Hey puys!! Share your GE/PI experiences here. Keep the thread as clean as possible :: ATB Nav ::
Hey puys!!
Share your GE/PI experiences here. Keep the thread as clean as possible 
ATB
Nav 
Here goes the first one ---
Stayed near the Bopal road and reached MICA at around 8:30
As soon as we entered, we were escorted to the registration desk.. and immediately divided into panels and rushed for GE..
Unlike last time all groups were given tasks on building a bridge, making a mica landscape and stuff.. No discussions as such.
After this...a looooooong wait uptill 5:30 for me before the PI. In this time we were shown the MICA campus, fed some tasty veg food. Also had an interaction with PAT.
Now my interview experience :
My panel consisted of Deval, MAthew and Ramaswamy.
As soon as i entered
M : You seem to have a hunch back
me: :wow:.. no no its just that i am tired and i am wearing my dads suit... kinda heavy 
D: you said you dislike the Police .. do you have any criminal record;)
me: Its just the way they behave with the common people and their ignorance towards issues like the Mangalore Pub Attack
M: Talk bout it
me: i am from mangalore and i love the city but the....
M: i feel what happened was justified.. how can women drink in pubs.
me: 1) going into a pub not equal to drinking
2) even if a girl drinks.. still not justified
M:Are you from RSS
me:yes
M Then i am scared now.. my name is mohammed
me:wow!!! my best friend's name also is mohammed
M/D/R : :clap:
R: do you know this lady's name
me : deval kartik
M:Have you seen deval before
me: No
M: Then how are you sure??
me: cause i believe that deval happens to be a female and you look like males to me
M/D/R : :clap:
After this it was history.... i was punching in jokes for every question they asked about my CSR Initiative, my work ex and stuff..
Deval ( laughing her lungs out ) : Amit go now..
Me: am i done.. i thought we would talk in length.
Deval ( laughing ) Amit.. get out !!
Thats it guys...
Outta 53 - 20 rejects - 5 waitlists 18 ( approx) merit list and 10 spots..
And i am one of them!!!!!
(You might want to go to the loo first, this'll take some time)
So then, took a flight from Bangalore to Ahmedabad on the 17th. Already had a room booked at a place called Hotel Signature near Ellis Bridge.
Anyway, got to the IIM campus at 7:00 the next day. After a roll call by one of the seniors, we were whisked away to MICA in a swank Volvo bus with reclining seats and leather interiors...(yeah, right!). Once there, we were taken to a room for the preliminary formalities (registration and stuff). Before I knew it, about 10 of us were herded for the Group Exercise. Our task was to create a landscape of the MICA campus with dough, thermocol, leaves and other thingamajiggs lying in the room. Thankfully, there were a couple of really observant guys in our group who had a fair idea of how the campus looked like. After 20 minutes, we finally constructed something that looked like a model of MICA (after a storm had hit it !). All I remember was that I made all the 'No Smoking' boards and planted a few fake 'trees' in the model. But I did make sure I addressed people by their names and chipped in with a few suggestions.
Now that the GE was done with, it was time for PAT's legendary welcome-to-MICA lecture. I must say, after listening to him speak about MICA, even the toughest sceptic will want to get in. Boy, does he know how to speak...!
And now, it was time for the interview. As luck would have it, I was the first guy to be called in, probably because the list was in alphabetical order and my name is Abhijith. I had to face the same panel as Amit did i.e. Matthew, Deval and Ramaswamy.
M: Hello Mr.Shetty!
Me: Hello, good morning.
M: So then, why are you here ?
Me: (Thinking...Mmmm, to do an MBA, I guess?) I believe that to be successful in life you need to have a passion for whatever you're doing...blah blah blah, yada yada.....
M: You're speaking like a trained parrot!
Me: (Lo lagg gayi waat)...No, this IS the way I speak!
D : What appealed to you about MICA?
Me: Premier college for communications management...blah blah....focus on student activities.....blah blah....liberal, your-life-in-your-hands attitude...etc.
