My Education Safari

Wow… am an MBA…. I have seen my diploma so many times already in one week, I even got it laminated already ….  Its definitely one of the very special moment for me and my family , more so because no one expected me to go for graduation left alone post graduation. I surprised many including myself to go for it. Well in my dad words “ am the first boy to be a post graduate in whole of our khaandan and the first boy of my generation to even think of studying after 12^th :D .

When I look back , I myself can’t believe I was topper till 6^th standard. Oh yeah I was one of those kids who got  first rank almost every time  and cried like its end of world on getting 2^nd rank :D.

Then I went to Chennai , wooah .. was shocked to see how much the guys there studied. Even after getting 100 in mathematics , 90 in Hindi I  saw myself holding 5^th rank . After little bit of anlaysis I realized they are superhumans and they got 100 even in social studies . So after an year or so after consistently coming in top 10 I got used to being not a topper and started enjoying it also. No more worries about marks and ranks. But yeah that got bells ringing in my parents head they realized that “Rahul to gayaaa”..

So when in 9^th standard I came back to Delhi , it was then my sisters forced me to join tuitions thinking that my percentage will improve , oh yeah I got 78% in first term of 9^th standard , well nothing changed even after that except consistently getting more than 95 in Mathematics.

In 10th I faired decently, my sisters had scared me so much about board exams that I studied a lot. But just a month before board exams they both got married so I didn’t get to study much plus some bad luck in Hindi language paper, I ended up just above 80% .

Pheww...after that started the downfall. I fought a lot with my sisters to let me take commerce but then no one listened to me and I took science finally. Oh yeah I even enrolled for IIT prep , but all those classes about molecules, potential energy were like bouncers for me. I consistently failed in the FIITJEE tests and was just passing the school papers. Then after first term of 12^th, I realized if it goes on like this, I might fail in board exams too. So I went to my dad and told him about my thoughts. Oh yeah it was the first time ever I talked with dad about my studies. After that for next few months I took tuitions just for board exams . Nothing was improving much though, I failed in chemistry in pre board exams.

I still remember I was so scared when 12^th class result was about to come. Normally one is able to make it out expected percentage but I had no clue. I didn’t know if I made right molecule diagram in Chemistry or used the right formula in physics. I had lost trust in language papers after getting low marks in Hindi in 10^th. Finally result came and I got what I deserved, just little less than 80%.

I thought chalo khatam hua sab. Then suddenly had so many entrance tests lined up. I knew I wasnt good enough to clear the big tests like IIT, DCE, AIEEE , so I even gave Maharashtra, Karnataka and Punjab CET. Side by side I also filled Hotel Management  form, DU form( DU remains an unfulfilled dream L ) , bought CA form , NDA ,BCA form too with a hope that to clear atleast one of them. Oh yeah I had no clue what I wanted to do but my family was clear that engineering hi karvani hai ladke ko.

 Somehow I managed to clear IP paper. I remember after completing that paper I saw I had not attempted 30 continuous questions, so I marked all of them B thinking the laws of probability would be in my favor: D. Clearing that paper led to a BIG discussion at my home. I ruled out dropping a year to prepare for Engg Entrance , I told my parents and sisters that Its not my cup of tea. Then they told me DU no ways , CA no ways . So finally I thought let me go for engineering , college is in Delhi , 4 years  of fun.

Oh it was fun but scary. 4 years, all guys gang , I played cricket, table tennis , volleyball,football etc etc etc. I used to cram the figures of amplifiers and equations 2 days before paper. Everytime before paper I used to be very scared , so scared that I was not able to even drive car to the examination center. After every term there was atleast one paper in which I was sure to flunk. I still don’t know how I managed to clear Btech without a suppli (Grace marks saved me here  J ) .  The only thing I learnt in Btech was software coding. Oh yeah I think am good at it even today , it showed during my tenure at infy , I was among the toppers there during training. J

But luckily during Btech days I realized where my actual interest was. I understood I had a liking towards learning about the way things work in this world. So I started preparing for MBA but soon realized getting into good MBA college in India is tough. I tried finding an escape route and went to Australia and UK councils to find more about B schools there. However, I realized going there was waste of money as the returns were low.

So I gave CAT with optimism , got low percentile in first attempt ,somehow managed to get decent percentile in second attempt but still it wasn’t easy. Did miserably in GD/PI and was no where close to getting admission . Then suddenly I don’t know who smiled at me and I got a call from IMI one month after the college had opened. I wasn’t confident about myself performing in CAT next year so decided not to test my luck again and accepted the offer. Wow, MBA was almost exactly I wanted studies to be. I again started enjoying education , learnt a lot and had amazing time in college.

Sitting today I wonder what if I actually had been serious about my interest after 10^th standard and took up commerce. May be thing today would be little different and better, no regrets though , just a thought. J  Bas ab ek Executive MBA karne ka mann hai from abroad. :D