It was back in 2016, around June, when my parents came to Delhi. I remember because the tennis clay court season just ended, and I was still wearing my Roland Garros t-shirt. At the time, I had already been living in Delhi for over a year, but was still getting familiar with the town. It was clear sky and scorching hot in Delhi, when my family and I were out wandering in Rajiv Chowk, looking for a place to cool off and maybe get some needless shopping done. We found out there’s going to a big sale at Forever21, there. We planned a day out of it.
Next day, on the way to the store, inside the metro, we met a group of 4, 2 men; 2 women, with the same motive. They wanted to shop there, too. Turned out, they were musicians. The front man, Paton, asked me if I wanted to Jam with them, outside the store. Convinced me by telling me how big the queue in going to be. I instantly agreed. We played in the Select City Walk premise for hours and the people gathered around us to watch and record with their phones.
It was a day I’ll always cherish. I never met that group again, and I am not sure if I ever will. But, that’s one memory that can never be damaged, for me. Post then, I’ve never hesitated to have quality time with people I’m not acquainted with before. Helped me be a better person.
Being in a financially settled, sheltered, and emotionally well fed family, one would think – as the notion says – that hardships must be a rarity. Hardships, to me, is any goal that one is made to work for. It’s not a question of how tough and relatively tough that work is.
When I first decided to do an MBA, I did not have the slightest idea of how to go about what exams to write, let alone prepping for them. Having said that, I struggled to be focused at anything in life. I picked numerous hobbies during my school and carried none to another level. I played the guitar, I learned graphic design, I also learned to be an illusionist, played serious tennis, got into film making. Of all these things, I never found the passion to carry one forward.
My father always tells me, that anybody can hit a forehand down the line at 105 mph, and serve an ace out wide. But to do it consistently with the same grit and skill is the key difference between Roger Federer and the rest of the world.
But when it came to finally making a career decision, I had to go through a steep curve to tune my focus and be consistent at it. To begin, I understood and practiced sitting in one place for a long time to get any work done. Taught me how to complete things and not leave them unfinished. It is because of that one trait, that I got into a business school smoothly.
