IIM-L GDPI-2

Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow GDPI Experience (2011) - 2/3

Candidate: Abhishek  

Work Experience: 30 months

Venue: IIM, Lucknow

Date: 12th March, 2011

I had only 5 candidates in my group after counting out the absentees.

Group Discussion:

Topic: The division of Indian states based on language was India's greatest historical mistake"

We were given 15 mins to write an essay first. Time ended abruptly. No warning. We were given only 7 mins to discuss(WTF!!!)I brought up d issue how linguistic division have made regional identities greater than national identities. Gave examples of linguistic riots (anti gujarati in mumbai in 1961), kannada marathi fights over belgaum n anti hindi fights now in mumbai. Lots of people were deviating from d topic n started discussing need for small states.

Personal Interview:

Now the PI panel we got was a typical IIML panel, custom built for stress PIs. prof Yamini Sahay ( MA in Psychology) and prof P. raina ( PHd in communication). This ensured that the panel had no technical interests and we 5 group members better brace ourselves for tougher times to come. One after another 3 of my group mates came out retired hurt when finally my turn came. i went in , greeted them n took my seat.

PR: (looking at my form)so abhishek, u r interested in cricket I see. Can u tell me about today's match?

Me: why yes sir. i was following d match all this while I was waiting outside. Then I told him about d match situation, current scores n predictions. This was when he decided tat he shall have no more discussions on cricket. 

PR: out of nowhere comes up with a sanskrit shloka n asks me to translate.

Me: ( clean bowled) Err....but sir...sanskrit was way back in school (wtf...its been 10 yrs since I last studied it)

PR: dont worry. Its a school level shloka only

Me: fumbled. Then asked him to repeat it slowly. He did. Anyways I couldnt make head or tail of it. Told I couldnt.

YS: ok. So tell me about ur favourite charactor in history.

me: that would be Kautilya.. Or chanakya as we popularly know hin

YS: n why him?

Me:sir actually he was a man with tremendous self belief.when he got insulted he didnt bother if the man against him was a king or a powerful man and he went ahead and had his revenge ( he was a "go getter"; in modern mgmt terms, I wanted to say. Didnt though.)

YS: so just because he took his revenge?

ME: not just that maam. He was a patriotic man. He loved his country. When he realised that his country was being ruled by a fool he decided to replace him and went ahead and found the right man for the job. If he'd have wanted he could have ruled himself but he wasnt power hungry. Again he was a very knowledgeable man.he wrote india's first detailed book on economics "Arthashastra". artha= money and shastra= a treatise.

YS: what does arthashastra contain?

ME: I havent read it myself but from what I've heard it contains detailed instructions on how taxation system should be, land record maintenance, duties of a king etc.

PR:tell me which subject did u derieve ur morals from?

ME: sir actually I dont derieve my morals from any subject. My morals are based on my own reasoning of what is right and what is wrong. Dont need any subject to teach me that. But then namesake we did have a subject called moral science then. Just cleared it for clearing sake.

PR: yes yes at that age u r too young to understand such subject too. So, have u heard of Kalhana? ( I shake my head in disagreement) Rajtarangini? No?

ME: sir actually my knoledge in sanskrit was restricted to my school textbook and so I may not know about some sanskrit author like that.

PR: Oh come on. He is a famous man in history also (later I realise kalhana was a 12th century kashmiri brahmin who wrote rajtarangini, a book on kashmir's history)

me: no idea sir

PR: see abhishek u say u r interested in sanskrit and history and u cant even answer questions like this?

Me: but sir I said i liked these topics as subjects in high school. Am not an expert on them.

YS: no. But when u mention them in a PI u should be ready to answer questions on them. Anyways....(they both now talk to each other saying this fellow doesnt know anything. No point continuing with the PI. ) and then they let me go.

Verdict: Converted