Thursday, January 14, 2010

Maestro irreplaceable

Jack of all trades Master of none. But we have masters in every fields. Currently I would emphasis on 2 areas which are close to me in terms of time allotment. These 2 are used by me extensively for my entertainment. Cricket & Movies (mostly Hindi).

To begin with cricket. Being an Indian cricket runs through my blood. I am not a very good player, tried my hands but soon discovered that i was not even a jack.
Well this did not prevent me from being an ardent fan of Master Blaster. I as a child admired him a lot and still do it. For he was the one who not only revolutionized cricket but was a big reason for strengthening Indian Economy.

Sachin Tendulkar has been undisputedly called as a great batsman. But people raise fingers while comparing him with other greats.

Well to start with His records are more than enough to prove anything. He may not have as many double hundreds as Lara or Bradman but the former has close to 200 international wickets which more than compensate. He may not have scored as many centuries in this decade as Ponting but he has made them against quality bowling attacks like Australia, Sri Lanka, South Africa and England in much lesser number of matches. He may not have saved as matches as Rahul dravid or Jacques Kallis but won more than them. To compile in one dayers India have won 33 matches out of 45 in which he scored a century and remained lone warrior in the remaining 12. I am yet to hear of another batsman who has even 33 hundreds to his name.

If ODI was not enough he has performed for the last 20 years in tests as well. Those who think he is not a match winner. He scored 10 centuries against aussies and India won 7 of them(Dravid has 2 and Laxman 4 winning 100s). He played role in winning many other matches oversees as well as in India. Who can forget his 5 wicket haul against pakistan in kochi, when the looked invincible or his 2 wickets against australia in the historic Eden Gardens and Adielade tests(which were won by the batting display of laxman-dravid) or his unbeaten 194 against Pak in Multan, his twin strike against his same favorite aussies in 2008 which led to India's 1st ODI series victory in their own backyard. Name any famous win and he is there. Any player cannot be compared to him, be it agressive skipper ponting or the calm dravid. The gap between Sachin Tendulkar and and other greats is just widening. Sachin pited against other greats of different eras. I have not seen them batting. But everyone knows no other era had the likes of bowling greats like Akram, Macgrath, Waqar, Warne, Murli, Vettori Donald, Pollock, Vaas, Walsh, ambrose. Sachin had tasted success against all of them, and the battle was not totally 1 sided. Still no one else had such success against all of these bowlers at the same time.

Coming to how he strengthened Indian economy. His innings in early 90s where revolutionary. He redefined cricket. He did the same thing what Sehwag is doing now. Strike rate of mid 80s was too much considering those eras. He used to score at will and changed the average pace of the game. Due to him cricket popularity reached a new high in India. Subsequently sports broadcaster like ESPN and STAR entered the Indian markets. Coupled with economic liberalization the MNCs saw a star endorser in him and he had a contract of 100 crore with worldtel in 90s. Currently all cricket and movie stars are earning millions due to endorsement, due to a man called Sachin. Various MNCs made foray into Indian markets and job opportunities rose. Thus a little man was responsible for revolutionizing not jus cricket but whole Indian economy.

What sets Him apart is not his cricketing talent but his nature. He is so humble, never bothered about being a celebrity. Saying "mumbai is for indians". Getting out in 90, and happy if india wins and he misses ton. Guiding youngsters and respecting other players.
He is irreplacable. If i can use apt words he truly is "God of Cricket"

Monday, January 11, 2010

Journey to IIM 4

if 9th jan is good 10th april is better finally the result came. I converted iim C,K; C was my dream institute (not A anymore :x). Actually discovered that C was much better institute (i have my own sweet reasons)
also i think destiny did not play dirty wen it snatched A from me but it had a new role, a challenge for me
to fight against established beliefs, stereotyping , why is one institute considered best i am here to break another established belief , that IIM A is best and IIM C comes 2nd. Its just a hype created.
IIM C here i come
I was going to be part of finance powerhouse


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know my story of journey to IIM was very long but didn't want to miss any thing as i consider it as my comeback. I want to make a statement
to those who think people from grade c or grade d college are worthless
to those who think you can do well in future if n only if you have done well in past
to those who think life doesn't give chance everytime

People may say my dreams have been accomplished, I would say they have just begun

SUYASH BHARADWAJ
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT , CALCUTTA
CLASS OF 2011

