Traps at MBA entrance tests: Learn how to dodge them

A management entrance test is designed so as to bring out the ability of an aspirant to perform under immense pressure. To subject the students to a bit of stress so as to observe how good they are at handling it, is one of the main objectives of any entrance test. In order to ensure this, the test designers set a few traps in the papers which, an under-prepared aspirant (or sometimes even a well prepared aspirant) can fall into. Elaborate on a few of those traps here:

Well begun is half done

Visualize this. You have started your test. The first question is a scorcher. You cannot do anything but just scribble the same bit of information which is given. After fighting it out for 2-3 minutes you finally give up. Question two, the same thing again. About 10 minutes into the test and you aren't going anywhere.

You might have been through this a number of times. One of the commonest traps set in any paper. The first DI set, the first RC passage, the first few Quant questions are sometimes, the most difficult compared to the rest of the paper. Reasons are two:

1. It makes you panic as it eats into your time and,
2. It somehow makes you believe that the paper is indeed difficult thus making you score a bit less than what you would.

The best thing would be to get rid of such questions as soon as possible and go to the next one. It is always a great feeling to nail that first question which helps soothing your nerves to a large extent.

The converse of this is also true many a time. The final few questions will be the easiest ones. It is just to make sure that a 'prepared' aspirant goes through all of them and scores to his best ability without getting stuck anywhere.

Too many cooks spoil the broth

Plenty of information. Pretty much useless. You read and read and read some more. End of the day, a simple question awaits. You rue wasting so much of your precious time. The motive is the same old time wasting tactic.

People who took the FMS test last year might recollect the huge RC that was offered. People who have the habit of reading the entire thing first and then answering the questions would have ended up wasting a lot of time. Few questions in DI, have much more info than what is required to solve the questions. An RC might seem to be highly philosophical but could have some sitters for questions. Just looking at the main question and leaving the sub-questions after being disappointed, is one of the frequently used traps.

To get through, one can take a look at the questions first so as to know which part of the information to focus on and then go about reading/skimming through the data and go slow at the relevant portions.

Not to call a spade a spade

Now this has a few variations. They will say that there is a rectangle or a rhombus or a parallelogram. Then there will be a generalised question with some options in variables. One can always assume it to be a square and do it quickly. Similarly with triangles. One can assume it to be an equilateral triangle and get over with it. Similarly with the questions where a series is given, if one cannot solve it completely, one can always put in a few values which satisfy the conditions and check with the options if there is some pattern.

'Its' a bad thing to 'loose'

Notice the errors? These are few of the most common errors in English. In fact there are few questions designed so as to make people pay for the wrong habits. In this case a simple spelling mistake you have not bothered to correct for so long that you can almost challenge anyone that whatever you are saying is right.

Right ya wrong

Under pressure in a moment of madness, one tends to overlook what is asked. The instructions for a question are designed so as to confuse even the most vigilant of the aspirants. You can see an instruction which reads as "Following is a group of sentences amongst which some are not grammatically correct. Identify the sentence(s) which are incorrect in terms of English, usage and grammar. Then choose the most appropriate option." Now, the trouble starts when you get confused between 'incorrect' and 'appropriate.' You must have faced this a lot of times, when instead of picking the incorrect sentences, you end up selecting the correct sentences and because you get an option (obviously a trap), you mark it and forget about it.

The other variations of this trap are found in RC passages and sometimes in DI caselets when a test-taker gets confused between, say the number of wins and the number of matches not lost (which effectively means the number of matches won plus the number of matches drawn).

Shock value

This involves catching a test-taker unaware. There might be some new type of question, a simple logic which is twisted in a such a way so as to give it the 'look' of an entirely new type of question. Or say, maybe a new type of question altogether. Or maybe the pattern won't be revealed till the time you get the booklet. Maybe there will be progressive negative marking. If you notice in last year's XAT, the negative marking was -0.2 for the first five incorrect answers and -0.25 thenceforth. What seems to be a 'harsh' negative marking scheme is actually better than other entrance exams wherein you get a straight -0.25 for every incorrect answer.

