Wow, what a roller coaster ride was 2007. It was not excellent, it is not the right word. It was BEAUTIFUL. I can say this year changed my life completely.
Timeline:
Prologue:
I waved at my friends. The train began its journey rather slowly. It was a moment which made me feel very bad about not making it to the tour. Yes, I had missed the final year tour to north india as I was expecting a couple of IIM interview calls early in the year 2007. Can you believe it? I consoled myself saying it was my decision, though a rather tough one. It was a slow walk towards the parking lot with Harish( he had also missed the tour). I started thinking about my CAT results. TIME key gave me 79 in Quant, 58 in DI, and -8 in Verbal(Yes, it is negative 8). I seriously wished TIME was wrong this time. Lets see what happens
Now we are all set for the roller coaster ride.
January 1 2007 : This was like any other year. It started off with the regular new year wishes. I had no clue it would turn out to be so wonderful.
January 2 2007: This was the day. The day when IIMs roll out CAT results and interview calls. There were some rumours floating around that results may not be out that day. I sat on my comp since early morning at 6. Yeah I got up @ 6 ! As expected internet speed was pathetic. I kept on refreshing the 6 IIM sites every minute or so. I got fed up near the afternoon and I had stopped. And then, a phone call from a friend. CAT results were out. I jumped out to check mine. A,B,C,L,I - no traces of results. Finally, K site had it. I had got an overall of 99.93 percentile with very good scores in Quant and DI. In verbal, surprisingly I had got a whooping 27, with a 96.31 percentile. It was whooping considering TIME had given me -8. I was sure of a BLACKI(it represents all 6 IIM calls and considered a great feat. Slowly IIMs started rolling out their lists.
January 3 2007: I had received calls from A,C,K and I. B and K were yet to disclose their lists. I was checking B site very anxiously. It wont load. I must have presses F5 atleast a 100 times. My Mentor(also Friend) Srikanth called me and told me that IIMB list is out. Since their website was down, they announce results over the phone. I called the admissions office . Expectedly, the line was engaged. I tried around 20-25 times and then finally it rang. A lady picked up my call and asked for my reg no. Sorry sir, she said. I was aghast. It must have been some error somewhere. I asked my mom to call . Same response again. I was totally aghast. Even an IIML call didnt help. I wanted a BLACKI, but now it is a LACKI. I kept cribbing for the next few days. It was 4-5 days later I realized that I was extremely lucky to get 5 calls from IIMs. There were only around 3000 people who got atleast 1 call from the IIMs.
January 7 2007: XAT 2007 exam day. A lot of my friends were there. Some had IIM calls. Others didnt. That didnt matter. Everyone who was there wanted XLRI calls. I did the exam well.
January 20 2007: XAT results out. I had 2 calls from XLRI.
January 21 2007: FMS exam. High hopes. Decent exam
February 6 2007: IIFT interview @ Spencer Plaza, Chennai. My first ever interview for a B school. Bad GD. Decent Interview. I was still coming to terms with the whole process of selection. I have to be lucky to convert this.
February 8 2007 : IIMK interview @ Bangalore. I had taken the previous day train to Bangalore. Bangalore was boiling due to the Kaveri issue. Since I am from Chennai, It was quite a risk going to Karnataka as Kaveri interim order was just issued. I somehow made it to the hotel and reached the interview spot on time. This time, it was a decent GD and a good interview. Hopes of first convert.
February 12 2007: Time for IIM L interview. Good GD and a decent interview. Hopes of 2nd convert.
February 14 2007: It was supposed to be Valentine's day. But I had a date with IIM I @ Bangalore. It was a disaster to say the least. I was screwed left right and centre on technicals. I had no hopes though the GD was decent. No hopes.
March 6 2007: XLRI Interview for their PMIR program. Bad GD. Bad Interview. Absolutely no hopes.
March 8 2007 : IIMA interview, Bangalore again. Decent GD. Good interview except a last minute hiccup which sealed the fate. Still faint hopes.