Journey to IIMC finished and a new journey of life begins

Journey to IIM 3

MockCats
my 1st mockcat gave me 84%ile
I was happy bcause this was without preparation next 10 tests there were fluctuations high 80s n mid 90s
All this time i was aspiring for IIM A but i knew with my %ile dream was just a dream not a reality
The harder i tried the worse it got(the frustration). In all these tests i workd for strategy what to do
time allotment n similar stuffs. All these time i thought if i get SIBM i would be the happiest man on earth
On the second i always thought its only IIM that too IIM A

OCTOBER HEAT

With arnd 1 month to go my simcat results showed no signs of getting near IIM cutoffs, i managed 95-98 in the last 5 tests i thought i could clear atleast 2 out of 3 sectional cutoffs the ones which i attempted 1st
this was the case in my last 5-6 simcats
Then came the shocker, our 7ths semester exams were scheduled as: 10th , 11 , 12 , 14 , 18 , 22 November and CAT on 16th November. This was another challange to face
Actually my collge life was not too inspiring lots of demoralising events , people ready to pounce on ur slightest mistake, sarcasm high on sky, even there was a general feeling from our college no one could get an iim call.

The 'C day' NOVEMBER 16th Regular semester papers had taken me out of practise
I was worried but counted on my simcat journey where i learned a new thing every simcat so just brushed up all the formulae of maths, was confident that i would clear 2 sectional cutoffs, was worried about 3rd or the last section i attempted didn't know what to do. Anyways 1 more thing which i got was , cat center was 35 kms from my resident but if God creates problems he creates solutions as well just a matter of finding them out. I found my solution a friend had his center there as well, he owned a car so we went like we were off to a picnic. I thought just keep your nerves kool, kool and kool. This was my 1st attempt for CAT
for the 2.5 hrs i kept myself involved never thought that i was taking an exam
attempted 54 qns
QA 15
DI 17
VA 22
as per various solutions i expected a score of 141-156
expected 0-7 iim calls
as i expected
55 in qa
53 in di
33-48 in va
va would be the decider

8th January 2009 My heart was pumping like a generator, didn't know what would be the fate. I expected 99+ but was not sure of iim calls

R DAY
results came on 9th server was down so got my result through sms got 161 (99.83%ile)
more than expected why was GOD so merciful he gave 5 marks extra that means i was in top 350 of a test which had 2.5 lacs takers that was amazing for me based on last year criteria i was sure i would get calls from IIM A,C,L,I,K. Although not 6 i was happy that i got call from my dream IIM A
TWIST n TURN
There is someone who has been playing with me since i have opened my eyes
lets call HIM destiny. I checked ma result in the evening I saw there was NO 'A' call. I was highly pissed off

Was getting 99.83 not enough for that stereotypical IIMA
with
qa 99.5 (55)
di 99.71 (53)
va 96.43(53)
by that time
most of the people were informed about my 5 iim calls but actually there were 4 the bitter truth was hard to digest. I was penalised for something which i did 5 years back
so is 1 mistake too costly?

GD/PI
NOT SO EASY
Then came the stressful gd/pi preparation. I thought it would be a cakewalk with my high percentile
surely i would manage atleast 2 convert with my 99.5 in qa i was confident of a 'C' convert but then i came to know about horrible stories of 6 calls , 0 converts 100%ile no iim converts and all. I got restless no work x for me, asked several people what to do. They said prepare hard
but what to prepare??????????
everything
how come is that possible?????
oh nothing to prepare just prepare about yourself
what is that??????/
your hobbies
your interest
your grad subjects
why mba?
all of these I had to prepare in 40 days. I thought i had no chance now as i had not taken my academics seriously during my graduation partly due to my college and partly because i thought what has mba got to do with engineering? but i was wrong and by the time i realised it was too late. how much could i do in 40 days 4 years engineering syllabus, current affairs, why mba, pi, lots of travelling, college projects and many more plus my college background and me being a fresher was giving me sleepless night. Suddenly i realised i had certification in NCFM so thought this might be of any help. I just kept my kool
didn't study too much of academics in that period (ps: not recommended for others)

9th march was my IIM C gd/pi the biggest of all and the experience goes like this

