Part A
Legacy of my Father
During the winters of 2001, one fine day my father came to pick me up from school instead of the usual affairs of the School bus. He took me to some secluded place far away from the city to Bhondsi where me and my elder sister were greeted by our mother and close relatives. I did not realize why were we shifting to this place but was happy at the same time to live in a house with 5 bedrooms and 2 lawns. We lived there for 2 years and we lived closely with nature. He took me to a construction site and told me this will be our new home. Fast forward 1 year later I could see the progress of the construction of the house, there were towers of Ultratech cement bags placed next to the eastern wall and I asked my father why this brand? My father explained to me how he was looking for a long-lasting build and Ultratech cement was the choice for long life. I visited the construction site once every week with my father to check up on the progress of the construction thinking I was the catalyst in the whole process of the construction. We shifted in our new house on the 12th day of October 2003 with high hopes and smiles on our faces. 16 years have gone by, I have grown up, my parents have grown old but the cement, the bricks, the pillars of our house are still as strong.
Part B
Waves of my life
It was a sunny morning on the 21st day of June 2013, my heart was pounding like a hammer beating down on an anvil. I didn’t have the spunk to check my own result of JEE Advanced 2013. My father was standing right next to me to check the result. I somehow collected myself and entered the Roll number to check my result. I froze when I saw the result and to my surprise I had a satisfactory rank to get into one of the old IITs. The smile on my father’s face made my day as this man had worked so hard in his life coming from a BPL background to get me where I was. The selection process into IIT Bombay was long and pampering was a daily routine. On 16th of July I reached IIT Bombay in Duronto express which was my 1st time experiencing such a long journey in life. I started out my life at IIT from a trench as the whole environment of heavy rains accompanied with lovely flora and fauna was a new concept for a boy raised in Gurgaon. I somehow managed to keep my health in check after 1 long excruciating month and soon I realized I missed out on so much that I tasted my first failure in life, a backlog in inorganic and organic chemistry. This came as a shock to me as I realized that I was not at school where I was one of the brightest but at a premiere institute among like minded academics-oriented people. I fell behind the curve so fast that by the time I could react to the situation, I was knee deep in the horror show called Academic Rehabilitation Program (ARP). The institute warned me that If I don’t perform they can kick me out of the college and I was to report to my faculty advisor once a week in full formals. A friend of mine suggested me to check out the collection at Peter England. At first, I was not sure because the brand sounded too costly to me but after visiting the store I found the pricing of the products genuine and the collection diverse. I worked my fingers to the bone to get out of the ARP and after accomplishing that, I set small goals for myself and worked to meet them and soon came to terms that I can’t change what’s in the past but can change what’s in the future. The noose of extension was still loose, or so I thought. During my fifth year into engineering people started asking about it and it was hard to explain my case to people. I had a whole year to introspect on my decisions and to look forward in life. I decided that I won’t take up placements and define myself to be the 5 point someone.I decided to pursue an MBA which intrigued me a lot as I had prior experience in managing various college events. I took CAT and IIFT entrance test the same year and ended up with a low score. I consulted my family and some close friends about my future actions and after a good long talk with my inner self I decided to drop a year after graduating to give myself another chance. I worked hard and secured calls from some of the top B schools. I went with a positive attitude in all my interviews no matter the preference order of the B-School. I got rejected in the very first result released which made me rethink about my interview which I thought was the best out of all the other interviews as it wasn’t just a Question and Answer session but a long interesting conversation about my hobby to which even the panelists were surprised. Second result from IIFT Delhi came as a breath of fresh air as I had secured my seat in one of the best B-Schools in India. After a series of rejects and entrapment in multiple waitlists, I finally joined IIFT Delhi campus with my spirits high. I soon realized the grind that goes in a B-School, the time crunch, the pitch-perfect attire and the knowledge overload and to adapt to this new life was not easy for me. My previous formal suit was out of touch, so I visited a Louis Philippe store to get myself a new suit for all the formal events as the exposure in top B-Schools is overwhelming. My life has been all about the ups and downs and this is just the tip of the iceberg. I hope to have many more ups and downs in my life ahead as these are the moments that make a man. I have loved, I have hated, I have drifted, I have drowned for without experiences there is no me.
