The Kolkata I know...

Kolkata , name given to the city to make sure that the ‘English’ effect coming out of the word Calcutta is wiped off and to make it sound more Bengali. Although I have read about the history of the city but that is not worth mentioning here because we all either know it or are not interested in that. But just for reference, it is very important to mention here that Calcutta was the city from where the East India Company started their Indian venture which later translated into India becoming a British Colony (leaving apart the French and Portuguese ruled India).

I came to the city around two and a half years back. Not that it was my first visit to the city. But the earlier visits were more touristy in nature with the first visit being was when I was five, so the memories are pretty vague and the second one in June 2006 to meet friends (keeping in mind that I expected that to be my last visit to the city, at least for coming 3 to 5 years). Coming to kolkata this time was for a different, for a different purpose with a different feeling altogether. The city was about to become my home for the coming few years. I had friends in the city, most importantly Varun and Ashok, so initial settlement was not much of a problem barring few hiccups. On personal front I was quite happy to have a shelter to hide myself from the fiery summer Sun and extremely moist and pouring Rains along with my Flat mates, Varun, Ashok, Sumit aka Boxer, Roshan aka Prof and Mukesh, to share my experiences with. I office was also great with amazing friends like Rhea, Anu, Gunjan aka Bhalu, Varni and Avishek aka Chatto. Life was pretty well and frankly speaking, I never felt that I was actually in a city which I never wanted to be in (may be just because the word Bangalore sounded more happening)

The initial one year of stay in Kolkata was amazing or better say Rocking. Every day that passed , everything that I did was filled with fun. We discovered almost all the Rocking places in Kolkata. And it was during this discovery that I realized that transition of Calcutta to Kolkata , to me, was just a change of name and not a change of culture altogether. Kolkata still has roads named Park Street, Camac Street, Hungerford Street, Shakespeare Sarani, Louden and Rouden Street and may more that sound more English than Bengali. Kolkata still has places called Saltlake City and Alopore (and not Alipur) which no way is near the Bengali names. Kolkata still has Dics, Pubs and Night Clubs open till 4 in the morning which is much aligned to the English Culture (If we agree to concept of Westernization of Indian Culture). But having said all that, my question is: Is there any real change in the change in the way people talk, walk, sleep, drive etc after the city was remaned. No. the answer is straight No. Just changing the name does not change the people and their lifestyles. Be it Kolkata or Calcutta, The Babu still goes to the same office, to the same chair. The Rickshawwala still pulls the Rickshaw in the same locality as he used to. The Metro still runs on the same tracks. The people traveling in that Metro also remain more or less the same. Nothing changes. The only thing that changes is the Address. Now instead of using the word you were familiar with you start writing a word that smells more like a politically motivated soup than a real cultural change.

My CAT Journey

It all started two years back in the month of March, 2007. Gunjan, Rhea and I started our preparations for the ultimate goal -- becoming MBA. Although the decision affected our weekend fun but we were young and energetic enough to spend some extra time studying QA, DI and VA. We even managed to do some combined studies which mostly ended up into a fun session. By the end of May, we realized that it’s lot tougher that we thought it to be. Starting June, came up the Mock CATs. 1st mock was a special one. Ready to take on the world, we reached the center much before time. Those 2.5 hours looked long to us. But we ended up managing descent levels of concentration for the duration. Wednesday, results were out for the 1st mock, and it was pathetic. We realized that we are just small fishes in that bigger pond consisting of whales and sharks. But who cares, we continued to fight. Forms started pouring in and we as loyal consumers bought almost all of them. Somewhere back in the mind the thought of going onsite was always running but we (me and rhea) never got the opportunity. Gunjan got one, and that’s where his CAT journey ended. Much relaxed and contended, he skipped all the classes, mocks and for that matter CAT also (citing the reason that the center is far away). That was the time when we were joined by Gaurav Jain, one more CAT aspirant and a very good friend of ours. Three of us attended classes, mocks and study session at Barista together. Preparation was going smooth. In this whole journey I missed three more bright aspirants, Anu, Chatto and The Varun. In the end six of us appeared for CAT and other B School exams. For most of us (read Rhea, Gaurav, Anu and Me) the results were a mere disaster. Chatto and Varun managed Calls for NM and they were smart enough to convert it.

Mid January 2009 and I realized that this year is not going to buy me any happiness, I decided to dedicate myself completely to work. I single handedly managed the whole module and was not only praised my clients, namely Federico and Antonio, for that but also was awarded Appreciation certificate by Relationship director. But deep down somewhere I knew that I was destined to do something else. We reignited the fire in ourselves and joined the same coaching institute again. Similar story for preparations but better results this time in Mocks. I was excited.

November 16, 2009, I appeared for CAT 2008 at St Xaviers, Kolkata. Paper structure modified with 40 question in English and 25 each in QA and DI. Started off with QA then DI. Till now things went very fine. Then came the worst decision of my life. Instead of touching RC, which I was good at, I was lured by VA. Attempted lotsa questions and results show that I performed pathetically bad there. CAT 2008 ended shattering all my hopes of getting into IIMs. Then came JMET, SNAP, NM, XAT and FMS.

Results out, and got some calls. Don’t know where I am headed to, but one thing is for sure, I will and can not appear for B-School exams once more.