Hope I XLed in the interview

Today I attended the first and the only interview call of the season. XLRI had found a really nice place with a different name. The name of the place is "Ecumenical Centre, AIACHE centre", luckily the panel did not ask me to spell these words.

I was rather relaxed prior to the interview thanks to my room-mate, (house-mate, that's how he prefers to call) Venkat who accompanied me to the centre.

My interview was scheduled at 1000, we were waiting for the call. The person who went in at 930 came out at around 945, mumbling something out, "kya yaar, mujhe tho kaam chaahiye, anil ambani MBA nahin kiya tho, main kya kar saktha hoon". I could not give a comforting word to him. I was getting little tensed.

Venkat and I were discussing about my blazer (£$^$^%$), the first time in six months I am wearing a formal dress. I looked pretty good. I looked better than George Bush in today's Hindu's frontpage. I was recounting the lyrics of "Rajathi raja" to venkat -
Malayala karaiyoram tamil paadum kuruvi
alaiyaadai kalaiyaamal thalai aattum aruvi
malai mudiyinil pani vazhiyuthu vazhiyuthu
kann mayakkuthamma

I was called in at around 1010.

There were three in the panel. P1, P2, P3.

sel: May I come in sir?
P2: Sure.
(I went in without closing the door behind me)
P2: Please close the door.
sel: Yes sir
P2: Take your seat.
sel: Thank you sir
P2: Can I look at your file?
sel: Sure sir
P2: You are working in a good company in a well-paid position, why do want to leave it?
sel: In 5 years down the line, I wish to see myself in the shoes of my manager. I am inspired by the growth and opportunities that would be available upon completion of MBA. Also I am enthused by the accelerated increase in the roles and responsibilities in my professional career.
P2: Very good. You know anything about olympics?
sel: yes sir.
P2: When is the next olympics scheduled?
sel: (Thinks) 2008
P2: Where is it going to be?
sel: Beijing.
P2: Where is the next to next olympics to be hosted?
sel: London
P2: Why was London chosen?
sel: (No idea) London was shortlisted along with Paris to host the games.
P2: If there is a competition, there would be competitors. Tell me why London was chosen?
sel: Sorry sir, I do not know the exact reason behind that.
P2: Why are countries competing to host such events?
sel: They are doing this so that it will increase tourism and other developments like infrastructure can be speeded up with the event as a target. Even now to host the commonwealth games, there are lot of developments happening in Delhi.

P2: When is the commonwealth games scheduled?

sel: 2010

P2: Has India hosted any other games of similar kind before?

sel: Yes sir, we have hosted Asian games before.

P2: When did we host it?

sel: Delhi hosted it sometime in the early 50s.

P1: Are you sure it was in 1950s (I was not aware that Delhi hosted it 1982 as well)

sel: Yes sir

P2: Do you see improvements because of that?

sel: (Thinking)

P2: Have you seen any Asiad villages in Delhi?

sel: No sir, I have not observed such places.

P2: Not observed or not seen?

sel: I have not seen sir.

P1: What are your hobbies?

sel: I solve crosswords, sudoku, simulated stock investment, reading books, playing & watching cricket, following English premier league.

P1: You read which newspaper?

sel: Hindu

P2: Hindu has only one page of Business news, we want to quiz you on a business topic.

sel: I also go through Economic times, though not regularly

P2: Tell me some news that has captured your eyes in the last two months

sel: Mittal steel's hostile takeover bid of Arcelor steel.

P2: Tell us more about it

sel: blah blah

P2: Jacques Chirac when he was in India, he made a statement against the take over, why did he do that?

sel: 30000 french workers were working in Arcelor and there was an apprehension that these people might be laid off by the new management

P2: Do you think it is right for a president to interfere?

sel: When the interests of the people are at stake, it is not wrong for him to get involved.

P1: What is Banking cash withdrawal tax?

sel: It is the tax imposed when we take money from our bank accounts

P1: Is it a guess?

sel: No sir

P1: When was it introduced?

sel: It was introduced in the last budget.

P1: I think it was removed, why didn't you tell me that?

sel: I think the tax is not removed, only the minimum amount of taxation is removed.

P1: What is jobless growth?

sel: It is the growth that happens in a concern without an increase in the number of employees. It would be because of new and better technology or efficient utilisation of other resources.

P1: Is it a guess? Have you heard about this term previously?

sel: I have not come across this term previously. It is an educated guess from the meanings of the individual words.

P3: Who is your favourite actor?

sel: Kamalhaasan

P3: Favourite actress?

sel: Simran

P3: You work in Flextronics software systems - what is "software" and what is "systems"? (That must have been a 'bhat')

sel: Software is the intelligence that is added to a hardware of any suitable kind.

sel: Systems.....(Thinking)

P3: As in policital system, public distribution system..

sel: Systems refers to a set (blabbered something)

P3: What are the two major problems faced by IT industry today?

sel: Attrition and Wage inflation.

P3: How do you plan to take them?

sel: We need to develop more centres of higher education centres. Presently we are producing the needed quantity but majority of them are not having good enough quality. In Tamilnadu there are more than 120 colleges and hardly 10-14 colleges have qualified faculty, good alumni and peers.

P3: We do not know anything about Tamilnadu, tell us from some other state?

sel: I can repeat that answer with Kerala, sir.

P3: (Smiles) you have been here for 20 months, tell us with delhi as example.

sel: Sorry sir, I do not know much about the scenario here.

P3: Do you read newspapers?

sel: (Thanked God, they came out of the topic) yes, I read Hindu.

P2: What does your name mean?

sel: (happy) It is one of the many names of Lord Ganesha. Also it is derived from my grandfather's name Periyanayagam and my grand mother 'Chellammal'.

P2: Good. Please sign in the register.

sel: (Signed)

Panel: Thank you

Sel: Thank you sirs.

Came outside. Venkat told I had the interview was for 15 minutes. Could believe it at that time, I thought it was much shorter.

Waiting for the results.....