Pit Stop 3 - IIM Lucknow Interview (Part 5)

This blog should actually be called - "What not to do in the interview..." coz this penultimate interview in reality and the last blog of this interview series was the worst interview ever... This one was on 3rd March @ 10:00 am @ Dadar... Reaching there was no problem since I had already been there for the Bangalore interview... However, the scenes from the past haunted me (IIM B interview experiences) when I realised that this interview is also in the same room as the first one... A little scared (superstitions took over the practical mind) and completely feeling inferior (just before the GD/PI I met people with 100 percentile and 99.97 percentile which cause dmy 99.63 to look puny..) I entered the GD... The topic did not allay my fears... It was "The first myth of Management is that it exists..."... Ok, this was not only a weird topic but the people around me were so loud that this weird market turned into a fish market... Fish Market - When everyone screams and makes themselves heard but heart-of-heart know they are talking crap.... So, basically it transforms to who can make bull shit heard more in the people who are talking the same... And it did not help that the group consisted of 11 people...

Spoke something - its my nature to not keep quiet; if there is crap discussed I discussed the same, if not i let him be... Came out of the class with a completely frustrated feeling... Have you experienced that feeling when you are completely dissatisfied when you indulge in a colossal waste of time argument... Yup! thats what the feeling was outside room, after the Lucknow GD... I was 10th in the group and since the interviews were in order, I had a looooooooong wait ahead of me... But to my great surprise, every interview lasted maximum of 15 minutes and in about 1.5 hours it was my turn for the interview... I was happy that finally my turn came and I was happy... But little did I know - 'happy' was last thing that I should have felt for the kind of interview that I had...

I - Good Afternoon, so Sharmili - do you know that there is a movie of your name?
M - Yes sir!
I - who are the actors?
M - Shashi Kapoor and Rakhee
I - who is the director?
M - I dont know
I - Producer?
M - I dont know...
I - would you agree that the word 'sharmili' is used in many songs
M - yes sir!
I - so sing 3 songs with word 'sharmili' except for 'o meri sharmili'
M (well I know hajar songs - great ones, good ones and crappy ones... But suddenly I blanked out... I couldnt recollect any) ummmm...
I (waited for exactly 20 seconds and went ahead) - Ok, leave that... Sharmili I see that you have not made good use of your abilities
M - I am not sure y are you saying this.. I do not understand...
I - well you go 90 in tenth, 93 in 12th... But only 73 in engineering... You did not use being in VJTI to your advantage..
M - Sir! I have been in top 5 when I scored 90, top 5 when I scored 93 and also top 5 in engineering... So, I believe that I have utilised my potential...
I - I see you have done business french... What is it?
M - explained..
I - ok, tell me what would you say for, "I want to do business with you in French"
M (French is very confusing but I had an A grade... I was not best but this I should have got it) - Je voudrait vais business avec vous... Sir, I do not remember what is business in French... (Btw, this sentence was completely wrong... This roughly translated means I wish to go business with you... :(((...)
I - So, what is the conversion rate between rupees and francs?
M - Dont know
I - Rupees and dollars?
M - 43.95 (full to guess kiya..)
I - are you sure or just bluffing?
M - sure (I wish he had not read the paper... Later on found out it was 44.90.. I was close I thot.. Did he buy it was my next thought)
I - Infosys is taking a big loan from world bank - what is it regarding?
M (I had read that infosys is looking for an acquisition in Australia.. So, figured it would be for that purpose) Told this reason...
I - oh, so world bank gives loan to infy???
M (wanted to hit myself so badly...) Oh no sir, World bank gives loan to central banks of the countries - not individual companies...
I - Hmmm... So, who is the chief commissioner of india?
M - dont know
I - who is the deputy then?
M (thinking if I dont know this one, would I know the deputy duh!!!) - Dont know...
I - take a guess
M - Renuka Chowdhary (who I realised in few seconds after saying was Women's welfare minister...)
I - Thats wrong... But if you took her name.. tell me 3 women CEOs of the world...
M (gettting excited coz this would be first question I would answer correctly and he broke my thoughts by continuing the sentence...)
I - tell me 3 women CEOs of the world except - Indra Nooyi of Pepsico and Kiran Majumdar Shaw of Biocon...
M (laughing outwards, cursing inwards) - Sir, you took the names of all the ones I knew :(((((
I - Ok, tell me any one...
M (still couldnt answer..)
I - Which was your favourtie subject in Engg?
M (I had prepared this one..) - Logic Circuits...
I (interviewer confused... he did not expect this answer...) - Ok, Ill ask you a maths question... Gave me a 2 X 3 matrix and asked me to find the determinant...
M (now I knew, I couldn't find the determinant.. It was not possible but I could not tell the reason why... So, I tried to use my brains... (extra shanugiri is what I did in short... Thinking aloud...) Well, I cannot find the determinant.. So, I would mutiply this matrix with an identity matrix (since A*I = A) and convert it to 3 X 3 matrix...
I (an amused look on his face...) - What are you doing??? You know you are not close to giving me an answer, right...
M (completely exasperated..) - Sir, I know I can solve but there is something thats not correct... But, I cant tell you what...
I - what is the requirement for finding the determinant?
M - It should be 3 X 3 or more...
I - Right, it should be a square matrix...
M (Oh, ya.. thats what it is called... I knew it but did not know how to say it... what a rubbish thing to do...)
M - trying to still smile despite a disastrous interview...
I - ok, Sharmili you can go now... Please send the next person in...

Learnings from this Interview -
1. Know everything about your name - and if you are one of the unlucky ones like me who have a movie with the name - then God bless you!!
2. DONT show your extra smartness by thinking out of the box when its not required...
3. Smiling and laughing with the interviewer doesnt help... If you suck, you still do... The only thing that can get you out is knowing stuff
4. Stress Interview (thats what everyone told me my Lucknow interview was) doesnt work out if you dont get stressed (which was also something that everyone told me - people who have stress interviews are tested to check if they retain composure under stress)... You still need to know everything they ask...

Needless to say, you guys must have guessed by now - I did not make it through the Lucknow interview...