D : What student activities are you aware of? Name a few clubs in MICA.
Me: MCSA, Unlike No Others, Snap, MLS, MiCraffiti...etc.
D: Which association would you want to be part of?
Me : I play the guitar, I'd like to bring the band (which doesn't exist now, apparently) back to life.
D : Any others?
Me: MCSA (MICA Council for Student Affairs), I guess...
D: Okay, say you're the prez of MCSA. Two groups of ppl come to you. One group says - we need more time for extra-currics and the other says we need more academic activities. What do you do?
Me: Spoke like a true diplomat (Shashi Tharoor would be proud)
M: So you speak Spanish, I understand?
Me: Basic. Throw me in a Spanish speaking country and I'll survive.
M: In which countries do they speak the language?
Me: Spain (duh!), Mexico, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador,Columbia..etc, etc....reeled them off.
M: Difference b/w the Spanish in Spain and other latin american countries?
Me: Gave a few examples where the same word means different things in different countries.
R (who was silent all this while): 5 year goals/ 10 year goals..?
Me: In 5 years, get into an ad agency as an Account Planner. In 10 to 15 years, be what you guys are.....get into teaching.
R: Why Account Planning?
Me: blah blah....creativity....strategy....blah
M/D/R: Any questions you want to ask us?
Me: I've heard a lot about Prof.Deval Kartik. Are you the one ?
D : Yup! That's me. How do you know me?
Me: PagalGuy, but no, I'm not one of those guys who irritate you, I'm just a passive observer (tried to score a few brownie points )
D: No, I don't get irritated at all.
Me: On the contrary..., I've read a few of your replies on PG that suggest you were slightly annoyed at times...
D: Aah...there were times ! heh heh
M/D/R: That'll be all....You may leave now.
Phew! That took a little longer than I'd expected.
Was done by about 11:15. Roamed the campus for the next 7 hours, met a few seniors, had the world class nimbu paani at Chhota, socialized with a brilliant bunch of fellow aspirants .
At about 7:30, the results were announced. Got a spot offer.:wow: Throat went dry. Heart stopped beating. Mind went blank....Didn't say a word. Shut the f*** up and gave my D.D.....
ATB,
Abhijith Shetty
P.S.: Smokers, do not forget to take your fags along. You don't get them anywhere for like a 10 mile radius.
(You might want to go to the loo first, this'll take some time)
ATB,
Abhijith Shetty
P.S.: Smokers, do not forget to take your fags along. You don't get them anywhere for like a 10 mile radius.
Sirjee.... I am the one who loaned you a sutta...
so before we start off studying together... one sutta and one machis ka tilli on you!!
Caramba and Amit:
You guys wanna meet up, since we're gonna be classmates and all?
Sirjee.... I am the one who loaned you a sutta...
so before we start off studying together... one sutta and one machis ka tilli on you!!
Sure thing, mate!
Oh, and sorry that I didn't recognize you after the offers...I was in a daze!
Caramba and Amit:
You guys wanna meet up, since we're gonna be classmates and all?
Oh yes! We've got two months to kill anyway.....
Let's keep the thread clean, eh? How 'bout we exchange phone numbers and e-mail ID's? I'm relatively new to PG. Is it okay if I put my contact details here...I've seen a few frowns when that has happened...
Hi puys,
Had my GE/PI on the 18th ...
Here are my 2 cents on the happenings of the day...
Reached IIM Ahdmedabad gate at 7.45 in the Morning. MICA had arranged a bus for us.
Reached there. GE started at 9.30 AM approx.
GE:
We were divided into three groups for the GE.
I was in a room with 8 other people and 2 faculty members.
Was fully expecting some question with 10 options .. thanks to all the research through pagalguy 😃 .. and went bonkers on reading the question:
Please make a landscape of all things that u saw in MICA till the time you have reached here in this room.... you can use the materials in the room..
For a second the mind was blank.. what was happening.. wasn't expecting this at all.. still all of us assembled around a table where three bags with some material were kept along with a thermocol board.
