Being underprepared, I had not applied for any other exam. After the CAT results, I was dejected and decided to get back to engineering studies, something that I was confident about. I was, however, pleasantly surprised when I got a call from IIM Shillong. At 86 percentile? I was not sure how this happened. But I was happy. This was my first IIM call. Not that I wanted to join IIM Shillong, just the fact that I had the call made me happy.
I wanted to give the IIMS call a go. Just for the experience of an IIM GDPI. It was January now and the GDPI was scheduled for May. Having enough time on my hands, I forgot about the interview call for the time being and got back to concentrating on my last semester of engineering, wherein I had to avail compulsory 4-6 months internship. Luckily, I got an internship offer from the same company that I had got placed in. So, I joined the company in Bangalore and shifted base.
Over the course of the next few months, my preparation for the interview went about slowly and I went into the GDPI underprepared. The GD went pretty smoothly. I spoke in bits and pieces, and felt happy. Then came the interview. Without getting into the details, it suffices to say that it was a complete disaster. They did not ask me anything that I had prepare for. Instead, the questions were based completely from my engineering courses. It had been 6 months since I had last touched my books on Electronics, and I floundered on every question that they asked. I knew then and there that I would not convert the call. I went home, shaken, low on confidence. The fact that I zoned out completely in the interview was troubling me. What if it happened again in future interviews?
My internship ended. I got a 2 month break before I had to join the company again, this time as a full-time employee. I took the time off to relax and enjoy my time with friends.
Once I joined back, I got almost no time to start preparing since I had to undergo rigorous 3-month training. I knew that I would not be able to prepare for CAT 2010, and hence took a break from CAT, as I focused on my work and training.
Soon enough, I started enjoying work. The pay was good, I started loving Bangalore as a city and I made a good friend circle in office. Again, the thought of doing Masters came back to haunt me. Was CAT not my cup of tea? I was not sure. My lack of interest in CAT 2009 had inflicted me with self-doubt. I often found work to be a good excuse to move away from this dilemma..
To be continued..