As the sky grew deeper into the shades of night with the stars lighting up the city with their smile, I walk a lonely road shining under the magnificent canvas of the heavens. As the wind blows through my hair with the fragrance of the flowers filling up my lungs I embrace the silence of the woods. Walking down the moon-kissed roads of IIM Bangalore, I climb my mountain of memories. Memories that make me ride on the clouds of confidence and dance on the flames of faith.
As I dig deep into the memory lane, I travel to the time when I decided to spread my wings of dreams and fly, the time when I have decided to give CAT exam and rise above the rest. Faced with scores of decisions, I was always caught between the hate story of my head and heart. For I can neither miss the text message quoting salary has been credited nor live with the boring job. For I cannot afford the sleepless nights after work preparing for CAT and also cannot afford to laze around and turning into a dull doll. For I cannot get weary from travelling the endless country roads to the coaching centres, and I cannot miss the chance of belling the CAT and reaching my goal. This was a classic dilemma between the head and the heart. As Mr Grey and Ms Red fight over what to do and what not to do, the dawn begins and still, I cannot decide the Grey way or the Red way.
Battling these clouds of confusion and rising above the stormy winds knocking me down I have decided to have the courage and powered myself with confidence. In the process of rising above the hate story of head and heart, my love story with MBA and IIMs started brewing up.
The love story was not out of routine. What started as a fling turned into an admiration for CAT. As they say, your true love would find you when the time is right, and I did find one. I fell deeply in love with the preparation. And there was a time when I couldn’t get enough of it and spent long hours, late nights preparing for CAT. I was enamoured by quant, infatuated by Data Interpretation and serenaded by Vocab. But it wasn’t a smooth ride to the paradise. As in every love story, I did grow weary, weary to the bones from travelling, from sleepless nights, from mind-boggling questions and endless readings. I had painful break-up thoughts. Every step I took backwards increased the distance from my goal but this distance made the heart grow fonder and I pulled more and more into preparing. The grief of separation from my dream was so aching that I doubled up the number of mocks, pushed my limits, redone papers till I learned from my mistakes. I had to fight against my family, prove my love for MBA, challenge the biggest Villain in my life i.e. marriage and shed tears.
I could do all these because I was lost in the love for MBA, lost looking at the future that awaits, lost hearing to the voice of success. I chased my dreams, fell over the obstacles, divided, broken and hurt. But every time I fall, I started it all over again for the struggle isn’t new to me, for the battle isn’t strange to me. I fought a mighty war against my Head to win what my heart wants, what my soul wants. As failures galore me in the form of depressing mock results in DI, I plunged into a sea of new problems, mastered the ocean of DI/LR, steered my way through CAT and landed at ‘the Place to B-IIM B’. I did win my battle of love and emerge victoriously.
Walking through the divine lanes of IIM B, reminiscing about my romantic journey towards IIM B, I realize how my passion, my obsession for IIM got me here. It was my love for MBA that always kept me going, no matter how hard the path was. IIM Bangalore - a heaven down under, has embraced me with all my faults, raised me to stand on mountains, to walk on fiery oceans. So, when the question of ‘to B or not to B ‘, when sandwiched between head and heart, just close your eyes, brush aside the thoughts and listen to your heart. Follow your heart, it gives the confidence to chase your dreams. Follow your heart, it fills you with the fire to work hard. Follow your heart, as in the battle between the head and the heart, the heart always wins.
Remember Backing out is not an option in LOVE!