As soon as the time started, all hell broke loose, with everyone scrambling to take off the contents to see what we had.. there was some dough, leaves, grass, newspapers and sketchpen..
Neways, we did have a pretty decent group.. and managed to make something of it.... despite the chaos ...
At the end of teh GD.. the faculty picked each one of us to either criticize or appreciate what we had done or to say what could we have done better...
Finally the GE ended with us taking a snap of our landscape.. 😃 and also a group pic with the faculty.. :)
When I came out of the GE.. was a bit shocked that it all got over so quickly... neways.. later on got to know that out of the three GE groups, two had to make the MICA landscape and one group had to make a bridge..
Then we were offered some refreshments folloed by PAT's address.. which was awesome... a mind blowing conversationalist...
The PI started at arond 11 am...
PI:
The PI again was divided across three panels having approx three faculty each.
I was the first person to be interviewed in my batch.
The PI started with me entering a chilly room.... brrr.. was shivering to the toes... could sit still... saw three people sitting there ... two men and a woman..
Since I was shivering with the cold and could nt sit still ... was encouraged by the woman to relax..
neways, tried smiling to the two men.. neither reciprocated.. :(
I Knew I was in for a stress interview...
Neways summarising the questions below:
1. Tell me something about you thats not on the form.
2. Speak about your work.. challenges there....
3. Why the shift from technical to MICA.. waste of your knwoledge...
4. What do you know abot MICA rather than the obvious things discussed verywhere.. where did you hear about MICA from
5. leadership experiences.. if you have such a good profile at work.. no need for u to come here.. what more will u learn here?
6. Interested in politics? some more questions on the same'
7. Satyam scandal..
8. What is communications? some more grilling on this
9. Other colleges you have applied to?
10. If not this year then what??
Everytime I tried to answer there were lot of cross questions and I had to strive hard to complete my responses..
Finally got done..
Was not very happy with my performance. Although I had the confidence, was'nt able to say everything that I wanted to ..
Decided not to wait for the results and came back to the hotel...
Got a call from my friend at 7 30.. to tell me that i had gotten a spot offer 
yay... finally finally.. have done it..
My brief profile:
CAT 97.04
GMAt : 690
BE IT from Mumbai University: Good acads.
Workex : 3 years at the time of joining in top Indian IT company. Good leadership experiences included. Decent extracurriculars.
Have paid the initial 50k draft amount today morning.
Hope this info is useful to you all and all the very best to you all.
Deval ( laughing her lungs out ) : Amit go now..
Me: am i done.. i thought we would talk in length.
Deval ( laughing ) Amit.. get out !!
Thats it guys...
Outta 53 - 20 rejects - 5 waitlists 18 ( approx) merit list and 10 spots..
And i am one of them!!!!!
Gayatri had told me you had a funny interview... now i believe her... so u know who I am now.. 😃
(You might want to go to the loo first, this'll take some time)
So then, took a flight from Bangalore to Ahmedabad on the 17th. Already had a room booked at a place called Hotel Signature near Ellis Bridge.
Anyway, got to the IIM campus at 7:00 the next day. After a roll call by one of the seniors, we were whisked away to MICA in a swank Volvo bus with reclining seats and leather interiors...(yeah, right!). Once there, we were taken to a room for the preliminary formalities (registration and stuff). Before I knew it, about 10 of us were herded for the Group Exercise. Our task was to create a landscape of the MICA campus with dough, thermocol, leaves and other thingamajiggs lying in the room. Thankfully, there were a couple of really observant guys in our group who had a fair idea of how the campus looked like. After 20 minutes, we finally constructed something that looked like a model of MICA (after a storm had hit it !). All I remember was that I made all the 'No Smoking' boards and planted a few fake 'trees' in the model. But I did make sure I addressed people by their names and chipped in with a few suggestions.
Now that the GE was done with, it was time for PAT's legendary welcome-to-MICA lecture. I must say, after listening to him speak about MICA, even the toughest sceptic will want to get in. Boy, does he know how to speak...!
