Monday, December 14, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
CAT and other communicable diseases. Confusing. Yes. :P.
It is said having to fight for something makes you feel all the better when you get it. It must be in this spirit that they erected huge illogical barriers called ‘entrance exams' around any monument of higher education in this country. Probably after having fought tooth and nail with half the population in the district and gotten into some marvelous place of learning, when you discover that its not exactly what you dreamed of, your disappointment will be a lot less knowing that you beat all of them others to it! ok, what I’m trying to say is that I have always resented having to fight for something, especially ‘professional education’. I wouldn’t have minded if I was fighting to get into some place that will infuse me with knowledge and wisdom and taught me to think freely and bravely; but fighting half the country and turning into a trained math and logic monkey to pay through my nose (my dad’s actually) for an education which will sap my energies and make me one among a million others in the rat race? No thank you. I’d rather get my BA and read through the evenings and between classes.
Filled with all these feelings, I said good bye to Medical entrance and engineering entrance and a host of other entrances and took my bag and landed myself in a good ol worthless Arts college , much to the chagrin of aunties and uncles. One year in college and my resolve weakened under the strain of learning absolutely nothing (and I mean nothing) and being miserable as can be. Not only had I randomly chosen a graduate course, I didn’t have any idea what to do once, that is if, I made it out of there with a degree. The familiar question ‘So what are your plans after this?” heard from since high school popped up once again as soon as the first miserable year in college was coming to a close. I realized that after the superb disaster that was college, I shouldn’t trust my future to myself anymore.
And that is how I ended up one day, father in tow, to sign myself up for a being groomed for that Holy Grail Mother Pearl of all ‘entrance exams’- CAT. Thankfully I had enough sense to drag my best friend down with me and we happily resolved to take the Entrance coaching genie take over and make managerial candidate material out of us. One day in the coaching class and all we could do to prevent our selves from running out was to think of the astronomical sum, that we in our moment of utter complete stupidity had made our parents spent. So we convinced ourselves that we were being smart, thinking ahead etc and dragged ourselves to class every Saturday and odd Sundays and even tried to fit math into our unyielding heads to prepare for some exam that lay one and a half years ago. But soon it got easy; we learned to hood wink the ever vigilant coordinators more and more often and the ‘Entrance coaching Saturdays’ blurred into insignificance as college life bloomed; popping into our minds only when we went to bed Friday thinking “damn! Tomorrow’s Saturday”. What was better, anytime anyone had questions about my future plans, I had my answer ready and this time it wasn’t “ummm… aah… I..” but one that instantly elicited approving nods and pat in the backs. Life was okay.
A year passed and an MBA was the farthest thing in our minds; way there at infinity, gathering dust with marriage and Diet Coke. But of course, another month passed and then another and another, and it was time to get the exam over with it. After seriously contemplating avoiding wasting more money on a useless pursuit, we finally brought our tickets and resigned ourselves to the exam. Unlike the good old test which gave the not altogether un-fun prospect of putting dots on paper, we were to write the fancy computerized CAT. On D day me and my unfortunate buddy rose at five and proceeded to the venue where we were to reach two hours prior to the exam’s beginning to go through with all the endless formalities concerning the exam. (And I though t computers were supposed to make things simpler) Owing to a pitiful ignorance of distance and time we reached the venue one hour before we were supposed to, to be greeted by similar people waiting around for the entrance committee to arrive. Soon things got rolling. We were to deposit all personal belongings except wallets outside the building. Off went the phones, watches, pacemakers et al. After a casual verification of IDs we were led upstairs through dingy stairs and left in front of another counter. The extremely helpful coordinator read through my license again and pointed to another counter. We turned expectantly and there it was, a frisking counter. A woman in her thirties stood near a curtained enclosure; her genuine smile contrasting with the ‘holy mother of God’ expression pasted on our faces. I removed my shoes and manged to get myself into the miniscule frisking compartment. With extreme tact, the frisker lady enquired after my family as she shoved her hand into my pant pockets (skinny jeans is not the best attire for CAT day) and checked my under arms for explosives. With a final request to surrender any suspicious material I may have carried at the next counter she released me and directed the bunch of us to the computer lab we were to take the test. Another round of verifying IDs and then our mug shots were taken and we were ordered to sit in front of the assigned computers, facing away from the screens to wait out the half an hour before the exam began. “And no talking either” someone barked.
I studied the test direction booklet till it was permanently tattooed in my brain and then scrutinized my driving license until the words on it lost meaning. After a bit more torture, the test was about to begin; the culmination of many months of struggle for a lot of students. The instructors hovered around reminding us not to press this button and that (why have those buttons?). Pencils and erasers were handed out with directions to handle them with care and we were allowed to face the screen to take the test. I went through the directions flashing on the screen once again, panic attack was coming on. The timer on the screen was not helping either. I took a deep breath and began. What have I got to lose anyway?
The test was over before it began; the timer furiously ticked away until it ran out. Phew! It was over. Finally. I was ready to jump up and down with joy. But the coordinators paid no attention to my puppy dog eagerness to run out; there were things to be done yet. One of the co-ords came around to collect the materials we were given; paper, pencils, erasers etc. I smiled and handed everything I had to him. He gravely returned the pencils and eraser and told me to wait for the assigned person to come. The next person came around and I gingerly handed him the pencils. The man stayed. But, okay, there is no separate person for the erasers? Here you go. More grave faces. They counted the papers, pencils, erasers and then handed back all the papers we had initially deposited with them. All the organized seriousness on the coordinators’ faces was sending me into fits of laughter. What’s the big deal? A woman who resembled an old movie actress glared me into submission. Come on… It’s only an exam.
