@ God's Own IIM

(written on 27th feb '06)

Hullo ppl..
One more week.. one more interview gone..
This time it was IIM K..

No mishaps reaching the place this time.. it was in bbay itself.. just one irony.. .. the interview was at Dadar Catering college..and I cudnt find anything to eat..:-p...newez..reached much before time...(my dad's fnda that I gotta keep some buffer..just in case.. only that the buffer this time turned out as 45 mins..) not that i was bored.. saw this fundu cute si kudi there..;-)... smart.. with tonnes of certis etc... and that too she s a fresher.. :-D...(hoping to see her again..:-))

newez.. getting back on track... we were taken to our GD room.. there were just 2 ppl on the panel...(abt them later..).. the GD was short this time..10 mins..we were given a paragraph...Advertising..playing on the customers sentiments.. infuencing them, shaping attitudes, unethically blah blah... that advertising is "legalised lying!!"... k.. discussed abt advertising/ selling being important...however.. advertising helps only in the short term..that the brand needs to have strong fundas..and that clean advertising is ok...and that we need to take care abt the sentiments of the people as well... and finally that we need to draw a line where the ads become unethical...so overall decent GD.. was a bit noisy tho...

ok..now the PI..I was the 6th in the panel..ppl were generally having cool PIs...not much stress..and finally my turn came..btw..wrt the panel.. there was this Cool Dude..in IIMK Tshirt..abt 35.. herd taht hes a maths ka baap!!!... call him CD...and there was this Beautiful Lady... in saree.. abt 30 mayb... call here L... and then there was R..Ritz..:-)

ok.. here it goes..

R: good morning sir, madam...
CD: so u r Ritesh.. what does Ritesh mean...
R: (oh man..not again!! ).. Ritesh is the King of Truth!!!!!!!!!!(hehehehehe)...
CD: so ur the king of truth??
R: err..Well no sir.. I think I wud call myself ethical.. as in if I feel that somethings not right.. I wont do it...(hehhehhehe again..)
L: ok.. so however important it is for u..u wont do it...
R:yes..I wont..
L: tell me..how many ppl r there who r both honest n successful...
R: well..(smiling..as if I had been waiting for this)..MrNR Narayana Murthy is a classic example..
L: I can tell you of so many successful ppl who r dishonest... can u survive in mgmt with being honest??
R: I think I can..
L: so..u would be honest even if it wud cost ur being successful??
R: yes m'aam.. if I were to be successful thru wrong means..i think it wud weigh on my conscience.. always.. but if I am honest..Id atleast know that I ve given it my best shot.. (funde...blah blah...see Jaan Im so innocent..:-D)
CD: ok Ritesh what is Quality to you?
R: well..Quality..for me..is how satisfied the customer is... for eg.. I am a part of WinSe...blah...
CD: dont u think u were lucky to have got 5 calls.. ur %ile is quite low..
R: (smiled...dont get into this...its dejavu..:-))..
CD: so..whats ur score in maths.. 93.. thats pretty low...so ur not great at maths?
R: yes sir.. I wud say...I m ok...
CD:k..tell me what is GP...
R: can I write it down?
CD: yes..
R: a,ar,ar2 etc..r is common ratio..
CD: whats the sum of infinite GP..
R: a+ ar+ar2..:-)
CD: derive it..
R: (what the F$%^).. ok S= a+ad+ad2+.. so..Sd= ad+ad2+ad3+....S-Sd = a... all other terms get cancelled.. so S = a/(1-d)..:-D
CD: (impressed I guess..)..ok...so uve herd abt WTO
R: yes World trade org..
CD: they had their meeting off late..where was it..
R: Hong kong...
CD:ok.. there was something abt GATS in that..what is that..
R: General agreement of Trade in Services..
CD: so.. what abt it..
R: more H1B visas..more ppl working in US.. give n take... India also needs to open up some services...blah blah
CD: do u need Trade Unions in the IT industry?
R:no..we re satisfied.. we have HR.. etc..
CD: the main selling point of indias software industry is cheap labour... so what if say tomorrow.. Sri lanka gives cheaper labour..
R: companies like Infy rely on predictability...very strong processes built over the years.. difficult to emulate..etc etc..
CD: ok..I m done..madam ur turn..
R: (okie im ready..:-))..
L: so..tell me something about the Indian judicial system?
R:(ma kasam..bomb!!thinkin thinkin..)wat abt it??
L: anything...that comes to ur mind..
R:(ok..) America has a jury system...
L: tell me abt India...
R:ya...so India doesnt have a jury system..:-D.. and the decision is totally dependant on the judge.. and he is not an untouchable.. as in..the politicians n criminals..neone with power..can easily influence his decision.. so this needs to change...
L: ok.. how many houses r there in Indias parliament..
R: 2..Lok sabha n Rajya sabha..
L: whats the diff?
R: Lok sabha has elected reps of teh ppl..n Rajya sabha consists of prominent personalities..etc.
L: R u sure..
R: yes..
L: so..whats the role of teh Vice President..
R: head of teh Rajya Sabha..speaker..
L: r u sure??
R: yes..
L: ok..I give u one min...(I look at her with concentration..:-)..she s kinda stuck..she smiles..I smile back..ankho hi ankho mein ishara!!:-D)...err.. I give u 1 min... talk abt any prominent Indian personality..
R: (think..then smile..who else..) Sachin Tendulkar.. made his debut... 1989.. mainstay in Indias battnig order..played many match winning knocks...however..what I like abt him..is that inspite of him being teh best batsman of his era..he has not let success get on to his head.he is still very down to earth!!!..
L: ok..(fida hain bhai!!!! khali thodi badi hain!!!:-D)
CD: ok..Ritesh.. wish u all the best..:-)
R: thank you..

n leave..
.. so I think overall.. definitely better than the WIMWI interview..

Regds,
Ritz