The point here is to throw an aspirant off his premeditated strategy and make him panic. At the end of the day, the basics remain the same - "attempt what you know correctly, leave what you don't and start preparing for the next stage."

The art of misdirection

Sometimes, there is information which seems unnecessary, which often 'seems' to contradict the first few statements. This is mainly to misdirect you. More or less similar to a magic show where the magician makes you believe that the trick is what you are looking at but actually it is something else. This is because you are made to think that a particular piece of information is important when in reality isn't. There was a question in one of the mocks in which one of the statements said that 'X was satisfied with the money he had won.' This is designed to make you believe that actually X is the winner though it was nowhere mentioned. This can be one of the seemingly 'wrong' questions. The above statement was just put there to introduce the character X i.e. just to say that the one person about whom nothing has been said is X.

Another variant is commonly seen in the RC passages where, the question asked about what the author does not state in this passage and all the option sentences are present in the passage. The right answer in this case will most often than not have someone else's quote and so not necessarily what the author says. A simpler variant of the same will be when one of the statements is slightly altered (not entirely wrong but not entirely right either).

These are just few of the traps which test-designers commonly set in the entrance tests. If you know of any more of them, do tell us in the comments section.

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30,000 Indian students have left Australia: Student federation

A spate of attacks, tough visa norms and denial of permanent residency have caused around 30,000 Indian students, mostly based in Melbourne, to leave Australia in the past year, claims the Federation of Indian Students in Australia (FISA).

The figure is quoted in the latest issue of Indian Student, published from Melbourne, a copy of which is available with IANS. The magazine in its editorial says it appears Australia is nomore a favourite destination for Indian students with this huge exodus in a year's time.

The magazine quoting Gautam Gupta, spokesperson of FISA, said race attacks is one of the major reasons behind the exodus.

"Other significant factors include that there are no jobs and students can't survive without that. Denying permanent residency to many Indians despite fulfilment of conditions has also been a reason."

There have been a spate of attacks on Indian students in Australia since last year.

Thiruvallam Bhasi, editor of the magazine who is currently on vacation in Kerala, told IANS that another factor which has become a deterrent for the students is a stronger Australia dollar.

"Even though strengthening of the Australian dollar is welcome for Indians who live there permanently, for students coming from India it has become very expensive,"Bhasi who launched the magazine four years ago.

"Two years ago, one Australian dollar fetched Rs.30 and yesterday it was around Rs.44. The average fee for a two-year study in Australia currently stands at Aus$36,000 and just look at the difference in the past two years that the Indian student has to bear."

This new development comes at a time when the latest UN Development Programme report ranks the quality of life in Australia as the second best in the world after Norway.

"The latest figures point out that the education industry in Australia fetches the country close to Aus$18 billion annually and this industry is either the second or the third biggest earner.

"With the Australian dollar strengthening like never before, the cost of education today in the US, the UK or Canada is the same as in Australia and with the denial of permanent residency, the education industry there could suffer heavily."

K. Immanual, an engineer by profession and a Kerala native who has settled down in Adelaide for the past 15 years, said: "The one visible thing these days is the number of Indians arriving in south Australia has come down significantly."

Immanual too is on vacation here.

Subhin Cherian who has been in Melbourne for the past four years has completed an MBA and a course in graphic design and is waiting to get permanent residency.

Cherian who is holidaying here told IANS that today the three professions that can help get a permanent residency are engineers, doctors and accountants.

"It is true many have left and some are getting ready to leave. In the four years that I have been here, I have spent Rs.2 million by way of fees and I thank my parents for that. Right now I do part-time jobs and am eager to land a permanent job."

IGNOU introduces on-demand examination system

New Delhi: Students at the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) will now have the freedom to choose the date and venue of their term-end examination with the introduction of 'On-Demand-Examinations'.