And now, it was time for the interview. As luck would have it, I was the first guy to be called in, probably because the list was in alphabetical order and my name is Abhijith. I had to face the same panel as Amit did i.e. Matthew, Deval and Ramaswamy.
M: Hello Mr.Shetty!
Me: Hello, good morning.
M: So then, why are you here ?
Me: (Thinking...Mmmm, to do an MBA, I guess?) I believe that to be successful in life you need to have a passion for whatever you're doing...blah blah blah, yada yada.....
M: You're speaking like a trained parrot!
Me: (Lo lagg gayi waat)...No, this IS the way I speak!
D : What appealed to you about MICA?
Me: Premier college for communications management...blah blah....focus on student activities.....blah blah....liberal, your-life-in-your-hands attitude...etc.
D : What student activities are you aware of? Name a few clubs in MICA.
Me: MCSA, Unlike No Others, Snap, MLS, MiCraffiti...etc.
D: Which association would you want to be part of?
Me : I play the guitar, I'd like to bring the band (which doesn't exist now, apparently) back to life.
D : Any others?
Me: MCSA (MICA Council for Student Affairs), I guess...
D: Okay, say you're the prez of MCSA. Two groups of ppl come to you. One group says - we need more time for extra-currics and the other says we need more academic activities. What do you do?
Me: Spoke like a true diplomat (Shashi Tharoor would be proud)
M: So you speak Spanish, I understand?
Me: Basic. Throw me in a Spanish speaking country and I'll survive.
M: In which countries do they speak the language?
Me: Spain (duh!), Mexico, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador,Columbia..etc, etc....reeled them off.
M: Difference b/w the Spanish in Spain and other latin american countries?
Me: Gave a few examples where the same word means different things in different countries.
R (who was silent all this while): 5 year goals/ 10 year goals..?
Me: In 5 years, get into an ad agency as an Account Planner. In 10 to 15 years, be what you guys are.....get into teaching.
R: Why Account Planning?
Me: blah blah....creativity....strategy....blah
M/D/R: Any questions you want to ask us?
Me: I've heard a lot about Prof.Deval Kartik. Are you the one ?
D : Yup! That's me. How do you know me?
Me: PagalGuy, but no, I'm not one of those guys who irritate you, I'm just a passive observer (tried to score a few brownie points )
D: No, I don't get irritated at all.
Me: On the contrary..., I've read a few of your replies on PG that suggest you were slightly annoyed at times...
D: Aah...there were times ! heh heh
M/D/R: That'll be all....You may leave now.
Phew! That took a little longer than I'd expected.
Was done by about 11:15. Roamed the campus for the next 7 hours, met a few seniors, had the world class nimbu paani at Chhota, socialized with a brilliant bunch of fellow aspirants .
At about 7:30, the results were announced. Got a spot offer.:wow: Throat went dry. Heart stopped beating. Mind went blank....Didn't say a word. Shut the f*** up and gave my D.D.....
ATB,
Abhijith Shetty
P.S.: Smokers, do not forget to take your fags along. You don't get them anywhere for like a 10 mile radius.
@Abhijit and Amit
The name is Raj... I mean Raj-neesh and not Ramaswamy!!! Can't believe Mathew and I really pulled it across till PG
@Abhijit and Amit
The name is Raj... I mean Raj-neesh and not Ramaswamy!!! Can't believe Mathew and I really pulled it across till PG :clap:
Hi Deval,
I dint interview with the panel u were in... but did see u during PAT's address.. u were the one in the red saree rite.. ? Neways, hope to have many interactions with you during my time at MICA... see u soon.. 😃
Oh yes! We've got two months to kill anyway.....
Let's keep the thread clean, eh? How 'bout we exchange phone numbers and e-mail ID's? I'm relatively new to PG. Is it okay if I put my contact details here...I've seen a few frowns when that has happened...
