GOA (GIM), THE NEXT BEST THING…

Venue: St.Xavier’s College, Kolkata
Date: 5th March ‘08
Time: 8:45 A.M.
My time was 8:45 A.M. so I left around 7:50 because the venue was St.Xaviers College which doesn’t take very long to reach. Although, I just about got there in time. There were 16 people in our batch and all of us were taken to a classroom (which was to be our makeshift GT, Group Task, room and also Interview room). Things got rolling with the attendance and I don’t know if its with everyone or not but I always have this strange feeling of ‘what if my name doesn’t get called’ or ‘I’m not on the list’ in these situations. My name was called out on the 12th call. A quick guess/calculation meant that I’d be on the second group. There were two persons conducting the whole process and due to shortage of time and personnel, they weren’t checking our certificates which was absolutely fine with me (the Amrita experience still fresh on my mind). Attendance was followed by a short interactive session about GIM and we were allowed to pose questions. I really don’t know if this is a universal rule or not but, there’s always a really smart prick in my groups. Well this genius was asking about the placement companies and consultant offers and also what kind of a job profile they’d be offering. I’m sure the faculty, at the process, wanted to tell him that he should be worried about more imminent things at the moment, such as converting his call before he thinks of judging the positions offered (at least that was what I thought). And yeah, he was in my group.
The Group Task consisted of a case study where we were supposed to discuss the case and at the end of the discussion, each one of us would have to give a concluding statement. Then we were to jot down a few lines on the Group Task itself. Personally I had quite a good experience, I credit myself of giving the group a direction initially and then added some innovative points to the discussion. The concluding statement too went by satisfactorily (contrary to my apprehensions). The case was about one Meera’s MNC firm having to choose from two suppliers for high-end hardware products. The choice was basically between a local efficient firm and a well established hot-shot. After the Group Task’s, we were called in one by one for the interview. My no. was 12 and considering that on an average an interview lasted for 12-15 minutes, I waited nervously for near about 3 hrs (not very enjoyable).
THE INTERVIEW…
Panel 1: An HR lady, 40 something, very smart.(P1)
Panel 2: A finance professor, 30 something, male.(P2)
Me: Scapegoat (M)
P2: (Ushers me to come in through the door glass)
M: (Enter in and greet both of them.)
P2: Take a seat and introduce yourself to us.
M: (Caught a bit unawares by the immediate question) Told my name, about my place back home, my parents and my graduation in Kolkata.
P1: Where have you graduated from?
M: (Proudly) Jadavpur University.
P1: What is special about Jadavpur University?
M: Treats us like adults, everyone is different and has a distinct character- a vibrant environment. (something along those lines)
P1: Oh, you graduated in Philosophy? (Smelling Blood)
M: (There we go again) Yes Ma’am.
P2: (Pouncing on me like a Bengal tiger, sir was a bengali) What is sattva Philosophy or Existentialism?
M: (Oh Sweet Mary Jesus…!) …………Umm……Sir, I can’t seem to remember it that well sir.
P2: Haven’t you done it?
M: I do remember coming across it but, I’m sorry I seem to have forgotten it.
P1: What exactly did you learn in Philosophy?
M: Indian and Western Philosophy, Logic, Psychology…
P2: What all from Indian Philosophy?
M: Carvaka, Nyaya, Jaina, Nyaya, Baudha…
P2: Tell me about Carvaka Philosophy?
M: (Grinning) Told them how it was a materialist Philosophy and taught about experiencing maximum pleasure in this life as it was not certain whether we’d have another life. Told that they didn’t believe in gaining valid knowledge from Inference. (Here I asked them whether they’d like me to elaborate more on what inference was).
P1: Yes, go ahead.
M: (They took the bait)…I elaborated on what was my favourite topic and they were visibly amused at the smoke on the hill theory.
P1: So what do the Carvaka’s think of when they see smoke on the Hill?
M: (What kind of a question is that…) Umm… they don’t believe in what they don’t see so as long as they don’t see the fire they wont believe it fully.
P1: Tell me about some other Philosopher.
M: (Seizing the opportunity)…Full Gyan on Descartes and his ‘I Think Therefore I Exist’ concept.
P1 & P2 (Even more amused)
M: (Feeling Good)
P1: Ok so how would Descartes react to the ‘smoke on the hill’?
M: (Now I was regretting bringing in Smoke and Fire concept…she’s really got a thing for it)…Umm Descartes being a rationalist, I think he would reason out that there was a relation between smoke and fire and apply it here.
P1 (Appears to be satisfied)
P1: So Philosophy and MBA are two different things. Can you explain that to me?
M: (For a moment I was beginning to think they weren’t gonna ask me that question…that obvious question) Some more talk on how Philosophy changed my perspective in life and I came to know more about myself etc.
P1: What did you know about yourself?
M: That I always wanted to be in control of things and was always looking to manage things. (Which was the truth…in a way at least.)
P1: Give us an example?
M: Ma’am I don’t know how much it applies here but in my flat I was always trying to manage things be it dealing with the land lord, broker, grocery store or even allocating chores (which can be a cause of altercation). More example’s of how I was the cricket captain and was always working out strategies and batting orders based on the different skills.
P2: So why do you need a management degree?
M: To learn more and have more knowledge (something like that…I realized later that I could have answered this much better)
P2: How can Philosophy be applied to Management?
M: Say that it can be applied to anything in life. Give examples of cause and effect and link it with a business scenario.
P1: Give me all the causes that resulted in your poor Graduation scores?
M: (Feeling like a fool, like someone shot me in the head with my own bullet) Gave lame excuses and showed them my improvement in the last year.
P1: Ok, would you like to ask us anything?
M: I’d like to know about a normal day in GIM for a student.
P1: Blah…Blah…Blah…for a long time.
M: (Regretting having asked that question)
P1: Anything else.
M: The Project that you said we could do during the 2nd year. Is it something different from the summer intern-ship.
P1: Yes it is. Blah…Blah.
P1 & P2: Thank you.
M: Thank you Sir, Ma’am.
So there it was. I have mixed feelings about his one. Group Task went by fine. The interview was, well there was nothing that should dishearten me. In fact I gave full knowledge on Philosophy apart from the first question, and no question on my Mathematical void. Optimistic on this one…it’s my last hope now. It well and truly is.