TL;DR: Got burned in Kozhikode, panelists debated among themselves in Lucknow, philosophized on the meaning of my name in Calcutta, discussed Satyajit Ray's films in Bangalore, and showed the panellists fingers in Ahmedabad.

Well, the most interesting part of my IIM experience was actually the part leading up to CAT 2015. However, I shall remain faithful to the question asked and answer accordingly.

Also, forgive me for not remembering all of my interviews in elaborate detail. I shall mention the most interesting parts from each interview, or at least those that I found so.

Relevant information:

• Metallurgical and Materials Engineer from IIT Kharagpur (Batch of 2014, CGPA 8.76)
• 10th (ICSE) 93.86% (All subjects)
• 12th (ISC) 92.14% (All subjects)
• Work experience of 19 months at Tata Steel Jamshedpur (Till 31st January 2016)
• Extra-curriculars : Dramatics for 4 years in college, founder member of an independent theatre group in Jamshedpur, guitarist in Tata Steel's band
• CAT score: 99.61 (98.11 on first attempt in 2013)

Following timeline,

IIM Kozhikode

I was still in shock at my CAT score and getting interview calls from all IIMs. I was not very excited about K and went to the interview with almost no preparation, just to get a flavour of IIM interviews. It was my first interview in three years (last one was for Tata Steel internship in 2013, got a PPO so no campus interviews) so I did not know at all what to expect. Keep in mind that I was never too much into current affairs, and did not have a habit of following news, politics, economy etc. which was the first thing that I informed the panellists.

I was the last interviewee for the day. One of the panellists very much resembled Hariharan (H) and the other Dumbledore (D). After some inital light conversation about my GD experience and extra curricular, the following ensued.

H: So Sambit, what is the language spoken in Kerala?
Me: (A little confused about the purpose of the question)... Malayalam?
D: Great! So what are all the states in South India?
Me: (Confusion intensifies)... AP, Telangana, TN, Karnataka, Kerala?
H: Excellent! So tell me the name of a chief minister from South India.
Me: (Embarrassed) ... I don't know sir. As I mentioned, I have never followed politics.
H: What? What about a lady chief minister of India?
Me: ... Jayalalitha?
H: There you go! And which state is she the chief minister of?
Me: (Now really embarrassed)... I don't know sir.
H: Do you know who Sitaram Yechuri is?
Me: ... No sir.
H: You are from West Bengal right? Still you don't know? Do you know what Politburo is?
Me: ...No sir.
D: Ok enough of that. What all calls have you got?
Me: Sir ABCLKI.
D: And what is your preference for attending?
Me:...Sir ABCLKI.
D:(Pauses)... That is your preference also?
Me: ...Yes sir.
D&H: That will be all. All the best.
Me: ...Thank you Sir. Hope you enjoy your stay in Kolkata!

IIM Lucknow

So after the Kozhikode massacre, I really felt the need to brush up on the news and other stuff. Marked Google News as one of my homepages. Lucknow had also very generously provided a fact sheet to brush up recent events in India and globally, which I went through diligently. So I was somewhat more confident on D-day. Visited Taj Bengal for the first time in more than 10 years. The panel consisted of a lady (L), and an older gentleman (G).

The moment I took my seat,
L: So Sambit you are into theatre! What kind of plays do you do?
Me: (Aha! Area of strength!) I have done most of my acting in Bengali. In college we generally re-enacted existing plays by the likes of Badal Sarkar, Bratya Basu, Utpal Dutta etc. In Jamshedpur, we tried to put a little more of our creativity into the plays. We took some well-known stories of Tagore and others, and put in some original chunks to concatenate them, and presented them as a common theme.
L: No I mean what have the themes of your plays been?
Me: We have done everything from comedies, tragedies, political satire, to mythology.
G: (cutting in) So being in the theatre circuit and all, what are your views on the debate going on about Freedom of Speech?
Me: (Thank god for Google News) Sir I feel that whatever JNU students have said are definitely objectionable, however morality and legality cannot be considered to be the same. It was wrong to have taken legal action against the students.
G: (Slightly agitated) What are you saying! Have you seen the video where he is saying all that anti-national stuff?
Me: Yes, but...
L: (to G) Oh that video was doctored. It was a ploy of the politicians or the media.
G: (to L) But how is it possible to edit a video so convincingly?
L: They will do anything to create an issue.
G: But they also had banners and signs saying the same thing.
Me sitting in awkward silence while the two panellists continue debating among themselves about the issue. Finally,
L: So Sambit your final views on the matter?
Me:(Remembering a quote but not who it was from) Ma'am all I would like to say is that I do not agree with what the students have said, but I will defend their right to be able to say it.
L and G both look pleased (Diplomacy FTW!)

IIM Calcutta

Both the panellists, a lady (L) and a gentleman (G), were Bengali. My schooling has been at an institution that is literally across the road from IIMC, so I was expecting some discussion on that topic. Instead while I am just taking my seat,

Me: Good Morn..
L: So Sambit, what is the meaning of your name?
Me:... Ma'am it means attention or awareness.
L: Awareness huh? So what do you think one should have awareness about?
Me: (I have no idea what suddenly got into me) Ma'am at the risk of sounding philosophical, I feel that primarily we should be aware of ourselves. The purpose of our existence. Our higher calling. Our many different nuances and idiosyncrasies that can affect our functioning. Because if we are not aware of ourselves, we cannot affect or influence anything else effectively. (pause for breath) Ma'am for a long time I was not aware of my ambitions or "purpose". But my experiences in the professional world for the last two years has helped me find myself and realise my true desires, and for that reason I am here today.
L & G briefly confused and speechless.
Me grinning from ear to ear.
G:...Fine. So what was the whole thing about Tata and Singur?

