Well . . .well . . . If someone is closely following my posts s/he would realise that the previous 3 posts have formed a sequel - 'How I became . . . ' sequel. But believe me this has been purely unintentional. But this is just a very very small coincidence that my life has witnessed.
The last 3 posts elaborate something, something that Shubham posted on his blog about me. I quote - "This guy is unbelievable.. He’s never been rejected in any interview in his life.. not during MBA admissions.. not during summer placements.. and now, not during finals either.. It's a record very few can boast of.."
Why did I quote that? Self praise? you might think so, but no - I do not intend to magnanimate myself. I am but a very very fortunate person who has since long had a terrific luck and the right people around him. But this sequence of 'no rejections' has pscyhed me out. I find it more than a coincidence that I have never needed to try a second time. Its like someone is controlling my life.
In this very case, I had no 2nd chances to fall back upon in the first slot - IBM did not even shortlist me. And more so all shortlists that followed the KPMG interviews were disapointments for me. So was the case during my MBA admission and Summer placement. Isn't that spooky ?? really spooky??
Take a different angle, I hardly knew about IRM - but just in the last lap of my MBA, Sudhendu Pandey introduced me to IRM by pulling me into a weekend project with one of our Alumni Rohit Tripathi. Even so I was still not applying to KPMG, but Kartik coaxed me into it. TO me it seems someone was pulling me into this . . . my God !!
This is spooooooky !!!

Just back from Khetan's room, and what were we discussing ?? How much will be the variable? How much is the current rent of a 2BHK in Bandra? and what all investments options are available . . . 3 days and our topics of discussion have changed from Zameen to Aasmaan . . really !! Yes - this is just one of the indications that Placements are over - PGDIM10 is finally placed !!!
I rewind back to 2nd January 2005, night 10.30 PM:
I sent a multicast "KPMG closing in 1/2 hr, all interested please apply by 11PM". Kartik walks into my room and the following conversation happens-
K: 'Apply kar diya?'
me: Main apply nahi kar raha . . .
K: kyon?
me: yaar IRM ke baare mein mujhe kya aata hai?? and with so many work-ex junta what chance do I stand?
K: Abe saale IRM is a very good field for a person like you. See, a consulting job is like a freelancer; an entreprenuer; you can very well handle it; you have the skills.

And then Kartik went on to describe the consulting industry and its advantages . . . By the time Kartik went, it was 10.55, and I sent the last reminder. Then I turned to Shubham asked his opinion - he opined there was no harm in applying - the brand was too big to reject and as it is with the fresher profile we might even not get shortlisted. So at 10.58 PM I applied and closed the company for applications the very next minute.
FFWD 5th January 2005:
Morning 6.00AM, I got up cursing placecom and placement office for scheduling the process so early in the morning. Reached the Audi, attended a PPT (don't remember which company) and then found myself 5th in the list for shortlisted candidates. Appeared for an interview for Panel 1. The interview went chill, but that's another story (so another post will have a full descript of the interviews), went back expecting nothing and went over to have my lunch. While I was just climbing upstairs after lunch, I heard someone searching for me because I had been qualified to attend the second. Surprise surprise !! The second one also went chill, was out of it by 2.00PM. Came back to my room and slept making up for the early rise.
Got up in the evening, found two shortlists waiting on IP - no name ! Went up again, dejected and frightened, to attend another PPT. Shubham was just out of his first interview. Was waiting to get into the second. The PPT was followed by a GD for HCL Tech. By the time I came back to my room it was 12:00. Did some floating around in the hostel, reached room at 1.30 to find the final shortlist for HCL - rejection again. Now I was damn frightened !!! The following words that I penned at 1.45 signify the state of my mind.
"Hell of a day !!! KPMG interview 1 and then 2 . . . both good enuf . . .but no results coming till tomorrow 12 . . .
Shortlists - IBM, Polaris, SAP - name not found!!!!!!!!
GD HCL . . .now c'mon !!! I have never had a bad GD in my life, nitther did this one go bad!!! Helllllll!!! What is happening?? Why am I not getting short listed!!
Hoping to clear TCS or Wipro interview tomorrow . . . else my 'focus' as they all call it will drown me!!!!!!!! And I just hope I find my name in the Patni Shortlist tomorrow . . . just hope!! And PRAY to GOD

How funny it is?? All the time you have pride on your courage and confidence in your abilities but at the end of the day - it is god whom you turn to. There is some power in this thing called God which runs this world and keeps on making you realize time and again that you are a mere puppet in his hands and all you can do is put in your effort!! The result is always in his hands . . . and you in no way can affect your result by your actions - it is he who giveth, taketh!! (can take it away as well). . . anytime . . . anyway . . .

Karmanye va adhikaaraste, ma faleshu kadaachana - the Gita"

