Previously : Act II Scene I [ITC : Cigarettes]
It was a tiny Group Discussion (GD) room accommodating Arihant, Pawan, Hunaid, Abhishek, me and three others.
All Eight of them looking at each other,
With tension brimming on their faces.
Wondering in which accent should they speak,
Whether to make valid arguments,
Or shout and subdue others.
None of them had a clue,
What the topic would be ?
Soon the three judges entered. I don't remember their names.
All I remember is that one was old, one was bald and the lady was very pretty.
We were given 2 minutes to read the topic and next 18 minutes to discuss and reach a conclusion.
The topic was as follows :
You along with your 7 other friends have just experienced a plane crash. Nobody is injured. Your plane crashed in a tropical rain forest and it rains often. All you have are the fifteen items given below :
Machete
Anti-Venom
Plastic bags
First aid kit
Radio
Compass
Cigarette Lighter
Knife
Gun
Rope
Vacuum Flask
Torch
... and three more
Our task was to rank these items in the order of importance individually and then discuss and come up with group ranking as we can carry only half the number of items out of these in order to survive and come out of the forest.
"Your time starts now!" - the pretty lady stated with a smile. All the three judges occupied a corner each. They had score sheets in their hands which made the atmosphere even more tensed.
"Okay friends so we are here to discuss and rank these items in the given scenario." - Hunaid all set to take a lead.
"Wait, first let us read and rank them individually." - Everyone blurted unanimously.
Hunaid was disappointed. He scored a negative for making a wrong move.
2 minutes passed ..
3 minutes passed ..
I was scribbling all points which were coming in my mind.
Recalling all survival strategies taught by Bear Grylis in Man vs Wild.
Confidence started to sink in.
4 minutes passed ..
Each one of us was looking like a hungry wolf ready to charge when Abhishek said, "Okay, friends we are losing time so lets start discussing the group rankings."
"We can divide the items into two categories - Survival and Path Finding. And then proceed towards ranking them." - he continued
We quickly started dividing items into the two groups, iterating over each item.
Path Finding - Radio, Compass
Survival - Machete, Anti-Venom, Plastic bags, First aid kit, Knife, Gun, Rope, Vacuum Flask ..
Our divide and conquer strategy failed miserably as this categorization was not helping us to reach our objective. Soon we realized that we have wasted more than 4 minutes over it and there was a clear consensus to chunk this idea and start afresh.
Our next strategy was to suggest an item each for group ranking. Finally we were on track nearing our objective function.
Rank #1:
Abhishek [First Aid] - "To avoid minor crash wound infection."
Hunaid [First Aid] - "It is currently useful and will also be required."
Me [Compass] - "It is mentioned that nobody is injured. So I think our priority should be finding the route to head back."
It was a tiny Group Discussion (GD) room accommodating Arihant, Pawan, Hunaid, Abhishek, me and three others.
All Eight of them looking at each other,
With tension brimming on their faces.
Wondering in which accent should they speak,
Whether to make valid arguments,
Or shout and subdue others.
None of them had a clue,
What the topic would be ?
Soon the three judges entered. I don't remember their names.
All I remember is that one was old, one was bald and the lady was very pretty.
We were given 2 minutes to read the topic and next 18 minutes to discuss and reach a conclusion.
The topic was as follows :
You along with your 7 other friends have just experienced a plane crash. Nobody is injured. Your plane crashed in a tropical rain forest and it rains often. All you have are the fifteen items given below :
Machete
Anti-Venom
Plastic bags
First aid kit
Radio
Compass
Cigarette Lighter
Knife
Gun
Rope
Vacuum Flask
Torch
... and three more
Our task was to rank these items in the order of importance individually and then discuss and come up with group ranking as we can carry only half the number of items out of these in order to survive and come out of the forest.
"Your time starts now!" - the pretty lady stated with a smile. All the three judges occupied a corner each. They had score sheets in their hands which made the atmosphere even more tensed.
"Okay friends so we are here to discuss and rank these items in the given scenario." - Hunaid all set to take a lead.
"Wait, first let us read and rank them individually." - Everyone blurted unanimously.
Hunaid was disappointed. He scored a negative for making a wrong move.
2 minutes passed ..
3 minutes passed ..
I was scribbling all points which were coming in my mind.
Recalling all survival strategies taught by Bear Grylis in Man vs Wild.
Confidence started to sink in.
4 minutes passed ..
Each one of us was looking like a hungry wolf ready to charge when Abhishek said, "Okay, friends we are losing time so lets start discussing the group rankings."
"We can divide the items into two categories - Survival and Path Finding. And then proceed towards ranking them." - he continued
We quickly started dividing items into the two groups, iterating over each item.
Path Finding - Radio, Compass
Survival - Machete, Anti-Venom, Plastic bags, First aid kit, Knife, Gun, Rope, Vacuum Flask ..
Our divide and conquer strategy failed miserably as this categorization was not helping us to reach our objective. Soon we realized that we have wasted more than 4 minutes over it and there was a clear consensus to chunk this idea and start afresh.
Our next strategy was to suggest an item each for group ranking. Finally we were on track nearing our objective function.
Rank #1:
Abhishek [First Aid] - "To avoid minor crash wound infection."
Hunaid [First Aid] - "It is currently useful and will also be required."
Me [Compass] - "It is mentioned that nobody is injured. So I think our priority should be finding the route to head back."
Abhishek - "But it is a plane crash and logically speaking there might be minor injuries."
Me - "Okay, fine."
Others settled in for the first aid kit.
So each one of us marked : Rank #1 - First Aid Kit
Rank #2:
Hunaid [Compass] - "We need to find our way out of this jungle."
Abhishek [Knife] - "We need to make our way so we need something to cut through shrubs and bushes."
Me [to Abhishek] - "Then why don't you suggest Machete."
Abhishek - "What is a machete ?"
Others had the same puzzled look
I started explaining them that it is a long toothed knife which will make our task of cutting through the jungle much easier than the knife.
Inside my head I was happy - I scored some points for knowledge :)
After discussing for a few more minutes, we concluded our discussion on 2nd rank.
Hunaid [Compass] - "We need to find our way out of this jungle."
Abhishek [Knife] - "We need to make our way so we need something to cut through shrubs and bushes."
Me [to Abhishek] - "Then why don't you suggest Machete."
Abhishek - "What is a machete ?"
Others had the same puzzled look
I started explaining them that it is a long toothed knife which will make our task of cutting through the jungle much easier than the knife.
Inside my head I was happy - I scored some points for knowledge :)
After discussing for a few more minutes, we concluded our discussion on 2nd rank.
So each one of us marked : Rank #2 - Compass
Rank #3:
The affair was getting messier as we moved towards this one.
Each one of us suggested a different item backing our claim.
I suggested - "Cigarette Lighter!"
"Aise samay mein kaun cigarette pene ki sochta hai." - Hunaid [who later told me that he ranked the lighter on number 13 in his list]
Others laughed.
I said -"We need it for fire. Fire was the turning point for humankind. It will help us in cooking, protection against wild animals and lighting our way."
The bald man standing in the corner smirked. I had a strange gut feeling. This one statement of mine will get me through.
Everyone agreed.
So each one of us marked : Rank #3 - Cigarette Lighter
After a few more rounds of discussion we ranked Anti-venom and Vacuum Flask at fourth and fifth position respectively.
The pretty lady announced it was time to conclude.
Abhishek summarized our entire discussion.
Arihant and Pawan not even uttered a single word, just like what had happened to me in my first GD.
We moved out for the next group to come inside.
And deep down inside my heart I was happy.
I knew I had nailed it this time.
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