SP Jain

My friend had given clear instructions

"No one knows it as SP Jain here. Tell Bhavans"

The auto guy left me at the gate. I see school kids, teenagers, College guys and gals going in and coming out of that very gate. That Bhavan's campus includes a big set of institutions of which the management college is one. Asked the security guy and he showed me the place. I went near it and i could not believe that that small building was the entire building of the very famous and revered SP Jain.

There were direction boards kept to guide the interviewees. I went in to register myself in a room with circular rows of chairs seated in a theatrical fashion (The height of the chairs rising as you go outward) - more like a mini Colosseum. The guy checked all my marks to individual detail and clicked on the "verified" checkbox in what looked a very sophisticated application on his laptop. I must say i was really impressed with the way they students of the admission committee went about their chores. It was an automatic motivator.

Now SP Jain has something called a Group Interview, a hybrid of Group Discussion and Interview. And there would be two rounds of it in groups of 6, the first one being an elimination.

I went and sat in one of the chairs. Another guy was sitting beside me and another girl next to him. Me and the guy talked for a while after which i kept to myself. The guy introduced me to the girl next to him. she also was for the finance stream.

Girl:"You look scared.."
I smiled.

My turn finally came and they called out the 6 names. I was the sixth. There were 2 other guys and 3 girls. Lets call them B1, G1(the girl who told me i look scared), G2(very pretty), B2, G3(very pretty), VC.

We were taken into a room and made to sit in a square fashion with 2 of us occupying each side and the 2 lady faculty members and the student (Yes, one student is part of the panel) taking the fourth side across a table on which they had all our interview forms which they had gotten us filled some days back - Background information and few questions.

Lady-prof-1 addressed us

"Hello. I am [name] and she is [name]. He is a student here and will be your senior in case you make it. Now i would like all of you to introduce yourselves for 2 minutes and also tell me one thing about yourselves that you have not written in the interview form.Fine?. lets start with you"

The intros went on for a while

B1 was a martial arts expert . He was also for finance . And he said he knew quite a bit about astrology.

G1 was also for finance. Her hobbies included poetry and she was from Delhi.[I had figured it before itself from her attitude]

G2 was a major in arts. A linguist by profession who knew few European languages and said comes from a family which has 3 generations of sanskrit scholars and she herself also had learnt sanskrit.

B2 was currently a software engineer but helping put up an online initiative for his mother who was a leading female sexologist of the country. He knew bharatnatyam and he also wrote and sang songs few of which were telecast on radio/tv.

G3 was a girl with defense background. She had roamed all over the country and very interested in music. She wrote for mumbai mirror.

Yours truly was another software engineer and whose hobby included poetry.

Once the intros were done they started the rest of the proceedings with me only...

Lady-prof-1:"So considering your background where you are today is admirable.."

VC:"Thank you Mam.. but considering what my cousins have done i still have a long way to go"

Lady-prof-2:"So you are part of [employer] and doing really well, why would you have a need to do an Mba"

VC:"I have close to two years of engineering experience now and i feel its time to get some knowledge on the cross functional aspects of executing challenging projects."

Lady-prof-1:"Which area in finance?"

VC:"Investment Banking"[ I didn't know a shit about what investment banking ]

Lady-prof-1:"Which is your dream company?"

VC:"Barclays"[ I was about to tell PWC[ Consulting hotshots] and get another medallion of 'foot-in-the-mouth' but somehow at the last moment changed my answer.ufff.]

Lady-prof-1:"Alright"

VC:"Mam.. does barclays come here for recruitment?"

Lady-prof-1(smiles):"Go find out from the website!"

Lady-prof-1:"So what kind of poetry do you write?"

VC:"Romantic"

Lady-prof-1(Raises her brows):"Ah huh... do your parents know about this"

VC:"No!"

Then was the turn of our Jet Li bhai

Lady-prof-1 tells G1 to maintain some distance from B1

B1:"No Mam!... In Martial arts we are also taught how to restrain ourselves"

The they ask questions on his schooling/background etc and then a common sense question disguised very nicely

Lady-prof-1:"So according to astrology, what will be the outcome of this interview.. will you make it?"

B1:"Astrology cannot predict such events. But i know whatever i get is what i deserve and all that happens is for good"

Then they shifted the attention to dudette G1.

Some questions again on her background etc and then they asked her if she had any of her poems with her and if they could look at them.

I felt so bad because i had taken printouts of mine and would have been more than happy had they asked me to show.

They then told her to recite one and she did.

Then they took on the linguist.

Usual questions on background etc and when she told about the sanskrit part, Lady-prof-2 told her to recite anyone of her favorite shloka and she could not.

She then recited one herself.

Lady-prof-2 to B2 : Can you recite one?

B2 recited another one.

