“If you’re going through hell, keep going”
The above words by Sir Winston Churchill truly encapsulate the essence of constantly persevering to achieve your goals and ambitions in life, regardless of the troubles and challenges that life has in store for you. Challenges are an integral aspect of every individual’s life journey as they can not only mould and alter a person’s character but they also hold the potential to immeasurably change a person’s course of life.
I, like every other transient being, have been afflicted with my share of challenges which have gone on to define who I am as a person and made me a better and more formidable individual. Having been born in a Tamil household with a rather exemplary record for academic recognition and career success running in the immediate and extended family, I was born into a battlefield of expectations. My father and my uncle, both geniuses during their youth, managed to ace the CA examinations in the first attempt and went on to build a name for themselves in the prestigious banking industry with my father becoming the Head of Treasury and Global Markets at the largest South African Bank and my uncle becoming the CFO of the largest French Bank. Imagine the horror I experienced when I had the (late) realization of what I was up against and what I had to live up to.
By the time I reached 10th standard, given my dislike for the science curriculum, it became pretty obvious to everyone in the family that I was going to take the commerce stream. “Apne Dad ki tarah CA banega yeh” was the implicit understanding everyone had adopted. I will be honest here and admit that not only was I rather oblivious as to what my interests were, I was also completely flummoxed about what career I wanted to make for myself. Given a lack of choice, I went ahead with the CA decision and signed a tacit contract with everyone that I will make them proud by having those two letters prefix my name.
“Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans”
You can already make out things are going to take an ugly turn and well, they did. For providing some context I have to mention here that I was a rather bright student in my youth. Topping my school all ten years in a row and coming second in my entire ward consisting of 8 schools in 10th standard, I was well on my way to following my Dad’s footsteps. I aced the 12th exams and cleared CPT in the first attempt with shining colors. Then, came the doom. IPCC. I flunked the May attempt by a huge margin. At the age of 19, I had caught the first glimpse of failure and it did not feel good. I am not sure what hurt more – whether it was the fact that I had let my parents down or whether the unbearable reality that the failure was a sign of my incompetence. Nonetheless, I decided to pursue the November attempt with all my vigor. Failed again.
I hated every single minute of my existence back then. I took the single biggest decision of my life on my own of giving up on CA and pursuing an alternate education. The reverberations of the failed attempts were felt in my undergraduate exams as well as I abandoned studies altogether and slipped into a depressive spiral. I realized I had to pick myself up and let bygones be bygones and start anew. With a great deal of help from my parents, I vigorously took to studies again and even sat through college placements. I excelled academically and became one amongst 8 students from college to get placed in Ernst & Young.
“I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed” – Michael Jordan
While at work I was determined to prove my worth and be invaluable to my team and the organization. After 2 years of consistent efforts, an unending enthusiasm to learn, a dedication and respect for my work and a passion for self-improvement, I became richer by 3 awards given to me by EY for my contributions, appreciation by team Director and Partner, appreciation from the clients I worked on and an improved repertoire of technical and soft skills. Having decided on pursuing an MBA, I gave all the management aptitude examinations and was admitted into NMIMS. With a renewed clarity on making a career in finance, I also registered for the CFA course and will be studying for it alongside the MBA course.
I would like to owe my success in turning my life around to multiple stakeholders, including but not limited to, God, my parents who stood by me like a rock, my friends who believed in me and encouraged me when I was at my lowest and every other well-wisher of mine. I would like to end this long article by tendering an apology for rather unabashedly exceeding the word count.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts”
#NMIMSMumbai#ABGLPWooMe
