I and my friend Raju

Raju, a fantastic guy, my friend since 2004 became known to me before my first year of engineering. Actually it was partially because of him that I took Computer Science as my main subject during my graduation. Not a celebrity as such but known to many people, especially those students who werent extra ordinary ... like me. He was as well known in the corporate world, but as it later turned out he was pretty well known in the inner circle of Political world too. I spent my 4 years doing engineering thinking how good Raju was at his work. And even though I couldnt be him I could work for him. Everyone knew his entrepreneurial skills. I hope you already know who is Raju. Former Satyam CEO Ramalinga Raju. A great entrepreneur, he knew how to make money migrated from textiles to IT just at the right time. Converted a handful of people into a million dollar and subsequently a billion dollar company.  Getting placed in the company where my brother, sister-in-law works and possibly a number of my close friends could be working in a few months was a good thing to think about. 

Jan 6 2009 I was at Chandigarh for my IELTS examination doing nothing. Sitting at my Uncles residence chatting with a sweet girl. Having no idea of what was to come I was chilling hoping probably its  only a month or may be two before I would join the company I wanted ( for the time being though). 

Jan 7 2009 Surfing news channels in the morning. Suddenly every channel showed one person's pic. It was Raju. He was there everywhere. May be he has done some thing amazing again for satyam. He had done wonderful things in the past. But the scroller below on the TV screen suggested otherwise. He has accepted of commiting a billion dollar scam. that was amazing yes... but not in the sense I expected. Dreams shattered of mine and thousands of others who were hoping to join satyam from all over the company in the next couple of months. Many people who hoped to be at hyderabad in march to work for satyam were there in march but to protest to authorities only to give them joining letters. Nothing hapenned. Raju, man for whom satyamites could die for( not literally i guess) had almost ruined lives of about 2 lakh people connected directly or indirectly with it. Some performed yajna to save him, but ultimately he had done something really wrong. If you gave him to my mom, she would have given him the taste of her sandal, a couple of impressions, and may be a number to remember. 

Its been months. People have moved over. Satyam is seeing one helluva attrition. Satyam is no more our Satyam, neither Raju's Satyam, its Satyam of Tech Mahindra. From billion Dollars, its just million dollars. I have dropped satyam hopes. My sister-in-law is resigning for better prospects and my bro..... well he is lucky.. he is enjoying this harrowing time at New York office of one of its clients. Cool for a satyamite to be onsite in this time. My fellow hopefuls have also dropped plans. Some are still planning of another meet at hyderabad. Best of luck to them. 

Raju...... well Raju I guess wont be out of  Indian legal system for another 100 years.. I can assure you he is going to die there in Jail. He had done something which I wont expect from my friend. Thats why he is not my friend now. He "was" my friend.

Believe

Believe in yourself and eveything will be possible.  When someone believes life is difficult it sure becomes difficult. The word believe means a lot to some and nothin more than a scrampled set of letters to others. Those who understand the meaning behind it are the ones who succeed. Nevermind the philosophy. But ones you start believing in yourself you can become a millionaire by selling off a dead rat. No I am not talking about LUCK, I am talking about "BELIEF". Now why only yourself one can believe in the loved ones, special ones, even god. And I can tell you you will never get disappointed. Life has own set of rules hidden from us. And these rules always end up making us happier, merrier. Yes ofcourse sometimes the loved ones depart but sometimes its only after they leave that you start "believing" the importance of those people... same thing happens when the special ones leave you and same thing when you yourself loose you. Believe in yourself. 

MBA GD PI Scene

So cat results were out in jan itself and I scored 93.66 and at this score I wasnt sure what to do. Had filled 3 forms. Nirma KJSOMAIYA and IIFM, MICA I fileld later and was instantly in love with it. had to give MICAT later to get a call for GE PI of MICA. With all the calls out and fortunately no money wasted, now I had a good travel plan in front of me.