The examination system covers more than 12 courses and will be conducted once a week on Friday at the selected regional centres in Delhi, Chennai, Jammu, Hyderabad among others. Results will be declared within 60 days.

IGNOU launches Programme in watershed development

A new Programme on watershed management has been launched by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), an official said.

The one-year diploma programme will commence Jan 1, 2011.

"The objectives of the programme are to develop human resource in watershed development and management, introducing the principles of watershed management approach and the value of working in watershed.

It is also aimed at mobilisation and capacity building of rural youth, landless women and developing skills for small scale irrigation and water supply structures for soil and water conservation strategies.

General candidates will have to shell out Rs.9,000 for the programme while the candidates from rural areas or urban BPL (Below Poverty Line) will have to cough up Rs.4,500. There is no restriction on age.

The medium of instruction for the programme is Hindi and English. Regional languages will be added at a later stage, the official added.

IIMs want more girls, non-engineering students

Kolkata: The Indian Institutes of Management are now looking to rope in more girl students and those with non-engineering background to get a more diversified variety on their rolls.

Directors of five IIMs from across the country Monday held a conference and felt the need to change the quantitative bias in the Common Admission Test (CAT) to draw in more students in their classrooms from diverse academic backgrounds.

Giving a wrap-up of the discussion, Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta director Sekhar Chowdhury said the issues would be dealt with seriously though it was not yet certain that the changes could take place from next year's CAT.

"In many cases, despite efforts to get in students from other backgrounds, the number of engineering students has increased. The blame is on our admission process. We need to change how we admit students and how CAT is organised," said IIM-Lucknow director Devi Singh.

Singh said though a large section of the faculty would not have been favourably disposed to the idea of having a greater diversity in students, "now the realisation has dawned on them and in the next few years we may see a change in the system".

IIM-Bangalore director Pankaj Chandra felt girl students found the CAT examination with its stress on mathematics a deterrent.

"That's the reason many girl students do not sit for the entrance test".

Statistics show that about 2 lakh students take the annual CAT examination for admission to 2,000 seats in the country's ten IIMs. Of them, the percentage of engineers gaining entry into the premier B-Schools is over 90 per cent, while the percentage of female students is only 10-15 percent taking all the IIMs together.

Chowdhury said while the world has a nearly 50:50 ratio of men and women, "why cannot we have a similar or more or less equal representation in the classroom? After all, the class should represent life."

He said on the contrary, private management institutes had a 40-45 percent girl students.

52 candidates admitted to IIT by mistake: Kapil Sibal

New Delhi: Clarifying the withdrawal of offer of admission to 52 candidates from IITs, the human resource development ministry Friday said that the offers were made "erroneously" to the candidates.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said that according to the Joint Admission Board, 52 candidates in the general category were offered admission to IIT though they had not qualified in the test.

"Some candidates who wrote the JEE 2010 were erroneously offered admission. The inadvertent error in course allocation pertained to candidates who had not qualified in the architecture/design aptitude test, were offered admission," Sibal said quoting information from the Joint Admission Board.

"Their admission was later withdrawn and the places were filled by eligible candidates," he said. According to the ministry, 41 of the candidates were provided admission in the second list while the rest 11 could not be taken as "they had not filled a large number of choices even though they has been advised to do so during their counselling".

The minister also said that two of the candidates had gone to court. "The JEE system has introduced additional checks in their procedure so that such an error does not recur.

IIMs may take CAT global

Ahmedabad: India’s common admission test (CAT) for premier B-schools may soon go global. The disclosure comes as the first successful and glitch-free edition of CAT concluded today. The CAT committee — the body responsible for conducting the test — also plans to make it available throughout the year.

CAT 2010, which began on October 27, was held at 128 labs in 78 centres across 33 cities. A total of 204,267 candidates registered for CAT 2010 for admissions in 10 Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and over 150 other B-schools. Results will be declared on January 12, 2011.

