Theodore Roosevelt once famously quoted "It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed". This quote embodies my entire life story in a nutshell. This is Rahul Bhalla writing my life experience from MDI Gurgaon, where I’m currently pursuing the PGPIM course.
Back in 2012, just after completing my 12th Boards and getting decent marks, I was contemplating which Bachelor’s course should I join. My fascination towards Business and Marketing from an early age made it an easy choice for me, so joining a BBA course at that point of time seemed like the most logical step of action. My parents thought otherwise and decided to enroll me into an Engineering college because I was good in Mathematics and they wanted me to follow what the other toppers in my school were doing, and that was Engineering. Soon after joining the college, I did not have much drive and passion towards the discipline my parents chose for me and the result was that I was just going through the motions of attending classes and studying the bare minimum for exams at the last minute.
The result of this was there for everyone to see, as after the end of my first year I had scored just 67%, with a paper-back added to it as well, which was a drastic fall from 96% which I had secured in 12th Board exams. I was burned out, disillusioned and was seriously contemplating to leave the course as I began doubting myself as to whether I can even pass the course as I had no interest in the discipline. But as they say, challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. So I began to look for sources of inspiration within and outside the class, to rekindle interest in the course and to make a meaningful contribution to my college. I began watching lectures from IIT Professors via NPTEL, and one course in particular (Linear Control Systems) was so interesting to me that I went on to get the highest marks in my class (97/100). This was a turning point for me, and there was no looking back. I showed incremental progress and went from 67% to 80% and 85% in my 4th year which made me one of the toppers in college.
So after overcoming the academic challenge, I wanted to challenge myself in other ways as well. I decided to join IEEE and became a student member for the Organization in my 2nd year. I usually did volunteering for events held under IEEE in my free time. But a few of my seniors saw potential in me and made me a part of the Organizing team. I then helped organize more than 10 technical events in college, some of which were very successful. Here I learned the art of time management, people skills, multitasking, following deadlines, marketing for events, fundraising, etc. And after a year of being an organizer, I also co-founded a Society and served as the Vice-Chair, and had the opportunity to lead a talented team of 10 people. I honed many skills during that time, such as being a Public speaker to being a Host for events, being a Quizmaster, conducting NGO drives and whatnot. And at the end of the 4-year course, I had 5 job offers at hand, which included an offer from a Startup company, and I was the only one to be offered that job in my entire college. But after finally completing 4 years of Engineering, I wanted to join an MBA course. Writing the GMAT seemed like the best way out, and I got enrolled myself at a nearby coaching center. One of the faculty members advised me to write the CAT exam instead of GMAT. I took it up as a challenge and decided to give it a shot as I thought it is better to fail after trying than to never even have tried. And so after 2 decent attempts at it, I scored 98.22 in CAT 2018 and secured an admit from MDI Gurgaon.
So where does ABG fit into all this? Well, it was an IDEA sim which was with me through all the thick and thin, be it watching NPTEL videos or talking with sponsors to fund the IEEE events. And it was Pantaloons brand of clothing that helped me be presentable and stylish while hosting for seminars and placement interviews. They have been an indelible part of my journey and will be for the years to come.