Firstly, Hello all and Secondly I am Sorry, Going to be quite a long post (And tum logo ka 30 minutes aab gaya .)
So, I am just composing myself where to start from. Let me start from the 29th November , 2020.(10:35 am ) – came out of exam hall , papa asked “kaisa hua ?” --- I said or ekbaar pakka aana padega papa …nhi ho paya .
Same evening … stood in front of the mirror … said to myself 2 lines and wrote them and pasted (not posted …lol) on my wall.
30th November …. DT ka slot 1 answer key se QA match krwaya or khud ko gaali diya for fucking silly mistakes (I am like that only … ☹ can not help it ).
Socha ki , next year books padunga – VARC improve ho jayegi .QA or DILR to ok ok hi hai ….
Answer Key aaya : RAW SCORE – 105/104 (I don’t remember properly ….).. Btw , I am so optimistic , I just wrote the bigger number before smaller number . [Expecting 97-98 percentile … I believe in Murphy’s LAW]
Went out to a trip with college friends .
I had my flight back to home on 2ndJan , 2021 : I was standing on the security check line .
Notification : CAT RESULT RELEASED !!!
I felt bad .. cursed my luck … but (I am good with moving on .. had my decent share of heart breaks earlier …lol .)
I sent this to my papa . Unka reply aata hai : “Get your ass back to the seat and bloody start working for it ” … (aisa exact words nhi tha par matlab yahi tha …. believe me.)
Started to work again .. Started with QA basics and kind of reading ….
One best advice I can give –“Though U are a Veteran with your skillset.. Newbie at heart is all that counts.”
Then days passed … with No significant improvement in VARC and doing all those Quant Concepts again and again .
But whenever I went on with bad days … I used to reach to AIWTSAC … read someone else’s post … thought ki life me kuch kar payu ya na payu .. people should stand beside my deathbed saying …”He inspired me with his work ethics … ” [Saasta Motivation OP]
Last year PG( pagalguy, it used to be a good platform .. UI update iska maa = bhen kr diya ).Usme mra ek hi aim tha … I need to go closer to CAT. DT is a place to be … they mostly make it . So , CAT 2021 ho paaye ya na paaye… wo dekh lenge .. par iss baar CAT ko saala kareeb se dekhna hai … So, go to DT .. interact with people .. ask silly , stupid , unimportant questions to anybody and everybody who comes across.
Then Pre-simcat1 happened (I did not give it window. Gave later .)
Then Pre-simcat 2/3 happened (mra Okayish sa gaya …. )
[kuch bande nazar me aaye …ki paper ko inse izaat bachane padta hai..
@derrabe || myterious10 || @dada_99 (tab name alag tha) ||@knockknock
|| @darknite1409 || @arvind98 || @vbond007 .... Baaki or bhi bhoot log the mre se achche level ke .
But then kept my head down and Hopes higher … Joind gym .. And believe me .. fucking every rep counts .(Sasta Motivation OP -- 2)
One day around march, got the actual name and number of @mysterious10. And as you know me much well till now … what could I have done .. called him … was a bit scared because usse pehle ek , do or mock ho gaya tha and he fucking struck them out of the park .. quite a normal thing to ME by now.
Got Ankan’s number from someone .. called him . .. usse dara nhi .. (theek hai number achcha laata hai .. par first timer hi toh hai … lol …. Ab darta hu bhai .. kaasam se and my mom loves you more .. cause you score more than me in every mock … ).
Discussed one or two mock with him.
Talked to @butterfly53.. introduced myself as a fanboy of her scores .. I am still . Thoda stories suna about DT… got more fascinated .. scrabbler hota hai DT me .
May/June : DT me chance mil gaya… ooo bhai !!! I was crazy happy .. kuch ho sakta hai .. Par was afraid too. Cause , I am a believer of Murphy’s Law . :P
Arvind messaged me in whatsapp from DT ka grp.
The second thing I asked was , call karle ?I am that guy 😊 wasting everybody’s time and that too unapologetically.
Kevil ka number liya . Arvind se . VARC god tha .. the first thing he said .. sayan pata hai kitta novel pada hu main … I replied “100 around”. He said ZERO…. Mre ko mra bhagwaan mil gaya ….
Ek group BANAYA “GOAL DIGGERS” … added , Arvind , Kevil , and Bhaskar(my co-founders) and said unlogo ki ek chotta group banana hai .. jisme topper nhi honge toh bhi chalega .. par topper banne ka saapne rakhna padega .