March 11 2007: ATM test for PGDCM @ IIMC
March 12 2007 : IIMC interview, for a change an IIM interview in Chennai. Good GD. Good interview. Good hopes
March 12 2007 : XLRI interview for Business Mgmt program. Not much enthu left. I am @ the centre. My friends calls up to tell me that I have been selected by IIFT. I cant believe it. He said , "Congrats Natarajan Sankar". "Damn, I am M.Natrajan" I said. Pretty bad news before an intrerview.Bad interview. I Dont give a shit anymore. I wanna see the world cup matches.
March 21 2007: I join TIME as a Part Time Maths Faculty. I didnt have anything to do in the next 2 1/2 months. I still take classes when I get the time.
April 12 2007: IIM results were to be released on this day. Damn Mr.Arjun Singh. Results delayed due to OBC issue.
April 27 2007: Results day. IIMC comes out with the list first. The defining moment. I have made it. Indore comes next, I am waitlisted. I dont care anymore. I only wanted to check IIMA result. In the meanwhile I have cleared K and waitlisted by L. A gives me a reject in the evening. Slight bad feelings. I was overwhelmingly happy as I am proceeding to Joka.
May 2007: I dont remember the exact dates. I finished my 8th semester exams. Just a mere formality. I almost slept in a couple of exams. Thankfully I cleared all the exams, otherwise all the effort would have gone down the drain.
June 9 2007: My sister's Birthday. The day TIME gave all of us a party. I also gave a very enthu filled talk to the subsequent batch that is giving CAT.
June 17 2007: I reach Calcutta, I prefer to call it Calcutta. This is my home for the next 2 years. I come out of south India for the first time. It was my first flight. So many firsts this year. I had come with my family and planned a small holiday @ Calcutta.
June 23 2007: I reach IIMC. I remember the 'Early Days @ Joka' video as entered the campus. I am all set to be a IIMCian.
September 2007: Time to lose our sleep for the next few weeks. CV making starts. I never knew writing 1 page about myself was so difficult.
October 2007 : CV making is over. CV is frozen before the Durga Puja(DP) hols. I come home for the 1st time after joining IIMC. I could not have a moment of fun as a pile of forms for Summer internships awaited me.
November 2007: The shortlists have started trickling in. People who saw my CV told me that I can expect around 5-6 interview shortlists. It was almost a disaster as i had not made into any of the first 14 lists. Then Came Goldman Sachs and a small ray of hope. I was shortlisted by GS. I was ecstatic. Then I had shortlists from Merrill Lynch and ABN Amro Bank. Thats it. Only 3 shortlists. I didnt want more. If I cannot convert 1 among 3, I cannot convert 1 amoing 30.
November 12 2007: The night when it was announced that GS was not coming to the campus due to security issues. Just 1 more day left for the Summers.
November 13 2007: The day in which I did nothing apart from attending the Merrill Lynch talk.
November 14 2007: We were assembled at the auditorium by 7 am. We had breakfast and the process begun @ 8. I was waiting for my turn. My registration number was announced @ 0830 and I had to attend the Merrill Lynch interview. I was in the waiting room for around 10 minutes before I was called in for the interview. 1st interview is over. I was sent in to another room for another interview. Then I had 2 more rounds of interviews before I was given an offer in Merrill Lynch Hongkong. It was around 10 am when I came out and returned to the auditorium. I realised that less than 25 people have been placed on campus. I have been very lucky. I could see happy faces, sobbing faces and indifferent faces. Some were confused, some were tense. But I was very happy. Mission Accomplished. I can relax now.
November 15 2007: My 2nd trip to home. This trip was more enjoyable as I could spend time with my sister and family.
December 31 2007: I am thankful to all who helped me and made my year beautiful. Thank you all !!
Though this year was beautiful it had a few sad memories. A close friend of mine could not clear CAT in spite of lots of efforts. I had to leave my family and friends and go to a far uncertain place. Bye bye 2007 ! Please return as 2008 and makemy family and friends' lives better.
