Ok the break was enough for me to recuperate from the thunders. Coming back to the interview we were then asked to go for the psychometric test. It actually tests whether you are a born psycho or not because though the MBA colleges prefer a diverse profile, they don't diversify enough to select people like honorable Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Now the psycho test or whatever you call it was for 8 minutes and I found this time too less for self introspection. And the other problem was that all the questions had options which were invariably good qualities and you had to mark the one that described you the best. Now a serious problem with this type of testing is - it assumes that people have only a limited set of conspicuous good qualities. It cannot comprehend the abilities of super human like me (Duh! Here he goes off again!!) who are abundantly bestowed with many good qualities. Ok, ok please read on - you don't have to close the window. Now what was I saying, ya superhuman, no I won't say that, let me be modest, ok it could not comprehend the abilities of a modest superhuman like me. As a result of which i found the test as vague as any year's CAT verbal section. Now, we were called for the next round of interview. The time was around 5 o clock and this time the room was smaller than the previous one (it was a room and not a classroom) and my claustrophobic sensors started peeking. (Ideally, interviews should be held in playgrounds, why not the Eden Gardens?). The panel consisted of 2 elderly looking men and there were 6 of us again. Let me just put it down as a dialogue as to what happened there :
Panel 1 : Ok all of you introduce yourself in not more than 3 sentences. You must talk about yourself, your education and work experience and your biggest achievements, strengths, weaknesses etc.
Panel 2 is scrutinizing the profile sheet we had filled up. (I am sitting 5th from the left)
Me : Blah, blah, (strength - lateral thinking (now, when I said it I did not realize that this word would end taking up half of the interview time)), blah, blah and blah.
P1 : Now were there 3 sentences or 4?
Me: Sir if you remove the fullstops and put commas, there were 3. (Jinxed me, this was not the time for PJs)
P1 : Ok you said lateral thinking, hmm, interesting, all of you one by one define lateral thinking and what it means to you. (I know everybody would have been cursing me for making the interview a bit abstract).
Everyone answers, when my turn comes, he stops me and jumps ahead to the sixth person. (Ya, I knew the curses were deployed with immediate effect and "Justice delayed was justice denied")
Panel 1 looking at me : Now, what do I do to become a lateral thinker.
Me : Blah, blah, blah and a big BLAH.
Panel 1 : Ok, who is the person who introduced this concept of lateral thinking ?
Me : (Realizing that the nail is being driven up the wall slowly) Sir, Edward De Bono.
Panel 1: What did he do?
Me : He wrote a book on lateral thinking.
P1 : Ok he wrote a book fine, but what else?
Me : Blink, blink, blink.
Aspirant 1 : Sir, can I answer, he identified the "Six thinking hats" concept. (Hell, I knew it, I knew it.)
P1 : Ok, if all of you were to rejuvenate the education system using lateral thinking, what would you do?
Everybody : Blah, blah and blah and a discussion ensues based on one person's reply.
P2 (who was quiet so far looking at me) : What are your hobbies man?
Me : Sir, I read books, fiction and non-fiction and I then started talking about my favorite book.
P2 : You read only serious books man!
Me (retorting) : No Sir, I have read Khushwant Singh's joke books too.
P2 : Ah! Then tell us one joke.
(The nail has already disappeared inside the wall)
Me : Blink, think, blink, think (Wow, isn't it poetic - blink, think, blink, think)
P2 : We will get back to you, think of something till then. (I am thinking......)
after some time when I do manage to think of a Khushwant Singh's joke.
P2 : Yes, now tell us your joke.
Me : Sir, I will do it but the condition is all of you must laugh (Darn! Devil peeps out of me, trying to be funny eh?!#@$!#)
P2 : Sure, but you must tell us when!! (Bulb, bulb, bulb!)
Me : (I do tell a joke, but since I did not mention when they must laugh nobody laughs. Oh common yaar, it was an interview and inspite of my infinite jocular capabilities the tension gets on top and that is the reason they might not have laughed.)
P1 : Now, imagine all of you were to become invisible for one day, tell us two things you would do?
All of us : Blah, blah and blah.
P1 : Thank you all, you may leave.
Finally, I was as tired as I am right now after having typed for soooo long. We came out and it was followed by a one hour psychometric test, now this one was not of objective type and we had to write answers in detail and my handwriting abilities came back to haunt me. By the time I finished, it was around 8 o clock in the night.