18 March 7:30 Am Jammu to Ahmedabad Somnath express 56 station sleeper through the Deserts of Rajasthan. I was filled with sand in every possible orifice of my body. Please if you intend to travel take the 2nd ac option since there is no 3rd ac in it.Reached 3 PM 19 March

20 March MICA GE PI We reached IIMA campus to be taken to the MICA campus in a bus. The campus is huge and green with nice architecture. U love it just as u enter into the campus. the fees is an issue. To get the full value you have to shell out 15 lakh for a 2 year course.
GE is similar to GD just that here u act rather than speak. We were given some chits with words to arrange to form a story. managed to do that with a title and our group fared very well. But I knew I hadnt done much to prove myself. Then we went for Lunch. Was tasty meal with 2 vegetables , papad, rice,achaar, curd etc etc. Money well spent even if you dont clear the call. Anyways GE done PI was not much better anyways so had no chance of clearing it. they declared results the same day 20 people were selected 18 girls. No eye brows raised. But then I was a dwarf there in front of those great people with whom I competed, first time I had an inferiority complex. Disappointed I got back to the place I was staying.

21 March 00:30 Am Porbandar Motihari Express 3rd Ac thank god the train was good and stations were few. Reached 21March 8:00 Pm

22 March 09:00 AM Depressed at not being able to clear MICA went to Kj som GDPI at IIFT campus with nothin to loose. Was very aggressive in GD (Topic "Technology intrusion a slow poison") and thank god did not over do it. led the group for some time. Put some nice points forward. I though it went well. Someone also congratulated me for the good GD. But then its the moderators of GD which needed to be impressed. In PI they looked impressed and were asking nice questions. I answered what ever they asked. just faltered at a question where they asked wht I ahd been doing for one year flat. Could have told the Jammu Amarnath caused delay in exams but didnt come to mind. In all PI was okk. GD was good. Have some hopes to atleast make it to the wait list.

22 March 9:25 PM Dakshin Express 3 station train to bhopal from delhi sleeper. Reached in morning 7:00 Am Got a room booked for 2 days at 200 per day at IIFM bhopal itself. Nice place. Forest covered. 120 students 240 acres. No connectivity. No shops No ATM. But thats the fun of Forest management. My room was pretty good with Net connection, AC fitting, Attached Bathroom. But Boys hostel was shabby. With holi Colours still not washed and chits and bits here and there. Not well maintained. Food served was the one to be served for guests. Bland. Not good.

24 March 8:30 Am had no intentions of joining the college and did not want to go for the GD/PI was thinkin of leaving the place the first day itself. But then I waited to get more exposure. GD happened on topic " Corruption is the price we pay for democracy" Was a nice GD not a fish market. Did well. Spoke 3 4 times and had good things to say. No rubbish. Over.
Checked My docs. PI to start. Everyone was being asked why they wanted to join IIFM. I had no answer. Made a story that I wanted to set up some waste management Plant. Interviewers didnt mind to ask that to me. At the end I was asked if I had any query Blurted out a story regarding Waste management plant. Sounds green. May be it helps. other wise Pi was ok types. CAnt say much. Have good percentile to help. but then all is in the hands of the Interviewers.

24 March 4:30 PM Karnataka Sampark Kranti Nice train. Sleeper. To hyderabad.

1st April 6:00 Pm Ap Sampark Kranti. Again good train. but sleeper compartments in pathetic shape. Very dirty. Got it upgraded at the cost of 750Rs after 2 stations. But money well spent . had a good nights sleep. Train got late by 2 hours. had to reach Nizamuddin at 6. I got off at Okhla at 7:15. Reached 2nd April.

3rd April 9 Am Indian Social Institute. Nirma GD PI. Forgot a photocopy. Searched around got to a place to get the photocopy. Also came to know that one college IILM is there in proximity in one building. Thought from it sADs it would be a better one. Anyways had a GDPI on hand.
GD... well certainly none of my Gd had a fish market in it. Topic on hand : Pumping money into share market a solution to recession in India. Well noone noticed India is not in recession. Put that forward. Eveeryone listened to others views. In all a nice GD. But PI was a total disaster. Got screwed twice in the PI. Once for bluffing and other for not knowing one jargon about the field I applied for. Anywyas, had no intentions to join Nirma, wanted to join MICA, didnt happen. looking forward to KJSOM and IIFM results. will be out by 17 April.

lets see what transpires. had a nice time roaming alone throughout this part of india. Wopuld like to go to kerala now.

