In pursuit of Post Graduation...

Dear Friends,

Today after office hours I started my evening with my routine fitness hour. I entered the International Standard synthetic track, awesome facility provided by my organization, exchanged pleasantries with my trainer, started with routine body loosening exercises, and then straightaway hit the track. Before that I didn’t forget to gaze around the track and football ground to see if the beautiful damsel Saathy has come to the track. She was not there and with hope she would join soon, I started my jogging. The rest of the story goes assuming I am running at present.

Usually I run listening to FM radio or concentrating on my breathings. But today it is different, though I have tuned in to my usual radio station, I am not able to concentrate on my breathings at all, the reason is simple, my mind is full of some kind of achievement, relief and happiness. As I am picking up my usual pace in the first round, my mind is going deep into memory lanes to find the root of the accomplishment. It might be somewhere in 2003 when I had newly started my career as a Software Engineer after completion of my BE in Computer Science. One evening, when I was having a long walk with my father, he had expressed that it would have been better if I would have completed my Masters. Though he was happy with my job, but at the same time he knew that once I joined the job, it would be difficult for me to pursue higher studies. Even I thought so, but my experiment with GATE had already gatecrashed and I was not having special interest in pursuing Masters – neither in Engineering nor in Business Administration. I just agreed to him on his statement but didn’t continue the discussion. As the time progressed, over the next two years both my father and I forgot about Masters as my experiment with CAT also ended in the same fate as GATE. As I started progressing in career, luckily I got the opportunities a quite early to lead and manage my project team. These opportunities brought bigger challenges and as I didn’t have any management education I ended up just following or emulating what my seniors did and I was not entirely happy with that. Then I heard about the distance course MBA, and about ICFAI Tripura University which had opened up its branch in Mysore. I visited the branch office and brought the brochure and discussed with couple of friends. I couldn’t get a single encouraging word from anyone as the University was new and there were no enrolled students in my friend circle. I dropped the idea and again forgot about doing Masters.

As this events passed by in my memory, I am in the middle of my second round of my run, but there is no arrival sign of Saathy :( yet. Again I am getting back in recollecting the next set of events; it was in mid-2007 when I heard about my colleague Ashok’s enrollment to the MBA program offered by ICFAI. Again a glimpse of interest came back and I met him on the same evening. He explained me about the course, fees, course material, exam pattern and the usefulness he found. He even invited me to his house so that I can see some of the books. I visited his house next day and when I gazed through the course material I made up mind that OK, I am in. I went again to ICFAI Mysore office, had a discussion with Sahana Madam, Manager over there, and brought home the brochure. I discussed with my parents over phone, and my father became very much excited and said YES after listening to all the points I had collected so far. My mother, typical of her, asked many practical questions before saying YES. And July 14, 2007 was the day when I enrolled for the course. I didn’t speak to many friends about this as I was sure to get many discouraging statements like “Why distance education?”, “Why not CAT?”, “Why not executive course?”, “How much it is useful?” blah blah. I made up my mind on that day that I would be pursuing it for the sake of Knowledge and I would look to use/apply the knowledge gained in my Project activities and I wouldn’t enter into any debates on this. Hence my journey in pursuit of MBA had started.

By this time, I am on the verge of completing my third round of jog, but no Saathy in vicinity yet, though all other regulars are in their business, so again I am jumping back into my memories. As most of us tend to do when a new task is taken up, my start of MBA preparation was superb, I started reading for the first Group i.e. Group A (the course consisted of 10 Groups A to J with two subjects in each group, each subject had two papers for the first 6 groups and one paper each for the last 4 groups, the exams were conducted once in quarter and at a time we could opt for appearing 2 Groups maximum, the exam timings being 10AM – 1PM for Paper 1 and 2:30PM – 5:30PM for Paper 2) subjects with full vigor. I targeted Jan 2008 for these two subjects. I studied meticulously and scored 80% combined. Though I was happy with my performance but at the same time I calculated if I would go with this pace – One Group per Six months, then it would take 5 years to complete. It appeared like a very distant dream. But I had no other option; I needed Six months for preparing a Group as with the work pressure I was having I couldn’t afford more time to study. I appeared for Group B and Group C in July 2008 and Jan 2009 respectively and successfully cleared them. These groups had the subjects of Economics and Accounting which were totally alien for me. Though I enjoyed self-learning I must confess here that the going was difficult while studying these subjects. I had to study them twice before getting a sort of confidence. With completion of Group C, I received the interim degree “Diploma in Business Management”. By this time, the earlier enthusiasm had started fading away. With every result I used to get a typical question from well-wishers - how many more subjects to complete? My answer usually would be “Abhi Delhi dur hai”. With challenges getting tougher at office, I was facing difficult time to keep my tempo up and study after office hours and during weekends. I thought of giving up as I had received a Diploma already and not getting further motivation. But my parents and sister were not the one to allow me to give up that soon. They reminded me that it was me who had taken the decision of pursuing Masters, it was me who had paid the full fees and it would be a kind of timidity to leave it at middle. But still the thought of studying for 5 years was still a depressing one, but did I have any option? NO. With the kind of work I had in office, the studying pace remained the same, 1 group per Half Year. With the same pace, I completed my 6th group by July 2010, now covering some more interesting but alien subjects like Finance, Marketing Management, Business Law and Operations Management. I was used to self-study by that time and to be frank, none of the subjects I studied were boring. I found immense interest in reading every Study material and I enjoyed writing all the exams but my only concern was finding time! It was a tough challenge, and you may laugh, I used to read the books during my rail travel to my native and also in waiting rooms of railway station. After 6th group, I was awarded another interim degree “Advanced Diploma in Management”. After that, I really wanted to take break. Though the subjects were interesting, the monotony of reading continuously was definitely having its affect. I told my parents, it was enough and I would need a break. They agreed.

