Life of chapters...
My life over the past few years can be narrated as chapters...I can recall from the time I entered engineering (ofcourse I can force fit a few even before that) that there have been episodes which have tried to teach me a certain aspect of life...
My second year engineering was when mom and dad left for US to take care of sis who was pregnant with my nephew then, leaving me alone in Mumbai for a couple of months...This was the time I learnt how to manage things on my own a bit...cook...pay bills...make complaints on services not working and go through the routine bureaucracies a person faces while trying to get his homely affairs in place. This year also witnessed me ranking 2nd in my dept in engineering...Though i would like to think that was a job well done, I know that was more of luck than anything else...I had not studied a single tiny ounce more than what I generally do..but it was defn a year in which I learned to manage alone..
My third year was eclipsed by just one designation...General Secretary, Students' Council K.J Somaiya...came to the post by luck...hadnt worked enuff the previous years...or rather was not given enough work..but whatever the case...was very inexperienced for the job...and the worse part was...even my team knew it...
I had my ups and downs...I think I was pretty good in communicating and getting my point across to the management & faculty...where I lacked...significantly was to exert control over my peers...However, I am thankful that I learnt a lot of lessons then...a lesson that keeping everyone happy isnt possible and that is the death of decision making...Also to never trust anyone by their promises and only trust your own judgment...The experiences of the year were far too many...I remember a few...but many others have moulded my traits even without my knowledge...
A friend of mine used to ask "Would you have taken the same decision of wanting to be the General Secretary if you were given a choice"...My response was..."Looking back...Yes I wuld hv taken the same decision...but I wouldnt want to go through all that again..."
Fourth Year was the relaxing time...enjoying with friends..specially my group...preparing for CAT(which I enjoyed anyways)...Calls...GDPI prep...BE Project (Pranav Zindabad!)... Final calls from IIMs...blogging...The whole year was wonderful...It was the year of success...of fame...teaching me valuable lessons of when to keep low and when to raise your hood...how to be yourself even when things go good and sink bad...but without a doubt..thts the year I enjoyed the most at KJ...
First Year at IIMA was the year for the reality check...suppression of overconfidence...retelling me that things CAN go horribly wrong...retelling cos I had already learnt tht lesson during my third year and had kinda lost the idea during the fourth..It was also the year that taught me the essence of hard work and perseverance...Also that...Hope should never be lost...and that there is a fire in everyone...talk less (well I do get the lesson time and again...but thts one thing I have not been able to do much about)....I had great time in parts too ofcourse...with newfound friends...people who cared...again a year with significant learnings...
And the final year at WIMWI has undoubtedly been the year of travelling...I have already covered 15 countries and will complete 2-4 more in a couple of months...I hadnt stepped foot out of India before Aug 27 2007...and by June 5 2008...Having covered most of Europe, Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia...now US and with Dubai, Indonesia on the cards in the next month..I can surely classify the year tht went as a year of seeing the world...
Made a lot of friends from various foreign places...very close ones...From Moritz (Mo) of Germany to Remi (Tipu) of France as exchange students coming to IIM...to my apartmentmates in Mannheim, Germany..Bela from Hungary, Evan from Canada, Miika and Sari from Finland, Jing Jo the chinese girl from Swiss, Nadine from Singapore....to the friends I made in Germany..Johanna, Peter etc. to my group mates Ilina and Yuben from Bulgaria...speaking with all of them without any country barriers on any topic in the world ranging from food to politics to history to games toc finance to parties to insanity...celebrating birthday parties with them...everything was indeed an amazing experience....
And then came the month of no voice...trying to teach me the asset of remaining quite...I failed miserably...it took a full paralysis of right vocal coord to shut me up...Here was my second lesson of taking heavy news with a smile...like when the doc said i culd have cancer or brain tumour which could be the reason for the paralysis...
And then the placements...putting in hardwork for preparations...receiving no calls on Day Z...being utterly disappointed and then getting a second short list from Arthur D Little...and converting it...to be placed among the top 40 in the batch to be placed on Day Z of placements...Again providing testimony that hard work always pays dividends...and there is a power of divine tht does exist to save you from perils....
Now as I sit in US...spending most of my time playing with my nephew...with only a couple of weeks to spare till I join work in Dubai....I am reminded of a famous speech by the Apple chief Steve Jobs of looking at our past and seeing the dots connecting...Though I cant see the dots connecting...I surely can see a pattern...I wonder....when would it be that I can undersand wht the pattern is shaping up into....