Rest of the interview wasn't nearly as fun.

IIM Bangalore

I was interviewing on the last day of the Kolkata leg for IIM Bangalore. There were only five more interviewees with me. I was called in at number four and went inside to see a panel of three, a lady (L), an obvious Bengali gentleman (B) and another gentleman (G).

G:So Sambit! (reading from my data form) "Founder member of an independent theatre group in Jamshedpur"...so what kind of plays have you done there?
Me:(Muahahaha) Our group has done two plays in Bengali in Jamshedpur till date, and both have been portrayal of well-known tales with a dash of originality. The first play we did was called 'Nilkantha Pakhir Khonje' and was an amalgamation of two of Tagore's famous plays - 'Tasher Desh' and 'Rokto Korobi'. The second play we did was...
B: (cutting in) Wait wait wait. 'Tasher Desh' and 'Rokto Korobi' together? How did you connect those two?
Me: (getting the feeling that B is a Bengali littérateur, but again, aren't those two words synonymous?) The theme of our production was finding your own spirit of freedom. We have shown the characters of Horotoni from 'Tasher Desh' and Nandini from 'Rokto Korobi' to be incarnations of the same ideology. They enable people and society around them to change, to defy regulations, and realise the spirit of freedom within themselves.

B: That is okay for 'Tasher Desh', but I still don't understand how it makes sense in the case of 'Rokto Korobi'.
Me: Sir the settings of both stories are very similar. Jokkhopuri in 'Rokto Korobi' is similar to Tasher Desh - a lifeless land where people adhere strictly to existing rules and regulations, and cannot even imagine stepping beyond boundaries. In a sense it is actually similar to 'Hirok Rajar Deshe' by Satyajit Ray, where Gupi and Bagha are the agent of change that...
B: (suddenly excited) Well now that you mention 'Hirok Rajar Deshe', if you have seen the film you will notice that every character's dialogues are in rhymes, except one. Can you tell me who and why?
Me: (can't help beaming) It is the character portrayed by Soumitro Chattopadhyay - the teacher of the paathshaala. I think it is because he is an iconoclast - he refuses to blindly follow directions and challenges existing norms. It is to distinguish him from the lifeless crowd of Hirok Rajar Desh.
B:(more excited) So you think a teacher should always question and never take things as is?
Me: Yes Sir, I feel curiosity is the best way of gaining and spreading knowledge.
B:(looking very pleased, to panel) That's it from me. Please go forward with your questions.

And it went from Satyajit Ray to China, steel prices and whatnot.

Last but not the least,
IIM Ahmedabad

My friend and me had our interviews on the same day, but he had it in the first half and I, post lunch. We had briefly spoken over the phone after his interview was over. He told me that the interviewers in his panel were aggressive and fired question after question at him, not giving him a moment to breathe. He was a little disappointed with his interview and said that he couldn't really answer to their satisfaction, or rather, they were not satisfied however much he spoke. So I was apprehensive about falling prey to the same panel. I was the first person to be called in during my session, which I thought was great since we were planning to catch Batman V Superman afterwards. The panellists were both middle aged gentlemen (G1 and G2). So after I wish them a good afternoon and sit down,

G1: (looking at my data form) So Sambit, tell us a little bit about yourself. Your upbringing, your education, your hobbies etc.
Me: blah blah... Kolkata... blah blah... consistent performer... blah blah... IIT... blah blah... dramatics... blah blah... Tata Steel... blah blah... guitar etc.
G1: Wait wait wait... IIT Kharagpur and Tata Steel? Wasn't one of your friends just here in the first half?
Me: (simply amazed at my luck) Yes sir. In fact he has been staying at my home in Kolkata during the interviews since I am a local.
G1: Oh! Then he must have told you everything that we asked him. No wander you gave such a lovely well-formed answer when I asked you about yourself.
Me: (What? Why would I decide what to say about myself from someone else's tips?) No Sir it's not...
G2: Fine. What do you do at Tata Steel?

The next twenty minutes consisted them blasting me questions on metallurgy and steel and my work experience. They were critical of every word I said and did not seem satisfied by anything. My confidence dropped steadily and near the end I was almost convinced that Ahmedabad will remain only a dream. However, I did try to answer to the best of my knowledge and made sure never to lose my confidence or nerve, as I had heard of 'stress interviews' in the past. Well, after about thirty minutes into the interview, the panel seemed completely convinced of my incompetence, ridiculed the work I do for the salary I draw, and seemed ecstatic at having torn my confidence down to shreds.

G1: We will wrap it up now. So you are a guitarist? Okay Sambit, there is no guitar in this room. How will you convince me that you are a guitarist staying in this room?
Me:(almost no confidence at this point....thinking...Show him a video on my phone? No we had to leave our phone outside... what then? what? what? Suddenly!) The only thing I can think of is to show you my fingertips...

G2: (cutting in) We are not experts, we cannot make out by seeing your fingers. (to G1) Can you?

Me:(Hastily) No no it's not how the finger itself looks! If you feel my fingertips you can see that they have formed calluses - these form by practising over time. Initially when you start playing the guitar your fingers pain a lot during fretting the strings. But gradually your fingers adapt and these hard calluses form on the fingertips. So now, I have very little feeling in the fingertips of my left hand (flicking the tip of my left middle finger with my right hand, for theatricality). All guitarists have fingers like this.

G1: Wow! Pretty Cool man! We're done. Take a toffee and leave.

Till date, I have trouble believing that I got seats in all five IIMs.
P.S. Thumbs up to Gautam Mandal to inspire me to write this, and Ankit Singh for everything.