Phres IITian 1: Mallu

Aravind, popularly known as Mallu in IIT Madras, is a final year dual degree student pursuing Chemical Engineering. He is a wonderful football player and is the present institute sports secretory. He got placed in Shell on day zero of placements, which he believes is the best thing that ever happened to him in his entire IIT life. Here, in the Phres IITian series, Mallu talks about elections, sports, chemical engineering department and of course about cracking a sexy job on day zero.

My dual degree project is not gonna help me in any way! I am doing it only to finish it without getting any extension!

Let’s begin with your department. What do you like most about it? Peaceful professors. There are relatively very few sadist profs in my department.

Best prof? Prof Panda, if one really wants to put peace. You don’t have to go for classes. Go for exams directly. And they too are OPEN BOOK, where you can crack them by seeing solved examples!

What is the relevance of final year projects that students at IIT get to do? I think these projects are done solely to finish credits. My dual degree project is not gonna help me in any way! I am doing it only to finish it without getting any extension!

Alright, let’s talk about elections now. You have been the sports-sec. Name five most important things it takes to win an election.

Be known among junta. What’s important is that you are known not just for your studness but more than that for your friendly nature.

1. Strong manifesto.

2. Be known among junta. What’s important is that you are known not just for your studness but more than that for your friendly nature.

3. Don’t ASSUME anything. Never speculate on votes.

4. Let people recognize you by your work DONE and not on ur PROMISES.

5. DO NOT stand for credential fame or crap reasons like that. Stand ONLY if u really want to work.

How difficult was it to become the sports captain of the institute for you? Well, I never targeted for the post as such. It just happened! I received a lot of appreciation for my work when I was the hostel sports secretory. Back then, I did think about being the sport captain in future, but wasn’t too serious about it. To be frank, I was scared of elections! Even when the nomination for insti elections were announced, I had no plans to contest.

So what finally pushed you to make the move? It so happened that sooooo sooooo many people started throwing questions like, “are YOU not standing?, “how come you are not standing for SS?” etc. This made me think. I was still not sure but I did start asking myself if I should go for it.

To be frank, I was scared of elections! Even when the nomination for insti elections were announced, I had no plans to contest.

The final decision however came when my friends came to my room and gave me N (read: very large) number of reasons on why I should become the SS.

You got placed in Shell on the very first day of the placement season. Tell me, what will you be doing at the company? Well, the offer letter says that I have been appointed as a Technology Development Engineer in SHELL. But don’t ask what exactly my job is because to speak the truth, I have no clue about it. Being a 7 pointer and getting placed in a DAY 0 company. It just feels awesome!! More so, I was the only 7 pointer in the entire Chemical Engineering shortlist (of 20+ students). I still can’t believe that I cracked it, especially the first round which was an hour long Technical interview.

My enthusiasm shown in the extra-curricular activities made all the difference. I really mean it. One of the main reasons they preferred me above other 9 pointers was because of my organizational skills along with decision making.

So what do you think helped you? What made the difference between you and the competing students? I’m happy that you asked this question. My enthusiasm shown in the extra-curricular activities made all the difference. I really mean it. One of the main reasons they preferred me above other 9 pointers was because of my organizational skills along with decision making. These two qualities helped me a lot, especially in the second and the most crucial round of selection which was based on a case-study. I was made to assume the role of a CEO/Business manager of Shell, and asked many situational questions in the interview. Most of the questions that I answered were intuitive and not based on profit maximization. And guess what, it worked out! The bottomline is that four and a half years of involvement in extra curricular really helped me.

Thanks for your time Mallu. All the best for the upcoming inter-IIT sports competition. Thanks a lot man!