Then the group went on to increasing in size, warmth, care, love, gratitude and hospitality …
Bhaskar ne call krke mre ko ek baat bola after few mocks.”Saala, Sayan kya group bana diya be .. NO score is safe .”
Few people came in .. and I thought I worked hard … They defined hardwork for me . @Raman that is for you .
I thought I am that guy who never give up, oops , then I looked at @ Saarthak , his attitude in words … “If I am in a war . I would love to look at the bullet that comes to my head rather than dying while running for life …. ”
@Prateek se mra baat hua tha pehle ek do baar , ki isne DILR ka ijaat le liya hai .
@Varnit - I love you … (brotherly wala … lol ….)
Then , one guy was shaping up .
Avi_shrivastava - any mock score of is gives me chills in my spine till date . Avi tune suru kiya live mock ka silsila .. hum saabne diye . fati toh bohot… par kya maaza aaya .
@Kartikeya(@escanor7) - If I could show you how much respect I have for you …. But in 1 line … Bawa , You are beautiful.
@Abhar got added and couple of more people , They made MOCKS look like a GAME and …. They all together taught me one thing … “THERE .. IS .. A .. MYSTERY .. TO EVERY .. MADNESS”
One thing happened … I changed .. I started to feel .. Kuch ho sakta hai iss baar .
September happened … October happened … [OOPS I MISSED THE PG UI FUCK UP !!! THEY KILLED THE PLATFORM ….]
November happened ….. Days passed .. Adrenalin rushed … Heart beat raised … Dopamine released ….Hopes became High… head became filled with memories of the journey …Yeas , MY failure in CAT 2020 was WORTH IT !!!
From Last week to Last day to Last minute … And its over now ..
Pata nhi kya hoga .. sooch bhi nhi raha to be frank …. Hope will be great for everybody <3
(CAT IS SO YESTERDAY) --- I copied this. Baaki upar wala original tha ..
“I am a BETTER VERSION of myself because of you……THANK YOU”
TAKE A BOW … Mates….. and pat yourself .
Do it please , .. you have done a lot … for yourself .
SPCL MENTION : @shanay , tu nhi hota na bro , main CAT tak pagal hi ho jata … thanks for hanging in there with me and for me . Saala 194 laa diya tha live mock me BC !!!
And I will have always had a faith while falling and I will say … Sayan do not be frightened --- They love you more that you love yourself … so somebody will be there to catch you ..
Sorry .. Not Sorry … for all the multiple 30mins and 1 hour calls.
All I know ….Time is a valuable thing…..Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings….Watch it count down to the end of the day ….The clock ticks life away
I wrote the above lines on 29th November , after CAT was over and we all were keeping our fingers crossed for the results .
Today is 10th of May,2022 I am writing again, the remaining story. Will take a step back and try to continue.
The D-DAY
28th November, 2021 . I again had the morning slot. It starts at 8:30 am. I woke up around 5:45 am, brushed, combed, had my breakfast .. stood in front of mirror and said “the day is here, and I am ready.” Reached the exam centre, ‘namo-namo was playing’ … Deja-vu strikes . Same place , same time , same occasion , I just wanted the different results . I had worked for it , I had slept over it , I had dreamt of it .
Entered at 8 am. Got my designated PC and after few deep breathe .. ‘.. it’s game time .’ . VARC started, 1 min panic , but now I know , how to breathe . Started, the first RC felt difficult . I left it , went onto the next one , then the next , then the next and it went on . I was done with most of the questions with a minute on hand. This time it was much better than the last year . Sat through the minute, thinking about DILR.
DILR opened, absolute headache. I tried 1st set, not happened, 2nd set , did a question or two . 13 minutes passed. last year memories were coming again. But, this time I was ready to fight till the end. Some managed a question here and there and did attempt a decent number. Was not very sure of the accuracy but , yes DILR ended.
Quants started, I took a deep breath, ‘it’s my batting power play now.’, attempted mostly all.
Papa asked , “how was it ? ”, I said not sure about DILR , but VARC and quant went okayish.
Now, came back talked with all the people of slot1. Then, by the end of the day , more discussions . more speculation and more work to remember the quant questions and make the answer script.
We compiled all the answers of Quants and proudly state all were correct.
Now, what the wait of the answer scripts. The sleepless nights, did I read the question wrong. Why did I misread that question? Will my DILR clear cut-offs. It was too much to handle before the official answer key was out and I scored a decent score. I was hopeful of getting a few calls this time .
