment, we suddenly hear screams for 'HELP!' and a lifeguard jumps in a saves the drowing boy - an apt example to show that helping hands are better than praying lips" - was cut short here by another participant "Lets not start the GD with examples, lets define a structure (a la IMS/TIME/CL/CF/etc - did not know that this structure-theory applied to abstract GDs as well) and discuss first what is meant by helping hands and what is meant by praying lips and how these two might be inter-related and how blah blah". Someone continued saying - "yes I support the structure" etc. Oh well, so much for my start-with-a-bang intro.

I think I spoke around 7-8 times. Wasn't such a big deal considering there were only 7 people and 20 minutes. Everyone got a chance. Towards the end we ran out of points and were somehow dragging it on by beating around the bush - and restlessly waiting for the panelists to end the GD.

Some of the points I put forth (in no particular order) - (I have no idea if these were relevant - and I dont know if the panelists were even listening (they werent always listening :sarcasm: )) (Phew, thats a lot of brackets)
--> Intro (as above)
--> Mumbai terror attack, people in their rooms werent praying, they were opening windows and jumping onto curtains to escape - no time for prayer
--> Too much of help would make people complacent - and expect help always then they wont become self-sufficent - threw in that 'Teach a man to fish' quote
--> Helping hands and praying lips could complement one another - gave the example of Reiki - which is a healing technique that uses the hands to channelize energy - but also involves faith+prayer
--> Begged to differ with an atheist/agnostic in the group - pointed out that prayer might not immediately get you results - but atleast will give you the faith, courage, optimism and mental strength to succeed
--> Something about prayer being resorted to in dire circumstances - that even non-believers would start praying - quoted "there are no atheists in a foxhole"
--> One or two other random points - dont remember

There were some other good points coming from the group. Something about cricket, delhi6, the white revolution, NGOs etc.

Other Salient Details: No summary was asked. We were glad when the GD ended. Overall average GD.

PI:
Panel Members Intro: 2 people. Dont know if they were profs.
Questions:
Was 5th in the group. I entered the room and was asked to sit down. One panelist asked for my file. He started looking through it. Flipped it over in 10 seconds flat - and it wasnt even that small. Other panelist starts questioning me meanwile.

P (Panel) - Can you tell us what you do at work please?
M (Me) - Told, paused (P was waiting), added more, paused, added more.

P - What value addition you think MBA is gonna give you? Where do you see yourself 5 years down the line? (talk about cliches! oketounge: )
M - Sir, telecom backgnd, so wanna get back into the field, I see lot of potential, want to specifically work on improving rural telecom sector etcetera

P - Hmm, rural, you think its so easy? From outside it might look rosy, but being in village v tough etc
M - Sir I was schooled outside india, came here, was tough to adjust, but managed, i know it'll take time, but i'll do it and some random etc which wasnt very convincing, but P dint probe further :dontgeti:

P - What mgmt subjects have you studied?
M - IEM - Industrial Economics and Management

P - What all have you studied in it?
M - Mumbled something - Supply, Demand, Maslow's need hierarchy etc

P - Explain law of demand
M - Said something like demand inversely proportional to price, assuming that some factors are constant.

P - What are those 'other factors' called? Whats the tech term?
M - Sorry sir, I'm unable to recollect it at this point in time. (It's actually ceterus paribus)

P - Ok here's a case. 2 people. Both want to buy petrol. One at a fixed price of 20 Rs. Other wants to buy 20 litres. - irrespective of demand (And something else which I dint really get much). Please draw the demand price curve for both.
M - I'll try to draw them, might need your help. I tried something, obviously wasnt too good with it. We spent almost 4-5 minutes on this. I was running them through what I thought should be the graphs. They kept saying no. Finally I think I got one graph right. Gave up on the other one and sed 'Sorry sir, not able to do it. I think I'm getting confused'.

P - You had probability in engineering? Tell us something about distributions. :whatthat:
M - Caught unawares (Jeez it's been 4 years!). Mumbled a few names - uniform, poisson, binomial, geometric.

P - Okay what is the skewness of the Poisson distribution?
M - Dont know

P - What? You dont know skewness, kurtosis etc?
M - Dont remember sir. I have done this a long time back and need to revise.