IELTS

Was busy in something or the other. Thats why couldnt post. These posts will tell why I was busy.

If u aspire to study from any of the foriegn universities, then you need to give one or the other English ability test. IELTS being one of them. Its one of the best organiszed tests , but then it costs you 7200Rs. too but at the end you always think money well spent. Usually the test will be over in one or 2 days with speaking test on a different dat than the other thre(reading writing and listening). the score is in the form of bands. 9 maximum one can score which shows absolute command over each module. while 0 means didnt appear for the test. No special preps needed to give the exam. Just a couple of Mock tests and thats all the preparation one needs. So best of luck for ur IELTS. Feel free to contact if you need any info. Its usually better to apply through British Council but IDP is eqally good. IELTS result is out in a couple of weeks suually. And a score above 7.0 is considered good and enough to pursue any degree in any college. Ielts academic verison should be applied and is the one accepted by educational institutes. While the IELTS general training is used for Visa and realted needs. I had my IELTS on 17, 18 Jan and the result was out after 13 days and was delighted to find that my over all band was 8.0

CAT !! why so much hooplah??

There I was thinking of CAT which was scheduled to start at 10:30 AM and last time to reach the venue at 10:00, still in my night wear at 9:30 AM. CAT CAT CAT people tend to talk about it as though its the last exam of their life and this will mean whether you will go to hell or heaven, well for some it does mean. But for others , most of the others it still does not ring any bell. I could hear my uncle trying to wake me up every 5 minutes like my snooze alarm. I would say yaa I am awake and then go to a CAT nap. Finally woke up at 9:45 and changed my clothes in 2 minutes popped in a tooth brush along with some sparkling toothpaste put on shoes without socks and told my uncle to drop me. By this time he was already furious with me for being so lethargic but anyways the hell did I cared. When I reached the venue, I could see the door being closed so ran and put a leg into the gate just in time to prevent it from being closed. Anywyas I managed to reach in time. I was already groaning about the fact that if the exam is at 10:30 why the hell did they want us to reach by 10:00. Filled the required mandatory fields in next 5 minutes and then what? The next 25 minutes were supposed to suppress the nerves if any. In my case I was getting more and more irritable cause it meant more time to end the exam. Anywyas the final 10:30 bell rang and amidst the sound of crisp polythene out came the CAT. Mathematics okk DI what the hell ( that too after the sitters that were present last year) was too tough and english surprisingly had almost 60% more weightage than any other section. Why I dont know. I was just thinking attempt 50 minutes each section no priorities to questions getting correct answers, just attempt 50 minutes. So I started with maths still trying to get hold of myself and fighting already accumulated sleep debt. It took me 8 questions to pass the 50 minutes. Then came DI Duh!! whats this crap this year tough questions difficult calculation. arrghh! anyways attempted 9 questions and I said enuf. English has 40 questions so just spent 45 minutes to give extra time to English. Yes I did. 55 minutes to english just coz it has 40 q rahter than 25 in other. Okk tried reading some. But it was tough. Hadnt read much for quite some time. Anyways with time ticking away I attempted 12 questions in 45 minutes and thought english is tough not many would be able to score much. So went back to DI to solve more tried for 5 minutes wasnt able to get to any conclusion in the set I tried so guessed at one of the question and went back to maths to try for another. But I wanst able to solve another. So the bell rang Uncle was waiting at the gate and asked "which IIM" I said "wheres the car parked". I got back home tried to pay back some sleep debt. Turned out even though I didnt care about CAT, curiosity still kills the cat. So I turned on the pc and updated the score on Career Launchers(CL) and IMS and waited for 5PM and there it was maths 8 attempted 8 correct I was happy. DI 10 attempted 9 correct according to one site and 8 correct according to another. English 12 attempted 9 correct. I was thinking whoa! I should get 95 %ile if it were last year exam. But it wasnt to be. Soon the forecast percentile was on and acc to CL I would get some 89 %ile at the 91 score it showed I would get. Damn not even MICA. But I had given CAT last year I knew the basic fault in the strategy they use. The percentile projection is based on only those inputs given, what about those who havent performed well so they dont even try to input their scores. I had seen this last year when acc to IMS my percentile should have been 77 adn turned out to be 85. So I turned on the IMS site and voila they have done a makover of their projection formula and are using some kindof approximation technique and according to it my score was 96 and my percentile to be 93. As the result came I was duly surprised to see that the percentile was actually 93. Though I knew I got more than expected. I had scored 95 and in english the scores were better than what the key said and in DI it was less. Anyways I had a tough day ahead ( read the posts below). I wasnt happy I wasnt sad. Went to the Golden temple to thank the god. And happy I returned to see 13 is not bad.