~ Sorry for a very very long post~
Timeline:
Prologue:
I waved at my friends. The train began its journey rather slowly. It was a moment which made me feel very bad about not making it to the tour. Yes, I had missed the final year tour to north india as I was expecting a couple of IIM interview calls early in the year 2007. Can you believe it? I consoled myself saying it was my decision, though a rather tough one. It was a slow walk towards the parking lot with Harish( he had also missed the tour). I started thinking about my CAT results. TIME key gave me 79 in Quant, 58 in DI, and -8 in Verbal(Yes, it is negative 8). I seriously wished TIME was wrong this time. Lets see what happens
Now we are all set for the roller coaster ride.
January 1 2007 : This was like any other year. It started off with the regular new year wishes. I had no clue it would turn out to be so wonderful.
January 2 2007: This was the day. The day when IIMs roll out CAT results and interview calls. There were some rumours floating around that results may not be out that day. I sat on my comp since early morning at 6. Yeah I got up @ 6 ! As expected internet speed was pathetic. I kept on refreshing the 6 IIM sites every minute or so. I got fed up near the afternoon and I had stopped. And then, a phone call from a friend. CAT results were out. I jumped out to check mine. A,B,C,L,I - no traces of results. Finally, K site had it. I had got an overall of 99.93 percentile with very good scores in Quant and DI. In verbal, surprisingly I had got a whooping 27, with a 96.31 percentile. It was whooping considering TIME had given me -8. I was sure of a BLACKI(it represents all 6 IIM calls and considered a great feat. Slowly IIMs started rolling out their lists.
January 3 2007: I had received calls from A,C,K and I. B and K were yet to disclose their lists. I was checking B site very anxiously. It wont load. I must have presses F5 atleast a 100 times. My Mentor(also Friend) Srikanth called me and told me that IIMB list is out. Since their website was down, they announce results over the phone. I called the admissions office . Expectedly, the line was engaged. I tried around 20-25 times and then finally it rang. A lady picked up my call and asked for my reg no. Sorry sir, she said. I was aghast. It must have been some error somewhere. I asked my mom to call . Same response again. I was totally aghast. Even an IIML call didnt help. I wanted a BLACKI, but now it is a LACKI. I kept cribbing for the next few days. It was 4-5 days later I realized that I was extremely lucky to get 5 calls from IIMs. There were only around 3000 people who got atleast 1 call from the IIMs.
January 7 2007: XAT 2007 exam day. A lot of my friends were there. Some had IIM calls. Others didnt. That didnt matter. Everyone who was there wanted XLRI calls. I did the exam well.
January 20 2007: XAT results out. I had 2 calls from XLRI.
January 21 2007: FMS exam. High hopes. Decent exam
February 6 2007: IIFT interview @ Spencer Plaza, Chennai. My first ever interview for a B school. Bad GD. Decent Interview. I was still coming to terms with the whole process of selection. I have to be lucky to convert this.
February 8 2007 : IIMK interview @ Bangalore. I had taken the previous day train to Bangalore. Bangalore was boiling due to the Kaveri issue. Since I am from Chennai, It was quite a risk going to Karnataka as Kaveri interim order was just issued. I somehow made it to the hotel and reached the interview spot on time. This time, it was a decent GD and a good interview. Hopes of first convert.
February 12 2007: Time for IIM L interview. Good GD and a decent interview. Hopes of 2nd convert.
February 14 2007: It was supposed to be Valentine's day. But I had a date with IIM I @ Bangalore. It was a disaster to say the least. I was screwed left right and centre on technicals. I had no hopes though the GD was decent. No hopes.
March 6 2007: XLRI Interview for their PMIR program. Bad GD. Bad Interview. Absolutely no hopes.
March 8 2007 : IIMA interview, Bangalore again. Decent GD. Good interview except a last minute hiccup which sealed the fate. Still faint hopes.
