A New Life, A New Beginning

Note- This is a Personal Post and if you are not interested in reading about my personal life, kindly skip it.

It is indeed a great feeling when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself. We plan and scheme things but it can only take you so far, destiny takes its own course – something I still haven’t been able to rationalize my way out of yet. Either way although things almost never go according to plan, the way things pan out keeps life interesting and worth living. All this philosophy up here has something to do with the next chapter of my life – IRMA. Supertramp says that happiness is only real when shared, I thought I’d share an abridged version of my journey to IRMA.

The days on the other side of the wall:

Somewhere during the 3^rd year of engineering, among the less technically inclined, a mirror-like phenomenon called “MBA mania” happens. I believe it is still rediscovered in every batch. You read up on the placement figures, read up on the comfy life of post Bschool and finally buy in to the great Indian middle class idea of utopia – MBA degree.

CAT - The predator posing as a house pet

Apparently, the only thing standing between you and your dream life is a pesky exam called CAT. But as it turned out exams like CAT don’t come with humble numbers, basically she is a predator posing as a house pet. Sitting back now I can say that buying the prospectus is a close to home parallel to buying a lottery ticket. In all likelihood you would have already cynically dismissed the whole bloody exam half way through your campaign. Trust me it happens!

Anyway as a risk mitigation strategy, I picked up application forms for all exams I had ever heard of. Of all the exams – 5 or 6 of them, subconsciously IRMA was certainly not the place I imagined seeing myself. Common, I am city bred and cornflakes fed what do you expect? The prelims happened on exactly the day my sister was getting married and I missed the function. I was pissed off!

As providence may have it at the end of the prelims season, I had enough calls from good Bschools and IRMA to keep my campaign alive (by that time I had gathered that IRMA could not be categorized a typical Bschool).

The new dynamic:

The interview season began and I started visiting campus after campus. At most places I managed to encounter flashy presentations, the never ending race – blind, concentrated, continued action with a tinge of snobbishness in style and superficial interviewing. Most places did not really have a soul, nevertheless, I had prepared my self for unadulterated hypocrisy and it paid off for me. I did well at all places I visited.

Institute of Rural Management Anand

Right on the middle of this all was my interview of very average priority – IRMA. I dragged myself to Anand, mentally tired and underprepared. I arrived at the campus the day before my interview – lovely, absolutely amazing campus. I started seeing things better now. I met a few guys from different parts of the country, some people having attempted only IRMA and passionate about joining the institute. I asked them why? They had answers that had me stumped. Quite uncharacteristically I quickly realised that I might be missing something here. Things were slightly slower and meditative, passion and vision defined the air and they didn’t give a damn about the suits. I loved that!  There was more than obvious overlap between my true being and the character and vision of the institute. Now I became desperate to get in. Whomp! The tables had just turned. I played my cards differently albeit more naturally – confidence bordering arrogance with genuine passion. I knew I had pulled IRMA off.

A whole new world:

Now a lot of my worldly wise fellows think I am nuts (not that it hasn’t been suggested before). Right from the entrepreneurial capitalist to the socially oriented, oh the twist and turns keep on coming! I can’t really reason why, I guess I am just following the natural course of my being.

So what is in my mind at the onset of this new detour?

A) I love the fact that I have been able to take a decision out of power and not weakness. I have a lot of worldly wise options before me but I chose my own path. That’s a little more responsibility than I would have liked but the challenge seems interesting.

B) Right at the core of man’s spirit lays a desperate need for new experiences. I believe I am going to expose myself to something I haven’t ever experienced before, the prospects are inspiring.

C) It is a clean slate now, my past has little significance any more.

Blessing myself and Signing off!

PS: I’ve committed the cardinal sin – inconsistency. I resist my natural inclination to reason my way out of this, it is just the way things are.

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