April 2011. What a month it has been. So many things. Just thought would share a couple of moments.
April, 02, 2011.
The day when we were crowned world champions. The day when Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men made us all proud. To be very honest, never did I think India was the clear favourites to win it. I had thought South Africa was well prepared this time. But the 'C-word' hunted them down, yet again. The final was setup very nicely. India vs. Srilanka. A shaky start coupled with the loss of Sanga at a crucial Juncture meant India was on course to restrict Srilanka to a modest total. Mahela Jayawardene had different plans. As Harsha Bhogle said, he almost protected the seam of the ball while playing his shots. The innings was a delight to watch for a neutral, but for us, well, no curse was enough. As a result Srilanka posted a tricky 274. During the innings break, there were all these talk about all century efforts always being backed up by a win in World cup finals, low percentage of teams chasing and winning a world cup final and what not. The chase began in the worst possible manner. Sehwag was history soon and after showing glimpses of beautiful form Sachin was back too. At 31 for 2, it was that 'Achingly familiar' moment from 2003. We thought "Are we going to repeat 2003 again? Oh god. No. Let it be 1983." In the crease were two men who were perhaps the best two men India would have wanted at the crease at that moment. They steered us past the danger line but Kohli left it half way. I had thoughts about Dhoni coming up the order at 5 but dismissed those thoughts considering the good form of Yuvi and the bad form of Dhoni. I was surprised to see Dhoni coming in at 5. But once he started batting, there was something different in his batting this time around. What was that? Attitude and Intent. He had lacked that throughout the world cup till the final. He stepped up the order, made the game look so simple. Eventually, he finished it off in grand style with a huge six. There he was, flipping the bat in his hands as though he has done something so easy. End of the day, WE ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS! :)
April, 18, 2011.
A fortnight later. A day which is not as big as April, 02 but significantly huge. A day when I wanted all my mental strength to accept whatever happens. The day when IIM - A, B, C results were due. Last year I was not good enough to be called even for interview. This year I was. And now, i needed great mental strength to accept a triple reject, which had a significant probability of happening. April 18th being a Monday, I came back to Bangalore after spending the weekend at Chennai. I reached my place in Bangalore at 6 in the morning. I knew I had to wait at least three hours before I can see at least one result. I started the flash-back and analysed my interviews.
March 5, 2011. IIM-A. Last Candidate to be interviewed. Very short interview with only 4 to 5 questions. Interview time was not more than 10-12 minutes whereas for others it was close to 20 minutes. I came out. Thought I did not have enough stuff to be questioned about. Chances looked slim.
March 6, 2011. IIM-C. Interview where i covered most things i wanted to. Was done in by the interviewers in a couple questions. But overall performance wasn't bad I felt.
March 7, 2011. IIM-B. Again last candidate to be called. All question seemed very generic. Not an exceptional interview. Performance wasn't enough to cross the line, i knew.
Clock was ticking. I refreshed all the pages half an hour once. Finally I found IIM-A link active. Well. It was out. But how on earth am i going to check it. It asked for the CAT registration number. I typed. Then E-mail Id. Hands trembled. Managed to enter it as well. Then i had to press 'Enter'. I did.
To see Congratulations there was incredible. After all, me? I could not believe. But turned out to be true. I had got the Admit.
It had not been easy to work every weekend for 4 - 5 months continuously. Weekends were always taken away by Mock tests, interview preparation or actual interviews. A lot of people have helped me in this.
Praveen Subramanian. He was just amazing. Helped me throughout the prep with his Verbal knowledge. Took me to places where I had to attend interviews. Sat with me while I filled up forms. And what not.
Priya Ravi. Again, immense help while filling up forms. Helping out in prep. All this while she had her plates full.
Vimal Nair. Previous experiences count. Helped with all his previous experiences and made me aware of stuff because of which I was able to do what i have. He will have a greater say @ IIM-A as tuchcha. :D
Karthik. The person with whom I studied. Combined studies do a lot of help.
Aditya, Sabareesh, Vibin(IIM-C mentor). All of them helped me with getting things right in the interview.
GowriShankar. Again, helped me go places to attend various interviews.
Karthika, Mukund. A great help by getting a lot things signed from college in quick time.
Just want to thank people above for all the help they have done. It has helped a lot. Thank you guys. :)
And after all, this is the first step towards a tougher path. For this, it takes me so much. :D
Well. I hope there is lift somewhere down the line to take me through. :)
PS: I still had to see 2 rejects from B and C. Thank god A came out first.
PSS: Very sorry for a long one. Very sorry if it had been boring. Just wanted to express something. Will put up better ones in the coming days.
PSSS : I might have missed a couple of people's name while thanking. My apologies.
Cheers. :D