Gd
topic : year 2025, no. of ppl : 11, time to think : 2 min, time to discuss : 10 min, monologue for each 1 min
My performance: chipped in with 3 points at starting phases but cudn't speak much aftwards cus evry1 wannted to speak witin dat 10 mins
monologue : summarisd da whole gd

pi 3 professors the same of gd panel and i was da last one 2 be interviewed


p1 : u had to wait so long , more dan 6 hours , how are u feeling
m : perfectly fine

p1 comfortble?
m : yes

p2: so what did the other interviewees tols u bout the process
m : They said people are asked on there acads or work x depending upon there profile

p3: What shud i ask u, acads?
m: m not da 1 to decide that

p2: Can i have a look @ ur certificates?
m : why not have it

p3 : 1 wont ask acads
m : I felt joyous

p3 : tell about ur family
m: told

p3: so hws ur dad's business going on
m : told

p3 : so u advice ur father in stocks :crazyeye:
m : not advice but give my opinion sometimes

p3: do u invest?
m : not an earner :)

p3: if u wud earn wud u invest
m: diversification concept bla bla

p3: tell me bout mutual funds
m : told

p3: types
m companies name?????

p3: no types
m : pata nahi

p3: There method
m : told

p3 : No. of shares they invest
m : no idea

p3: Which sector wud u suggest me 2 invest?
m : depends u want short term or long term investment?

p3 : what??? do ppl invest for shortterm????????
m : yes its like .........said

p3: ok u consider me n think time for long term n suggest
m: 2 yrs. talked bout power sector, fmcg , pharma

p3: wy power
m : said

p3: but ge is american firm wat bout indians say rel power?
m: unko bhi fayda hoga :). rpl has bagged 3 mpp in india including the 1 in jharkhand n bla bla bla
p3 : looks convinced

p2 : ok u r frm jharkhand
m: yap

p2 : currently wat is jharkhand famous for
m : no reply for 2 seconds. Dhoni
(everyone smiles)

p2 : u look like him
m : i dnt think so (smiles everywr)

p2 : i think but its my opinion.
aneways is he a gud leader
m: yes sir

p2: how? give me five reasons
m : most ppl look results he is giving results india has started winning more...... (cut cut cut)

p2: tell me 5 points wich show his managerial skills or wich can b used by managers
m: limited resources but gud result

p2: next
m: individual perfo n inspire others

p2: kaise ?? u r ceo v r hr , fin n op heads can u do all 3 works n inspire all of us separatly???
m: but i can do the fns of ceo like dhoni can wicketkeep n bat well and inspire da bowlers wit his performance

p3 : next
m : handling of players

p4: how
m : told
4th piont said
was about to say 5th

p2: dat is enof
u seem to b fond of cricket

m : wo to hai

p2: so tell me how will u compare top batsman of different era say vishwanath to ponting?
m : that's difficlt but compare dere average score against top 10 bowlers of dat era

p2: suppose i hav 200 , 0,0,0 n dis sir has 50.50,50,50 avg wud be same so bothr ranked same?????
m: no its like (fumbles n fumbles)

p1: u have gud statistic knowledge
tell me how
m : (think think)

p2: theere is a word in maths u can use dat
p1: also in english
m: consistency

p1: what's the mathamatical term?
m: mode

p1: define it
m : told

p2: wat bout standard deviation
M; yaad nahi sir but nnearness to mean ????

p2 : its deviation from mean

p3: ur marks has decreased frm 1st yr to 2nd n den to 3rd
m: ineed a long time time to xplain 3-4 min

p3: go ahead
m: told

p2 : good
p1: thats very good
p3: that means u will get giood marks in final sem
m: yes

p2: ur %ile in cat is gud? u worked hard?
m: yes sir

p2: u need to work harder in iim
m: i will do sir i m confident

p1: oder calls
m: L,I,K

p1 : gud
p2: ok u can leave but be ready to work harder in future
m: certainly sir

p3: any qns?
m: no sir thank you

it couldn't have gone better

10th was K

gd
topic: case study based on mahatma gandhi articles' acquistion
shud govt spend da money in sm oder purposes
time 2 think : 5 min
discuss: 15 min:
no of ppl: 10

i gave 8-10 useful pts in da gd n participated well unlike iimc

pi
p1 lady prof looked like an hr to me
p2 : an old gentleman looked like rabindranath tagore
m: my self

p1: tell us bout urself
m: told
p1: u r frm jharkhand?
m: yes (lagta hai saare interviewers ko jharkhand pasand hai :D)
p1: hws da situation like whos da cm?
m: no cm right now prez rule
p2: so wich is gud cn rule or prez rule
m: prez rule
p2: why?
m: told
p1: but u r also frm jharkhand so u must b corrupt
m: m talkin bout political system
p1: ppl make political system
m: 30% tribal population , lack f awareness , caste prejuduice , xploitation ..................
p1: agriculture is main source
m: yes
p1: wich crops
m: cauliflower n few vegetables.. actually mineral is da main resources
dhanbad is coal capital f india , abundant mica in hazaribagh bla bla.......
p1: so wy no developement if so much resources
m: :crazyeye:corruption(pahle to btaya tha)

