To ‘B’ – A Travelogue

I had no intentions of doing an MBA this year. I wrote CAT just to keep in touch with the pattern and to see where I lagged as I was targeting it next year. That was also a reason why I did not write any other exam.

I attempted CAT on Nov 15th, 2010. Fortunately, the day wasn’t bad for me. I fared well and was expecting a few calls if at all I clear cut-offs for verbal section. The result day arrived and I got calls from IIM-B, IIM-I, IIM-K.

I thought this opportunity shouldn’t be wasted and decided to leave no stones unturned for converting the calls. As I was not expecting an admission this year, there was lesser pressure from within and it always is a good thing.

Next one and a half months passed filling interview forms, SOPs, reading newspaper and gathering as much relevant information that I could. I hated the pseudo state of hibernation. It was hard to fight the mental battle of when-will-this-end feeling. One thing I realized strongly is that converting a call is much-much-much tougher job than clearing CAT and getting calls.

I had my interviews during the initial phase and so there was a long wait for the final results. But all is well that ends well. Now that the IIMB final calls are out, I am all set to realize my dream. The feeling is yet to sink in. The support from my family and friends is not to be forgotten. I owe it to them.

PS: I shall post my interview experience once I recall it.

Is Social Net Working?

Social networking is a good idea. It is an easy way to stay in touch with our friends and people around us. It is doing a good job by bringing together people with similar interest groups and to collaborate for a common objective.

For businesses, it brings the target customers under one umbrella and is an effective way of marketing. It also gives them an effective medium to reach new clients and potential employees. It has made the whole world a small global village where geographical distances have a very little role to play.

But there are many things to ponder upon.

Many of us are too much addicted to social networking that we do not leave our rooms. We hardly get time for improving our own lives (reading or taking up a hobby). We are becoming reluctant to meet someone personally or hang out in a group. Is social networking making us less social?

Hasn’t the social networking increased the total number of friends but decreased the number of close friends? A research in the U.S says that average number of close friends of an individual has decreased from 3 to 2 in recent times.

A few days back, one of my friends expressed his dislike towards how people wish a person on his b’day via facebook. The personal touch that used to exist in birthday wishes is fading away. I totally agree with him. Woudn’t we all prefer receiving 5 personal calls with real warm wishes rather than receiving 500 wall messages just because our name appears on everybody’s wall in ‘Birthdays’ section?

Many a times people are more concerned about how to put an activity into a facebook status or how to click snaps for the sake of putting it on facebook. Aren’t we losing upon the real-time fun of any activity in doing so?

The personal information posted on public forums can be mined to be used against anyone. Hasn’t it made our personal life more public?

We live in a time where even a day away from social networking makes us feel as if are coming from a different planet the next day. Social networking has become a necessity. But how to maintain a balance between social networking and social life is what we have to figure out.

Tags: facebook, online networking, Social media, Social networking, twitter

The Road Ahead

It is not often that you get placed and make a visit to your hometown. You are greeted with hails from every corner. It was same for me. Moreover, even the nature was hailing . Yeah!! That’s true. Rarely can you see hailstorm in Indore, but this December you could. A pleasant surprise it was!

Looking back, particularly last 4-5 years, I feel surprised over my transformation from a school going boy to a working professional (if I can call myself one now ). We get used to the place where we live, setting our paws and taking control of everything around us to the best of our ability. And then suddenly we take a plunge to an altogether different world where we start no better than minnows. We take up challenges- sometimes get through them and sometime hit hard by them, but always there is one harder than the current one waiting for us.

Have I learnt enough for the change in these years? Well! I don’t think so. I still feel all these years passed in a flash with plethora of things in the backlog. May be it will take some time to take in the reality. Now the only thing remains to ponder upon is *The Road Ahead*. It’s a great feeling to enter into the real world with a little of knowledge and lots of hope and I look forward to it. Following lines from the poem “The Road Ahead” by Thomas Watson seem apt for now.

The road ahead beckons me

To be steadfast and true to it each day.

It calls to my spirit to see

No matter the rocks thrown in my way.

I will keep within my sight

The next step ahead,

And, despite the pits and rocks, fight

To hold his out-stretched hands, that once bled.

When I think these things too much to bear,

I will see His tears,

Falling because He cares,

And I will stand straight, losing all of my fears.