The story starts with a mail saying you have converted a B-School. Everyone around you is happy and is congratulating you. You celebrate a bit(read: a lot). After a few days pass by, you start shopping for your 2-year journey. My shopping started with the search of pale coloured plain formal shirts. I basically belong to Vadodara (Gujarat) which probably qualifies as one of the established cities in the state. What if I tell you, it took me around 2 days to get a shirt which ticks all my boxes?
Initially, it was really difficult to find pale coloured shirts of decent enough quality to wear it at corporate events/seminars. I started searching at places I knew are outside my budget and my hit rate increased. But the rates were really high for me to buy considering the amount of shirts. I even visited the likes of pantaloons, which used to be my go-to place for casual wear, as well as brand factory only to be disappointed.
At last, I decided to go the city market, a really vibrant and happening place for clothes. I had almost decided that I am going to get my shirt stitched. In the same lane where I was searching for material, Peter England, which I perceived to be a really costly place for people like me, also happened to be there. I decided to give it a try as I was already exhausted of the process and had my fair share of disappointment to take one more. Surprisingly, the shirts I saw there are what I have with me here at FMS, Delhi. Not only that, most of my casual-wears too come from Pantaloons. So I think I can say this with conviction that ABG indeed looks after a very important factor that builds my personality and allows me to walk outside with confidence.
The challenge I will be discussing here is two-fold, both of which are highly correlated. One is psychological other is philosophical. Think of a 16 year old who used to play for long hours even in the hottest of the summer days. Never did he have any ambition in his life. He used to live his life, peacefully, one day at a time. He has completed his SSC examinations and as promised by his father, gets the admission form for his cricket academy which he had already played for during his under 12s. Come the day for submitting the form, and he meets with an accident and breaks his elbow bone. Time to take some rest, 3 months to be exact and no work load on his right hand for at least next 2 years.
Meanwhile the results of SSC were declared, relatively speaking he stood 36
th in a batch of around 120 students. He again has his HSC semester one exam after a few months. Gets the plaster off his hand, goes through the painstaking physiotherapy sessions while preparing for the ‘highly’ valued HSC examinations. Couple of months down the line his father gets diagnosed with Cancer. His parents were to stay at hospital for the next five to six months for the treatment. For the very first time, he felt responsible. This responsibility which came with ton loads of fear and anxiety also gave him a path for the future. The only thing that could have given him a financial and social security was to give his best shot when it comes to education. Amidst that psychological condition, he gave his examinations. He visited his father to the hospital with a result that had him in the second position in his class. In my opinion, in all that happened, the story from being 36
th to 2
nd, the only conscious effort that he had to make was to believe in himself and give his best shot possible to the cause. The fact that he allowed himself the opportunity to have that ambition and to realize that he too has the potential to impact not just his but others’ lives is, according to me, the most important psychological barrier that he has ever crossed.