The Quintessential Outsider

As promised, I am back with my next interview experience, IIM Indore, which happened yesterday morning. I reached the venue by 8:30 am, and when the groups were announced, I was relieved to know that I was the first candidate in my group, so unlike the previous interviews, I wouldn’t have to wait too long for my turn.

We went in for the GD, and were handed a one-page case to read for 5 minutes. It was about a successful businesswoman who heads a large BPO firm (I am not sure what they meant by large, because later in the case, it was mentioned that the firm has about 50 employees). The employees in her firm, and in the sector as a whole, are facing problems because of harassing calls made by US or UK citizens who resent the outsourcing of jobs to India. Also, the safety of employees, especially women, has come under media attention recently. So she has to take some measures to tackle these issues, and she goes to discuss it with her business partner, who manages the financial and administrative part (while she is the ‘face of the company’). He says she can take measures, but without any financial burden, as the company is planning an upgradation, etc. All this comes as a surprise to her and she feels left out of these decisions made by her partner. What should she do?

The discussion was strictly OK. We were given 12 minutes, and with only 6 people in the group, I thought everyone would have enough time to speak. But a couple of guys seemed too enthusiastic (or actually, nervous.. or maybe they just loved to hear their own voice, even if they didn’t have any points), and hogged most of the time. I made a couple of forays, saying that all that is being discussed is fine, but the critical thing is for her to communicate all this tactfully to her partner. Of course, there are many solutions if one goes to look for them, but proper communication between the partners is essential for those solutions to work. I know that I generally talk lesser than I should in GDs, but sometimes, that’s because I don’t see the point in arguing with someone whose only concern is to hog the time, and I feel that there is always the interview to show what I really am. Plus, today I felt, it’s only IIM Indore, after all.

Anyway, the GD got over, and we were all asked to write a summary of the discussion. After that, one of the professors said that they would call us in random order, and I thought to myself, ‘what the hell, even today I’ll have to wait for my interview’. One of the candidates said then that he hadn’t brought his CAT admit card, which slightly incensed the professor, but he finally told him to get a photocopy of some identification along with the original one. We went outside to wait, and the second guy in the group was the first to be called in. I chatted with the others in the meantime.

After about 20 minutes, that guy came out with a very serious and tense look on his face. We asked him about the interview, and he said it was OK, and ‘thoda stress tha’, and that I was next, and I should go in after 3 minutes. I got up and went to the door of the interview room. After some time, I knocked the door, I heard ‘come in’, I tried opening the door, I heard ‘come in’ again and louder this time, and finally, one of the professors came up and opened the door, and asked me, ‘couldn’t you hear us’. I said, ‘yes sir, I could, but I couldn’t open the door’. It was then that he realised that that door could be opened only from inside, or by inserting a card key from outside. There were 2 professors in the panel, say L (to my left) and R (to my right). Here’s what happened after that:

R: (who opened the door, and then came and sat and looked at my name) So, your name is Mathur?
Me: No sir, that’s my surname. My first name is Chitranshu.
R: Oh, so what does that mean?
Me: Sir, ‘chitr-’ means picture, and it is also derived from our family deity, who is Chitragupta. And ‘anshu’ is a suffix like in ‘Himanshu’ etc.
R: But does it have any meaning?
Me: Yes sir, ‘ansh’ means a part.
R: So, what does Chitragupta do?
Me: (smiling) Sir, as far as I know, he sits next to Yamaraj with an account of everyone’s lives.
R: (with a smile) OK, so when you meet Chitragupta, please put in a good word for us.
(On hearing this, I am like ‘WHAT???’, but in the meantime, L begins)
L: So, what do your friends call you, Chitranshu or Vijay or…?
Me: No sir, Vijay is my father’s name. On a professional or formal level, I am called Chitranshu.
L: OK, so Chitranshu, tell us about yourself. And hand over your certificates please.
Me: (after handing over the file) blah blah blah… end with the fact that I appeared for IAS exams after graduating from IIT.
L: Oh, so what happened to that IAS dream?
Me: Sir, I cleared the prelims, then appeared for the Mains in Oct-Nov 2007, and their results are due sometime in the second half of March.
L: So, what is your order of preference in those services?
Me: blah blah.
L: Oh, so it is either IFS/IAS or IIMs?
Me: Yes sir.
L: OK, so you must be very good at GK?
(I didn’t quite catch the word GK, so he repeated, calling it ‘general studies’ this time. I nodded and smiled, waiting for some questions on it)
L: OK, so can you tell us something about China? I mean, China is a communist country, but now, it has a capitalistic approach, especially if you see Shanghai etc. So how are these two opposites reconciled?
Me: Sir, when China originally turned communist about 60 years ago, it was under Mao Zedong until 1978, and he had this very strict regime, and things were tried like the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. However, after 1978, they have adopted the current approach, what they call ‘market communism’. And now, it’s not a question of capitalism or communism, but what’s good for the country. So they are doing what they think is good for them, whether it is their own economy, or increasing their influence in the world, not just by interacting with the US and the EU, but also nations from Africa or Latin America.
L: But, do you foresee any problems with their current approach?
Me: Yes sir, it is still a one-party state, and you cannot criticize the government at all. Also, there are human rights issues, and for developing places like Shanghai, they have had to relocate millions of people.
L: What do you know about Cuba?
Me: (a bit surprised at this sudden change of track, but soon, I realised that this was a rapid-fire grilling) Sir, Cuba is, if I am not wrong, the first country to turn communist in the Western Hemisphere. And, just yesterday… (I was going to speak about Fidel Castro giving the reins to Raul, but L interrupted)
L: Have you heard of the Bay of Pigs?
Me: Yes sir, it is a region in Cuba, where, in Kennedy’s time, there was an invasion. I mean, not directly, but CIA sponsored some Cuban rebels…
(L again interrupted, and thus the grilling went on for about 10 minutes. I don’t remember ALL the questions, but some of them, and not necessarily in order, were as follows)
L: What do you know about the WTO?
L: Who is Hugo Chavez?
L: What do you think about India’s chances of becoming a permanent member of the UN Security Council?
L: What is a mixed economy?
L: Do you think India’s leaders did the right thing in 1947 when they opted for a mixed economy?
L: What is ‘demographic dividend’?
L: What is the Narmada Bachao Andolan?
L: Do you read any books?
L: (after I mentioned Amartya Sen’s ‘Argumentative Indian’ and his take on the question of identity) Do you agree with what Raj Thackeray is doing now in Mumbai?
L: What can be done to tackle a situation like this?

(I answered all of these, and I did not stop with a brief answer and wait for the next question. Instead, I went on with more details, and my take on it, until he fired the next question. And then, he finally came up with one I didn’t know)
L: Who is R.K. Karanjia?
Me: Umm… I don’t know, sir.
L: (smiling and turning to R) OK, do you have any questions?
R asked me some questions about my present job, about what is Engineering Physics, what are the prospects if one wants to stay in that field, and then he moved on to the following:
R: So Chitranshu, you know that India and the US are very similar, in the sense that both are democracies, both have certain freedoms for their citizens, etc. And yet we see that the US often favours China, or even Pakistan, more than India. Why do you think that is so?
Me: Sir, in today’s world, diplomacy is not practised the way it was in Pandit Nehru’s time, when we would think that we would talk only to like-minded countries. This is the age of ‘realpolitik’, and every country does what is in its best interest. So, even the nuclear deal that President Bush helped push through, was for the US interest. It also helps India, but India has to take care of that part.
L: So what do you think about the nuclear deal?
Me: Sir, I think the CPM is being very dogmatic in its opposition to the deal. I mean, yes, there might be some genuine concerns expressed by scientists and others, but instead of an open discussion on those concerns, we just see a lot of rhetoric. And their stand that ‘just because it’s the US, we cannot have that deal’ is not right, as it will also help open doors for India with other countries. Now, of course, the US has passed it, so there are the IAEA talks and the NSG and so on…
R: But, don’t we have enough nuclear fuel reserves in our own country?
Me: Yes sir, we have reserves of thorium and uranium, but they must not be enough, because we have tried to be self-reliant for the last 30 years or so. And at this critical juncture, we need more fuel…
R: So can’t we get it from other countries?
Me: (reiterating my point) Yes, but for all of that, we have to go through with the IAEA talks and NSG approval. In today’s world, we cannot just trade with one country and ignore the others.