Hi
Please do not exchange email Id's and phone numbers on PG
Its against the forum rules and the posts shall be edited if you do. You can PM each other your ID's
In true MICA tradition, I have created an orkut community for the incoming batch. Please feel free to join
Here is the link: http://www.orkut.com/Main#Community.aspx?cmm=60348362
Congrats to everyone on their Admits
Yenjaay
shayp SaysGayatri had told me you had a funny interview... now i believe her... so u know who I am now.. :)
hey poo... i am joining for sure.. you??
@Abhijit and Amit
The name is Raj... I mean Raj-neesh and not Ramaswamy!!!
Uh-oh!
I hope the faux pas won't adversely affect our GPA's.....
@Abhijit and Amit
The name is Raj... I mean Raj-neesh and not Ramaswamy!!! :clap:
Uh-oh!
I hope the faux pas won't adversely affect our GPA's.....
hello Puys...
I know i m a litle late in posting my Experience...but I guess d whole experience is worth it aftr al...So here it goes...
Reached Ahmedabad on d 19th after my Tapmi PI at Manipal...n den reachd d next day i.e. on d 20th for my GE-PI at d MICA CAMPUS....One glance...and dats it...guess it has dt Creative energy arnd it dt js mks u fall in luv wid d place....
neway...v strted off wid d registration process n sum nice tea n biscuits ..
Den came d speech by PAT....great orator...left all parents and children spellbound...Dis hpnd while d other 3 panels hd their GE...sum had 2 design d layout of a newspaper complete wid title et al...n sum had Creative Story writing wid d words given....js like v did...ours ws a prty neat job...dts wt atlst i felt...our story hd a prty profound meaning except dat only d group got it...n did not really get 2 d evaluators
K...den had a nice Campus session...shown arnd d hostels,knowledge centres n evrythng....D seniors did a gud job at dat...dey wr Patient..cud mk out ...(cuz f sum really dumb Qns dt many ppl wr asking!!!)...
kudos 4 dat!!!:clap:
N after having a decent lunch at d mess...hd 2 wait 4 2hrs b4 my turn came...
Realised dat i had deval mam...Chatterjee sir....n 1 more sir in my PI panel.(dint knw his name)..
D PI ws such....KEY:D- Deval mam, C- chatterjee Sir, OS-Other Sir,Me-ADITI;)
D,C,OS- Gud afternoon Aditi
Me- gud aftrnun
C- So, Aditi u said u like reading indian Fiction...Why??
Me-Indian set-up,identification...blah-blah
C-so lets talk abt The White tiger..u've heard about it??
Me-No sir, dint get an oppurtunity to(ws reading last 10yrs CAT papers!!
C-Then, what about sea of Poppies??
Me-(ooops..double trouble!!)...Sir Its by Amitav Ghosh..bt i havent read it either
C-Then what have u read In Indian Fiction
Me-If god was a Banker by ravi subramaniam
O-so whats d story like?
Me-.......on n on....:wow:lets give gyan!!
D-So dont u thnk its like d Arch-typical Bollywood story...gud boy v/s bad boy??
me-yes....bt de....gyan tym agn!!!:D
O-why did u leave ur job?
me-dint enjoy operational work...blah blah
O-U said u dnt njoy politics...why??
Me-i do...bt nt dirty politics
C-so whats ur thinking on dirty politics..what does it mean>?
me-on n on....lets give sum more gyan
D-So what do u think of d political scene in India today??
Me- ...Lets repeat d chorus...say..."on n on"...
D-Which do u want to specialize in XYZ??
Me-....gyan....
O-where do u c urself workin if u tk dt specialisation??
Me-...said al dt i cud thnk of...
D-Do u have ne Qns for us??
Me-............sum arbit crap.....wich dint sound like 1...aftr i had said it(surprisingly n thankfully)
D,C,O-Ok,,,thanks..u may go now ...Al D Best...
very chilled out....enjoyable experience...it wsnt d typical PIs u hv in most B-schools....dint wnt bookish knowledge:clap:...dint seek 2 chk ur mental balance (by putting u thru Stress PI)...It ws about U as a Person...and ur line of thinking...luvvvvvvdd it!!!!!!!!