P - What is the variance of normal distribution?
M - 1

P - Are you sure? Is it always 1?
M - It can definitely be 1 sir, but I'm not sure about always.

P - What is the mean of a uniform (0,1) distribution?
M - mixed up the x and y axes in my head and answered '1'

P - But 1 is the extreme point!
M - I realized my mistake. It's 1/2.

P - Are you sure?
M - No I am not sure. uppydog:

P - Ok. We're done. You may leave.


MISC.
Overall duration of the interview - 9 minutes. No questions on my hobbies or other achievements. Nothing about my schooling, background, acads relevant to my engineering or anything else from the form/certis or current affairs/GK etc.

Even if pigs were to start flying tomorrow, I wouldnt be able to convert this one. Peace out.




Update --> Converted!!!
I'm staring out the window watching the sun set....and whoa, isnt that a pig flying in the distance?!

[ssk1985]

ssc:86.4
hsc:89.33
engg:60.07 (MU)

essay/gd topic: Helping Hands are better than Praying Lips

wrote an average essay..

GD was as mentioned above.. pretty ok.. i entered only thrice or something.. and towards the end evry1 had run out of points..

----------------------------------------
p1 - describe us
me - sir, describe you both?
p1 - yes
me - (??????):confused: start off with saying you both must be distinguished professors..
p1 interrupts - who told you we are profs?
me - sir i just assumed...
p1 - but we cd just hv conned our way in to conduct the interviews. infact (referring to p2) he just addressed that i look like a conman. dont u think so?
me - no sir, i wd disagree sir
p2 - describe your tie
me - ??????????????????????:confused: :confused: :confused:
blabber something...
p1 - how many colors r on your tie?
me - 2
p1 - how many colors in ur attire?
me - sir 2 on my tie, my shirt n black trousers/belt/shoe/socks ..total 4
p1 - so black is your fav color?
me - nothing like that sir..
p1 - so you are a comp sc student.. wot is Moore's law?
me - (this is where i made a big mess.. donno how i forgot something so basic like this! gave a very inaccurate ans! was corrected by the prof)
p2 - ok so what are your hobbies?
me - writing, reading...
p1 interrupts - so what do you read
me - fiction .. i like detective books:detective:.. no fav author
p1 - so in the agatha christie hercule poirot series.. which is the last book?
me - sir.. curtain something..
p1 - close..
p1 - so who is your fav detective?:detective:
me - sherlock holmes
p1 - his arch rival?
me - prof moriarty
p1 - who is his idol?
me - sir i dont think he has any idol..
p1 - no he does..
me - sir then probably you are referring to his elder brother mycroft..
p1 nods in agreement..
some more Qs..
p2 - where are you from?
me - bombay.. my native is in tamil nadu but i hv not been there
p2 - so wot is the place famous for?
me - temples
p1 - which God are shown in those temples?
me - donno..
then topic went to meaning of my name.. a little here and there.. and then came to asking if i believed in God.. then..
p2 - do you read the Bhagvad Gita?
me - no sir
p1 - have you read the Mahabharat?
me - yes sir.. the comic version..
p1 - comic?????
me - i mean sir the one with all the illustrations
p1 - so name the pandavas
me - yudhisthir, bhishma, arjun, nakul, sahadev
p1 - bhishma??????????
me - sorrry sir ..Bhima.. slip of tongue
p1 - so who were their mothers?
me - yudhisthir, bhim, arjun - kunti and nakul and sahadev.. sir i am not able to recollect it.. (sudden flash!) .. madri ..
p1 - ok fine.. thank you
p1 - btw you hv other calls?
me - yes sir..told
p1 - thank you..

me - sir if it is ok.. cd i kno your names?
p1 and p2 look at each other..
p1 - i am Himanshu.. he is Santosh (not sure of this)

and because they had initially asked me why do i think they are professors.. so i just wanted to kno.. so i asked..

me - so sir.. u both are profs?..
p1 - i am a prof, (referring to p2) he is an ex-student..


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that was it! so in short.. some good moments.. some average moments.. some fumbles!