PS- My question remains. Why so much hooplah. If you keep up the pace and luck is with you attempting 150 minutes to pass 50 questions is not a tough task.

PSS- I attempted 30 questions 25 of which were correct.

PSSS- I didnt get a better %ile thats why I wrote this. Angoor khatte hain.

Regarding the IIM calls. Calls are almost always profile based. For exp IIM A calls on basis of cat score. You get 25%score in each category and 33%over all. Its very likely you will get it. IIM B puts emphasis on english score, IIM C on workex, IIM I, L , K adds all ur scores. But the most un understandable was IIM S which gave calls by playing dice. If you have 90% in graduation and even a 89%ile in each section you will get a call. If u dont have 85 % in 10th 12th, no matter if you have 99.86 %ile( one did have this and didnt get call) and >95 in each category forget about IIM S. It seems to be making a batch of intellectual engineering toxic. BTW how does one get >90 % in Engineering.

Trip to Amritsar

I was going to Amritsar for my TCS medicals from chandigarh. I had to wake up in the morning at 4 to be ready for the bus at 5:30. I was already irritated by the frequency with which Tcs was performing medicals on me. Anyways with uncertainity looming large I boarded the Deluxe bus to Amritsar. It was about 4 degrees temperature and was super cold. The bus was not heated and they provided blankets. Just below the TV I was a figure which looked like the number 13. Things were not looking good from the onset. Before anyone could sleep they started the TV and Gajini was played. Well I had seen the movie so wasnt much interested. I went to the last of the bus where there are 5 seats without hand rest and slept there till we reached at Tandoori Bytes where bus stops every morning for nature calls. I rahter decided to have a breakfast. The bus stops for 15 minutes only so I decide to ask for a grilled veg sandwich. It was prepared in 5 minutes, but just one byte of it made me feel contented. It was very tasty and very filling. Anywas I ate it in the bus and continued to think of the medical just when the phone rang. It was one of my friends calling to tell that Cat result was out and told me my percentile. It was far better than what I expected so it did the mood in the positive direction. Now I was thinking that TCS rejection wont have adverse affet on my career. I was a lot positive now than what I had been in the morning. By 10 I reached the Piramal diagnostics which is just at the entry of the Amritsar city. So got off the bus and went inside straightaway. The doc was late again and this time I knew I would be grilled. The medical lasted for 4 hours till two and at two places 5 kms apart in Amritsar. Anyways the day had been good so far and it continued to be so and I cleared all the eye tests subjected to. By this time I had already pledged to myself that I would go to Golden Temple if I clear the medical. So I took a rickshaw and went to the temple and saw the magnificent structure and the meuseum inside. It was very beautiful monument and I was able to learn much more about Sikhism. I also saw the beautiful fishes in the water sorrounding the Akal Takht. The temple was very well managed and repair works were going on. I left the Temple and went to the Jallianwala Bagh were numerous people were massacerred by British during Baisakhi celebrations. It was very touching to relive the moments that the people had to face at that time. It was an experience when I thought what would have happened when numerous people jumped to escape the bullets being fired indiscriminately and died. Meuseum inside the Bagh is also a must see. Later I left the place and decided to go to another temple of Hindus: Durgyana Mandir which is an exact replica of the Golden temple minus the proper management and plus the time limits in which it opened. Legend has it that the Golden temple was also a hindu temple built by the same people who built the Durgyana Mandir but the Golden Temple was later captured by the sikhs but no one knows the truth. Anyways the structure is as magnificent as the Golden Temple but needs to be looked after or else it would be lost to time.
Being in Amritsar one has to tastet he local food. So I gotto a local Dhaba and ordered a Amritsari parantha and Lassi. Just One parantha and Lassi and you are good for next 24 hours. I really enjoyed the meal and headed of to buy the local but very famous papads and vadian. Lots of them are exported to various parts of the country and abroad. It was time and I had to reach the Wagah Border in time to see the flag down ceremony. I took a taxi service and reached in half hour or so to the place and I saw the ceremony. Post Mumbai attacks one could feel the tension in the ceremony and the intensity with which it is perfomed but people ttold me it has become a lot less aggressive over time and was much more fun to watch when the Kargil Wa was on. Anyways I enjoyed it. I was already late and reached the bus stop only to find that all the private buses had left by 2 pm and had to take govt bus now. I had no choice and took a bus that would stop at each and every important and non important place in between. The route which normally is covered in 3 and a half hours by a deluxe bus was covered in 5 and a half hours in this filthy stinking crawling bus. Anyways it was in this bus where I found out that the figure which looked like 13 in the morning bus actually meant Ik Onkar in Gurumukhi. I know something supernatural was with me. I was in a mood totally contrasting to the one I was in when I boarded the bus in the morning. I knew things are only happening for good.