"We have been contacted by some B-schools from the Middle East and Sri Lanka, who want us to conduct CAT for them. While a new committee will be formed next year for CAT 2011, we will make strong recommendations to take the test offshore, as it will enhance the CAT brand," Himanshu Rai, the convener for CAT 2010, told Business Standard.

According to Rai, taking CAT offshore would also mean an enhancement of best practices. "It is already been a challenging job for Prometric to conduct CAT for us, but it has been very successful this year. However, if and when we take CAT offshore, we will learn more about global best practices in conducting such tests," added Rai.

Conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) in association with Prometric and partners Everonn and MeritTrac, CAT was made computer-based for the first time in 2009. However, the test was marred by technical glitches, resulting in thousands of candidates being unable to take the test in its controversial first edition last year.

Following this, the new committee took several steps to ensure a smooth test by, among other things, handing over labs at least a fortnight prior to the test and quarantining all computers. The IIMs and Prometric also changed the channel partner from NIIT in 2009 to Everonn and MeritTrac in 2010. Added to that, the testing window was extended from 10 days last year to 20 days this year.

Such has been the success in conducting the test this year, that the committee is expediting the process of making CAT available throughout the year. "CAT is still a computer-based test and not a computer adaptive test like GMAT, which can be conducted throughout the year. But we have expedited the process and hope to see an all-year CAT being conducted by 2012 or latest by 2013," said Rai.

INDIA NO. 4 IN WORLD'S BEST EDUCATION DESTINATION LIST

It is an ill-kept secret that Indian education standards are among the best in the world. But now, it's official. India stands at number 4 in the list of most desired education destinations.

The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), the body which conducts GMAT recently conducted a survey, which pegged the United States and the United Kingdom at No. 1 and 2, but what has come as a real surprise is India's rank. The third most powerful Asian nation has been placed at the 4th most desired place to study management courses.

GMAT is one amongst the top B-school entrance test which is conducted at global level. Canada has secured the third position in the lot. Even Spain and Israel have appeared in the list among the top preferred destinations for B-schools.

Experts believe that India's entry to the list is no surprise. They said that as the country is coming up with reputed business schools of international standards, it was quite obvious. Business schools in India are among the best in the world. The Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, has been ranked at 12th in the Financial Times (London) Global MBA rankings.

Also, the Indian Institutes of Management spread across major cities have also led MBA aspirants to opt for Indian schools. IIMs adopt GMAT for its entrance exams.

Experts said business school aspirants have now become mature. They have become particular about the returns they would get after making an investment in management studies. Because academics here is cheaper than in the US and the UK, MBA degree-seekers are turning their heads towards India.

On a different note, while Indians have always been fascinated of continuing their studies in America, it has now emerged that Canada is a more favoured destination now. The GMAC survey reports said 78% of full-time MBA courses in Canada were largely applied for by Indians.

Stop putting your parents in *OLDAGE HOME*,
how can u forget what they did for YOU!!

Just want to tell people that old parents are not a burden and its your responsibility to take care of them..They need your support when they are old.

Respect your Parents and honor them with your love.Please don't make them feel that they are old, So their life is end.

Follow the below link:- To Support this cause..

http://www.causes.com/causes/433522-stop-putting-your-parents-in-oldage-home-how-can-u-forget-wat-they-did-fr-u/about

* No one should leave their MAKER....

IIM STUDENT WHO TURNED DOWN CORPORATE OFFERS TO JOIN CONGRESS

Himanshu Meena has his priorities sorted. The IIM-B student wants to change India's politics and will intern with the Congress party next summer.

