Background: In 2010, while still in college, I had achieved 99.60 in XAT and appeared for the interview. I was completely flustered, nervous and underconfident. This leads to a tendency of pleading defensiveness. Cool and confidence are the keys to cracking the interview.

PI Questions:
I enter the room and say hello. They ask me to close the door behind me. I sit down and place the folder on the table, even as PL asks me to do so.

RS starts going through my profile sheet, which is filled with the information submitted with the application. He confirms a few points with me. Meanwhile PL picks up my folder and starts browsing through it.

RS: So you studied at Sanskriti School?

Me: Yes, for two years.

RS: And before that at Army School, Wellington?

Me: Yes, also for two years.

RS: And you studied your engineering from ... ?

Me (completing his sentence): Faridabad

RS: Which branch did you study?

Me: Computers.

RS (looking at my 62.54%): Rather, you were not studying. (Jovially)

Me (laughing): I wasn't. (Had this been an IIM interview, I could've been grilled on this. This coolness is something I have heard about XL profs time and again.)

RS: And now you work at ... ?

Me (completing his sentence): Myntra.com.

RS: Hmmm... Myntra.com - that ecommerce company. And before this you worked at People... (struggling with the long and weird name).

Me: Peoplefluent.

RS: So what does Peoplefluent do?

Me: They make talent management software. They compete with the likes of - (cut off)

RS: That's OK, we know what talent management is.

RS: So, by the looks of it, your father is in the defence organization ... and he seems to be doing quite well. (I don't know where he inferred the second part from.)

Me: Yes, Sir.

RS: So you admire and respect your father?

Me: Absolutely!

RS: Tell me some of his qualities that you have imbibed.

Me: Discipline, taking everyone along in my stride, not leaving anyone behind, and always looking forward. (I don't know if they understood what I meant by all these things.)

Enter SG!

SG: So, you said that you respect your father.

Me: Yes.

SG: Do you love him?

Me: Yes (obviously?).

SG: I think that when you respect someone, you cannot love that person. Respect and love are diametrically opposite.

Me: I disagree. I respect AND love my father.

SG: What does respect come from?

Me: Awesomeness.

SG: What else?

Me: Stature, command, position, fear ...

SG: Yes, fear! And what does love constitute?

Me: Caring, admiration, openness / frankness ... (at a loss for words now)

SG: Freedom

Me: Yes, freedom also.

SG: SO! Fear and freedom are diametrically opposite. Therefore, respect and love are opposites also.

Me: No, respect does not always come out of fear. Fear is not necessary for respect.

SG: Give me an example.

Me: I respect my father but I don't fear him. (Bravo! Such an unexpected and not-so-obvious example!)

SG: So, if your father tells you to do something that you don't want to do, what happens?

Me: He will advise me, try to dissuade me, but not force me. And I will not listen to him. We will disagree.

SG: OK, tell me about your mother. (Maybe he's scared of her?)

Me: I have a very close relationship with my mother. I tell her everything.

SG: What does your mother do?

Me: She's a housewife.

(Unfortunately, no follow up questions on JavaScript, which would have been fun! )

PL (having seen my XAT 2010 scorecard with 99.60 percentile and evenly distributed sectionals, which I had strategically placed in my folder as a counterpoint to my 86.xx in quant this time): So, this is not your first attempt at XAT.

Me: That's true.

PL: So what happened last time?

Me (referring to XAT 2012): Somehow, I got 44 percentile in Decision Making. (I realized later that he was probably asking about 2010.)

PL: And what happened to quant this time?

Me: I made 3 silly mistakes, and realized after having coloured the circles.

PL: In your essay, you have talked about the sub prime crisis.

Me: Yes.
[Context: The essay topic was that economic slowdown is caused by corruption. I reasoned that the economic slowdown in India was caused by the global slowdown, and possibly by the Government scams. I reasoned further that the core cause for the global slowdown was the sub prime crisis, which was a result of corruption.]

PL: Sub prime crisis. Tell me three reasons for it.
Me: Can I take a minute to think?
PL: Sure.
Me (I am trying to think but going blank. I am distracted by the rustling paper, by SG who has gotten up to serve himself some tea and biscuits. I decide that there's no point trying to think, and blurt out the obvious.): The core cause is greed. It all stems from that.
PL: That's too vague. I asked for three reasons.
Me: Yes, I am elaborating.
PL: I don't want you to elaborate, I want three concise reasons.
Me: OK. The first is that loans were given out to people who were not capable of repaying them. The second is that these loans and their derivatives were traded. The third is that this trade was unregulated.
PL: Are you sure it was unregulated?
Me: Even if it was regulated, it was improperly regulated.
PL: How do we know if a regulation is proper?
Me: We know in hindsight, as it obviously wasn't effective.
PL: You have also talked about the Government's mismanagement of funds. Tell me the difference between corruption and mismanagement.

Me (confused): Corruption is deliberate, mismanagement is not. (Should've said mismanagement may or may not be deliberate, but when it is, it must count as corruption.)

PL (not satisfied): What is mismanagement? How do we decide if the Government is mismanaging?

Me: If it is not acting as per the expectations of the people who have elected them.

PL: That's too vague.

Me: If you ask me personally how I would judge a Government's performance, I would expect the Government to focus on key areas like poverty, education and employment.

PL: So what are the metrics you would measure these things on?

Me: The number of people who are above the poverty line, the number of people who are educated beyond a certain level, the number of people who are employed etc.

PL: Why number, why not - ?

Me: Percent! It should be percentage of people.

PL: What is the difference between growth and development?

Me: Growth is in numbers, e.g. economic growth. Development is based on factors like education, healthcare etc.

PL: What is the metric for growth, economic growth?

Me: GDP.

PL: What is a metric for development - is there one?

Me: I know of one - Human Development Index.

PL: What do you know about HDI? What factors does it constitute?

Me: HDI was, I think, formulated by the UNESCO. (It was actually UNDP.) It factors in education, access to healthcare ... (In fact, it is life expectancy, education, and standard of living.)

RS: Do you know of Amartya Sen?

Me: Yes.

RS: He has contributed to the HDI. Do you know how?

Me: No. (He had formulated the HDI with Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq.)

RS: Thank you.

Me (thinking, that was abrupt! Is it over already?): Thank you.

As I am leaving, I peek back in to ask if there is something I needed to wait for, or if I could leave.

It looks long, but I don't think it lasted more than fifteen minutes.

Your advice for future aspirants: Don't be afraid. They have nothing against you until you give them something. Try to tactfully manoeuvre the interview in directions where you are comfortable - they will not resist. Carry a well designed CV with points you would like to be discussed in the interview highlighted in bold. Other areas that could come up include your essay and the GD. If you are able to direct the questions towards your comfort zones, you will answer well; and if you answer well, you will impress. If you don't know something, say so, don't lead them on to ask you tougher questions from that topic.

I was expecting questions on ecommerce, being an up-and-coming exciting field. That could have led to a very interesting discussion, but it didn't happen. The work that I do is niche and exciting within the field of software engineering, but no questions on that either. This does not mean that you will not be asked about your work, company or industry. They will ask you about whatever first catches their attention about you.

Verdict: Reject