On 22 June 1995, in a small town of Siliguri in West Bengal, Mr Naresh Kumar Singhal and Mrs Shanta Singhal welcomed a baby girl in their lives. She slowly grew up with dreams about her life and career in her eyes. Her parents and family members too had dreams for her in their eyes. The contradicting dreams first surfaced when she wanted to move out of her home town for her graduation. But the required approvals were not granted citing reasons like ‘not good enough scores’ worth leaving the town, safety concerns and a conditioned assurance of allowing her to move out for post-graduation. After a few attempts of persuasion, she gave in. But the determination to fulfill the conditions was higher this time. She pulled up her socks and was ready to give in everything she could to move out for her post-graduation.
In the year 2017, she gave her first CAT attempt. The result was a mere seventy-seven percentile. She failed. The failure however further strengthened her determination. Another year of staying up late at night and juggling between her last semester, a supplementary paper and preparations for the entrance exam.
The year was 2018. The D-day had arrived. It was her second attempt. And she belled the cat this time. The first condition of crossing the ninety percentile mark was achieved. It was time to cross the second hurdle – a big NO for colleges in the region of Delhi and NCR. This implied a limited pool of colleges for which she could apply. She had interview calls from six colleges and had to convert at least one of them by hook or by crook. She converted two of them.
The conditions put forth in the year 2014 were finally fulfilled in 2018. The approvals were given. She packed her bags and was ready to begin the new and more challenging phase of her life. On 22 June 2018, on the eve of her 23rd birthday, she left to fulfill her dreams.
The girl is me, Priyanka Singhal, happily pursuing Post Graduate Diploma in Management, specializing in Finance, at T. A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal.