I don’t want to miss a thing- part 2…

This is in continuation to my previous post:https://greatlaker.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/i-dont-want-to-miss-a-thing/

The Chabeel:

This was one of the most memorable days for me at the college. Being able to recreate and relive one’s culture far away from his roots is an unmatched feeling. To top it all, the compassion and the receptiveness with which the staff, the Sodexo folks and the general crowd at Great Lakes responded to the event was unbeatable. It has left a deep impression of mutual respect in my heart for people from different parts of the country. Whenever I interact with the culturally diverse crowd on campus, this is what I feel:

“Essentially, we are all the same. At the molecular levels, we differ, at the organism levels, we prosper”.

Read the full article on the Chabeel coverage here:http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/life-b-school-b-school/8757-life-great-lakes-inst-mgmt-119.html#post3568450

 

 

The Exam Week and a new discovery: The Syndicate Room!

These were 5 sleepless nights that all of us had to encounter. Six of us had divided the subjects between ourselves and were busy teaching each other whatever we knew. The nights stretched into the dawn and each one of us was stuck to our seats in the Syndicate rooms. If it were not for these Syndicate rooms, I am sure I would have been struggling with my term ends. Even during the exams, at least someone somewhere was always awake. Everyone bore the responsibility of checking that everyone else made it to the exam and did not oversleep.

Men were turned into living alarm clocks.

The Basket Ball court was deserted and the gym was nothing short of scarily empty. These were the days that an engineer is made for. Slogging through the nights, my learning curve had peaked to unmatched proportions and I was processing information at the speed of light. No amount of “thak thak chik chik” could replace the motivation one draws from being scared of the TWO F Grades! The final nail in the coffin was day 2 of the exams: By the end of D2, we had already started considering the exams to be over. The melancholy had started turning into loud music coming from the hostels. The last sleepless night was here. It was the end of all our pains….

 

….And then Pondi happened!

Well, officially the last exam on the last day was supposed to get over at 4 PM. However, I was out at 3. I just could not keep myself from finishing it off early and uprooting myself from that silly chair! To my surprise, I wasn’t the only one. I saw people already packed and moving towards Pondicherry. The scene at the main gate took the frenzy to a parallel universe of mammoth proportions. Busses were lined up, one after the other. At first, it seemed like a KY visit. However, on a closer inspection, it was clear that the myriads of buses, cabs, autos, bikes and whatnots were all going in the same directions. All roads led to Pondicherry.

Finally, we reached Pondi, delved into food and crashed down. It was after a few hours of ultra-vocal catching up with each other, that we ran out of topics for discussion. It was then when I picked my lime-stuffed Corona up and walked to the beach side. It was my moment with myself. Soon, others followed, each in his own world. We occupied our private space under the moonlight, overlooking the vast gurgling expanse of the Bay of Bengal. I felt connected to my friends, my fiancé and my near ones whenever the warm water touched my feat. Yet, I was so far.

 “It was uncanny, how to Sea separated continents, people and ideologies and how the very same Sea brought warmth from faraway lands and connected people and ideologies.”

 It was weird and I got Goosebumps at this thought!

 

Back to the present again…

“Have I done the right thing?”

“Did I stretch myself too much?”

“Was I not comfortable enough with my life?”

“Is MBA worth all this?”

“What is MBA?”

While I was contemplating on these thoughts, I could hear the sound of Namaz breaking the silence. I looked around. Saw the friends I had picked up. Saw their faces light up at the sight of the Sun rising across from the East.

“It ain’t that bad”, I told myself. “At the end of it all, if I am still able to smile and enjoy my Lime Stuffed Corona, I have done well for myself.” This, for me, was the essence of MBA and my journey thus far- to come out stronger and happier, to stretch myself and yet not budge down from my way of life. This was my dream and I didn’t want to miss a thing.

 

“Look, the Sun”, shouted a friend. And the Rising Sun was an Omen from the angels. It was time to embrace change and it was time to “Rock n Roll!”  There was light.. endless light!