p2: wat s da diff b/w stock n share
m: both r same
p2: r u sure?
m : yap
p2: so shareholder n stockholder r same as per u?
m: (kyun confuse kar rahe ho) no sir
p2: wat s interpolation n exterpolation?
m: pata nahi:sad:
p2: wats risk management?
m: told wit fumbles
p2: wats hedging fund?
m: told
p2: r u sure?
m: yes

p1: u had creativity n innovation in 1st sem wass da difference b/w da 2?
m: told
p1: so if i cm up wit a vague idea its creativity?
m: silent:sad:
p1: wat else u learned in da subject? u got gud grade in dis subject
m: lateral thinking, sm 5-6 hats given by(dnt kno)
p1: it was given by ......(still cudnt recollect) n dere were 6 hats
so xplain each f dem
m: dnt remember mam studied 3.5 yrs back

p2: wass 1+2?
m: 3

p2: wen did u study it?
m : nursery
p2: hw many years?
m : 18
p2: so hw u remember dat?
m: wo interest le k padha tha . creativity i studied as xam point of view

p1:
p2: (both look unconvinced)

m: i will study harder for next 3 mnths n cover up watever i hav left
p1: no dats nt enof u need to work hard in ur whole management course
m: i will work hard for whole of my life (i made a promise to myself dat i will do dis)

p2: u can leave
m: thank u mam thank u sir

p2: n smile more
m: smiles, thank u sir

it was OK

12th I

gd
topic : case study based on school caretaker who wants impriovements facilities vs the unwilling management
essay : 30 mins to read_+ write
gd : 20 mins
i came wit 6-7 points

pi
p1 arnd 32-35
p2 arnd 32-35 yrs of age
m: myself

p1: tell me boout urself
m: told
p1: u didnt speak much in gd
m: i gave few points :crazyeye:(6-7 points kam lage aapko?)
p2: so ur frm jharkhand
m: yes (xpected dis qn as usual)
p2: wat r da minerals wich make jharkhand famous
m: mica uranium iron ore , coal ............bahut kuchh hai sir
p2: diff b/w gsm n cdma
m: i took radar as my elective mobile comm nahi liya
p2: wats moore's law
m: yaad nahi

p2: wat did u study in engg?
m: told a few subjects names
p2: wat is and gate, at least You know this or not?
m: told :)
p2: wat is microprocessor?
m: told
p2: wat is diff b/w 8085 n 80 86
m: told
p2: significance of the number?
m: dnt kno
p2: u got 86 % in btech den wy dnt u kno much?
m: kahani suna di
p1: wat is a derivative?
m: said
p1: hw is nva calculated?
m: bas full form pata hai net value assets
p1: diff b/w forward n future?
m: said
p2: diff biw creativity n innovation
m: said
p2: cross:
m: struggle
p1: hw is pe ratio determined?
m: pata nahi
p1: hw is derivatives dangerous?
m: said
p1 : wat is nanotechnology?
m: said
p1? wat is biotech?
m: said
p1: give an xample?
m: gave
p1: can u name a few biotech firms in india?
m: biocon
p1: whos da ceo?
m: KMS
p1: any product or vaccin dey launched?
m: dnt kno
p1: u wanna ask smthing
p2: no
p1: ok u can go
m: thank u sirs

L was on 25th
which was like a rapid fire round

gd
topic: money is a gud servant bt a bad master
wat (writen ability test): thik thak likh dia
gd gave 3 gud points(isse zyada the he nai)
n as usual ppl talked bout recession n satyam
due to shortage of points ppl talked bout mallya ambani for 10 mins

pi
9th person to b interviewed
p1: arnd50
p2: arnd 30
m: myself

p1: tell me about urself
m: 10th , 12th , collge .........(cut cut cut)
p1: about ur colleeg?
m: mgr estbd in 1988 and........(cut cut)
p1: how come jharkhand to chennai

m: aieee se its ......(cut)

p1: tell me about subhas chandra bose
m: freedom fighter estbld 1 army
p2: tell the name
m::O aazad hind fauj (netaji kahan se aagye interview me)