I don’t remember now if there were any other such questions, but after that, R moved on to the extra-curriculars page in my form, and asked me what those were. I explained all those things I had written, and then they said, ‘OK, that’s enough’.

I came out with a huge smile on my face, as I knew I had done really well. I think this was my best performance so far because they went on asking about the things I know, instead of picking on some things that I didn’t know and grilling me on them. But I have to be good with dealing with that situation also, especially with two big ones (C on 13th March and B on 27th March) coming up. I told the next guy in line to go after 5 minutes, and waited for some time, chatting with the others.

When I reached home, my dad called up, and while I was telling him about the interview, he told me that R.K. Karanjia was the former editor of Blitz who died last year.

Anyway, so I’ll be back with the next one after 13th March, or maybe something more interesting before that.

As promised, I am back with a narration of my WIMWI experience (thanks to Zutty for telling me what that acronym means ). The run-up to the ‘big day’ was quite eventful too, e.g. my reaching the campus at 2 the previous night because of a train delay, but I shall start from the time that I got ready and reached the venue.

This time, there were more familiar faces around, partly because more IITB guys had their interviews scheduled the same day, the ones in the afternoon slot came around in the morning as well to see the atmosphere, and partly because some of the others have the same slot for all or most of their interviews as I have, so we tend to run into each other and exchange greetings and information and questions and answers even if we do not know or remember each other’s names. Anyway, the hottest piece of discussion that morning was that there is not going to be any GD this time, because nothing about a GD had been mentioned in the call letter. However, when the professors came out and announced the groups, and asked us to troop in to the respective rooms, it seemed that people had read too much into the letter.

As soon as we were all seated inside, though, the professors threw a shocker (it was not so shocking for me, I am more than happy that there was no GD) – they would give a topic, and we would have to write an essay in 10 minutes on a page that we had been asked to leave blank on our interview form. The topic given was ‘Worsening female to male ratio in India’ – something on which you can start writing immediately (unlike the IIML GD topic), and comfortably fill up a page in 10 minutes. After we were done, we were asked to wait outside and come in the same order for the interviews.

Once again, I did not spend too much time listening to others’ experiences or their preparation for the interview. I did listen to one friend’s experience, though, and it confirmed what I already knew, that there would be some grilling on academics, some on general career plans, and some on current affairs. And unlike the previous two interviews, this one would be ‘real grilling’. Anyway, my turn came, and I entered the interview room. From here on, let’s call the three interviewers P1, P2 and P3 (from left to right).