Now, what INTERVIEW PREP, before that enjoy a few glimpses.
Few glimpses of the memoirs of and around the D-DAY:
: HOPE my prayers get answered!!! (Diwali before CAT) + a good picture does not hurt much : P .
: Last week before CAT , kaahi toh shaadi me gaye the !!
: On the day of CAT :) . Take a chill pill duh !!!
: Making up the answer key for QUANTS of SLOT1.
Now, after the answer key was released, I got an idea of the percentile and thought some calls may come this time.
The VARC curse is over.
Now, calls started to flood in and then the SOP writing and interview phase began. I joined a coaching for mentorship and they were helping me out in the process. Now about the GDPI prep what to say.
GDPI it is:
I will give you a little bit more information about my surrounding while I am writing this, It is around middle of march and hence a hot sunny lazy afternoon. I am sitting on a wooden chair and listen songs on loop and thinking of the incidents of last few months.
So yes , we will start from mid of December. I went to Puri, with my family in a much needed vacation after taking CAT .One day while I was chilling on the beach and faking candid like pros , Ankan called ,“Bhai GDPI ka kya karna hai ….”. I did not even bothered, replied “Bhai pata nahi .. kuch dekh lenge ..”, holiday vibes .
Two days later … Ankan called again “Bhai ek institute ka pata chala hai, join krna hai ?”. I said “krlete hai bhai .” Had my induction session while I was traveling back on the train. Then the different sessions of the course started. There were sessions from news analysis to discussions on current topics and believe me people there were smart and 10 times smarter than me .
When in doubts , fake candids like pro !!! :P
CAT results came out and this time I cleared all cut-offs and scored decent enough to get a couple of IIM calls and hence start preparing for the GDPI process.
I started to interact with a few members from the course and I was like I do not even stand a chance with them. Then what, I started to eat FOMO, sleep FOMO, Repeat FOMO .my life was “FOMO – BOHOT FOMO -- BOHOT ZYADA FOMO”. I tried my best to keep myself sane through those days cause anyway I was lagging behind .. and with talking with few of my friends I understood one thing I need to make friendship with FOMO and I received incredible amount of support from them. Then there were multiple WhatsApp group and people there really helped me to wrap things around my head. From notes to links of newspaper articles to song covers all helped me to keep me moving .
Then there was the phase of studying .. which I am bad at … :( .
Then , there was planning and giving up was never an option … “bhai hai toh fighter .. lol ”. Juggling between multiple topics from form-filing, electronics revision to read up the newspaper, I understood one thing .. Your incapability’s are all in your mind.
Then what … Process is the word and I am grateful to everyone in the course who helped me immensely. The WhatsApp group was a life saviour for me.
Time for few more glimpses:
: PURI Diaries (Sunrises Like these <3)
: last day before leaving PURI .
: Form-Filling Deadlines of the collages
The Interview Saga and Transcripts:
(take all transcripts with a pinch of salt , they are as accurate as I remember.)
95 / 94.8 /87.30
99.94%ile
Electronics and Communication Engineering .
IIM B interview experience ...
wait time : 7 mins.
interview : 35-40 mins .
3M .. 2 were professors .. 1 alumni [all age range of 45-55]
hello :
smile .. and a good morning ...
P1 : your SOP says you work in encounter management team .so u r specialist ?
me : I am not gr8 with guns .. but in my company encounter means claims .
P1: career objective.
me : answered .
P1 : Do u invest ?
me : not so much .. but father helps .
P1: UHG is doing good ?
me : yes... gave some numbers ... 70% growth .
P1: Is 70% good ..
me : said it s 4+ yr old company .. last covid relly helped people .. worked on medicare and all..
P1: but it is your perception that 70% is good .
me: tried to defend by performence of othres and good retention .
(some more discussions on UHG...)
P2 : favourite subject .
me : digital electronics and communication .
p2: why ?
me : explained advantages and all .
P2 : gave a question .
me : solved .
P2 : we have 0s and 1s why not 0 1 2 3 (more no. means more good ri8 )?
me : answerd .
P2 : any hobby other than painting .
me : said ... did not ask on these ..
P3 : u r from bengal. ri8 .. yes .. political scenario :(
me : red flag .. I promised will not pick a side .
P3: a company headquatered in bengal .
me : muck .. I can not recollect
P3 : do u smoke ?
me : used to not now , thanks to covid .
