CAT - came, saw and conquered...the aspirants!

Don’t really know whether I shud shed my tears on my blog too, after I have done so on PG…but I mite as well do it as I gotto write sumtin bout the Common Aptitude Test…

The Common Aptitude Test…ahem! Was it just common aptitude this time or was it sumtin more dan dat? Wateva it was, it was certainly another bomb or a monster for sure..which about 20k-30k guys(kinda da serious aspirants from the mammoth 1.75 L guys) had been comprehending from the last six monts or so…The IIMs once away had their cake – n ate it too…even though the variable marking pattern had been introduced last year, the decrease in the number of questions from 123 to 90 created even more tension – no for me it dint…for me it just enhanced my fear of not bein able to solve the questions from areas which I dint know much about…coz with just 30 questions in quant n DI there was no much playing around…u had to stick to the questions given to u…

So much so for CAT…DI was tough as usual for me..there was only one calculation based caselet which was a bit time consuming…and one easy one…the scare was the more no of 2 markers in each section. True the IIMs once more stressed on the risk-taking ability of managers…this time with even more emphasis as there were 20 2 mkers in each section…

Some of the institutes have termed CAT 2005 as one of the toughest in history..with the Verbal section being defintely the toughest…howeva I dint find verbal so tough on Dday…verbal is a good day-bad day concept acc to me…u just got to have ur instincts rite in verbal n try to match ur thoughts with those of the paper-setter…at least dats what he means by stating ‘choose the most appropriate alternative’…in case of ne verbal question – new or old, and most importantly, in case of RC – good lord there were 2 mkers in tat section too this time…howeva was kinda my strong area this time so me was relaxed…

Quant was quant by its name – dint find it easy either – though I seem to have a good accuracy there…howeva the no of 2 mkers again was daunting…one had to go for them or else he wud comfortably ‘miss’ the so called cut-offs…

Wat is the main point is the tension that creeps in one mind during the paper, howeva much he tries to avoid it…this time I can say I avoided it to around 80 percent…but landed up lookin at the watch more than I was lookin at the paper itself…the passing seconds push one in deeper truble…if I hadnt done dat…maybe I wud have got past the cutoff in DI too..which I normally don’t – hehe…

Howeva there was some point in mind which told me continuously that dis was one paper where no preparation wud have helped…leaves me with more doubts regarding next year’s preparation – if at all the need will arise…da amount of people screamin on PG about the difficulty level and the vagueness of the paper are witness to dat..

For now its back to my work, and da expectation of performing better in the other exams to come…at least those were the ones which I kinda lok forward to more than CAT itself…!

Dedications to this lonely Diwali...

Those of you who are wondering why the title ‘lonely diwali’ – well, diwali is certainly not very entertaining and lively for all – especially for those who do have holidays, but do not go home as they have a hoard of management exams approachin, and their scores in da mocks only seem to be dippin further down – and well, when 90 percent of their roommates leave for their homes and they cant – and when it’s a bright shiny diwali day and da visit to the nearby ATM yields null as their salaries havent yet been credited into their accounts- also when they spend the nite all alone watchin Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani on TV(now dats a switch- don’t remember havin seen one from ages), n plus a nite where the current goes twice on account of a stormy nite…

Ooh la la – dats Diwali there!!

Basically it was the same for all the people around – cudnt even sit in peace at a place due to the fireworks goin on in all directions – especially those rite outside the window, one side of which I was sitting in order to get some entertainment through Shah Rukh and Juhi…no big deal…isnt Ganesh the same way for Goans- when we don’t let even a single soul in the locality rest in peace – yes let the children enjoy their holidays, and da teenagers their free time – coz they aint getin ne later in their life, especially if they enter IT world…

Da absence of the salary realli stung me yest’day though – had to withdraw from the existing balance, which seemed like a beggars account, after havin donated funds to da likes of XL, FMS etc etc…except this time the etc doesn’t lead to much as I really don’t wanna flood da treasuries of more b-schools…Tot I’d buy a nice book instead – so picked Five Points Someone from the roadside – a friend had suggested I go thru it, as it depicted da life story of someone I cud neva be in life – an IITian…of course showin da truth of how da life in those institutes is…

Wid around 15 days to go, I don’t have much to say – except dat I keep tellin guys I shall give it my best shot, which sometimes is just not enugh to sail u thru…howeva a recent friend of mine wid whom I met day b4 yest encouraged me to some respectable extent – to say da guy is real gud at da mocks wud be an understatement…but me hapi dat I found a nice friend in him…

Retiring from the blog for 2day…spent an extra 2 hours at office, inspite of havin nutin much to do…but I am not very sure where the fatigue comes from – physical coz the responsibility at office can turn massive, or fear dat da whole cycle which happened post-July this year will repeat nxt year…Maybe only dat keeps me lookin ahead and not think of givn up…

Finali i leave da trainin room...