Lady-prof-2 to VC: Can you?

I recited another one.

Lady-prof-1:"Wow!... My opinion on today's generation improved this very instant!"

Then they took over B2.

Again after the usual rigmarole, they asked him if he had screen shots of the e-learning initiative he had been working for his mother. He dint.

Then the focus came to the reporter G3.

Usual questions and then they asked her what kind of music she follows. She gave one list of classic rock that involved Dylan/ doors/ dire straits etc.

Lady-prof-1:"Ok we are done here. Thank you all!"

We were all leaving and i had planned to show my poetry to them. Even B2 had planned to show the songs he had written.

B2-to-Lady-prof-1:"Mam.. on a parting note i would be really happy if you took a look at this"[forwarding a paper to her]

VC-to-Lady-profs:"Mam.. these are my poems". and i kept this and this in front of Lady-prof-1 and Lady-prof-2 respectively.

Lady-prof-1-to-B2:"Do one thing... sing it for us"[He had sid that he had sung on TV]
and then they started reading my stuff.

That B2 guy did a fab job with his song. It was a song he had written for the Indian Cricket Team for the World Cup 2007.

Lady-prof-2-to-VC:"Good!"

Lady-prof-1-to-VC:"Preserve them.. You may need it".

And i took them back and said goodbye and was about to leave the room when they asked everyone to sit back.

Student:" How many of you have heard DOCC"

All Except me said they have heard about it.

Student-to-VC:"Absolutely nothing at all!!??"

VC:"Nope"

Lady-prof-1-to-student:"Its ok. We will leave him out of this. Lets ask others"

B1:"Mam.. i know that its an initiative here and that something which every student does.I want to know more about it. I want to know more about it"[Its not a typo.. he did it say it twice]

G1 knew the full form of it.

G2 also was aware only of what the letters stood for.

B2 did know about it and explained.

G3 told that it had something to do with social causes.

I was glad i spoke the truth.

Then we went back and sat in that same room where we registered . If i were to get eliminated it would be one hell of an expense for nothing. Atleast if you make it to the second round you will have this hope.

There was a big projector which would project the group results as and when it was available for that group. Our turn came. The Martial arts expert and the girl who wrote for mumbai mirror got eliminated. Rest had made it.

Mine was to be the last group of the day and so the last four(instead of 6) were there in my group,

There was this bong guy for finance[lets call him B3], A girl(G2 from my first group) who was a linguist, Another girl who was a bachelors in mass media and who was giving a shot at marketing[lets call her G4], and me last again.

We were ushered in a new room with a table on one side of which we sat and the other side of which sat a professor with a thick book titled 'Discrete Variables' in front of him [Lets call him fin-prof], Vice-Dean of the college - a very jovial person and another student.

Vice-Dean addressed us

"Please introduce yourselves in order and then give answers for these two questions - What will SPJain miss if it rejects you and what will you gain if SPJain accepts you?"

We all rattled off the mugged up intros.

As far the last two questions i said

"SPJain will miss out on a guy who has the potential to bring laurels to the institute and I would gain a lot from the curriculum which has been pretty dynamic and anti-establishment"[AICTE and SPJain get along like India and Pakistan]

Vice-Dean:"This is a very long name. What does your girlfriend call you?"

Everybody starts laughing..

Vice-Dean:"Is it ok if i call you vishy?"

VC:"Sure sir"

Vice-Dean:"See Vishy, the thing is we are proud of all our students .. and all have the potential to bring laurels. Thats why we take them... does not matter.. its ok.. Why finance"

VC:"Sir because it involves a lot of academic rigor"

Vice-Dean:"Who said other stream do not have academic rigor?"

I was put on the defensive...

VC:"Sir what i meant was that it involves a lot of number crunching and maths something in which i am a little better compared to other things"[I used my words carefully lest i project myself as a math genius in front of a finance professor]

Vice-Dean:"Alright.. See You come from a field of information security and from what i look in your form you are very much int rested in this"[My mistake that i had used too much technical jargon in the form]

Vice-Dean"So i feel Information management will be the right field for you"

VC:"Sir they are two very very different fields"

Vice-Dean:"Vishy i feel you are not interested in your job. Am i right, Partially right, Partially wrong or totally wrong?"

VC:Sir, you are totally wrong. I love my job"

Finance-prof:"IT in Finance?"

VC:"Perfect!"[Thanks for saving me sir!]


The two girls didn't have any work experience and so it was mostly on their bachelors/ background etc. They focused on the work experience for the other guy.And also on how societal pressures influence our decisions.

Finance-prof:"So i guess you guys know that you all have been shortlisted based on your profile. So what do you feel about this approach?"

B3:"Sir , this is very good approach. One should consider the entire academic profile of a student rather than a 2 hour exam?"