P3 : that was a hint .
me : ITC .. yes it was correct .. I thanked him .I also said aditya birla had hq in bengal.
P3 : but it not there ? why ?
me : gave my points.
P3 : mamata won a huge majority .. u from Allahabad so any political differences .
me : took a safe stance .
P3 : if you are an industrialist .. and taking current political scenario .. will you put an industry in bengal ?
me : told about work culture and mineral rich ..
P3 : leave all these all are ok opportunity is there .. political kya scene ?
me : took a soft stance .. smiled and said not very aware ..
P2 : any questions
I asked
P3: started saying .. he said for 2nd ques visit a site.
me : what site sir ? ..
P3: Pagalguy .. I smiled .
me : It seems I have landed there once or twice .
Have a great day .. logged off .
Okayish experience .... baaki bhagwan bharose ..
VERDICT : STRAIGHT REJECT
95 / 95 / 87.30
99.94%ile
IIML (5th March)
Wait time : 30 mins
Interview time : 4-5 mins
i could not see them .
me : sir ur video froze
p1 : ok ok
p2 : we can see u lets continue ..
me : sure sir .
p1 : hello sayan , you are a b tech ? which stream ?
p1 : what challenges do u face in company ?
p1 : what do u do in company ?
p2 : why UHG needs optum ?
(explained structure of uhg .. )
p2 : no no why Optum is only required ?
(explained we are trying to build products and how we can help .)
p2 : difference between indian and US health care ?
(answered)
p2 good talking to u and all the best
me : have a great day sir .
VERDICT : CONVERTED
95 / 95 / 87.30
99.94%ile
IIM Shillong
Wait time : 0 mins (impressive !!!!)
Interview time : 15 mins
p1 : extempore online food delivery bad for health
p2 : what is your opinion on fat tax ? (did not know..)
[googled after interview - a proposed tax on foods or drinks judged to be unhealthy and whose consumption is believed to be linked to rising obesity levels.]
p1 : so what do u do ?
p1 : how electronics engineering helps in your job ?
p1 : what do you do in free time ?
p1 : why is chip shortage in india ?
p1 : is semiconductor available on india ? then why not used ?
p2 : what is gatishakti ?
p2 : how gatishakti will impact business ?
p2 : why was RBI criticised for keeping the intrastate laws same ?
(I could not understand the ques, asked her to rewpeat once .. she repeated the same ting ..
I said I do not know and smiled :) )
p2 : function of RBI
p2 : how repo rate works ?
(thanked and logged off ..)
Verdict : CONVERTED
95 / 95 / 87.30
99.94%ile
CAP
Wait time : 70 mins
Interview time : 10 mins
p1 : F
p2 : F
(said good afternoon)
p1 : tell me something about yourself
p1 : where do u work
p1 : what do u do in your work
p1 : where do u envision yourself after working
p1 : do u want to continue in the same domain
p1 : favourite subject
p2 : u got 99.94 where did 0.06 went ?
p2 : define life
p2 : how do u define happyness
p2 : what you will do to be happy in your life
p2 : do you read news ?
p2 : any recent updates
p2 : what is all these abbreviations NATO , UNHRC
thanked and logged off.
(the big week with IIM A, IIMC, IIMK calls )
95/95/87.30
99.94%ile
IIM A
Venue : Park Street ,Kolkata
AWT : Increase in the inclusiveness and women participation impact in the profit of the company .
What are the assumptions in these .
P1 (M) - 38-40 P2 (F) - 38-40
(shared Pleasantries)
P1 : Where are you from ?
P1 : Anything Bankura is famous for ?
P1 : Electronics and Communication Engineering ?
P1 : Anything current happening in electronics field ?
P1 : 4G and 5G pe conversations .
P1 : If I retrofit my 4G phone with 5G will it work?
P1 : What else do we need to change ?
P1 : Why 5G is coming into picture ?
P1 : some more cross questions .. (answered mostly)
P1 : early days me telephone exchanges the abhi nahi hai ? how and why did the technology changed.
P2 : Where are you joining from ?
P2 : Conversation on metaverse.
P2 : Anything concerning you in metaverse.
P2 : You told 2 points can I push you to say one more .(globed a bit)
P2 : Sayan I thing we are digressing a bit .. the other two points were good anything different ?
(something came to my mind and said .. was okayish)
P2 : Hobbies ?
P2 : Where is Hercule Poirot from ?(I said had read a few agatha christie .)
