Aditya Birla Group Woven in Lives - IIM Sirmaur

Improvise, Adapt and Overcome

When thrown into the wild urban jungle known as a metropolitan city, I quickly found myself behaving like slime. Free from the mould that was my parents and home, I treaded into uncharted waters of decision making and responsibility. After choosing a career path in engineering, I quickly found out I was interested enough in technology, just not enough to brave the turbulent waters that is the engineering curriculum.

Lacking in grades and morale, I realized I was the go-to person when anyone had problems. Ranging from life advice to trifling dilemmas, my acquaintances opened up to me about whatever was troubling them. With a blurry vision of my immediate future, I decided to change career paths, while realizing the irony of the dialogue from 3 idiots – “What else if not a fool. First, he did engineering, then an MBA, and now he is working in a bank in the US”. But I was a determined fool, working as a content writer in an e-commerce company, following it with a job in corporate (B2B) sales. Luckily enough, the position gave me the relevant experience to gain maximum out of a program in management. Fueled with newfound confidence and after scoring a decent score in Common Admission Test, the first hurdle in front of every elite B-school gate and me was my erratic career path, low scores instilled very little confidence in those who were to offer me a chance. I know this is not a tear-jerking account of a struggle rode life, but I had my downs. With underpaid jobs, growling stomach days and empty wallet days, saving two ten rupees notes out of three for bus fare to office, was not a once in a lifetime episode. I got offered the chance I desired, and with my priorities in order, I feel I have crossed the milestone the past me set out for the present me. Humbling might not be what my story is, but ask me about it, I have several funny and interesting anecdotes of this journey.