Wednesday, February 9, 2011

CAUTION: Sharp turns ahead....crazy rant of a cynical MBA

Life rambles on. No, rambles is the wrong word...more like life avalanches on. The last two years were superfast compared to the rest of it. But now, i wonder if it is time to slow down and prepare for the sharp turns ahead. If my performance in the placements out here are anything to go by, it is certainly time to take note of the huge, yellow, "CAUTION: SHARP TURN AHEAD" sign that's been flashing in my head for a while now. In a weird sense, maybe instinctively, i have been preparing for what's to come. Apart from slowing down and taking stock of what things are really important to me, I also reduced some of the baggage I had been lugging around. I certainly feel lighter now. This might seem like gibberish, but heck, I no longer have the patience to explain everything.

It is natural to compare this phase to a similar one previously in my life. It was the time when I had to say goodbye to BIT Mesra, my engineering grad school. The memories of 4 years, the friends, the bakar sessions, the night-outs, the intellectual diarrhea, all flashed before me when I had made the 2 day train journey back home. At that time, I certainly wasn't thinking about the future and what was in store for me. I was just too gutted to be leaving the place that had become home to me, the friends who had become family and the life that had become comfort itself. This time, it is all the other way around. More than thinking about what transpired in the last two years out here, I am just looking forward to making a fresh start to life once this is over. Every new beginning marks the end of a previous new beginning. To think that for the last two years I have been living my dream. Believe me kids, its not necessarily a good thing to have dreams come true. I wonder if other's out here feel the same...or is it just me? But still, I don't want to be a bitter cynic. I guess, ten-fifteen years down the line I will come back to stare emptily at these 'hallowed' corridors and reminisce about the times I spent there. The midnight frisbee, the WAC runs, the ppt runs, the interview runs, life out here did involve a lot of running. And maybe after all it is unfair to compare the two. One gets institutionalized after a period of 4 years. What if I had spent 4 years here...damn, lets not go there! Scary!

At the end of it all, I guess what I am trying to say is that, this is just not the kind of place one misses. I don't think I will look back at this place anytime soon. Some of the people, yes, I will miss them, but there too I look forward to knowing them outside this place...in the real world. It has been called many things, a concentration camp, a cauldron, and what not. I would call it a prep camp. To borrow words from a dear friend, a prep-for-life camp. Because after going through here, nothing in life can ever surprise you. If you can get out of here unharmed, you will face all that life has to offer and conquer it. So yeah, even though I won't miss this place, and I only look forward to the sharp turns ahead; the confidence with which I look forward to negotiate those turns, stems from the bumpy ride this place has afforded me. For that I am thankful. I thank this place for showing me what life is like.

p.s. Planning a fortnight of negotiating 'sharp turns' in a road trip across the western ghats. Really, really looking forward to that. Maybe I should do a travelog...watch this space.