“Alright styuudents, now you may go” someone said and I was out of there at lightning speed. Clumps of people waiting for the next session of CAT were outside. God help them. As for me, I had to rush home and throw the Entrance prep books out the window.
Filled with all these feelings, I said good bye to Medical entrance and engineering entrance and a host of other entrances and took my bag and landed myself in a good ol worthless Arts college , much to the chagrin of aunties and uncles. One year in college and my resolve weakened under the strain of learning absolutely nothing (and I mean nothing) and being miserable as can be. Not only had I randomly chosen a graduate course, I didn’t have any idea what to do once, that is if, I made it out of there with a degree. The familiar question ‘So what are your plans after this?” heard from since high school popped up once again as soon as the first miserable year in college was coming to a close. I realized that after the superb disaster that was college, I shouldn’t trust my future to myself anymore.
And that is how I ended up one day, father in tow, to sign myself up for a being groomed for that Holy Grail Mother Pearl of all ‘entrance exams’- CAT. Thankfully I had enough sense to drag my best friend down with me and we happily resolved to take the Entrance coaching genie take over and make managerial candidate material out of us. One day in the coaching class and all we could do to prevent our selves from running out was to think of the astronomical sum, that we in our moment of utter complete stupidity had made our parents spent. So we convinced ourselves that we were being smart, thinking ahead etc and dragged ourselves to class every Saturday and odd Sundays and even tried to fit math into our unyielding heads to prepare for some exam that lay one and a half years ago. But soon it got easy; we learned to hood wink the ever vigilant coordinators more and more often and the ‘Entrance coaching Saturdays’ blurred into insignificance as college life bloomed; popping into our minds only when we went to bed Friday thinking “damn! Tomorrow’s Saturday”. What was better, anytime anyone had questions about my future plans, I had my answer ready and this time it wasn’t “ummm… aah… I..” but one that instantly elicited approving nods and pat in the backs. Life was okay.
A year passed and an MBA was the farthest thing in our minds; way there at infinity, gathering dust with marriage and Diet Coke. But of course, another month passed and then another and another, and it was time to get the exam over with it. After seriously contemplating avoiding wasting more money on a useless pursuit, we finally brought our tickets and resigned ourselves to the exam. Unlike the good old test which gave the not altogether un-fun prospect of putting dots on paper, we were to write the fancy computerized CAT. On D day me and my unfortunate buddy rose at five and proceeded to the venue where we were to reach two hours prior to the exam’s beginning to go through with all the endless formalities concerning the exam. (And I though t computers were supposed to make things simpler) Owing to a pitiful ignorance of distance and time we reached the venue one hour before we were supposed to, to be greeted by similar people waiting around for the entrance committee to arrive. Soon things got rolling. We were to deposit all personal belongings except wallets outside the building. Off went the phones, watches, pacemakers et al. After a casual verification of IDs we were led upstairs through dingy stairs and left in front of another counter. The extremely helpful coordinator read through my license again and pointed to another counter. We turned expectantly and there it was, a frisking counter. A woman in her thirties stood near a curtained enclosure; her genuine smile contrasting with the ‘holy mother of God’ expression pasted on our faces. I removed my shoes and manged to get myself into the miniscule frisking compartment. With extreme tact, the frisker lady enquired after my family as she shoved her hand into my pant pockets (skinny jeans is not the best attire for CAT day) and checked my under arms for explosives. With a final request to surrender any suspicious material I may have carried at the next counter she released me and directed the bunch of us to the computer lab we were to take the test. Another round of verifying IDs and then our mug shots were taken and we were ordered to sit in front of the assigned computers, facing away from the screens to wait out the half an hour before the exam began. “And no talking either” someone barked.
I studied the test direction booklet till it was permanently tattooed in my brain and then scrutinized my driving license until the words on it lost meaning. After a bit more torture, the test was about to begin; the culmination of many months of struggle for a lot of students. The instructors hovered around reminding us not to press this button and that (why have those buttons?). Pencils and erasers were handed out with directions to handle them with care and we were allowed to face the screen to take the test. I went through the directions flashing on the screen once again, panic attack was coming on. The timer on the screen was not helping either. I took a deep breath and began. What have I got to lose anyway?
The test was over before it began; the timer furiously ticked away until it ran out. Phew! It was over. Finally. I was ready to jump up and down with joy. But the coordinators paid no attention to my puppy dog eagerness to run out; there were things to be done yet. One of the co-ords came around to collect the materials we were given; paper, pencils, erasers etc. I smiled and handed everything I had to him. He gravely returned the pencils and eraser and told me to wait for the assigned person to come. The next person came around and I gingerly handed him the pencils. The man stayed. But, okay, there is no separate person for the erasers? Here you go. More grave faces. They counted the papers, pencils, erasers and then handed back all the papers we had initially deposited with them. All the organized seriousness on the coordinators’ faces was sending me into fits of laughter. What’s the big deal? A woman who resembled an old movie actress glared me into submission. Come on… It’s only an exam.
“Alright styuudents, now you may go” someone said and I was out of there at lightning speed. Clumps of people waiting for the next session of CAT were outside. God help them. As for me, I had to rush home and throw the Entrance prep books out the window.
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