Hope....its not too long....evn if it is...dnt care....liked wht i went thru...njoyd wht i saw....luvd d thot of sharing it wid al...
btw...when d 20 spot offers were announced in d evening..I ws 1 of d lucky lot!!..Gave d Cheque of 50000/-....n.......
Yeahh...............Finally a MICAN;)!!!!!!!!!
Where are the rest of the experiences? :|
Don't tell me the art is dying!
Congrats to all the admits Welcome to a mad, mad life out here!
Chuck
Okay guys. This is going to be a long one. This won't be my just my GE/PI experience. This will include the whole MICA experience... from the moment I started dreaming about this place...
A previous post on the " Ask MICA feat. Prof. Deval Kartik" thread would give you a basic idea about my story. I'm quoting it here.
"All the world's a stage.." - William Shakespeare
Act 1 Scene 1 - August/September'07
Datkilldme : Dude, have you heard about this college called MICA? Sounds great. I was going through this thread on Pagalguy, looks like the place where I'll be happiest.
Friend : yeah.. the cutoff is something around 90%tile. Then they call you for MICAT/GE/PI all on the same day.
Datkilldme : Lets see what happens.
Act 1 Scene 2 - January'08
Datkilldme : Gosh.. I got 93 %tile in CAT.. even though I always scored 97-98 in the mocks... why did this happen to me? I expected better!!!
Friend : Hey.. don't worry man.. you have got MICA.
Datkilldme : Yeah.. they have separated the MICAT and GE/PI from this year. But I'll clear MICAT of course. I have always been good in verbal. And I'm pursuing English Literature in grad. I'll get the GE/PI call for sure.
Friend : Good luck, mate!
Act 1 Scene 3 - 28th Feb'08 - MICAT results out.
Datkilldme (Aside) : Oh no.. I'm not selected... but the link is gone now.. maybe they are still uploading the results.. I ought to get the call.. there can't be 500 ppl better than me in MICAT... lets wait..
(Datkilldme spends the entire night thinking about it...)
In the morning :
Datkilldme : I should check my e-mail.. there must something from MICA.. they must've made some mistake.............. Oh No.. no mail.. gosh.. why is this happening to me..... (posts on Pagalguy) .
I don't know how to begin with this...! Neither know how to go on.....!
I have not been this disheartened for a long long time...!
My CAT score was saddening enough... but being rejected in the MICAT has left me down and almost out...
After the MICAT, i was pretty confident that i had done well enough to atleast get a call... really have no idea what went wrong... maybe the psychometric test...
I'm sorry about posting this here... but i don't know who else will understand!
Even when i was signing into my e-mail today, i somehow wished that there'll be an e-mail from MICA... hoped that there was some problem in uploading the results and now they had rectified it! Just wishful thinking...
For the past 8 months, I always dreamt of the day that i will tell my friends about my admission into MICA. i guess i'll have to wait another 12 months....
Some dreams are too good to be true!
All the best to the call-getters....
Deval Ma'am : replies .
Oye...don't write like this...it breaks my heart...NO am not being funny or pulling your legs. But I clearly feel how you feel.
I know it's a long wait, but time flies and hope in the same time you will be able to prepare much more and may be add to your own knowledge base.
Look forward to having you in MICA...
Deval
(datkilldme stays heartbroken for sometime.. then gets busy with his final yr exams)
ACT 2 Scene 1 - March 3, 2009
(A year has gone by and it is MICAT result time again. Datkilldme is more aware of things now.. more mature.. and more balanced)
Datkilldme : Oh! MICAT results out...! Lets see...! I can't expect anything. You never know with MICAT. What was my MICA form no.? Lemme check... Oh k.. Please God.. no "SORRY" on the page.. Please God... no "SORRY"
(He presses the "enter" key)
" Congratulations! You have been shortlisted for the final phase of admission to PGPCM 2009-2011. "
All praise to thee, Lord. Thank you for making this dream one step closer to reality.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you Deval ma'am. For everything.