Now I have completed my fifth round of run and my friend Prabhu has started running and has just overtaken me saying Hi. Still no news of Saathy, and I am getting a bit sad now. Still my thoughts went back - During the break I kept on reading, not study materials but couple of very good novels written from Sri S L Bhairappa, meanwhile I visited Shirdi, read “Sai Sat Charita”, and even completed reading Bhagwad Gita. My parents and sister kept asking me about when I would resume the study. But from Oct 2010 to Jan 2011 there was no chance as I was doing night outs for my project. I got free by Feb end and thought of taking next exam in April 2011. This time I prepared myself with the mindset of a slog over hitter batsman. The Groups G to J consisted of the Elective Subjects along with Business Strategy and Ethics. The Volumes of Study Materials were leaner, there was only one Paper to be written for each Subject, and with less work pressure in office; I pressed the gas pedal and took exams every 3 months. But there was additional challenge of writing Subjective answers. Earlier 6 groups had just Multiple Choice Objective Questions. I had to practice hand writing also which was a kind of forgotten art after College. In between I nominated myself for another important exam Project Management Professional (PMP) sponsored by my company. That meant I had to totally sacrifice my after office hours and weekends for just studying. People thought I was getting obsessed with studies. May be they were true:), I became a regular visitor in our Company library for reading and often I could lock my eyes with the curious eyes of passing by younger trainees who might be asking themselves what this elder employee was doing in library:). Even I had to cut short my Diwali holidays so that I could appear for exams. With the new pace the target of completion was Jan 2012. Frankly speaking, as the months of Nov and Dec 2011 appeared, I had to fight hard in holding the tempo. As the finishing line gets nearer, one would feel the tension rise and the same happened to me also. To make the climax more interesting I had to appear both subjects of last Group on the same day itself on i.e. Jan 8, 2012, one morning and another afternoon. My mother was very much unhappy with that schedule, but I assured her that if everything goes well it would be like sealing the cricket match with a big SIX. I appeared the exam on that day and was confident that I had made it, but still the waiting duration for results was about 45 days. Since Feb 10 I kept on checking my result daily on my university website and finally after 12 days of wait, the result is out. Yes, as per my assurance to my mom, I had hit a SIX. The wait is over and I have moved from Bachelors to Masters.

Now I am in my last round of run but still no sight of Saathy, I think she might be busy in her work today or she might have gone for party with her friends (I would say Brothers:)). But my mind is not stopping from thinking about my MBA. After seeing the results, when I called my parents to tell the same, they were so happy. My father was like on Cloud Nine, he might not be remembering what he had expressed 9 years back but I do, and I had achieved what he had wanted me to do. My mother and sister also were very happy. My father pointed one thing that I had not taken more than one attempt (means No Backlogs) for any subject which he felt was a BIG achievement. Next day I distributed sweets to my colleagues and friends, some of them spoke very nice words about my accomplishment. Especially one friend who was surprised and was imagining as well admiring the Planning, Thought process, Patience, and Hard Work which might have gone in the process. I humbly agree with him, yes I can’t express in simple words on the Planning, Adjustments, Re-planning, Re-adjustments, Patience, Sacrifice, Occasional Frustration, Perseverance which had been invested from my side. Still the questions remain on the Usefulness of the course but now I don’t shy away from answering, in addition to my Post Graduate, I have gained Confidence and Lot of Knowledge, and academically couple of options have definitely opened up for me. More than anything relief and a sense of accomplishment have filled in my mind.

Now I am running my last 100 meters, and with all these thoughts I am feeling like a Marathon runner running his last leg in competition, I am raising the pace now with my eyes closed as I am about to hit the finishing line and here I am, completed the run. Now slowly I opened my eyes, but there is no sound of claps or no cheers from crowd:), obviously because I have just completed my routine run for the day not won a marathon. The run is for my own fitness, and I need to come again tomorrow and daily in order to keep myself fit. Similarly with my completion of PG, I have not achieved something great to bask in the glory forever. Knowledge is power and Learning is a Continuous process, and I need to keep learning to keep myself in contention in the bigger games of career as well as life. You may ask “So what next?” My father has dropped hints already, Doctorate…Too much ambitious right! But not impossible also! :) No hurry I will sit down and think about it in coming years.

After run, now I have got into a brisk walk to relax my legs for the exercises. As my mind is stable now, I would like to thank The Almighty for giving me mental strength and driving me in tough times, I would like to dedicate my PG degree to my Dad, Mom and Sister, without their Love and affection, Support and Encouragement, this wouldn’t have been possible. Also thanking few encouraging friends mainly Ravikirana, who stood with me throughout the duration of 4.5 years. Almost after every exam day, he used to accompany me in roaming on DD Urs Road, eating chats and discussing about the exams. I would like to thank ICFAI Mysore Centre manager Sahana Madam for helping me out whenever needed. Also important is to mention one name that inspired me albeit indirectly, none other than my favorite cricketer Rahul Dravid. Whenever my chips were down and running out of patience, I used to remember him and drew inspiration from the epitome of Patience, Perseverance and Hard Work.
Now my routine run and walk for the day is over. Tomorrow again a new day, a new run and hopefully Saathy will be present…

You all might be curious to know who Saathy is. She is just a fictitious character to spice up the read. But you can draw her parallel to my own search (of Life Partner) which is yet to be materialized. During my run, I kept on looking for her, it can be deduced that parallel to my studies the search was ON for a suitable life partner :) but still she eludes :)…No regrets as such.

Thank you for the patience shown in reading this,
Regards,
Chetan