My second year engineering was when mom and dad left for US to take care of sis who was pregnant with my nephew then, leaving me alone in Mumbai for a couple of months...This was the time I learnt how to manage things on my own a bit...cook...pay bills...make complaints on services not working and go through the routine bureaucracies a person faces while trying to get his homely affairs in place. This year also witnessed me ranking 2nd in my dept in engineering...Though i would like to think that was a job well done, I know that was more of luck than anything else...I had not studied a single tiny ounce more than what I generally do..but it was defn a year in which I learned to manage alone..
My third year was eclipsed by just one designation...General Secretary, Students' Council K.J Somaiya...came to the post by luck...hadnt worked enuff the previous years...or rather was not given enough work..but whatever the case...was very inexperienced for the job...and the worse part was...even my team knew it...
I had my ups and downs...I think I was pretty good in communicating and getting my point across to the management & faculty...where I lacked...significantly was to exert control over my peers...However, I am thankful that I learnt a lot of lessons then...a lesson that keeping everyone happy isnt possible and that is the death of decision making...Also to never trust anyone by their promises and only trust your own judgment...The experiences of the year were far too many...I remember a few...but many others have moulded my traits even without my knowledge...
A friend of mine used to ask "Would you have taken the same decision of wanting to be the General Secretary if you were given a choice"...My response was..."Looking back...Yes I wuld hv taken the same decision...but I wouldnt want to go through all that again..."
Fourth Year was the relaxing time...enjoying with friends..specially my group...preparing for CAT(which I enjoyed anyways)...Calls...GDPI prep...BE Project (Pranav Zindabad!)... Final calls from IIMs...blogging...The whole year was wonderful...It was the year of success...of fame...teaching me valuable lessons of when to keep low and when to raise your hood...how to be yourself even when things go good and sink bad...but without a doubt..thts the year I enjoyed the most at KJ...
First Year at IIMA was the year for the reality check...suppression of overconfidence...retelling me that things CAN go horribly wrong...retelling cos I had already learnt tht lesson during my third year and had kinda lost the idea during the fourth..It was also the year that taught me the essence of hard work and perseverance...Also that...Hope should never be lost...and that there is a fire in everyone...talk less (well I do get the lesson time and again...but thts one thing I have not been able to do much about)....I had great time in parts too ofcourse...with newfound friends...people who cared...again a year with significant learnings...
And the final year at WIMWI has undoubtedly been the year of travelling...I have already covered 15 countries and will complete 2-4 more in a couple of months...I hadnt stepped foot out of India before Aug 27 2007...and by June 5 2008...Having covered most of Europe, Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia...now US and with Dubai, Indonesia on the cards in the next month..I can surely classify the year tht went as a year of seeing the world...
Made a lot of friends from various foreign places...very close ones...From Moritz (Mo) of Germany to Remi (Tipu) of France as exchange students coming to IIM...to my apartmentmates in Mannheim, Germany..Bela from Hungary, Evan from Canada, Miika and Sari from Finland, Jing Jo the chinese girl from Swiss, Nadine from Singapore....to the friends I made in Germany..Johanna, Peter etc. to my group mates Ilina and Yuben from Bulgaria...speaking with all of them without any country barriers on any topic in the world ranging from food to politics to history to games toc finance to parties to insanity...celebrating birthday parties with them...everything was indeed an amazing experience....
And then came the month of no voice...trying to teach me the asset of remaining quite...I failed miserably...it took a full paralysis of right vocal coord to shut me up...Here was my second lesson of taking heavy news with a smile...like when the doc said i culd have cancer or brain tumour which could be the reason for the paralysis...
And then the placements...putting in hardwork for preparations...receiving no calls on Day Z...being utterly disappointed and then getting a second short list from Arthur D Little...and converting it...to be placed among the top 40 in the batch to be placed on Day Z of placements...Again providing testimony that hard work always pays dividends...and there is a power of divine tht does exist to save you from perils....
Now as I sit in US...spending most of my time playing with my nephew...with only a couple of weeks to spare till I join work in Dubai....I am reminded of a famous speech by the Apple chief Steve Jobs of looking at our past and seeing the dots connecting...Though I cant see the dots connecting...I surely can see a pattern...I wonder....when would it be that I can undersand wht the pattern is shaping up into....
posted by Rajiv Nair | 10:17 am
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