P2: What is your first name? (they were a bit confused about my first name and my father’s name, which becomes my middle name according to the convention in Maharashtra, so I clarified that) Please show us your certificates. (I hand them over) OK, tell us about yourself (standard blah blah, taking care to include some things for which there was no room in the interview form). OK, what is this Engineering Physics? (I tell them what it is. They confirm whether it is a 4-year course or a 5-year integrated course etc.)
P2: OK, so Chitranshu, since you are a physicist (umm…), could you tell me what are the different forces that act on the spoke of a bicycle wheel?
(extends a paper and pencil towards me)
Me: (after thinking a bit, and drawing a simple wheel, with one spoke) Sir, there will be one force inwards from the outer rim, and one from the centre…
P2: Could you draw it on paper and show me, instead of talking in the air? Can you show the free body diagram?
(Well yes, I was talking in the air, but they always make such comments to stress you out and see how you withstand it)
(I draw a spoke horizontally and something resembling a free body diagram)
P2: Horizontal is not so interesting. Draw it in the vertical position. That would be more interesting.
(I draw a vertical spoke, a part of the outer rim and the centre, a couple of arrows showing the forces, and a couple of equations)
P2: Don’t write too many equations. I do not want a detailed analysis. Just tell me what the forces are.
(HINT: The professor wanted me to draw a vertical spoke, not a horizontal one, which meant that there is a significant difference in the forces in the two positions which I had to account for in my explanation. Also, when he said he did not want equations or a detailed analysis, that meant that he was more interested in how I solved the problem and my demeanour while working on it instead of the actual solution. The questions posed will be different for everyone, but these basic things always apply.)
Me: Sir, there will be an inward force from the outer rim…
P2: What is it called?
Me: The normal reaction… (On a look of approval from him, I continue) And one force from the centre outwards to balance it. There is also the mass of the spoke…
P2: But that will be negligible.
Me: Umm, yes sir. And from the centre, there will be another force perpendicular to the spoke which will make it revolve.
P2: So, there will be an inward force and an outward force. What is this called?
Me: A couple? (I am just faffing now, but as long as I can pull it off, what the heck)
P2: So, will the spoke be under compression? (On seeing a look of confusion coming on my face) Or will it be under tension?
Me: Sir, I think it will be compression.
P2: Won’t it vary depending on the position of the spoke?
Me: Yes sir, of course it will, because the mg part will always be downwards, but…
P2: That’s OK. (turning to P1) Do you have any questions?

Now, I don’t remember verbatim the Q&A with P1, but his main emphasis was on why I prepared for the IAS exams, what I did in the meantime, my IMS experience (and when I said I liked teaching, whether I wanted to be a teacher), what is my current job, how does it fit in with my IIT degree, or since it doesn’t fit in, what do I ‘bring to the table’. The entire tone of questioning at such a time is such that it tends to stress you out and make you think negatively about what you have done so far and what you want to do in future, because unless you are really good with what you have studied so far, they will manage to ask something which you do not know, and then stress you out over it, and if you do answer everything correctly, they will ask you why you do not want to go for higher studies in that subject and why management instead. The key at this point is to stay calm and stick to what you think is right.

I think I did an OK job of that, because even though I readily (and honestly) answered all those questions, I could feel the tension in my face. During his grilling, P1 moved on to the following:

