as I see it

[Note : The sequence of events mentioned may not be cent per cent accurate and the questions discussed are all Memory-Based :P]

Probably the first post where I will bnot blabber much and just give in the details of my interview experience at SPJIMR.

The process started with the verification of documents - HSC and SSC marksheets, Graduation score, CAT and XAT Admit Cards. A group of 6 (in some cases it was 7) was formed and was sent for the first round of interview. The group formation was random with candidates from different streams (M, F, O and IM).

I was a bit nervous and tensed but the panel (2 members) asked us to sit and then introduce d themselves and somehow I managed to relax and was qute comfortable. We were asked to introduce ourselves and the questions thereafter were mainly related to what one said in his/her introduction or related to some keywords that catch one's eye when the profile sheet is scanned through.

The first question for me was 'How is Gujarat (I study in Gujarat) different from Delhi or Mumbai ?'

This was followed by my take on the current Chief Minister of Gujarat.

We were then asked about our views on the change in consumer behaviour from 90s to now. E.g. given was that in recent past many people fly because of low cost airlines so there has been a drastic change in the Aviation Industry.

It was mentioned beforehand that "This is not a GD and everyone would be given a chance to speak."

Next question for me was "Why did you choose Marketing ?". One of the other candidates was asked the same question and he said he found it very interesting on which he was asked what subjects does he expect to be taught at SPJIMR and did he do any research on Marketing, since he found it interesting.

Another candidate was asked to relate her stream of graduation to the present job profile and to the stream opted for pursuing MBA.

Two other questions that everyone was asked were

* Did you take any coaching for MBA entrance and the interview process ?
Everyone replied honestly and named the coaching centres.

* If you were in our seat then which 3 of the 6 would you select ? (NO reasons were allowed to be given)

The first round then ended and the names of the candidates who move on to the next round were announced. Four out of six in our group made it to the next round (there was no elimination thereafter on that day) which was a 7-minute Behaviour Test. There were 24 rows containing 4 adjectives each. We were supposed to mark 'M' against the adjective that described us most and 'L' against the one that described us least in each of the rows.

E.g.      gentle      humble     presuasive      original

The options were quite close and each row had some or the other adjective that was close to one mentioned earlier and there was a very high probability that you may contradict yourself on one point or the other.

Next was a second round of interview and this time I like others had different group members (not the same as in Round 1) but even this time they were all from different streams.

The panel this time had 3 members and one of the members was a first year student studying at SPJIMR.

Tension on the faces of the candidates could be clearly seen but periodic jokes and light laughter spells made the atmosphere comfortable.

We were told that only 1 out of the 6 would be selected.

This round was similar to the first as it began with the introduction of the candidates (we were given exactly 60 seconds to do so, extra time taken was just mentioned but we were not forced to cut short or interrupted in between).

Again questions were related to whatever was said in the introduction. I was asked who was my favourite footballer to which I replied C.Ronaldo. Why is he my favourite was the next question. I somewhere mentioned the tricks he does on field and so was asked how is it that he is able to perform them and not a majority of other footballers ?

Another question that I was asked was "Is blogging good or bad ?" (I mentioned that I like blogging in my introduction).

I would like to mention a few questions that were thrown at the other candidates.

* Defend yourself when I say you are serious and boring.
* Defend yourself when I say you are careless.
* Describe the SDLC of the project you mentioned you are working on.
* What is |x| if x>0 ?(for a candidate who said loved maths)
* What is |x| if x<0 ?(Incorrect response to the previous question lead to this)
An incorrect response again lead to the question been thrown open to other candidates.

Two of the candidates who said they liked Maths were given an Arithmetic Series each and were asked to find the next term. They tried hard and came up with a solution as well but to everyone's surprise the series didn't have any logic except the fact that the terms given to them were the PERCENTAGE MARKS obtained by them at school and college.

Like in the first round we got a topic "After the recent fluctuaion in the SENSEX it is said that the growth in economy will be hampered and that our growth is not ___ some 9.3% ___ (I don't remember the exact figures).

We were asked to repeat after the panel "This is not a GD"

Everyone gave there views on the topic.

Before leaving we were asked if this was what we expected the interview will be like. I was asked if this would go up on my blog ?

After this second round of interview we took a 55 minutes psychometric test which had 3 sections. The first (30 minutes time) had questions like

* Values dear to me _____
* I like _____
* I dislike _____
* I don't trust people who _____
* Factors that have hampered my progress are _____
* Good human beings are good citizens because _____
* In case of an emergency I will _____
* If I am in a difficulty _____
* My friends listen to me because _____
* My frineds enjoy my company because _____
* My hobbies are _____
* My weakness _____
* I respect people who are _____
* My role model (hero) _____
* I dont like people who _____
* For my development I need _____
* If I am given a difficult task to complete _____
* Honesty, courage and *something* in a person is appreciated by his/her colleagues because _____
* I want to achieve _____
* I respect my seniors who are _____


The second section (15 minutes) was " Self Appraisal" and had questions like

* What do my elders think of me ?
* What do my colloeagues think of me ?
* What do my seniors think about me ?
* What do I think about myself ?
* What will I do about my shotcomings (weaknesses) ?
* How committed am I towards my goals and how do I plan to achieve them ?