p1: whats 26th jan importance
m: india bcam republic
p1: whats republic?
m: they got constitution ........(cut)
p1: pahle nai tha?
m : i mean dey got indian constitution
p1: whats republi8c?
m: ppl elect there own leaders..(cut)
p1: u belong to jharklhand n don know jharkhand was oldest republic of world n u dont know shame on u
m:I am proud to b from there
p1: u shud b
p1: wats inflation?
m: rise in wholesale price index.(cut)
p2: was dat ?
m: price of >>(cut)
p2: xplain again
m :O (abi pura kahan kia) tried to xplain bout cpi n wpi but as usual ...(cut)
p2: o i didnt kno dat
p2: look sir he has bcfm certificatyes
p1: o dats interesting finanace
p2: wats bse
m: said quickly
p2: watss sensex?
m: said
p2: i didn understand
m: tried ma best to xplain but ....(cut)
p2: wats derivative
m: told
p2: diff b/w future n forward
m: said
p2: call n put options?
m: trying 2 recollect
p2: ok u may leave now

m: thank u
didn't have much hopes with I
but was sure of 3 converts

Journey to IIM 2

As expected I didn't clear the big one IITJEE, dropped a year, prepared a bit harder this time yet not fully committed.
Result : again the same , slightly different i was eligible for AIEEE central counselling with an AIR 25000 roughly with no hopes of top NITs
I got Dr. MGR engg. college, Chennai
The fees was so high dat i derived proportional relation with fees and facilities but to my surprise i found the case was not to be this.
I would not malign my college as i have spend 4 yrs there but certainly an advice to everyone
-> please verify extremely well before taking any big leap.
The 4 wonderful years:
this was the place i found ppl from all backgrounds , states n cultures
the situation was that teacher did not know the formula of tan A
and a student didn't know how to convert centimetre into milli metre
this was my 1st experience of engineering collge.

Anyways to shorten we were hit hard by a couple of floods(risked my own life to save 2 of my friends and saved all the 3 of us), buildings collapsed
Massive strike in the 1st yr. In short future looked doomed
2nd yr a handful out of thousand frm our senior batch (2007) got placements.
That was something to cheer for, even we cud get placed in an infosys or tcs like our seniors.
The spirit was high
2nd yr passed.

Coaching for cat
joined a coaching institute with full enthusiasm
as my 10th was rock solid , english was good enough because of my 10th school
started preparing
managed to solve the package questions very easily.
then in the middle of 3rd yr got placed in a software firm, felt confident that i m not useless but became lenient towards CAT
At the end of 3rd yr (2008 received the jolt our seniors were deferred joining so started CAT prep again, was very tensed and nervous
college load + just 4 months to do everything
i was pretty scared , toughest exam on earth and 4 months thats it

When i flunked IITJEE aft 3 yrs of prep
could i do it?
Yes as my 10th was strong
No i have never proved myself in the past

Journey to IIM

To begin with:
I belong to the small town of Deoghar (Jharkhand), it can be called as a half urban town .
All this is necessary to say because many start chasing there dreams from a raw age of 10-12 yrs.
Well during my school days i was good enough; sincere towards my studies.
I studied in the best school of the city (St. Francis)
the reputation was such that we were taught the difference between "take CAT n give CAT" which many 100 %ile holders of CAT don't know even after taking CAT(no offence intended)

Studying in such a school (although not too famous) was something to take pride of.
I could not carry my form of pre boards and got 87.3 % in 10th (i should have done better as per my school records).
My parents were not happy enough but consoled there is always a next time.
However my 10th level knowlede was pretty strong.
This was the time when I had to decide between IIT or medical.
I chose IIT preparation and hence had to take quality coaching in that.
Meanwhile one of my cousins who was planning to take CAT that year asked me to solve some questions which i did easily
so the CAT bug had bit me by the time i did not even pass 10th.

After 10th I moved to DPS , RANCHI
chasing my dreams of an urban life , girlfriends , IIT and of course IIM

Being from a small town and extremely introvert in nature I struggled for the 2 yrs .
I failed in Maths and somehow managed to pass other subjects during my 1st terms at DPS Ranchi.
how could i show my face to my family members who considered me as a bright student.
they thought that there innocent son had become a spoilt brat.

Back in ranchi the school environment was not the best to study.
Most of the localites were sons and daughters of rich class, so there life style was pretty different and surprising to me.
I was happy riding a new ranger cycle in my 1st day @ DPS Ranchi only to discover that 10th n 9th class kids drove there own cars n bikes

I could hardly find a friend there. struggled to catch up with the sudden pressure of 10+ 2 n IIT.
visited my native every 20-25 days(8 hrs frm ranchi)
Life was hell for me.
Somehow after pushing a bit i passed my final term and moved to 12th.
Here i was not as pathetic as 11th. Finally after my preboards took board with ease n secure a not so bad 77.2 considering the situation I had lived in the past 2 yrs