P1: So, if you do not get through the IIMs, what is your contingency plan? Do not say IAS or IFS, as that is not a contingency plan. (It is not, because entry into it is as tough if not tougher than IIMs, and also because I had mentioned that I want only the top two services which require a rank in the top 50-60)
Me: Sir, I am confident that I will get somewhere out of these options.
P3: (now getting into the act) No, that is not an answer. India went to play Bangladesh, but it lost in the first round. Reliance Power IPO… you see what happened.
Me: Sir, there is a difference between being confident and over-confident.
P3: No, I am not talking about over-confidence. It is about eliminating risk. Risk always tends to zero, it is never exactly zero. You are from IIT, you should know that much.
Me: Yes sir, but there is only a limit upto which you can make a list of options.
P1: So you don’t have any contingency plan?
Me: Well, in the short term, I might stay with my current job, but in the long term, I don’t know.
P1: (meanwhile, he looked at the permanent address in my form) So, your parents stay in UP?
Me: No sir, my father is a doctor in the Railways, and his job is transferable, so they don’t have any permanent address. That is my uncle’s address in UP.
P3: OK, have you heard about Reliance Fresh?
Me: Yes sir.
P3: What were the problems that Reliance Fresh faced in UP?
Me: Sir, as with any big retail chain, the small-time grocers are…
P3: No no, that is a general problem. Tell me, what was the problem in UP?
Me: Sir, in UP, after the BSP government came to power, they were not in favour of the Ambanis, who seem to be on good terms with the SP.
P3: So, what is the current status?
Me: (actually, I had no idea) I think now they have opened some stores there.
P3: OK, have you heard about the Sethusamudram project?
Me: Yes sir.
P3: Can you tell us what it is?
Me: Sir, the Sethusamudram project is about dredging a canal through the Adam’s Bridge, or Ram Setu, between India and Sri Lanka. The present Tamil Nadu government, and to some extent, the Centre, is in favour of it, while the BJP and other so-called nationalist parties are against it, saying that it is Lord Ram’s bridge and it should not be touched. But, beyond the politics of it, I think there are a lot of other issues. For example, there is the environmental angle, that if the canal is made, then Tamil Nadu and Kerala would be more vulnerable to events like the tsunami that occurred in December 2004. Also, it will be prone to piracy and terrorist attacks, because northern Sri Lanka is under the control of the LTTE. And, we cannot compare it to the Suez or Panama canal, where thousands of kilometres were reduced. Here, it is only a few hundred kilometres, and since the canal won’t be too deep, the ships will have to go slower, so even that should be accounted for.
(I saw this question as an opportunity to display both my knowledge and confidence, which I thought were lacking in the earlier answers. Opinions might differ on whether you should take sides on any current issue, but you have to display some thinking, and not just give dogmatic or diplomatic answers)
P3: OK, have you heard of the Tatas’ new car? What is it called?
Me: Sir, it’s the Tata Nano.
P3: Why Nano? What does it mean?
Me: Sir, Nano comes from a Greek word which is a prefix meaning ‘10 to the power of -9′. It is smaller than micro, so for example, we talk about nanotechnology and so on.
P3: Does it have any other meaning?
Me: Umm… I don’t think so.

I do not remember if any other questions were asked, but soon after, P1 looked at the ‘extra-curricular activities’ in my form, and confirmed what each of them were, and if they were at the Mumbai level or national level. And while I was explaining that, they said, ‘ OK, that’s enough. You can leave. Please take a toffee’.

I thought I had not done too well, but after I came out, while I was talking to the next guy in line, his sister (a first-year student there) said, ‘if you have actually said all this, you should get through. They try to stress everyone out like this, but you should just be chilled out’. I think this ’stressing out’ thing applied for most of the interviews in the morning slot, while the ones in the afternoon were all very cool. Whether it was because they were tired or something else, I don’t know. On the whole, I am not sure whether I have done well enough to get a final call, but that’s probably because it is IIMA, so you have to be in the top slot to make it. And after hearing of 100 percentilers not making it to IIMA, you know you can never rest on your percentile to take you through.

Anyway, the next one is IIM Indore on 26th February. I’ll be back with that experience, and maybe a post before that too.

I went for the IIM Kozhikode GD/PI yesterday, to Dadar, an area which some might think would be more tense than the rest of the city in the current situation. And yes, there were a lot of police and some paramilitary forces on the streets in that area. Anyway, that and what I did to celebrate Valentine’s Day is not what I am going to discuss here. Instead, I’ll come straight to the promised topic – a narration of the IIM-K GD/PI experience.

Once again, I had the afternoon slot, and I reached on time. However, we had to wait for about half an hour until the professors came and announced the groups. Again, I was in group 1, with nine others, which meant that my GD and PI was in the same room as it was for IIM-L. This time, though, I was seated 5th in a group of 10 people, which also meant that my interview finished earlier than last time.

Anyway, coming to the GD, the topic was something about success and failure. I do not remember it verbatim, but the gist was that there are failures behind every success. Only after getting up and learning from a failure can one succeed, etc. We only had 2 minutes to think and write down some points on it (which is how it is in most GDs, except IIM-L), and then, as soon as the professor asked us to start, one guy jumped in with the example of Edison, without even bothering to greet everyone else or mention the topic. I think at least half the people in the group must have thought of Edison’s example, and rued the fact that they missed the chance to start the GD with it.

