I remember nearly two years ago, when I stood outside MET
Institute of Management and thinking to myself “Did I make the right decision
in joining this college?”
It all started with all my frustration at work. I was bored
beyond belief doing the same thing over and over again, day in and day out. I desperately
needed a change and with that mentality I gave the CET. For the first time in
my life, I went through the whole CET process. From the exam itself to the GD
to the PI and I somehow managed to secure a seat in MET. I grabbed the opportunity
with both hands and put in my papers the very next day and in a month’s time I was
back to being a student.
The transition itself from a professional to a student was a
very difficult one for me. I had lost all my will to sit in one place and
listen to people go on about stuff. The 1st three days of the
induction program were brutal on me. Sitting on those uncomfortable chairs
listening to people drone on about how great it is that I am doing an MBA and
how bad the economy was doing. Now when I look back, I am glad that some of the
speakers didn’t sugarcoat things for me. It was bit of an eye opening moment
for me and it actually willed me into working a bit harder in the next four
semesters. But during those three days the one thing about which I thought non-stop
was - “would it be too drastic if I jumped through the window to escape this?”
Anyways after the grueling rite of passage every MET student has to go through,
we went on the outbound programs. This is where I made my first friends in MET
and I came to realize that this could be fun. My engineering college experience
was nothing much to write home about. I had somehow managed to survive my 4
years of rigorous imprisonment. I had made a promise to myself that things
would be different this time around. I am not going to survive it but I am going
to enjoy it and I swear on everything that I hold dear to me, I did exactly
that!
But ladies and gentlemen, it was never that easy. 44
subjects in 4 semesters with a summer internship of 2 months left me with very
little time to do anything else. The lectures were 3 hours long an as it is I have
a big problem in paying attention to anything for more than 10 minutes. It was
difficult to sit there and try to pay attention for the whole 3 hours. Then
there were the presentations. So many freaking presentations! It was sometimes
really good and sometimes not too good. The most fun I personally had in a
presentation was the 1st semester Law presentation. I don’t think a
lot many would agree with me but I never had that much fun while presenting a
PPT. The re-scheduling of the time table all the time surely frayed my nerves
on more than one occasion. The exams were another nightmare for me. 11 papers
on the trot without a break can surely drive anyone crazy! But that was not
even the worst part. The worst part was the disappearance of my weekends. With
three lectures on both Saturdays and Sundays, the weekend part of my life was
cruelly taken from me.
But times were never always dark. I shifted to Bandra and
got three incredible room-mates Lovenish, Niraj and Patil Sahib. We had some
crazy times in that stupid wash basin leaking flat. We also made the GMB Inc. Don’t
ask!
And then there was the division in which I was in. The best
damn division in the whole of MET. B division! I had a lot of fun in the class,
no matter what. What made everything feel even better was that people genuinely
helped each other without an agenda. There were a few trips also thrown in for
good measure. Be it the Outbound, Silvassa IV, Lonavala b’day party, or the Goa
IV. I had a really good time on each and every trip.
I got along with nearly everyone (some might say in the
contrary) but I still hadn’t found my so called friends niche. I am lucky that I
eventually did and thus was born “The Wolfpack”. If you think that this is a
very presumptuous name, I would ask you to take it up with the guy who came up
with the name, Mr. Rahul Noronha, king of Bandra, Patron-in-chief of Janta’s,
etc etc. Then there was Janhavi, the nerd of the group (what? It’s true! Ask
anyone), Devanshi the first girl I spoke to in MET, Motwani according to
whom “No Entry” is the best hindi comedy made, Rucha the one soon to be
married, Dhwanil the blackberry boy (you ditched blackberry now but it’s fine),
Yogi fellow RAITian, and the ever absent Shivani. The whole MBA experience was
better because I went through it with you guys!
So coming back to the question, “did I make the right decision?”
The right answer to that is a resounding “YES”. Leave aside the curriculum, the
abysmal placement scene, the professors; the answer is yes because I was able
to share the journey with some of the best people I know in my life.
So it is the end or the beginning? Everybody will answer it
differently. For me personally, it’s just the beginning of the rest of my life.
I hope I keep running into “my friends from MBA” all the time.
And lastly, I am really sorry from the bottom of my heart to
anyone whom I hurt during these two years. I wish the whole MET MMS class of
2013 all the very best in their lives and may you all fulfill all your dreams.
It was both a pleasure and an honor to have shared such an important phase of
my life with you guys. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.
Picture courtesy Aditya Phatak