January 6th, 2005, Day 0 - Placements 2005
I couldn't sleep well the whole night, was very unsure about my future - whether my 'focus' on IT would pay off or drown me. The day started with the Nestle PPT - a long one and equally frustrating (due respects to Nestle - but I was too anxious). Then started the FMCG processes, our IT slot was to follow only after 12. I was getting more and more tense - had almost assumed that I wouldn't get into KPMG. The frenzy started at 1:00 when people with multiple offers in 1st slot were called - still KPMG result was guarded, no news leaked.
1.30 PM, Auditorium
Our Prof incharge placements - Prof Ashok Pundir walks into the auditorium with the offers list in his hands. I had somehow forced my lunch into my throat, was very very uncomfortable and that probably shone on my face. Payal tried to cheer me up - but I replied rudely; tension!! I had stopped thinking . . . the mind was closed to intrusion of any kind. The results were being announced - one by one we had the expected and the unexpected results coming out. And now Prof Pundir said - "KPMG - Nikhil Kulkarni. . . . " and I don't remember the next few moments . . .
The whole bunch of batchmates around me roared with applause - someone patted me, someone shook my hands, while someone patted my head !!! It was all over . . . The bubble of tension shrunk into obsolescence within seconds - I was no more a candidate for CRP 2005, I was a consultant at KMPG.. whoooaa!!!
I must thank all my friends without whom this was impossible - nearest and farthest. Payal, Milind, Ashita, Medda, Sabya, Kartik, Khetan, Arijit, Anish, Gaurav, Meril . . . the list is long - these people who probably had much more confidence in me and my 'focus' than me myself - kept me going till this point. And last but most importantly - Shubham who followed the same 'focus' as me was a big support not only because there was a companion in the 'risk' we took, but also because he is a true optimist, a true believer. Shubham was placed with Infosys. . . but that's another story . . . . . .

So there was I roaming around in Pune 2 days before my NITIE interview. Still ignorant about NITIE's ranking (careless chap u would say. . . well my teachers till date say the same) wasn't very keen on getting into it. The interview was cooooooool . . .rather than narrate it here let me refer you to my old webpage [http://kulkarninet.tripod.com/tscript.htm]. And so I found myself on the NITIE final list. It was now that I finally cared to find out NITIE's ranking and finding it in the top 10 ended up joining. I still feel I was lucky to be at the right places at the right times, more importantly surrounded by the right people.
Talking of luck, even my summer placement was similar. I was very conservative while applying to companies - being a hard core IT guy - on Day 0, I had just one shortlist - went to the GD, cleared it, proceeded to the interview cleared it again. Just one shortlist, one GD, one interview and summers was through . . . Man!! I should say I am lucky. Even now I am applying to very few companies. In fact any company I don't apply ends up having a pre-process and those whom I have applied to haven't had a process till now. I am just praying my luck lasts and my final placement is also through . . .
But luck brings me to another dimension - having the right people around me. Till date, I have been lucky with friends. But school ones, with whom I was probably the closest, are scattered. Not many among the college ones are in touch; though all want to be. Amongst my closest pals just Nimish is near (we talk on msgr almost 2wice 3rice in a week), all others have scattered.
My NITIE group is definitely close and I believe I have build bonds with a lot of batchmates which will last long. Shubham, Ashita, Payal, Arijit, Sabya, Milind, Medda (our gang :D)apart there are others like KC, Khetan, Pandey, Sharad, Jakati, and even some juniors whom I can count in very close acquaintances.
But I read a comment by some Mr. Vandy on Manish Chauhan's blog which disturbed me - "After college,it is so difficult to make friends.and colleague can't be friends...imagine sometimes there is no one even to share a good joke". I hope this isn't as true as it looks :(
And I just hope the electronic age helps me stay connected to all my present and past friends even while we are miles apart . . . Amen

Epilogue: When I re-read this post before publishing, I was surprized at the span of thoughts it has covered.
"If there's anything that's faster than light, its the mind" - Vedas (truly so, isn't it?)

Its 1st January - the new year has just started and for me with placements round the corner and NITIE life coming to an end, the new year will indeed usher in a new beginning. I was reading Manish Chauhan's Blog [http://manishchauhan.blogspot.com/] and found his recent posts about friends and his lucky-and-intelligent friend Timir quite near to what's going on in my own mind nowadays; so thought why not pen it down(rather type it down).
As NITIE comes to an end I am reflecting to around 11/2 years back. I was never gung-ho about management as a career path, actually had thought about giving GRE and doing an MS. My father kept on pursuing with me to try for an MBA rather than a techie thing - but I always thought I was made to be a techie (dunno why?). He tried for 3 years before he could succeed. It was March and he was (I could guess) tired of trying to change my mind about MS. Both of us were standing on the railway station; I was leaving back for my college after Holi vacation. At home we had just ended our discussion with my words - "but I feel I am more suited for an MS . . .". Minutes before the train approached, he said - "Observe your life, look at your personality - you have always been very active in extra-curricular, exceptionally brilliant at your language and communication skills - at this age one of your articles was published in a newspaper; some others of your age don't even read the Edit page regularly. Such people are more suited to a people facing career like Management rather than a lonely work of MS". Well . . . that was the last straw, his words kept echoing within me as the train chugged out of the station and the whole of next week.
I was still skeptical, now primarily because I knew that many aspirants had been preparing for as long as 2 years and I was hardly few months away from CAT. But Nimish, my pal gave me confidence. He had same thoughts as my father; personality is what it takes to be an MBA, everything else can be developed. A few practice tests and MBA was within reach. Well . . that was the completion of my turnaround from GRE to MBA.
CAT came and went - I had decided not to give any other allied MBA exams for two reasons. One, I wanted to be in a Top B-School and wanted no compromises and two, my semester exams clashed with most other tests. This is where my luck started working for me. I didn't know much about NITIE - surely not that it is in Top 10, so was not going to apply. But a friend who knew my position about exams clashing with semesters coaxed me into filling the form for NITIE on the argument that its exam was after our semesters. I did fill in NITIE but was so careless I had filled in the wrong choice for center of examination. To correct my mistake I sent another form which reached after the deadline. In spite of all this goof up, I was allowed to appear thanks to our chill Admin staff :D.
The NITIE exam was 2 days after our practicals ended, I hadn't been in touch with MBA type Q's since 1 month - and my sole preparation was flipping pages of a practice test a night before the test. I still feel I did not deserve to get selected with that amount of prep, but got through and got an interview call. . . more in the next post (since this has become long enough)