Bheegi billi

Found something new that I can write about, in this case wail about.

I cant attempt the CAT this year. For all the uninitiated people, the CAT (Common Admission Test) is a very tough competitive entrance exam. The scores of this exam are used to get admission into some of the most prestigious B-Schools in India, including the IIMs (Indian Institute of Management).

Why do I want to attempt CAT? - No specific reason other than "To get into a good B-School". A lot of people who attempt the CAT are what I call "smart people". They know they want to attempt CAT and they have better reasons than mine. They are the guys who knew exactly what they wanted to do at a time when I didn't even know how to tie my shoelaces. I am not one of them. I take one day at a time. My 'aims" in life have been so diverse. I have wanted to be a pilot, a professional cricketer, a professional football player, a lead singer in a band..You get the point, ambitions that probably every guy has. In most cases, the ambitions narrow down and the person follows one. In my cases, they have all been struck out, and I am doing what almost every engineer is doing. Software. So probably CAT is my way of getting "out" of software! Don't get me wrong, I am good at what I do.

Am I prepared? - No.

Why I cant attempt CAT? - I am useless. At least that's what the admissions officer at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) implied when he screamed at me when I called to tell him that for some inexplicable reason, my application had been rejected. It seems that there is a very noticeable point in the CAT bulletin (future CAT seekers PLEASE NOTE!!!!), that the IIMs will take out a list of rejected candidates, along with the reason for rejection, by 2nd or 3rd October. What it doesn't say (which I guess is implied, and I don't get it, hence I am useless) is that by 5th October you have to correct everything that is wrong and submit the corrected application to the IIM. As a result of me not reading the point, I missed out on the date of corrected applications.

Why I didn't read the "point"? - Quite honestly, I checked my form a lot of times before I couriered it to Ahmedabad. A lot of times. Every small details I went over, and only when I was convinced there was nothing wrong with my form, did I get it xeroxed and then send it to IIM. Over confidence? Carelessness?? Blah blah? Save it.

Then what was wrong? - The website claims that "Photograph was not attached along with the form". My friends trust my intelligence so much, that without fail, all of them have asked me "Bhool gaya tha kya?". Very frustrating when you see such amazing levels of confidence, I am sure they would readily trust me with their lives now. And I know that still leaves the question in your mind. Answer - I didn't forget it. I had pasted it in the right box. 'Then what happened' is your next question. My useless answer - I don't know. :(

Why didn't I find out earlier? - I was hoping you wouldn't ask this, and even if you didn't, I am answering it. I am a guy who accepts everything about me, my qualities and my faults and weaknesses. In this case, it was plain stupidity. I didn't know the link where to check the status for the applications. So I did what any computer literate person would do. I "googled". And the first link that I got routed me to a page which asked for my application number and date of birth. I entered both and got a response "we have no received your application". It scared me. The following days I checked again everyday and got the same response. A little wary, I asked one of my friends who was also waiting for his admit card, and he told me that he also hadn't received any news about it. Here I think it mandatory to mention that there is another point on the CAT bulletin (which I read). it says "Do not contact the IIM unless you don't receive your admit card until November 3". It stuck in my head. I didn't want to piss them off did I? My future college (in Neverland). I thought "Poor IIMs are already pressed with the CAT. Then they have the entire reservation issue to deal with also, I shouldn't trouble them with these little things". So I waited. On 28th Oct my friend gave me a link and said that he could see his exam center when he entered his application number. I frantically opened the link and put in my application number only to be shown the message about the missing photo. I wondered why I hadn't seen this earlier. And then I realised, that the initial link had been for IIM - Bangalore, while the one which I had just received was for IIM - Ahmedabad. Told you. I am useless.

Did I do anything? - Yeah. I tried. I called up the admissions officer and tried to explain to him. He scolded me. Yeah he did. Just the way my teachers would scold me in school, and told me that he couldn't care less, and would not do anything at all. One of my friends advised me to try things from the inside, and I contacted my friend, who being absolutely brilliant, is a student in IIM-A. She tried to reason with the man too, but it all failed.

Other suggestions? - Some folks thought that I could take this to the media. Maybe they were correct. They cited the example of the guy who got into IIT but didn't get the news because of some postal error. Maybe I could have blown it out of proportion. But as my friend said "Then you will never get through CAT". :). Also if I am prepared like crazy would I want to take a step like this. In this case, I am going by what a lot of us say when something wrong happens that we cant explain. "Jo hota hai, ache ke liye hi hota hai".

Whats the point? - I cant attempt CAT.

Did I learn anything from the full experience? - Yeah. I am useless. :(