'Off the beaten path', 'breaking new ground' - the clichés are endless, but what happens when an IIM student shuns the lure of investment banking firms and FMCG companies and decides to work with a political party? 'Killing a career before it started', 'professional suicide' most would exclaim. Himanshu Meena takes the brickbats in his stride.The IIM Bangalore student will spend the summer of 2011 with India's oldest political party - the Congress. For all post-graduate programmes in all the IIMs an internship is compulsory. Corporate giants line up at campuses in November for 'summer placements', which take place in April-May. Himanshu decided he would skip the placements. Because he plans to set up a consultancy firm which will devise campaign strategies for political parties in the run up to elections?

"I followed the last US Presidential elections and noticed how immensely organized the whole process was," says Himanshu. "In India, there is no organization, no record of what funds go where, whether they are actually used at all. So I want to bring in a process that makes everything clear."

Himanshu chose this internship to know, first hand, what Indian politics is all about. He contacted IIM alumni who are already in this field and then approached the MP from his home town of Alwar, Jitendra Singh.

"I chose the Congress because I know Jitendra Singh. I approached him and he said yes. I have no political preferences, had I been rejected I would have approached another party."

Himanshu will be working with the Congress in the run up to the West Bengal polls, and be a part of the party's media cell. "I will be working with the media war room in the media cell," says Himanshu, "which strategies the campaigns as well as the image of the leaders. How the leaders are branded is important. I'll compare the Congress' campaign with other political campaigns, including those in the US."

Does he have any plans of joining politics any time in the future? "No, not really. I want clean up our politics but not be in it," he says. "I want to provide expertise to political parties and help bring in the transparency this system lacks now.

"It's sad that today's smart people ignore politics. Only when the system is clean will the bright young minds of India get in to politics. But we need the intelligent people now to begin the clean-up act."

"It's a vicious circle that Himanshu seems determined to break"

Its clearly states that you are the one who drives your path on your own...

We can Together Make the Earth a happier place on

WORLD PEACE DAY

Lets take a step towards

A Peaceful World !

As the peace builders, the real work is in

building understanding and reconciliation between

Individuals and communities that have lived at war

for years. To achieve peace, every single person has

to take responsibility to fix broken relationships and

stop conflict from escalating. Our Peaceful thought is

a way for us to reconcile with someone in your life,

or just let them know you care.

YOUNGEST CEO Mr. Suhas Gopinath

THE MOST INSPIRATIONAL STORY OF THE WORLD'S YOUNGEST CEO

Suhas Gopinath, the HERO

When 14-year-old Suhas Gopinath started Global Inc ten years ago from a cyber cafe in Bengaluru, he didn't know that he had become the youngest CEO in the world. 

Today, Global is a multi-million dollar company with offices in the United States, India, Canada, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, Australia, Singapore and the Middle East and has 100 employees in India and 56 abroad.Among the several honors that have been bestowed upon this young man, the most prestigious is the invitation to be a member of the Board of the ICT Advisory Council of the World Bank.. 

In 2007, the European Parliament and International Association for Human Values conferred 'Young Achiever Award' on him. He was also invited to address the European Parliament and other business dignitaries assembled in the EU Parliament. He is also recognised as one of the 'Young Global Leaders' for 2008-2009 by the prestigious World Economic Forum. 

Suhas is the youngest member ever in the World Economic Forum's history. The other members include the Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, Hollywood star Leonardo Di Caprio, musician A R Rahman, Prince of Brunei, etc.In this interview from his office in Bengaluru, Suhas Gopinath talks about his decade long journey and his dreams for the future.

On his childhood

I come from a middle class family. My father worked as a scientist for the Indian Army. I used to study in the Air Force school in Bengaluru.As a child, I was more interested in animals and veterinary science. But when I saw my friends who had home computers talk about it, I had this urge to learn and talk in their wave length.But we didn't have a computer at home. In those days, computers were very expensive and we couldn't afford one.

So, what I did was, I located an Internet cafe near my house. With my modest monthly pocket money of Rs. 15, I couldn't afford to surf the net every day.I noticed that the shop was closed in the afternoon from 1 PM to 4 PM. So, I offered to open the shop for him after my school hours and take care of the customers.In the bargain, he let me browse the net for free. That was the first business deal of my life and it turned out to be a successful one.