In the last section we were supposd to give our personal details like

* Name
* Father's name
* Percentage marks in 10th, 12th, Graduation, etc.
* Academic Achievements
* Extra-curricular Activities
* Games/Sports and the level to which one has represented the team (class, school, college, university), the period when it was done
* Anything else we would like to tell about ourselves.

Phew !! I guess its the longest post on my blog. Anywayz the entire process was good, I enjoyed it. It was not at all like I had imagined and was nervous about. Lets see what happens, I am waiting for the results. Fingers Crossed !!

The five-day long game was perhaps turning out to be very long and less interesting for the followers of the Gentleman’s game. Coupled with the commercial side of it, cricket fans witnessed a new form of the game ‘One-Day Internationals’. You win; you lose or end up in a tie all in a single day. But still an equally popular (if not more) sport, Football or Soccer, was about one-fourth of the total duration of this new form of Cricket and yet had an enormous fan following and money spun into it. While both games enjoy their popularity among fan followers all around the world it seems Cricket is going the Soccer way now.

Picture this - from Test Cricket to ODIs, introduction of ‘Super-Subs’ (one substitution per team per game; didn’t gain much acceptance with the playing nations), the concept of ‘Powerplays’, the advent of Hong Kong Sixes, Twenty20 Cricket, acceptance of the later by the International Cricket Council(ICC). All towards an even shorter format of the game with an extra tinge of excitement, isn’t it?

Twenty20 besides being shorter in duration was a bit different from the other formats of the game. Teams walking to the center, national anthems, batting side sitting in stands next to the boundary, cricket’s version of penalty shoot-outs - Bowl Out - to decide the winner in case of a tie and more. How should we explain this, different from the other formats of the game or strikingly similar to the other game, Soccer?

Moreover, the Twenty20 World Cup not only gained in terms of popularity amongst the followers of the game, it turned out to be a lottery for the investors, the sponsors as well. In this fast-moving world, the shorter the game, the more it earns in terms of the Popularity Quotient it seems.

Talking about India, the country whose Cricket Board is perhaps the richest in the world; cricket is not merely a game. It is a religion for its followers, a business opportunity for the investors. We witnessed the successfully conducted ICL(Indian Cricket League) Twenty20 league few weeks ago and now the fans are waiting for the IPL(Indian Premier League). Bollywood stars and the biggies in the Biz World shelled out millions at the auction of city franchises of the Indian Premier League. The first season kicks off in April 2008. It will surely be interesting to see the transactions in the Transfer Market, though the big names in the current Indian side will be playing for their own city team.

Well now isn’t it somewhat similar to the Premier League Soccer. Surely it is as confirmed by the BCCI Vice President Lalit Modi who said that “the IPL will work in a similar pattern to Britain’s English Premiership League where clubs will be the franchisees of BCCI and players of the said clubs will be sold and purchased like any professional club.”

Having all said and done, the question is, does it really matter whether the game gets shorter or amendments being made in the rule book? Well, we already have mixed opinions from the cricketing experts with a bias towards Test Cricket but as for the fans, they are enjoying the firework-studded form of the game that gets over merely in about three hours twenty-five minutes, and why not? In this super speedy life, with aggression all around, the shortening attention spans and when sports is not an activity to pass time but a source of entertainment why not be open to a change that promises instant gratification. Not to forget the Corporate Giants, Bollywood stars and the TV Channels, who are cashing out on this.

Few reasons that got me here and made me post this :

1.) I haven't updated my blog for long now
2.) Frequent encounter with the word 'Blah' in the recent past
3.) Blahhhhhhh

Before begining to write a new post I did some research (can be called so) on the word 'Blah'. Not quite surprsingly there exists a website 'www.blah.com' (which I have tried to access in another tab). The reason I say its not so surprising because the web now has so many websites that you can blindly enter any word, prefix it with www. and append it with .com. With a significant probability of 0.9 you will definitely land up to a website other than that of a domain seller.

Anyhow, the word Blah is the reason I am here and ironically it "is a token word with no meaning of its own". This simple four-letter word is used anywhere and everywhere. I guess, its the second most commonly spoken word (the first one is also a four-lettered word that I would not like to mention).

People use it to indicate a boring speech - blaahhhhhhhh (it no longer remains four-lettered if the speech is too boring) or blah blah blah blah.

You use it to cut short some unimportant part of a message while narrating.

What if you forget something while narrating ? Yes, Blah is the word to fill in the blanks !!

Leave aside forgetting, even when your brain is not able to deliver an appropriate word as required, you....err...Blah it in to maintain the continuity of your speech.

Upcoming trends reveal that it is used as a tool to maintain decency in public and yet swear - Blah U !!

The frequency of use of this word in online conversations, text messaging, informal talks is significantly high. The habit of using this word is...habit...no...disease is the word and its contagious.

I have been infected already. I get irritated when someone uses this word. Blaaahhh as if you care if you are not infected and blahh to me is what those who are infected will want to say.

Whatever, I have successfully managed to update my blog. Blaaahhhhh !!

By the way, 'Whatever' is Blah's sibbling I guess. The next most commonly used word, equally contagious.

Regarding the statistics provided in the post :
Well these have been derived from the theorem, rather axiom "Ninety percent of the statistics are compiled at the moment"

Before I leave, I just got a twitter update that states "Monkeys are the only animals that eat bananas". Its a fact. I was unaware.

C'mon say it one last time. Repeat it after me. Blaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh :P

PS : The website I mentioned above, have still not been able to access it. Blaahhhhhh :P