I am always think i will blog frequently - and proudly quote dat blogging is my all time hobby n well…I am seriously able to blog as much as a normal guy who works 17 hrs per day wud do – not that I do that much work- not for all da gold in the world…but well I simply don’t simply to remember the golden line – ‘blogger.com’ so dat it can sometimes adorn the explorer bar of my firefox with it…

Well da core line of the blog signifies it all today- training over- work begins…question 2- is the work hectic? Doesn’t seem so as of now, but afaihh(as far as I have heard) it is…question 3- is the work interesting? – pretty much – but I don’t know if I shall be completely honest in stating that…coz well it isnt part of my agenda in life – still experience to lena hi hai – and it doesn’t concern a specific department in SSI…covers a whole range of possibilities and functions, relating different departments – if I can best put it…and its altogetha a different kinda work – all I need is now to plunge myself into it, so that I can start liking it soon…

Although I still gotto get my concepts cleared…certain procedures etc taken care of…etc etc…for starters I have received a temporary desk on the 8th floor…and so have my other 2 teammates who departed from the training group with me…howeva ‘desktops’ wasn’t exactly my idea of a perfect job…still seekin da kinda system about 75 percent of SSI has here – a laptop to be specific – don’t know when I get dat, but it will be good workin wid it…

As of today we just had review of some docs, and then one of the guys in the team explained da flow of da code which he was handling, to me…so dat I wudnt have ne probs with it later – he is goin on a leave – which reminds me – I must think about setting my own timetable properly now…

So far so good…havent yet found ne bloggers here in SSI..though me sure there will be a pretty big number hiding deir faces in the laptops and typin out their day-to-day happenings…shall update as soon as I locate one…

Ciao for now..

Things sumtimes just dont go ur way...

This post is about 2 main things - how i want to proceed in life- and how is life proceeding for me...

Lets talk first bout da former...

Dreams - according to the most of the motivating books i have read till now, are wat take u forward in life - how many times in life have i heard the line - dont ever give up on ur dreams...thats what i have always agreed with n will to - think bout it - life will certainly change with say a high-edge percentile in the mocks - confidence enough to crack a 100 percentile on Dday, following which zoom thru the GD/PIs of the major b-schools, get thru the one rite at the top, slog ur ass for the next 2 years and move to the managerial field i have always wanted in life - an HR manager - or da least to say a Systems wida Marketing degree that wud me scale pretty high too...wat say then?? i get wat i want and a comfy life with a wife follows (correction - the second thing is an altogetha different experiment in life)...

Or say the famed management side proceedings dont go very well...well then proceed far off in the company itself - say the time taken to climb the ladder is long - still worthy enugh if u can be a functional consultant initially, slowly elevate upwards to the Staff stage and then move to the HR side..why not? after all, my skills reside in that area itself...life can be a cake-walk after that too naa? say a senior HR manager in 2-3 years...wudnt mind da toil of 2 eyars for that...

Lets come to part 2 of the discusssion...ahem! dats where i am at present naa...

Bored and bugged of life...as a rule to parallelism or shud i say 'antonymism', evry thing just doesnt proceed in da way u want it to sometimes...2nd attempt at the Common Aptitude Test and yeah - i'm a pretty bad second attempter - reasons - things not gettin serious enough due to the time spent at work...returnin home by 8-9 and well...formalities of bath and lunch takin up more time than normal...result - havin the preparatory material as the sleepin partner at nite - no dats not at all romantic...

Work seems to be goin fine with the trainin, but well things are gona get tough when we put in my stream - the name Interfaces and Conversions and all da things i have heard bout it till now dont reali sound so good as far as my career graph is concerned...but still the name Oracle - so gotto go by da rule that things will be tougher initiali- but well u gotto have patience...n maybe maybe better things are in store for u later...

Bout a month left for CAT and the tests to follow...n my blog overflows with my failure stories...