On the whole, the discussion was again quite healthy, with almost no instances of cross-talking. However, just like last time, someone brought in Ratan Tata and his Nano car quite soon into the GD (I am not sure whether Tata and Ambani are really the favourites of so many people, or they do it just because they think that works well in a b-school GD, or because they have been conditioned to think of these examples by a daily dose of business news for a long period of time). Anyway, I soon grabbed an opportunity, and using someone else’s point that success also means conviction and belief in one’s ideas, I brought in the example of Mahatma Gandhi, who was literally beaten down in South Africa but got up and proved that his method of agitation could work. Later, when someone said that there is a thin line between success and failure, I gave the example of Columbus, whose discovery of America could be termed a success or failure depending on how you looked at it. On the whole, I think my performance was not outstanding, but definitely better than in the IIM-L GD.

After the GD, I was away from the rest of my group for most of the time, only occasionally coming in to check how many people had finished their interviews. Soon, my turn came, and I entered the interview room. From here on, let’s refer to the professors as P1 (sitting to my right) and P2 (left).

P1: (After asking me to sit down, etc.) Please show me your certificates.
(I open the folder and hand it to him)
P1: (takes it and starts flipping through it) OK, so tell us about yourself.
Me: (Umm.. ok, this is quite regular) Sir, my name is … . graduated from IIT Bombay in 2006. … (standard blah blah) … and then, after graduating, I prepared and appeared for the IAS exams. I appeared in the Main exam in October 2007, and now, after appearing for CAT and getting all six calls, I am here. (I have now decided to ‘take the bull by its horns’ in all future interviews, by bringing in on my own the fact that I prepared for IAS, without waiting for it to come up somehow during the interview)

OK, I am forgetting the exact order of questions, so I’ll keep switching from the conversational mode to the paragraph mode, and vice versa. So, on hearing that, they asked general questions about what subjects I took, why I took those, etc. They also mentioned that in the morning slot, there was a candidate who had appeared four times for the IAS exams, but never managed anything better than the Indian Postal Service. I made it clear that this was my second and last attempt. He asked what I would do in case I got IFS or IAS, and several IIM calls, I hesitated, he said, ‘go on.. be honest. in fact, we will be happy if you say you would prefer the IAS’. I said, I am not sure, I would rather focus on doing well right now, and waiting for the results before deciding, because I ‘do not want to count my chickens before they hatch’. He smiled on hearing that, and asked me why I appeared for it in the first place. I mentioned two reasons: I would like to represent my country, and that I am interested in the field of international politics and diplomacy.
By this time, he had removed my IIT transcript from my folder and opened it up to see all my grades (danger!!!), and he casually mentioned that I did not seem to have liked my physics courses too much. I mumbled something about relative grading, etc. and then he noticed that I had a course on ‘Globalization: A Social Perspective’ in my final semester.

