“How did it get so late so soon?” - Dr. Seuss
It is surprising how I am sitting on my bed right now trying to come up with the best strategy to pack my things and yet it feels like yesterday that I was travelling to Bangalore for my XL interview. I am still in a limbo as compared to the people around me. Everyone is busy posting pictures of the year that was, of the memories they created in the three gruelling trimesters that we left behind and I am still here. Sitting quietly and remembering how scared I was on the first day of college.
I am writing this because it is yet to sink in that my first year of MBA is done. I am writing this article because I feel time has passed too fast for my own liking. I am writing this because I feel that I want to say a lot of things to a lot of people but
I just don't have the time! I still remember being taken aback by the kind of zeal and energy people came with to XL. Many people warned me that it would be nothing like undergrad. And I kept thinking "It's college! How worse could it be?" But then I realised that I was amidst some of the most talented people of this country. They have come here to excel (
pun totally intended), to redeem the mistakes they may have done in the past and to push themselves forward in the world. And most of us here have come here after seeing a bit of the world. We aren't kids anymore. Most of us had left the sheltered bubbles that we were brought up in. Gone were the days of leisure. These are the people who have come here with conviction in their hearts to win at the battle of life.
Someone is here because she wants to get her parents a home when she gets that big FMCG job. My friend wants to be a support for his family because his mom has passed away. That kid who doesn't talk much to anyone used to suffer from depression and had to fight quite a bit to make it here. I know of a friend who came to a B-School to avoid being pressured into marriage. B-Schools are set in reality. Maybe a bit too much. But we all, undeniably, are fighting our own wars and overcoming our own obstacles.
As I type these words today, I can't help but feel humbled by some of these inspiring souls around me. I know most of us are trying to fit in and most of us are trying to put on a brave face. But when you look around you, remember that all of them are silently hunting their own demons. These deadlines and endless assignments and sleepless nights have made each of us stronger. Don't be bogged down by setbacks. Let us not think we are undeserving because of failures. Because that is what B-Schools teach us - "Life is tough. Deal with it."