Jai Ho!
This was posted by me after the MICAT'09 results were out. Please continue for the rest of the story...
I had my GE/PI on the 21st, the second last day of the process. My dad was never too excited about MICA, so he was even asking me to contemplate dropping the plan of going all the way to Ahmedabad. But I persisted, and got train bookings done for myself.
Anyway... so I reached Ahmedabad on 20th, and was staying with a friend at WIMWI. I had not completed my SOP, so was slightly worried. I filled the form there, and finished around 2 am in the night. Slept for around 4 hrs.. got up, got ready, and reached the Old Campus gate where the bus was waiting. I wasn't wearing a suit or a tie.. I thought it would be too daunting a task to manage a suit for the whole day.
Once we reached MICA, we were taken to a classroom to register and wait. Now, I was really apprehensive about the whole "Spot Rejection" concept. It was on my mind throughout the day, and I just could not imagine my feelings if I would have got one.
Yeah. So we were taken for the GE process in the second batch. There were 2 batches of 3 groups each. We were 10 in my group... and once we entered the room, we saw chart-papers, bottles of ink and ear-buds on the table. Whoa! This was gonna be one hell of an exercise. Then we were asked to wear numbers so that we could be identified easily by the panel. In the end we got the task :
"Prepare a communications plan to improve the image of any one of the following -
1) Police
2) Postal Services
3) Politicians"
And we had 20 mins. After debating on which one to improve the image for, we decided on the police.
The girls did most of the drawing and writing. I was trying to provide ideas and inputs, but there wasn't anything substantial. However, I did come up with the new "slogan" for the police department - ONE WITH YOU.
Once the 20 mins were over, we were asked to explain what we were trying to show through the drawings.
I was kinda smart in this one - I explained that the slogan had two meanings -
1) The police is "one with you".. i.e. a part of you - the common man.
2) There will always be at least "one" policeman with you - whenever you're in need.
Then started the long wait for my interview. After lunch, I had to wait for 2 more hours. I roamed around the campus during this time, and the belief that MICA was the place for me got reinforced multiple times. Gosh... I was so much in love with the greenery, the "red"ery and the chilled out atmosphere. All of this added a lot of anxiety before the interview. Finally, my turn came -
(I was hoping Prof. Deval would be in my panel.. but she wasn't.. :
she was in panel 1. I was in panel 2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
There were three panelists. (L) - Ma'am | (M) - Sir (R) - Sir
Me : May I come in? Good Afternoon.
(M) : Come in.. come in.. have a seat.
Me : Thank you.
(L) : So... Ayaz... you're a literature student. What makes you come to MICA? Doesn't make too much sense.
Me : It doesn't?? I thought it did.
(L) : Well, if you thought it did, I'm sorry to tell you that you're sorely mistaken.
Me : I chose Literature for my grad because of "so n so" reasons. (I gave a li'l bit of my life story).. Now I want to come to MICA.
(L) : Are you sure? You don't want to go to Jamia- MCRC, or someplace else? Are you sure you want to do Communications Management?
Me : Yes ma'am. Totally sure.
(M) : Okay.. Ayaz.. what do your friends call you? Ayaz or Matin?
Me : Sir.. in the hostel most of them called me Matin.. but otherwise I'm known as Ayaz.
(M) : Your grades have been on a constant decline throughout your life?? What will happen when you come to MICA?
Me : Explained.. and explained some more. (was brutally honest and frank here)
(M) : Oh.. so you topped your college in Literature!! Oh.. naaice. Lets test you on that.
Me : Okay.
(L) : How many plays did Shakespeare write?
Me : Oops... i don't know the exact number.
(L) : When was Shakespeare born?
Me : Ummm.... Fifteen... ummm...... sixty... four?
(L) : "(There were some quotes)".. who said this?
Me : No idea.