On building websites using open source technology:

Once I got the chance to manage the shop and browse the net, I started building websites. It became my passion in no time. 

I got hooked to open source technology after I started looking for e-books on how to build websites. They were not available as they were created in propriety sources.So, I started using open source to build websites.On getting the first contract to build a website

There is a freelance marketplace on the web where I could register and offer my services to build websites. I registered myself there as a website builder.The first website I had to do was free of cost as I had no references. It was for a company in New York. 
My first income was $100 when I was 13 for building another website but I didn't have a bank account. so, I told my father that I built a website and got paid for it.

I was not excited to get the money because money was not a factor that drew me to it. It was the passion for technology that attracted me. I used to build websites free of cost also. I was only a 9th standard student.After that, I built my own portal and called it Coolhindustan.com. It was focused on NRIs. It was a portal where I wanted to showcase my skills.After that, many companies approached me to be their web designer. 

On buying his first computer

When I was in the 9th standard itself, I had made enough money to buy a computer for myself. At that time, my brother was studying engineering and my father thought he needed a computer.In no time, I also bought one for myself. But we didn't have a net connection at home.My spending hours in the net cafe working on websites did affect my studies. I spent the entire summer vacation after the 9th standard in the cafe.On rejecting a job offer from the US

When I was 14, Network Solutions offered me a part-time job in the US and they said they would sponsor my education in the US. I rejected the offer because that was the time I had read a story about Bill Gates and how he started Microsoft. 

I thought it was more fun to have your own company. Many US companies used to tell me that I didn't even have a moustache and they felt insecure taking my services. They used to connect my ability with my age and academic qualifications.So, I wanted to start my own company and show the world that age and academic qualifications are immaterial. I decided then that when I started a company, I would recruit only youngsters and I would not ask for their academic qualifications and marks cards. I follow that in my company.

On starting his own company at 14 

Soon after my 9th standard summer vacation, I started my own company, Global Inc. I wanted the name Global or Global Solutions but both were not available, so I named it Global.I registered my company in the US as in India; you will not be able to start a company unless you are 18. It takes only 15 minutes to start a company in the US.I became the owner and CEO of the company. My friend, an American who was a university student, became a board member.I was very excited because that was what I wanted to do. From that day, I started dreaming of making my company as big as Microsoft. 

On doing badly in school 

In my pre-board CBSE exam, I failed in Mathematics. The school headmistress was shocked because that was the first time I had failed in any subject. She called my mother and said she was horrified by my performance. 

At home, like any typical South Indian mother, my mother made me swear on her head that I would focus on academics.I told my mother that the world's richest man Bill Gates had not completed his education. Why do you force me then, I asked her. She then said, I am sure his horoscope and yours are not the same! I come from a family where entrepreneurship is considered a sin. My mother was quite upset. She wanted me to do engineering, then an MBA and work in a good company.As per my mother's wishes, I took a four-month sabbatical from my company and studied for my board exam. I passed with a first class.

I still feel that you cannot restrict yourself to bookish knowledge. I believe that practical knowledge is more important.In the first year, the turnover of Global Inc was Rs 1 lakh (Rs 100,000). The second year, the turnover went up to Rs 5 lakh (Rs 500,000). 

On looking at Europe as a market 

Till I was 16 or 17, I didn't tell my parents that I had started a company. I kept it a secret because I thought they would object to it. They only knew that I was a freelancer. 

We used to build websites and also offer online shopping and e commerce solutions. We even gave part time work to a few programmers in the US when we got many projects but we never had any office.When I was 16, I saw that there was enormous business opportunities in Europe as a majority of the Indian IT companies were working for American companies. 

