Entelechy

It was 20th of Feb, Sunday. I was fretting over not having filled my IIM-K form. It was already late, around 10. Tomorrow I had to catch a train at 3:00 for Chennai (that is the place where my interview was scheduled). Finally with some help from Tinni I managed to finish the form. The form looked ok, kind-of. And I slept praying that the GD and PI turn out fine.

21st Feb turned out to be hectic day. It was the last day for our self-appraisal. I hadn't finished it and realized that ultimatix doesn’t work on my machine. Somehow managed to finish my self-appraisal on time using machines belonging to my colleagues. Then went to my PL to ask for leave. I was planning of using sick leaves for my trip as I have just 2.5 days of casual leaves and wanted to save them. But on this fateful day my PL decided to act upright, said he couldn’t allow me to use sick leave, as I wasn’t sick. We argued for 15 min and then he relented but only after I threatened him with feigning illness. Had my lunch in hurry and rushed back as I had to pack. Reached the station on time and after a long, cold, uncomfortable journey landed in Chennai the following morning at 6:30.

A auto-driver arranged my lodging in "White hall residency" on triplicane. I had to shell out Rs 450/- on the lodging. The room was small but comfortable. After my ablutions I collected the required documents for interview and reached the venue, Loyala College, at 8:30.

There were around 23 guys in the room. People with 100 and 99.99 percentiles were also there. I chatted with 2 guys. At 9:00, six professors walked in. They welcomed us for the IIM-K selection process and wished us best of luck. Then they divided us into 3 groups, based on our percentiles. I was in the third group and we had 8 people. Some people didn’t turn up and so the first two groups had only 6 and 7 peoples respectively.

The 8 of us were taken to room no 104 and made to sit in a semi-circle. I was on the 4th seat. The Profs gave each one of us a sheet with the topic written. We were to read the topic for 2 min and then on their signal start discussing it. The topic was "with success people feel vertigo. Vertigo is the fear of falling. No, it is the emptiness which pulls them down and to remain successful the have to defend themselves." I had no clue as to what to say. Just wrote some questions on the paper - What are goals? What is emptiness?

The first person started the gd, gave a good start. Slowly, everyone started putting in their points. It was more than 5 min and I hadn’t even opened my mouth. Somehow managed to say something about loneliness at the top and the journey to success has the focus but on reaching your goal you feel a void. Was relieved at saying something. I kept quite till the end, except some "I agree", "yes-yes u are right" statements. We had 3 summaries. After the gd we had to wait outside for our turn at the PI. It was to be in the order of our sitting.

At 10:30 I was called in for my PI. Was already feeling relaxed, as the feedback was that our panel was cool. There were 2 profs in my panel, a cool prof(CP) and one bearded serious prof(BSP).

I take my seat, CP takes asks me for my file. I give him the file and keep the admit card with me. CP sees that and inquires about it.

And then the PI starts: -

BSP: - Tell me something about yourself.
Me: - I am yashodeep.. born and brought up in dewas... did my schooling from st marys...completed BE cse from mact... working in tcs for the past 3 years in the bioinformatics field...developed biosuite.. etc.. (I go silent...BSP is still looking with some expectations so I ask him if he wants to know something particular.)

BSP:- That is about your work life.. nothing personal..
Me :- I love reading, mainly fiction.. have started playing the recorder.. like eating out.. have been to all the major food joints in hyd.. if u ever need advice on eating in hyd contact me...

CP :- So what books have u been reading..
Me :- Well the last book I read was "For whom the bell tolls"... but my favorite book is "To kill a mocking bird"(TKAMB).

CP :- Why is TKAMB ur favorite book?
Me :- I like the depiction of childhood in this book.. various moral issues have been taken up..( give some background on the story)

CP :- People say that if u like a book u relate it to something personal.. so what was it that u related with..
Me :- (Give the example of how jem asks scout to go and play with her friends.. the same way i used to do it.. also something about the ghost of boo radley and my fear of ghosts..)

CP :- and what about the moral issues..
Me :- we find good and evil everywhere.. take yesterdays example.. I was in a train and when a vendor passed a policeman took bribe from him.. this was the evil in him.. latter the same policeman asked some shady person to leave the compartment.. the good part in him..( CP now looked satisfied...)..

