Time to Bell the CAT

Authorspeak: This is an unintentionally long post (and a badly written one). However, every incident written over here is true without any attempt for ‘overt’ dramatization. The blame for this post’s failure to create impact should lie squarely on my shoulders and to some extent on my limited writing capabilities.

The battle pitch has been prepared. They have already sent the invites to the ‘warriors’ who would fight it out amongst themselves to emerge victorious, to become champions. The rules have been redefined this year and the organizers have also decided to change the mode of combat. Thus, though brains and wits would remain the greatest assets of those warriors, they would engage in a virtual battlefield. Life was much simpler when I decided to become a warrior and fought for my ‘pride’. Some of my friends who were preparing for this battle for months had to only make me realize that this battle will be fought in the beautiful city of Chandigarh (Though I must say that I find the city to be a boring one). I had to do a simple math: I would be in the city a day after the long awaited ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ (HPGF) would release. Thus more than 4 years ago, around this season only, I agreed to be a part of the army: The CAT army, on a precondition that the army would go to the screening of the Harry Potter movie after the battle.

To make the things simpler for all of you, I will take a small detour before I come back to narrate the original tale. In the year 2005, I had stepped into my final year of engineering. Thus, having secured a job, I along with my friends had nothing much to do in the final year. Not that it was a mistake of our college: NIT Hamirpur, as my father maintains till now, boasts of one of the most beautiful campuses in the country. The infrastructure is great when compared to other institutions of same repute and academics as such cannot be blamed much. However we, being ‘We’, were content with our lives (especially after securing a job in one or other IT company) and had decided to observe the final year as ‘Chillax Year’. Thus, our routine would involve daily screening of movies, bunking classes (within a limit: we did not want any hassles in the final year), eating out regularly (with that being a placement season, it was not that difficult. You just had to ensure that you had friends in almost all the departments) and of course sleeping whenever we had nothing else to do. However, there was a group which was ‘serious’ about career and future (It is not that we were not serious. It is just that we were not ‘that’ serious). This small group had ‘bigger’ things in mind and they had started preparing for CAT way back in March – April. And as all people with ‘good’ heart they could not see their friends ‘wasting’ time doing ‘nothing’. They had to inspire us ‘lesser mortals’’ which they did and targeted each of us with well thought out strategies. Living with a set of people together for more than 3 years almost apprises you of the weakness of each of them. My dear friends knew that the way to my mind and of course my heart is through movies and thus they put the HPGF as bait in front of me. They knew I would not disappoint them (In fact, it seems that I have never disappointed any one when it comes to these scenarios). This bait also worked because of the fault in the HP administration. HP government has never given its full attention on development of multiplexes (or even single screen theatres) in the state. So, if one has to watch a movie in a traditional hall, he/she will have to go on looking for movie theatres in HP (By our rough estimates of those times, we had concluded that HP had less than 10 movie theatres in the entire state). The other option was to go to cities like Chandigarh or Delhi which was a much simpler option.

Now, I agree that this detour was no way short. However, I will come back to the main track. Though I had given my consent to the idea of being a part of the CAT army, I did not prepare anything for the ultimate battle (You are welcome to not believe me. However, the fact remains that my primary objective was watching the movie and I knew that there will be thousands across preparing for this ‘big event’ for months). However, I am not as shameless as you might think and hence on a beautiful day of 18th November 2009 (the day HPGF released across India) I decided to at least go through some basic formulae so that I can salvage my ‘pride’. The best thing about not preparing for an event is that you can always claim that ‘had I prepared, it would have been a cakewalk for me’.

The D-day had come. No, it was not the day of the CAT 2005 but a day before - when the army started its march towards the battlefield. Any day of November in Hamirpur would mean a cold day but that morning was particularly chilly. However, the CAT army showed valour and were all ready by 7:30am. We had a bus for Chandigarh at 9 and hence were waiting for the cab which was to take us to the bus stand. It finally arrived and we started that momentous journey. One flank of the army had already caught a bus for Chandigarh by that time. Our group had two ‘in-love’ couples and 6 hapless warriors including me. The increasing attempt of couples to be ‘comfy’ was obviously making us uncomfortable. Fortunately, the ride to bus stand was short and once in bus they decided to behave appropriately. However, we did not want any other ‘uncomfortable situation’ and stayed away from the couples. The ride till Chandigarh was uneventful for most of the army: for me it was a ‘nightmare’. I never liked travelling in the mountainous terrain on roads and this ride was no different. Till the bus reached the plains of Punjab, I had my head spinning. Once at Chandigarh Bus Stand we decided to go for acco-hunting. We were already informed by the group which had reached before us about the lack of proper accommodation in the city on that particular day. Obviously we were not the only ‘warriors’ to arrive to take part in this battle. Finally, after a ‘massive’ hunt we were able to find a place to ‘park’ in the Jat Bhawan. The rest of the day was spent at - where else ‘Sector 17’.