When I contacted a Spanish company, it rejected my offer saying Indians do not know Spanish. As an entrepreneur, you can't accept rejection, especially when you are young.I hired five student interns from some Spanish universities and told them they would be paid based on their successful sales.They were the people who met the companies and bagged the projects for us. By now, we decided to have a home office in Spain.I replicated the same model in Italy. I contacted some Italian university students. 

On going to Germany to talk about entrepreneurship 

The American newspapers were writing a lot about me as the world's youngest CEO at 14 from India, from a middle class background.It was a good story for the BBC also. I never expected to be in the limelight. For me, starting a company was like realising a passion of mine. 

On seeing these stories, a B-school in Germany invited me to talk to its students on entrepreneurship. I was 17 then. By now, I had completed my 12th standard and had joined Engineering in Bengaluru.When I was 18, we set up an office -- the European HQ in Bonn. Then, we moved to Switzerland. Six months back, we started our operations in Vienna as well.That is how we spread our operations from a small Internet cafe to become a multinational company with significant operations in Europe, Middle East, the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, etc.

On registering a company in India at the age of 18 

The day I turned 18, I registered our company in India as Global, opened an office and recruited four people. I opened the office next to the Internet cafe where I started my career.By then, he had closed shop and joined a factory as an employee. Whenever I met him, I used to tell him, 'you made me an entrepreneur but you stopped being one.'

On moving to creating products 

We wanted our company also to be a product development company and our focus was on education, like the software that manages everything about a child while in school starting from admission till he/she leaves school and becomes an alumnus. 

It is a nasty software which students are going to be quite unhappy about! This software was aimed only at the Indian market. I want to be the market leader in ICT in education.Our software is being used in more than 100 schools all over India, Singapore and the Middle East.
We are now in the process of raising funds. Once we do it, we will separate the company into two -- service and product development. I want to concentrate on products as I can't sail on two boats.

On meeting former President Abdul Kalam 

I met Dr Abdul Kalam when he was the President of India. I was 17 or 18 then. My meeting was scheduled for 15 minutes but we had such an intense conversation that it went on for one-and-a-half hours.I didn't feel that I was talking to the President of India. We talked like two friends. He was sitting in his chair across the table but after some time, he came and sat next to me. He is such a modest person that it was a learning experience for me.

On being on the board of the World Bank 

As per the wishes of my parents, I joined engineering but didn't complete my engineering: like Bill Gates! When I was in my 5th semester, the World Bank invited me to attend their board meeting. I am the only Indian on the board of the World Bank. 

The objective was to explore how ICT can improve the quality of education in the emerging economies, by bringing in accountability and transparency in their financial deeds.Robert B. Zoë lick, the president of the World Bank, decided that they could not have only Americans on the board and needed people from across the world. As they were focusing on education, they wanted young minds to add value to the work.He preferred a young mind from an emerging country and that was how I got the invitation in 2005. Not even in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would be on the board of the World Bank. The invitation was the most unforgettable moment in my life. I report directly to Robert B Zoë lick!

Some of the others on the board are the CEO of Cisco, the vice president of Microsoft and the CEO of SAP; all Fortune 500 companies and me, the only Indian! I am helping the World Bank set policies on ICT in university education so that employability can be enhanced. My aim is to reduce the number of unemployed eligible youth in the world.Right now, we are concentrating on Africa. Soon, I want to shift the focus on to India. It has been an amazing experience for me.But I had to discontinue my engineering education at the time I joined the board, as I didn't have enough attendance in college!

On his dreams for his company 

I have always believed that IT is not just technology but a tool that can solve the problems of people. 
That is what I want to do in my company. 
I want my company to be a market leader in software solutions concentrating on education.
When I was younger, I didn't care about money. Now that I am responsible for my employees, I care about what we make. If I am not bothered about money, we cannot scale up our business. 
When I started my company from a net cafe in Bengaluru, I never ever imagined that one day my company would be a multi-million dollar company and I would be on the World Bank board as a member. 
What drives me is my passion and it has been an amazing journey so far.