PS 2 days later more good news came in the form of my application being selected from Kings College London in Advanced computing and Bioinformatics separately.

TCS Medicals

Whoa Has anyone gone through 5 medicals for a company thats not even sending you to iraq for war against terrorism? Tcs and its policies.

Medical 1- March 2008 Wellspring Lab East of Kailash I give them my blood, urine, ECG , sonograph, and let them peep into my mouth to see if I have a cavity, then they test me for EYE and say I am color blind. Okk I didnt know.

Medical 2- 14 Nov 2008 Apollo Clinic East Of Kailash I tried to be smart and tried to suppress the problem of Eye by saying its general medical and includes all the tests. I clear them all including the one for which I was sent for a review. I get a response from TCS that I havent been subjected to color vision test. Now who the hell says that? The Apollo people say its been done and TCS shows a written statement by apollo showing that its not been done. Anyways After a month and frantic emails and 1500rs already spent on travels alone, I am formally asked to appear for another medical.

Medical 3- 5th Jan 09 Piramal Diagnostics Amritsar By this time I have become more smarter and god helped me or so I thought. The basement had a flood and the Color Charts which they use to check color vision were all Paper Meche. Only few of them remained and I was able to read whatever I could. The person cleared me and said you may go. I went back happy. Later next day I get a phone call that I need to appear for another medical coz they doctors there cant even take a test. the call me again to appear in a couple of days They didnt mention why but said something called retinoscopy was to be performed. Yeah now you would cut my eye into two and solve the problem altogether.

Medical 4- 9th Jan 09 Piramal Diagnostics Amritsar Well by now I was very irritated so decided to go and hit the doc if he fails me. As I entered I saw a new stock of color vision charts. Ohh means they are going to grill me again. Anyways I sat to be tested like a monkey in a lab for the nth time. But as he opened the book I was starteled I was able to read each and every number. Turned out either the charts were reprepared by another color blind person or the charts were badly reproduced or pirated. Anyhow by now I was well aware of the sequence of numbers that occur in the color vision charts. I had somehow made him believe that color vision problem in my case is related to myopia and is readily cured by spectacles. I cleared the medical but he was still suspicious so he decided to forward me to another doctor who was eye specialist.