March 11 2007: ATM test for PGDCM @ IIMC
March 12 2007 : IIMC interview, for a change an IIM interview in Chennai. Good GD. Good interview. Good hopes
March 12 2007 : XLRI interview for Business Mgmt program. Not much enthu left. I am @ the centre. My friends calls up to tell me that I have been selected by IIFT. I cant believe it. He said , "Congrats Natarajan Sankar". "Damn, I am M.Natrajan" I said. Pretty bad news before an intrerview.Bad interview. I Dont give a shit anymore. I wanna see the world cup matches.
March 21 2007: I join TIME as a Part Time Maths Faculty. I didnt have anything to do in the next 2 1/2 months. I still take classes when I get the time.
April 12 2007: IIM results were to be released on this day. Damn Mr.Arjun Singh. Results delayed due to OBC issue.
April 27 2007: Results day. IIMC comes out with the list first. The defining moment. I have made it. Indore comes next, I am waitlisted. I dont care anymore. I only wanted to check IIMA result. In the meanwhile I have cleared K and waitlisted by L. A gives me a reject in the evening. Slight bad feelings. I was overwhelmingly happy as I am proceeding to Joka.
May 2007: I dont remember the exact dates. I finished my 8th semester exams. Just a mere formality. I almost slept in a couple of exams. Thankfully I cleared all the exams, otherwise all the effort would have gone down the drain.
June 9 2007: My sister's Birthday. The day TIME gave all of us a party. I also gave a very enthu filled talk to the subsequent batch that is giving CAT.
June 17 2007: I reach Calcutta, I prefer to call it Calcutta. This is my home for the next 2 years. I come out of south India for the first time. It was my first flight. So many firsts this year. I had come with my family and planned a small holiday @ Calcutta.
June 23 2007: I reach IIMC. I remember the 'Early Days @ Joka' video as entered the campus. I am all set to be a IIMCian.
September 2007: Time to lose our sleep for the next few weeks. CV making starts. I never knew writing 1 page about myself was so difficult.
October 2007 : CV making is over. CV is frozen before the Durga Puja(DP) hols. I come home for the 1st time after joining IIMC. I could not have a moment of fun as a pile of forms for Summer internships awaited me.
November 2007: The shortlists have started trickling in. People who saw my CV told me that I can expect around 5-6 interview shortlists. It was almost a disaster as i had not made into any of the first 14 lists. Then Came Goldman Sachs and a small ray of hope. I was shortlisted by GS. I was ecstatic. Then I had shortlists from Merrill Lynch and ABN Amro Bank. Thats it. Only 3 shortlists. I didnt want more. If I cannot convert 1 among 3, I cannot convert 1 amoing 30.
November 12 2007: The night when it was announced that GS was not coming to the campus due to security issues. Just 1 more day left for the Summers.
November 13 2007: The day in which I did nothing apart from attending the Merrill Lynch talk.
November 14 2007: We were assembled at the auditorium by 7 am. We had breakfast and the process begun @ 8. I was waiting for my turn. My registration number was announced @ 0830 and I had to attend the Merrill Lynch interview. I was in the waiting room for around 10 minutes before I was called in for the interview. 1st interview is over. I was sent in to another room for another interview. Then I had 2 more rounds of interviews before I was given an offer in Merrill Lynch Hongkong. It was around 10 am when I came out and returned to the auditorium. I realised that less than 25 people have been placed on campus. I have been very lucky. I could see happy faces, sobbing faces and indifferent faces. Some were confused, some were tense. But I was very happy. Mission Accomplished. I can relax now.
November 15 2007: My 2nd trip to home. This trip was more enjoyable as I could spend time with my sister and family.
December 31 2007: I am thankful to all who helped me and made my year beautiful. Thank you all !!
Though this year was beautiful it had a few sad memories. A close friend of mine could not clear CAT in spite of lots of efforts. I had to leave my family and friends and go to a far uncertain place. Bye bye 2007 ! Please return as 2008 and makemy family and friends' lives better.
~ Sorry for a very very long post~
3 comments:
Lovely Post!! :)
Great post dude!! Hope you have many more such fulfilling years in life..all the best :) keep writing!
nice post da..hope every other year will be jus as good nd even better.
nd btw, include ur GD topics if possible..
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