CAT - Now that is a three letter word which actually doesn't remind me of a real cat - you know the 4 legged creature which spent half its time combing its hair - In fact it has come to the point where u r really going to have trouble talking to animal lovers coz ny ting even related to cat will only remind u about the most hyped exam which is attended by well over 200000 people. CAT inspires us with percentiles, quant, verbal, analytical, mocks and those never ending jargon's which will turn any so called 'non-aspirant' to wonder which language we are talking, and indeed it is true. To many, CAT is an alternative form of life style, the highest purpose which drives them forward, the most revered exam which gives them shivers and so on and so forth. To some others it is just another exam to get a push forward in their social circles at the cost of embarrassment when the results are out. To others it is form of social charity with the sole purpose of increasing the percentile for the upper echelon - if they do realize that. Or it may be the placement wallahs who just couldn't differentiate an 'A' from 'R'. But while there are so many different segments of so called aspirants wanting to fulfill whatever purpose they have, I don't belong to any of them. In fact I belong to those 'dream weaving group' whose life were full of dreams about a certain three letter word but came to the realization long way back that, it is what it is - a dream.

It has been a long time since I moved from "Gosh!!! It must be cool to have a BLACKI" to "So which all are the other participating institutions in CAT". From then on, it was a spiraling journey along "I will definitely do it", "I can definitely do it", "I hope I will do it", "Will I be able to do it" and finally "What does it matter any way". But I have moved from that also and now stand in "GOD Please save me from this " since i started having these weird conversations:

J: So howz the CAT prep going?
CAT aspirant: not so good;
J: Really 100 percentile is not enough for u or what

P: So all set to crack the IIMs?
CAT aspirant: NOT really
P: Oh u r cho sweet and modest (followed by weird girly giggles - when will she realize I was not being modest)

CAT aspirant 1 : Oh I won’t get it. But u r so blah blah blah so u will get it
CAT aspirant 2: No I won’t get it bcoz of blah blah but since u r blah blah maybe u will...blah
CAT 1: NO u will
CAT 2 : NO u will
( I think u know how the rest of the conversation goes)

J again: So how’s the CAT prep going (no matter what you say I won’t believe it)
CAT aspirant becoming wiser: No comments

Now life has been this and many more since me and one of my nutty friend decided to drop CAT. For the record neither of us influenced each other! Now we are expected to travel to Kozhikode this Saturday along with 1000's of so called aspirants from all these segments. My initial apprehension at meeting these bhujis has been subdued by a friend who promised there are more guys like me. Now I can only think about the chance of meeting these day-dreamers and talk about 'Kozhikode biriyani's, the latest flick 'twenty twenty' or simply girls. Now while they are talking about tips on 'How to crack CAT', we will be talking about "How not to Crack under CAT":D

I forget things very easily. Birthdays, dates, faces, names, characters - anything specific . Everything gets enveloped in a cloud of smoke with the passage of time no matter how memorable it may seem.But I soon found out that this particular defect which has produced quite a few problems in the never-ending exams, was actually a blessing in disguise. It helped when it mattered the most and that is in giving hours of pure happiness from reading some wonderful books - again and again.

I have always thought my family to be an introspective lot whom could at the same time give life to any social event. But while I may have inherited the former, somehow I have always remained aloof in the social part. Maybe the absence of any real pressure from my (intelligent) parents inspired my initial fantasy to books. Thus I spent hours and hours, behind wild and wonderful stories, which should rather have been spent learning or in comradeship. But while my parents continued to make my life easy, the same could not be said true for my acquaintances in class. A step into the pants of a teenager bestowed upon my ego a need for being known rather than knowing thyself. Thus came the transition of a fantasizing oddball to a normal person ( define normal as one who indulges in the pursuits that is followed by at least 75% of your peers:) .

But like a marriage never broken, I was re-united with my books by the stories about "the boy who lived" - special thanks to my friend Amol who not only introduced me to harry potter but also spent a lot of time coercing me to read it. It only took a few days for the 'mysteries of the the five, secrets of the seven, the charm of the drew and the bravery of the hardy' to be swept aside by the "Goblet of Fire", the first Harry Potter book I read. It was love at first sight. Soon I was saving every bit of money I could to bring my collection of HP books up to date. But the 5th book ( I was the first one in Trivandrum city to buy it or so the shopkeeper told me) came as a big disappointment for me which made me go after different authors notably Ayn Rand, Jeffrey Archer, Micheal Crichton, John Grisham, Dan Brown, Clive Cussler and lot more. This was also the time I became heavily influenced by the philosophies of Ayn Rand in her two books "The Atlas Shrugged" and "The fountainhead".