Medical 5- 9th Jan 09 Dr. Parminder Singh EyeClinic Amritsar This was n+1th medical being performed on me and now I could prove this by induction that Medicals are crap. Infosys doesnt perform medicals on the joinees and they still send you to Israel. Back in The clinicI was hoping that general myopia type tests will be conducted. These were done and retinoscopy was performed. Turned out it doesnt need to cut the eye into two. Anyways he said everything was normal when suddenly he realised he still hasnt tested me for color vision. I tried to divert his mind but I couldnt do anything but delay he inevitable. Here it came the special brandnew version of Color vision charts which I dreaded. He took mne to another room with ample sunlight and tried everythin to make me comfortable. then he started the test. He asked me to close one eye. Bye this time the sequence of numbers was already repeated one thousandth time that day. Anyways I closed the eye and blurted out the numbers as they came in sequence. Then he aksed me to keep my other eye closed and speak the numbers again. God I was simply amused by the situation. The person didnt understand I can speak the numbers with both my eyes closed. He didnt have a clue of my problem. Anyways as soon I cleared the medical I set off from the place and went to the goldent temple to pray for the TCS Offer letter. I hope no more medicals will be done on me.

Placements Uhh lala....

Whats the most facinating part of doing an Engineering in GCET? You virtually pay nothing( 2000 rs per Semester) and still end up in one good IT company or Public Sector Company. According to official sources (Mrs.. Thusoo) Gcet has had 100% placement in 2008 and well actually most of those elligible did get placed but the story is quite different. Stayam is bankrupt and almost 30 studnets are already jobless. Tcs kept the promise and called its 15 odd candidates and Tts also called its 5 candidates. Anyways first company to visit the campus was TCS

TCS:- Tcs is coming Tcs is coming My friend called up at 9 am and thinking it as a joke cut off the phone saying I already know that since they are coming for the senior batch. He called again with more intensity. I was still apprehensive to notice any seriuosness but got up and went to the college to fing every thing in chaos. Why? Coz TCS after taking 16 of seniors was going to take us !!!!!
Surprised.. everyone was. It doesnt happen often that a company places two batches in a couple of days. Anyways frantic phone calls made and finally we managed to get hold of a particular verison of GRE Barons. This was one occasion when newer versions were crap and valued zero. Anywas we knew the paper pattern and after preparing for 3 hours we were well prepared. All we knew was : Rose aaeb, professor bbced.. and similar patterns. The TCS question paper was completely copied from that edition of Baron. I was scheduled to take my exam in the evening when I had to leave the premises to geta motor bike of a teacher from some other place and also to pick up a person who was playing Cricket 04 on his pc while we were preparing our Rose aaeb. Anywyas when we reached back my name had been called and I was rescheduled to take the test next morning. I had all night to keep repeating the aaeb codes and by morning I was knowing all the answers of critical reasoning even though I never used any reasoning. Anywyas I sat for the exam and with a big grin on my face left 15 minutes before time. In 2 hourse the results were out. All the big guns of my branch hadnt cleared the TCS Aptitude. The interview was more of a chit chat with most of people getting selected rather than rejected unless you really screw yourself up. I screwed up. But still got through why?? because the person who took the interview was aso a kashmiri pandit. Things like that do happen.

Next there were a series of companies placing students like Perot Systems which has deferred joining till April09, Impetus which has cancelled the offers altogether, Canon those selected on campus were not allowed to sit( only 3 got through) mahindra and mahindra again placed but joining didnt come, Maytas got into trouble along with satyam combining the two these placed about 50 students from our college alone. Then there was TTS and HCC which which did give joinings to its handful of candidates. Then there were also some students who got placed here and there and made up the so called 100% placement of GCET Jammu. Out of a batch of 155 about 120 elligible students got placed in one or the other but only 30 have got joinigns and joined. Thats not even one third of the total students.