Religion, Couture and Drama in CAT 2008

For a not-so-serious CAT aspirant, amidst all the serious CAT aspirants, all the tension in the air and on the faces of the serious ones seemed funny. After checking out my room no. I went for a casual stroll in the street, for I had reached a good one hour in advance. So i sat on the steps of a not-yet-open shop and was checking out people all around me.

Cracking the CAT in style
The sight of all the cute girls was indeed a feast for the eyes, I knew that the day would only get better. What caught my eye amidst all this was a girl who had really dressed up for the exam, never really seen anyone dress up for an occasion like this. Off she went past me and my eyes as usual scanned the butt. Surprise surprise, in her right pocket were stuck four really sharp pencils. I realized that here was someone who was all set to crack the CAT in style. So after her CAT walk all i did for the next one hour was to check every eves butt.

Religion in CAT
A tiny Ganesha temple opposite the St. Josephs made a handsome collection on Sunday .The temple was so tiny that one could easily miss it if not specifically looking for it, but all our desperate CAT aspirants could sense the divine presence and were drawn to the temple like bees towards flowers. All i felt was a lot of pity for Lord Ganesha, what with everyone putting undue pressure on him. It was one of those days when Ganeshas server is overloaded, request after request (considering that every year millions get disappointed am pretty sure that a lot of the requests are never even processed). Am sure the poojari is looking forward to CAT 2009, can't say the same about Lord Ganesha though.

Theatrics in the room
Though I reached St.Josephs pretty early I was one of the last to reach the class-room, the over-eager ones waiting to rip the paper beat me to the class. What seemed weird was that all guys in the class had removed their wrist watches and kept it on the desk. Pretty sure it is one of the useless tips given by some CAT trainer, does it really take so much time to glance at ones wrist to see the time? Is every fraction of a fraction of second indispensable? I certainly don't think so, I in fact think keeping the watch on desk such that the time is always visible just psyches out the individual. As i sat in my seat, the girl in the first row turned around and gave me look of utter contempt, the kind which the brahmins reserved for the dalits at one time. I know not why, all I can imagine is that she could not stand the not-so-serious CAT aspirants.
As the clock struck ten, there was a crackling noise from the intercom in the room and man with a funny accent(like the doctor in Lage Raho Munnabhai) started giving us standing instructions. The big shock was when he said - 'Examiners please lock the doors and do not let anyone get out of the room for the next 2.5 hours'. I could not believe my ears for my roomie told me that he had walked out of the room in 20 minutes last year. The girls started tying up their hair so that it does not turn into a nuisance during the test (pales in comparison to the wrist watch on the desk act). And the test began.

Closing credits
My dismal performance in the test does not deserve a mention. However what deserves a mention is that a friend of mine marked 120 answers in the OMR sheet though there were only 90 questions in the paper. Yet another friend was stuck in the section 1 for the entire duration of the test. And the most interesting part, the girl who gave me the look, the one I thought was a well prepared and a serious contender, in the last one minute went into a fit and started filling in any and every unanswered question the OMR without even a look at the questions. So much for the saying 'Looks could be deceiving'.

Looking forward to CAT 2009 :)