MBA Life and everything not nice
Life is full of the small ironies which we revel in. Accept it like any other medicine which could either be too bitter or too hard to swallow. I sit here, watching the sun set over the four walls, which I would have to call home for the remainder of my time here. 3 months and the clock ticks on. I wish I could tell you, sweet chap, that 2 years that you spend studying, honing your social skills more than the fabled hard skills would allow you to be among the 7% of MBA graduates who are employable (according to the top news publishers). But that would be a lie. Or half the truth.
Some argue that it’s only the knowledge that you gather inside classes which matters. Some fight for the wisdom which come covered as ‘hands-on experiences’ shared over a cup of joe in the sun filled atrium along with your fellow batch mates. And there are the handful few, who poison your ears to the brim by telling you that it’s a healthy mix of both. Honestly, after one and half years and a few wisps of white hair older, I do not know the truth. I have met my share of gospel preachers who offered to tell me the hidden truth behind all the mysteries which paint the walls here with a shade darker than the books are able to cover. They wanted me to lend them my ears and somehow coax me to give them sand for their hourglass.
Sadly, I wasn’t selling any.
Is it a mix of knowledge and experience that you pick up from other and twist it to call your own? I can’t say. Is it 80% personality development and 20% education? I still have to step in the big bad world and test that theory. But over my time here, there is one thing that I can say for certain.
Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.
Every Tom, Dick and harry who are brainwashed to join MBA in order to stand among the elite are bought over by words sweeter than the hallucinogenic honey sold in Nepal (It’s a fact! Google it. The honey part at least). I was told that it would be all sunshine and the grass will have a hue which I’ve never seen before. But 365 days in, I had to work with all the colors of life except green. What they forgot to tell you was that the storm is coming. The skies will soon be lead filled and the rain would join the list of things which would have to be passed over for knowledge passed on by the Industry’s hotshots trying to mold you in an image they dreamed of for themselves. I have been through the furnace now, and it is my time to wait for the clouds to open and heaven to pour down. The rest 199 of my colleagues gather around a window and smell the fresh air when the storm is passing. Here I am, sitting outside, waiting for the air to smell earthy, while I write you down instructions to make your next paper boat. So as to tell the rest of you lot that, this too shall pass.
The pressure will soar and bones will be cracked. Some are already on the latter. But it is true and in the completeness of the word itself, MBA does make a man out of you. No amount of grit and steely resolve can prepare you for what is ahead. See, the first step is done. You wanted an MBA and you shall get one. But the trouble with wanting something is the fear of losing it, not getting it. The thought makes you weak. You may question me. Who am I to tell you what to do and what not to think. I have been through this rigmarole. And I mean no harm. I just try to tell you how it is. There are no choices. Nothing but a straight line. The illusion comes afterwards, when you ask “Why me?” and “What if?”. When you look back and see the branches, like a pruned bonsai tree, or forked lightning. If you had done something differently, it wouldn’t be you, it would be someone else looking back, asking a different set of questions. Don’t go on blaming yourself if either the curriculum or placements or any other reason you can find in that magical hat of yours, don’t live up to your expectations. Just feel glad that it is happening. It could or would not turn out what you wanted it to be like. Either you lost of the game of luck because you ran out of petals and it turns out to be as grisly as a dear deer. Or as pretty as daisies in your backyard. (Sucks to be you if you don’t have one).
I guess I have earned the right to give you a small piece of advice. You do not know how tomorrow will be. Think about how you spent your day pushing your CGPA and beating competition. Pray for a better day when you wake up next morning.
Battle the odds. Throw the rules out of the window. Odds are you’ll go that way too.
Go forth, face the heat.