(L) : Who won the Booker of Bookers?
Me : Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children.
(L) : Have you read it? Can we talk about it?
Me : Nope.. haven't read it.
(L) : "God of small things"??
Me : Nope. I have read "Life of Pi", though.
(M): Oh... cool... we'll talk about that. What is the style the author uses in the book?
Me : Are you talking about the style where the author narrates another person's story in first person?
(M): Umm.. that's a very general way of putting it. Anyway... now.. could you talk a little about your dislikes?? Do you remember them..? Or would you like to refer to your form?
Me : No sir... i remember them... the first one was.. "forwarded SMSs/emails.."
(M) : That one's understandable.. the other two..
Me : Okay... 2nd was "usage of the word 'loose' instead of 'lose'..."
(L) : (kinda laughing..) why.. what's wrong with that? you get what they're trying to say, don't you?
Me : Yes ma'am, that's true.. but it sounds funny... imagine someone writing this "Hey guys.. I didn't get through.. but lets not loose hope.."
(All of them are laughing.. although not too much)
(M) : Okay.. the 3rd one...
Me : Sir.. on INDIA TV... firstly, they show weird programs... and during those programs.. they'll show something.. write a simple sentence in huge letters.. and then read it aloud slowly.. For example.. they'll show an elephant.. and they they'll write "YEH EK HAATHI HAI"... then they'll read it out "YEH....... EK........... HAAAATHI.......... HAI.................!!" The elephant will vanish.. and they'll say "YEH............... HAAAATHI......... AB............ GAYAB........ HO..... GAYA.............!!!"
(Gosh.. they laughed so much on this.. even I was laughing.. and they kept laughing for a minute or so.. )
(M) says : this is our entertainment for the day.
(L) says : any questions from us?
Me : No ma'am... thank you very much.
I get up and leave. I was laughing even after coming out. It was a good experience.
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Then the wait began for the results. I was getting too anxious now. Paid visits to the restroom plenty of times. Finally PAT came to announce the results.. at around 7pm.
First was the list of "spot rejects". My heart was in my mouth throughout. Although my interview had ended on a good note, I didn't know what to make of it.. I hadn't been great in acads or anything.
Everytime PAT had some trouble in pronouncing a name, I feared it was me... but the 18 names were announced... and I was not among them.
The "spot offers" were next.
First name...
Ayaz Matin....
WHOA..!!!
I WAS NUMB!! DIDN'T BELIEVE IT!!! THIS WAS IT!!!! THIS WAS THE MOMENT I HAD BEEN WAITING FOR.... FOR ONE AND A HALF YEARS!! THIS WAS REDEMPTION!!! ONE DREAM.... THAT FINALLY CAME TRUE!!
If you go through my story, I was very very desperate the last time around.. and I was so sure I would clear MICAT.. so so sure...... but then I didn't. I was devastated after that... didn't know if I'd ever be able to be a part of MICA. One whole year seemed so long. One more year of struggle... of hopes.... of prayers...!
I would like to use this post to thank a few people who have been instrumental in my MICA journey.
Utsav_s1986 - For supporting me throughout and being there for me... always... even when the going was really tough for him.
Deval Ma'am - For all the help... and that post that she wrote a year ago.. I didn't appreciate it then as much as I appreciate it now.
Richa12 - For advising me to be totally frank and honest... which I was.. and which I think is the most important thing.
Utsav Mamoria - For providing help at critical junctures.. and giving me valuable ideas and encouragement.
Chuck - for being the resource of gyaan on the subject.
Yettobepaid - For being an inspiration... in the art of perseverance.
To use words from a genius... whose year of birth I actually got correct....;)
"All's well... that ends well..!!"
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Now all of you people who are wondering why there's "FMS" written below my name when I was so so passionate about MICA... well.. my Dad and certain family conditions forced me to give up the one thing I had really loved in my life...
the love still exists inside...
maybe there will come a day when my wish will come true!!
Wishing the very best to all of you!
Rock 'em all! \m/