P1: Oh, so you had this course. OK, so tell me, there is currently a school of thought which says that before increasing FDI in any sector, we must increase domestic savings. What is your take on that?
(I start off on globalization and liberalization, and how some people are against it, he stops me and repeats his question, and says he is looking for a specific answer, I confess that I don’t know too much of economics, but I take the example of FDI in retail, and how it can affect our neighbourhood grocers, how in the last 15 years, the gap between rich and poor has widened, he stops me again and makes his question more specific, I say that ’saving is a private virtue but a public vice’, so people should not just put their money at home, but invest it somewhere, he stops me again)
P1: No, what I mean is that if you have increased foreign investment in some sector, and production grows, then you need people to consume those products also, else we might have a higher supply and lower demand. So, shouldn’t consumption be increased instead of savings?
Me: Sir, but on the other hand, it can also cause higher demand and lower supply, which can cause inflation. So, I think the current balance of consumption and savings is good.
P1: What do you think is the current rate of savings?
Me: Sir, I am not so sure…
P1: No no, make a guess. What percentage do you think does an average Indian save?
Me: Umm.. maybe around 20-25%.
P1: (smiles) That’s an intelligent guess, and quite close to the actual answer. So, you think this is ideal?
(I say yes, and mention how decreasing it further and promoting consumption can cause problems. I mention the example of US somewhere, so he asks me to guess their rate of savings, and then China’s. I make a decent guess for the US (5-10%), but not for China. (I guessed 15-20%, but he said it is higher than India’s. I should have known… after all, any rapidly growing economy will have a higher rate of investment to fund its infrastructure expansion, etc.))
P1: So tell me, will you, as a future bureaucrat, promote policies that encourage savings, like pension funds, life insurance policies, tax-saving investments, etc.?
Me: (Ahh.. now I get why he asked this whole question) Sir, I think the current balance is good and it should be maintained.
P1: That is a very diplomatic answer. So, will you increase the 80C ceiling from 1 lakh to 5 lakhs?
Me: No sir, not in one go, but of course, it has to keep up with the other growth in the economy.
P1: What is the current GDP growth rate for India?
Me: Sir, it was 9.4%, but now, the forecast for next year is 8.7%.
P1: Is it real or nominal?
Me: (I have no idea, but hazard a guess) Sir, I think.. nominal. (on seeing him frowning, I clarify) I mean.. it is not adjusted for inflation.
P1: Oh.. so if China is growing at a faster rate, all we have to do to catch up is increase inflation?
(BIG BLOOPER… don’t try such tricks in your interview)
Me: (sheepishly) No sir. Actually, I am not sure.
P1: (smiles) It is the real growth rate. Anyway, (turns to P2, who by this time had got bored, stood up and was pacing around the table) do you have anything to ask?
P2: (comes and sits down with this serious look) Hmm.. so tell me, you have appeared for the IAS exams, right? I also take interviews for those candidates, and I know the whole selection process. Do you have any suggestions for changing that process?
Me: Sir, I have heard that there is a proposal to conduct an exam for 17-18 year olds after class 12, who would then be trained for 5 years after that. Even if that channel is opened, I think the current channel should be kept open. Coming to the current process, I think that the upper age limit should be reduced from 30. However, it should be relaxed for someone who is appearing for it after some relevant work experience, and he should get credit for that. Also, I am sure the UPSC must be having its reasons, but I do not understand why we have to choose two subjects for the Main exam, when it doesn’t matter for your future career, as everyone is trained afresh, and everyone is on the same plane.
P1: OK, what do you think is the reason behind the current process?
(I said that I know that the prelims tests your breadth of knowledge, while the Mains tests the depth. Also, they see how well you can cope with some subject that you have not studied formally. Some more discussion ensued, during which I mentioned that in the current process, people go on appearing for the exam till the age of 30, and they also make it difficult for others. For example, I have heard from people who have a Master’s in Economics from DSE, etc. that what they study is very different from what is required for the UPSC exams. So, if those studies are not relevant to your future career, and they are not in tune with what is taught in the top institutions in the country, there is something that needs to be changed)
P2: You see.. they have a rationale behind each step in the process. When it was originally designed, it was not only for IITians (Umm.. but I never made it sound like that.. anyways). So, they do this (… blah blah blah … lots of gyaan about the whole process, and the reasons behind it).

Finally, both of them say, ‘all the best, we hope you get through the IAS, because we can see that you have the potential, etc.’ and I am like ‘i hope this does not mean that they are not going to take me here’, but anyway, I just say ‘thank you’ and leave.

General thoughts: It was definitely more interesting than the IIM-L GD/PI, but that could be because my turn came towards the end of the day over there, so those professors must have been tired, unlike these ones. Anyway, the first BIG one, IIM-A, is on Saturday, and I have a train to catch for Ahmedabad in a couple of hours. I shall be back with that experience sometime next Monday or Tuesday.