BSP :- What is bioinformatics and what are its uses?
Me :- Bioinformatics is the convergence of IT and bio.. used for sequencing of genomes.. human genome 3 billion base pairs was sequenced using super computers at celera.. discovering drugs.. etc..etc..

BSP :- So what is biosuite..
Me :- Tell him about biosuite being a platform for bioinformatics.. gene to drugs.. etc...

BSP :- Is tcs the leader in bioinformatics..
Me :- there are other companies but they don’t have any products coming out.. tcs will have biosuite and after its launch it will be the leader..

BSP :- So tcs is focused on product development..
Me :- yes at present it is.. but now we are moving into services as money is more in services...

CP :- Are u married yashodeep?
Me :- no sir I am not.. why sir??

CP :- well u have written that u are not able to balance ur personal and work life.. take care.. after marriage it will be worse... (smiles all around..)


BSP :- Why do you want to do an mba?
Me :- I have a background in cse and bioinformatics.. at present there is integration happening in this field.. biotech, pharma, IT all coming together... if i have business degree i can position myself as a integrator in this field.. people will be required for putting value on new ventures.. etc etc.. (Now BSP is convinced)

CP :- So yashodeep how was the gd...
Me :- (Now here is my nemesis and I know that I need to handle this well) Well the gd was pretty good.. lots of points discussed..

CP :- No no not that..(changes his mind).. ok rank everyone in order of performance in gd...
Me :- ( I rank 4 of them and say that the others performed the same)
CP :- So you don’t rank yourself on the top..
Me :- No sir.. I just contributed twice... others gave very good points..

CP :- So what happened in the gd.. u are an effusive person.. that’s what we make out of the interview...
Me :(am happy that he is satisfied with my performance in PI) Well I should have started it (as if i could have done it).. also I did not want to repeat the points...

CP :- No fear of groups...
Me :- No sir .. not at all...

BSP :- U will stay in lifesciences after mba..
Me :- yes sir..
CP :- thats what he has written in the form about bill gates wanting to be in biotechnology.. (smiles..)
Me :- yes sir.. i found the quote on the net..
CP :- so when did he say this..
Me :- NYtimes 1996...

BSP :- (looking at my form) So you have started listening to music.. what do u listen..
Me :- No sir .. actually I have started learning music.. playing the recorder.. my music teacher recommended it as it is the easiest instrument.. and i dont have a background in music.. it helps me relieve stress..

BSP :- Ok, ok I read it wrong..
CP :- So u get time to practice..
Me :- yes I take out half an hour daily..


CP :- Do you want to ask us..
Me :- (Didn’t know what to say...) No .. no nothing in particular...


BSP:- So what do you know about IIM-K.
Me :- I have one of my colleague at iim-k ... have been in regular contact with him.. hectic life.. case studies , quizzes.. lots of learning.. and a great place to stay..

BSP :- you didn’t hear anything bad ....
Me :- No sir...

CP :- Well yashodeep u said u eat out a lot but it doesn’t show on you..
Me :- ( am very happy.. its been years since anyone said I was slim.. felt like giving him a kiss..) sir u should have seen me 1 month back... i have been on a rigorous dieting schedule... got this trouser stiched 4 days back...

BSP :- In wto there is some discussion going about bioinformatics do you know something about it...
Me :- ( didnt know about it but took a guess) .. its about patenting of information derived from research...

BSP :- So whats the debate..
Me :- genes and other knowledge is very basic .. all these phenomena are everywhere.. nobody should be allowed to patent this information...

CP :- has this debate started recently or was it going on before..
Me :- No sir it has been going on ever since Craig Venter left NIH to set up tigr.. he professed that he will patent EST’s... which sparked of this debate.. but now he has started releasing sequences every 3 months..(read this in the train only..)

CP :- Is patenting good?
Me :- From india's perspective it is bad?

CP :- and from a humanitarian perspective are you against patents?
Me :- Yes sir...

CP :- Ok yashodeep.. thank you
Me :- Thank you...

So that was how it went. I got back to my hotel room, had a sumptuous meal and finished the book "Biotechnology age and how to profit from it".

Hope I convert this one, now one down three to go.



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