How I overcame challenges to achieve my ambitions in life so far.
I did not clear the coveted IIT-JEE examination to get into the institute of my dreams. Everybody around me believed I would do it, and that made me so convinced about it, that I was shell shocked on seeing the results. Family members convinced me to go ahead in life and make the most of whatever institute I be in. It was a tough period for me as a lot of my peers were moving on to good institutes I thought I’d always be stuck in a rut of mediocracy. The kind of things, thoughts like these, can do to the confidence of an 18-year old cannot be expressed easily. It took me a year to accept what I had got and work to gain excellence out of it. I realized the thing that I cherish the most about being in an IIT, was the kind of peers I would have and the great bonding we would have over the years to come. It was this that hurt me the most. I snapped out of that dream and decided that I will make my then institute, equivalent to an institute of national repute. I realized that what differentiates students from one institute to another, is limited only by how much they aspire to achieve. I decided to imbibe this quality in me and motivate everybody around me to aspire and achieve excellence in whatever field, they would want to. I joined the Alumni Cell and through networking and extensive research on Linkedin, found out the illustrious alumni who had gone places around the globe. I told stories about them to my fellows. Next, I was the Literary Secretary of the institute, and aspired to defeat the Harvards, Stanfords, and Yales in debating some day. I set up the Debating Society next year and feel proud to say that we are on our way to being the best in the country. I found the TEDx chapter in my university in Mumbai - TEDxSomaiyaVidyavihar and lead a team of graduate students as an undergraduate myself. Then I went on to work in the startup incubator based in my university to help set up entrepreneurial ventures coming out from the different colleges on campus. All in all, while we may still not be at par with any IIT/NIT, but we are on the right path and we’ll surely get there. I take great pride in the fact in the amount of work I did during my undergraduate years instead of sulking all those years; and I do not mean the tangible work but the change in mindsets of people to believe that we can be better than what we are, gives me great satisfaction.
#IIMBodhGaya #ABGLPWooMe
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