P2 : Who inspire you the most ?
P2 : Difference between NBA and College ball . (said there is a difference in the time of matches but did not remember the exact numbers .)
P1 : What is your work ?
P1 : So you deal with a lot of data ?
P1 : they are personal data ri8 ?(said about laws and all protecting them )
P1 : some discussion on how I contribute .
(You can leave now .)
Verdict : CONVERTED
95 / 95/ 87.30
99.94%ile
IIM C
Wait TIME : 100 mins (kya hi bole aab !!! )
Interview mins : 13-15 mins
p1 - M (50) ... p2 - M (50)
(started by sharing pleasantries)
p1 : tell us something not on form .
p1 : do you know what is happening in world ?
p1 : 3 economic indicators hampered in there ?
ans - energy crisis .. supply chain disruption and wheat import problem .. SWIFT ban p bole ..
p1 : is wheat import problem for entire world?
(talked about egypt importing and indias opportunity as india is also one of the leading wheat producers..)
p1 : but you just mentioned 3-4 countries how does it concern entire world .
(said about supplychain and energy crisis in europe and how these small things add up tobe an disrupter )
p2 : so u are and electronics and electrical engineer ?
(no sir electronics and communication )
p2 : so in your transcript you have signal processing .
p2 : what is convolution ?
(said formula and explained with examples ..)
p2 : where is convolution used in real life ?
(said error detection and error correction and how they work..)
p2 : so can this error correction be used in vaccines
(i asked for 30 secs to think answered on feedback analysis and improvement .. i ended by not very sure )
p2 : what do you work in your company ?
(explained)
p2 : why is it exciting for you ?
(explained how I contribute ?)
p2 : asked how better will your contribution look like .
p2 : what IIM calls ?
(smiled and logged off)
Verdict : CONVERTED
95/95/87.30
99.94%ile
IIM K
wait time : 0 (impressed!!!)
interview - 14 - 16 mins
P1: M (40) P2 : F (40)
P1 : tell me something about your self ?
P1 : what books ?
P1 : learnings from atomic habits ?
P1 : what is your compensation ?
P1 : hobby ?
P1 : What all calls ?
P1 : 5 CEO s
(fml 4 bola phir yaad nhi aa rha tha .. bola flipkart ka sachin bansal tha .)
P1 : aab kon hai CEO flipkart ka ?
(i said flipkart ka pata nahi .. sachin bansal abhi navi bana raha .. )
P1 : any companies recently listed ?
(i do not remember recently wala ... said paytm and nykaa)
P1 : business of nykaa?
(ek video dekha tha pehle said thank bhagwaan .. )
P2 : You paint ?
P2 : What methods ?
(I said and explained)
P2 : What have you been painting recently ?
(showed my last painting .. some discussions on that ...)
P2 : some why you have drawn this like this and that .. ?
(answered most of it all ..)
P2 : Pitch Sayan as a product (1 min .. )
Verdict : CONVERTED
FMS : (transcript – do not remember .. sorry )
Verdict : CONVERTED
Few off-bit snap :
Introducing the , The much famous , toffee from IIMA interview .
At Flurry's
Post IIMA interview .
Finally , I have deciced to join IIMA (WIMWI-AN).
Two Absolute Block-Buster Gyaans , which I learnt from Sohum Da (@Arsene96)
1. Do Not Lose the plot amidst the chaos ... have sanity with time and faith in the process.
2.Have a learning attitude , anything and everything that comes is OKAY , we learn new things everyday .
“Don't ever let someone tell you, you can't do something. Not even me. You got a dream, you got to protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they want to tell you can’t do it. You want something, go get it. Period.” – “Pursuit of Happyness”
Hope for the best two years of my life .
Thank You all for reading till the end . Is it the End ? Definitely NOT. It’s the beginning, a hell lot to learn, a hell lot to work. But, all in the end the journey matters. And this one was worth revisiting.
What did I get? A great set of friends who will stand by me every time ! A sense of gratitude! A memoir of lifetime! We all grow out of things, for better of course … but on some lonely evening , when I will be sad , I want to tell this to myself . --- take a chill pill dude … “If it can happen once , It can happen again …”
And before signing off, and till we meet again ...
All the best to Everyone !!!
Now,onto bigger and better battles… !!!!
--“kar khudi ko buland itna ki haar taqdeer se pehle khuda bande se khud puche , he bande … teri raza kya hai …”
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