Before you Step into that Interview-II
For those of you who missed Episode-I in this series Click here.
At last count we left our protagonist Mr. Lallu Panju atop the Baba’s mountain, having gathered sufficient gyaan to begin his GD-PI preparation and gear himself to climb the seemingly insurmountable Mt. GDPI. Lallu has grown smarter since the last we met him and he is now able to handle the most fundamental personal questions with a lot of panache. But is Lallu ready for the real deal yet? We think not, and Lallu himself agrees.
So once again we find Lallu trudging up the steep hill slope, his forehead steeped yet again in perspiration. At the top of Mt. CAT, as Lallu knew by now, there rested the legendary guru, Baba Knoweth-all. The Baba was known to possess a boon which could help the aspirant cross Mt. GDPI in a snap. However the Baba believed in granting the boon episode by episode, as all good things come to those who wait.
The Baba was in his usual default state of meditation and so Lallu smartly approached him and a smile of familiarity “Good Morning Sir, I have come back.”
The Baba opened his eyes slowly in characteristic Baba-fashion and replied, “Well Lallu, its good to have you back here. So what’s the news?” 
“Baba, I have come here to ask for further gyaan on how to climb Mt. GDPI. How will news from my village help in that?”
“Ahh, my son, it will help. You see, your awareness of your circumstances is projected by the fact that you keep track of what goes on around you. You don’t need to be a GK expert or know the newspaper by-heart. It is a matter of being able to show that you are interested in the world of Business and have the intelligence to have a conversation on the more widely discussed political or business-related issues of the day.”
Lallu was getting worried. He really wasn’t the kind who spent an hour reading the news everyday. How was he to cope when there was such little time left?
“Don’t worry my son, just start reading the newspaper everyday. For more help on forming an opinion on an issue, make it a habit to read the editorials, those long opinionated discourses by various experts which are hidden away in the middle pages, regularly. Don’t worry about remembering every detail, just go through the paper as if you would a nice novel. I am sure you would agree, truth is stranger and certainly more interesting than fiction. If you feel inadequately prepared even after this, then try your luck with some of those devices of mass General Knowledge dispersion aka YearBooks.”
Lallu had hajaar questions of his own though. “Baba, I have heard rumors that they ask strange and pointed questions about things I have no idea of, like what is the capital of Belgium and who is the MP from Shillong! What am I to do Baba?”
“Well, my son, for all appearances when u hear someone else’s interview experiences, the questions may seem strange and un-related. and they are indeed un-related but only to you. One of the most common mistakes people make is to assume that the questions meant for someone else are always applicable to them as well. In a lot of interviews a few common questions related to current affairs are indeed asked and if you are a news-addict and follow the advice I gave u a few minutes ago then it will be a small matter for you to deal with them. I have an exercise for you to follow. Look at your admission form and question yourself on each and every piece of information you have filled in it. Your interviewers generally need a starting point for the conversation they are about to have with you and what better place to start than the admission form itself.”
“If they asked someone the capital of Belgium it is likely that he went traveling and if they asked another who the MP from Shillong is it is probable that he is from that place.” 
Lallu’s concerns hadn’t been completely addressed yet. “Baba, does that mean that if I graduated in Geography, then they will ask me questions on geography because that would be present in my admission form?”
“Yes, Lallu, that is indeed the idea. It is a way of testing you on whatever formal learning that you have had for the last 3 years or so. So now would be good time to get those dusty books out and get a quick overview of what is in them. There is however no need to fret too much over things and burn the midnight oil mugging up every line you didn’t bother to study in the last 3 years. The idea is not to check if you are an expert in everything you did but to check if you are comfortably familiar or not. So get started on your academics.”
Lallu was indeed very distressed at this prospect of getting all his dusty and long-forgotten books out. “But Baba, I have been assisting my father in his Don-wala business for the last 2 years. I don’t think I can even spell “Geography” correctly anymore.”
“Fear not , my son. You may be asked to talk about that as well. In fact, if you have relevant work experience, the focus of the interview usually turns to that. Be thorough about your job profile, and do a lot of research on your Company as well. More often than not this is what your interview will revolve around.”
Lallu felt rather happy. He had been a dutiful son and had the skills of robbery, thuggery, threats and extortion in such profusion that they would soon be elevated to arts.
Witha benevolent smile the Baba popped his happy bubble. “My son, be warned that in some cases a few questions on your academic background may pop up even if you have had more than 3 years of work behind you. So do be prepared for all eventualities. This is all the gyaan I can give you for now Lallu. Do keep looking at the Interview experinces that these over-zealous IIM C students keep posting in CAT Corner. It may give a you a good idea of how a real interview would progress. I wish you all the best. May the climb up the next peak result in success for you!”
Chandrima Das
January 10th, 2009 at 12:29 am
[...] GD-PI Gyaan [...]
January 10th, 2009 at 2:59 am
Expertly combined the GD-PI tips in a ‘nothing extraordinary’ tone story.
Great work!
January 10th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
awesome!!!perfect!!!
January 15th, 2009 at 4:06 am
wud be great if Baba knoweth-all could also give lallu panju tips on what to do in those noisy discussions in the village grounds… aka GD’s…
Thanks again!!
January 25th, 2009 at 6:30 am
great article
keep it going
wat a way to help call-getters prep for gd pi
kudos to iimc students
January 27th, 2009 at 3:19 am
@ Shabad: Coming up next… tips on how to come out alive from those noisy, rowdy villages evening discussions aka GDs
April 30th, 2009 at 2:16 am
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