Finance-prof:"So you think these IIMs use a wrong approach?"

B3:"Yes sir.. i feel so"

G2:"Yes sir, they should take the whole profile instead of an exam"

G4:"I also feel the same sir"

Then the gaze of the panel shifted to me

VC:"I actually feel IIMs do consider profiles and not just CAT Percentiles. IIMB has already published it. The fact that there are lakhs of students competing for the seats most of whom have similar profiles is what necessitates CAT as they cant interview each one of them"

Profs nodded in satisfaction and i also felt happy.

Vice-Dean:"What are your percentiles?"

All of them had less than 90 percentiles.

Vice-Dean:"Vishy.. which all calls you have?"

VC:"Sir.. B L I K" [I honestly felt saying that i was a BLACKI would go against me.Logically speaking for my percentile you will have I and K calls no matter what. And if your profile has been shortlisted by SPJain, then with my percentile there is no way L and B will give you a miss. Too much analysis right?. I know]

Finance-prof:"So Vishy.. what are you passionate about?"

VC:"Sir.. my blog and listening to music"

Finance-prof:"How do you define passion?"

VC:"Sir ....something which you dont get bored of".[Sad i know]

G4:"Something for which you feel from the bottom of your heart"[Brilliant answer i felt]

G2:"Something which you should make your profession to become successful"[Another brilliant point]

B3:"Sir , one which you put all your energy into and never feel tired doing it"

All of them gave nice answers which made me look like a duffer. The Fin-prof shifted his gaze back at me and said with a smile

Finance-prof:"So vishy.."

I was not going to let it slip and launched the rhetoric crap

VC:"Sir i do agree with G4 but what G2 said may not be true always. I mean you are very lucky if you can make a living out of your passion but they are on the extreme ends of a spectrum in most of the cases. And regarding B3's point he himself said a while back about the societal pressures influencing our thoughts and in such instances how can one make any justice to passion"Uffff.

There was silence for a while after which the Vice-Dean, who was the right guy to calm down the temperatures jumped in at the right moment,

Vice-Dean:"so Vishy.. You come from a village.. Good.. What do you grow?"

VC:"Sir.. sugarcane.. Our fields are part of the sugarcane belt of India"

Vice-Dean:"2 Crops?"

VC:"No sir.. 1 crop.. 9 months"

Vice-Dean:"So any thoughts of going back to your village?"

VC:"Surely sir.. at some point i do want to go back and give something back to my village".Ahem ahem.

Finance-prof:"Have you seen Virasat?"

VC:"Yes sir.. but not in such violent ways"

The profs again have a hearty laugh and...

Vice-Dean:"Have you seen Swades?... something like what SRK did?"

VC:Sir.. i wish there is a pretty girl like the one in that movie in my village"

Everybody shares a laugh...

Vice-Dean:"Oh the girls from Coorg are very beautiful. Its near your place right?"

VC:"No sir.. Coorg is far off from my place"

Finance prof:"Alright ..So [G4-name].. i have this file which has four windows on the top covering panel. Please do a marketing pitch for me"

G4 does it like a seasoned presenter complete with features of the product, buzz-words, what makes this one different and with a sleek accent. She even gives satisfactory answers to the cross-questions by Fin-prof on pricing structure and retailing of the product.

Fin-Prof then slides an eraser he has in front of him towards G2 and then says
"Lets say you have this unique eraser , half of it is an eraser and half of it is a small torch. And you are supposed to give a marketing pitch to the head of a school"

He points at the student and says

"He is your head of the school. please start"

G2 did an average job. The problem was that she marketed it as a toy more than an utility. she was also asked some engineering cross-questions on wattage and power requirements of the battery part by the student. She even fumbled on the pricing part.

Finance-prof:"So B3 now that you heard the pitches from both what would you do if you were a prospective buyer?"

B3:"Sir, i would buy the files but not the eraser because she did not give any utility for it"

Finance-prof:"So you do a pitch for the eraser now!"

B3 also does a pitch and surprisingly misses on giving a utility for the eraser-cum-torch.

Finance-prof:"So vishy , what are your opinions on all the three of them?"


VC:"Sir, Considering that G4 was from a marketing background she did a real good presentation. Now G2 also did a good job considering that she is not from a marketing background. If she had given an utility it would have been complete. B3 did a good pitch but again missed out on giving an utility for the product"

Finance-prof:"Ok..now you do the pitch!"

I turned towards the student and

"Lets say the child has to write 10 lines of homework and after he has written 9 lines , lets assume the power goes off. Now the child can finish off his homework using this torch without calling out for his parents. Now we cant use it for the entire page beacuse the wattage of the bulb is low. And it would also harm his eyes. So just small bits of work can be completed in a fun way"

Finance-prof:"Ok people.. we are done here.You may leave"