Next day started early as most of us had long distances to cover in order to reach our destinations. The problem was multiplied by another fact: 5 of us were lodged in a room (meaning that the room had only one bathroom to be shared by all. On top of this, the geyser was not working properly). Anyways, we got ready and left the Jat Bhawan after a decent breakfast (Aloo Parantha – what else). I was wearing my friend’s jacket who in turn was wearing mine. And then all of us started with nervous energy towards our respective centers. The thing with such exams is that no matter how indifferent you remain throughout, you still feel some tension when you enter the ‘arena’. I and my friend (We used to call him Bango) had a common center and so we set out on a cycle rickshaw towards our destination. I checked my Admit Card which was safely placed in the inner pocket of that jacket. We were enjoying the warmth of the Sun which had decided to come out of the cover of clouds. We would have traversed half the distance when suddenly my attention went to the inner pocket of my jacket. The admit card was not there. I had the shock of my life. Apparently the inner pocket of that jacket was not fortified well and had a big hole through which that ‘little rascal’ (though I do not mean any disrespect for it) Admit Card slipped through. My friend was more panicked than me and soon the ‘Rickshaw wallah’ joined the party of ‘distressed souls’. After spending a few minutes scanning the nearby areas I asked my friend to continue with his journey and decided to trace back my way to retrieve that small piece of important document from the clutches of ‘unknown streets’ of Chandigarh.

What followed was madness. I took an auto rickshaw and asked him to retrace the path till Jat Bhawan. Now, the problem with planned cities like Chandigarh is that every road would look same to a non-regular visitor like me. Thus, I was not sure whether we were going through the same roads or not but I kept looking. That odd 30-35 minute search left me sapped both physically and emotionally. I came across a myriad of emotions in that brief period – My first reaction was that of panic and shock; that gave way to a feeling of joy – ‘Chalo achcha hua. Bala tali. I can now go & watch HPGF aaram se’; this led to a feeling of guilt and shame which made me think of possible defenses to be given to my parents once I call them in the evening (one thing was sure that I could not lie to them). I was fiddling with so many emotions at that time that even with my best efforts I would not have been able to express myself. Thus, I would not go into the details of my ‘inner turmoil’ any further. However, still I was looking for that elusive piece of paper and would stop the auto at the mere sight of anything resembling brown envelope (even leaves). Soon, I reached ‘Jat Bhawan’ and despite knowing that I would not find the admit card there I went ahead and enquired the reception and canteen staffs. I knew their answers beforehand. I returned to auto dejected and asked the driver to take me back to the place from where he had picked me up. It was a race against time (my wrist watch showed that I had less than 20 minutes) and I was fighting a losing battle. But I had to fight (‘warriors’ do not give up so easily after all). The auto had to stop at the traffic light and my anxiety level reached a new height. And then what I saw brought some glimmer of hope in my eyes. Placed in the middle of road near the traffic junction & ravaged by the tyres of vehicles was a brown envelope. With a sudden surge of hope I ran towards and retrieved it. It was indeed an admit card with my name written on it. It was a magical experience – A sign that God is present somewhere in some form. I checked my watch and found that I still had 7 minutes to be a participant in the battleground of CAT. As the auto raced through the roads of Chandigarh, I tried to calm my nerves. At the exam center I tried to give the auto driver some extra bucks but he refused. ‘Agar aap pariksha nahi de paate to mujhe bahut kharab lagta (If you were not able to give the examination, I would have felt bad)’ were his words. I entered the centre just as the gates were being closed. The exam was uneventful but I was elated just by the fact that I was finally able to give this ‘mother of all exams’ (People may disagree with me and I agree that UPSC is a tougher test of character and IIT-JEE requires more preparation - I am not going to defend my statement anyhow). When we finally met at Jat Bhawan, my friends were excited about the ‘adventure’ (at that time I would have preferred ‘ordeal’) that I went through.

The deal was inked beforehand. So, my friends decided to come with me to watch HPGF. However, we did not have luck at Fun Republic as all the shows were houseful. We tried our luck at another cinema hall (I think it was Kiran) but that too was houseful for the evening show. Before, we could decide on whether to watch the night show or not (remember we had to return to Hamirpur also) I decided to call my home. We had a normal chat (apart from the part where I told him about the ‘mishap’ in the morning) but it was when I asked to talk to my mother he broke the news: my ‘great grandfather’ had died some 10 days backs and they did not tell me this with the thought that it would hamper my preparation (damn!! I was not preparing at all). My great grandfather was a jovial person and I liked him very much. This news made any enthusiasm left for watching HPGF die. I decided to catch the bus for Hamirpur and few of my friends came along with me. Some of them, however, stayed behind and watched the night show.

I did not clear CAT that time but managed a respectable 97.25 percentile. However, the score does not matter: what I went through that day would remain with me forever. The CAT window for 2009 opened on 09/09/09. The Axis Bank branch distributing the CAT voucher is located near my office. I went there to buy a form and found many enthusiastic faces in the queue waiting for their turn to buy the voucher. Their faces showed nervous energy, anxiousness and aspirations. It was at this time when I was reminded of my first CAT experience. Like every year, this year too, many deserving souls will ‘Bell the CAT’: The Saga will continue.