Getting into ISB Class of 2009..

Ok.. This is going to be a funny story.. Let me set it aside for one of those boring meetings, when i want to look busy. ;)

Here we go. It was a sunny afternoon in February when i thought of writing GMAT and immediately took 23rd july as the date. I bought Official guide and was kind of stunned to see the size of the book. However, since i had given an attempt to CAT, i was not scared of sizes of books anymore. So, i carried the big yellow book costing some Rs.1000/- back home and placed it in one corner with other 200 novels and MBA prep material. The shelf cried out of pain, as i was expert in loading the same, but i never really picked a book to read. The TV smiled and so did i. I sat in my couch and switched on the TV. Something within me said, 23rd july is far away, so its fine, you can keep collecting books till April atleast without feeling guilty.
Life brought with it lots of shocks in May. At that point in life, i lost focus and did not know how to resume back. I requested my head to put me into some training into some different location for a week or so. The request was heard and i was sent to Infosys Hyderabad for a week long training. I carried the yellow book with me.
Training was fun. People were highly co operative. I could manage to sleep till 10 AM and reach for classes. I made it a point that i learn nothing for i did not go there for learning. Campus was beautiful, though it looked extremely dull without people at night. The silence and sorrow in me, made me think of life with new perspective. I STARTED THINKING. Suddenly i realized that my life could not be without focus. I visited my friend residing in opposite side of Infosys campus, yeah that opposite door belongs to ISB. I called up Mrins, my college and hostel time friend, said i want to see you. She decided to put her assignments aside for me and we spent some great time chatting about life and experiences. As usual, i had started back for Infy at 8PM, but we sat right infront of door chatting till 10 PM. (So, we still did not value time when it came to us. ) However, a meeting with her turned to be a turning point for me. I bought a dream. Dream to grow and be a part of this amazingly scenic and deep inside jungle kind of campus. I liked the fact that it was far away from madding crowd, that people actually got to spend time on self growth and life was a wider perspective with every second and sleep forbidden nights. And yes, i brought back two golden words from my friend, focus and control. They became the foundation for quite a few things in life.
I came back to bangalore with a passion to get into ISB. I started preparing for GMAT. My morning walks got converted into GMAT prep, my evenings were religiously dedicated to this noble cause. Internet was all about online resources. And finally, i landed with a decent score which could have kept hope to get in intact.
Now came the monster. Write essays. Writing about yourself can be a killer and that too when you have always wanted to be humble. :) I created a group of 5 people who would help me review my essays. I would write a humble set of achievements and send to a pal of mine. She would be like, babe, you got to bring out the best, think big. Sleepless days and nights. God, i don't want to boast about myself, but if this is what it takes, i will behave as if had it not been for me, all previous teams and organizations would have died. But trust me, when i started writing my essays, i realized that it could have been a fact.:) There was so much i did, which i never thought was big. There was so much in me, which i never thought really made a difference. It was a journey of self exploration. After listening to about four people that essays that i had written were a nightmare, i decided to make them simple. Also, i decided to accept my elder brother's comments as final and i could not help writing four lines in last essay which were almost like disclaimer stating, this is what i am.
The days went by, i heard a beep in my cell, you have an int on 22nov. I was like, oh, now what. Know what you want to do afterMBA. And i mean, how would i know what to do after MBA, i wanna do something. Define something. OK, these guys just don't realize that my world has been running on something and anything for years now. I was like, ok i know you want me to change. I started looking for professional Interview prep help, but then i realized that this is another self exploration. Others can not help me know myself. I aligned with one of the other aspirant and started preparing with him. There was a question on every point in essay. Why do you want to live was also a question. Why ISB? Oh, i like the campus and then nice set of people to talk to, u see. Hee hee, Gary, you cant be that honest, my friend replied. You have to use your brain to get in, its not our sense of humour session. OH. I will do. I went back home to get out of this too tensed state. Being with Noni, settled my mind and thoughts. I came back with a story. I worked on that story. One of my biggest weakness turned out to be structuring. I needed to relate and frame my response. I had to put more data into my framework of thoughts. Days and nights passed in surfing through wikipedia and then came the d day.
Enter into windsor manor and decide to settle your hair. I met a lady, i thought she was an aspirant too. Talkative as i am, i started, hey, its gonna be stupid hour session. Are you tensed. She said, not really, i am in panel. I walked out without speaking a second sentence. :) I had to write an essay on "Composed" and trust me thats the most difficult thing to do when you are going for an interview. I wrote something and waited.
People smiled and went in and smiled and came out. Then came my turn. I had written in my essays that i am a day dreamer, so first question was how has been this interview in your dreams. I was about to fall from my chair when i saw the lady in panel, but somehow managed. And to my surprise, no one smiled. I knew i was in for a stress interview. There were questions on every word and every sentence. It went on and on and on. One guy never asked any question, so i kind of smiled at him for his generosity after every 10 mins. Suddenly, one of them said, ok Garima, we are done with an interview, any questions for us. My mouth was left wide open. The discussion was still on, i was enjoying it, why give it an abrupt end. Something within me said, you have spoken a lot, you should have not taken this as a platform to talk. :( I asked a few questions to them and then there was a thank you session. I had decided that i will say thanks, i enjoyed this discussion, but i said thanks three times to three of them and said Thanks for your time. I had learned a lot of table manners, but i decided to run out without applying any of them.
After going through a non smiling interview and aburpt ends, i still kept hopes. I decided i am going to think that i am in ISB, till they tell me you are not. I started following law of attraction seriously. I was living my dream now. It converted into reality. When i look back at last 6 months, i just get to believe in destiny. I always joked that i will not be able to die if i dont clear mba entrance and finally God did grant me a hope. I want to cherish every little moment and memory for this journey, coz the process of apping made me grow and know myself. I am much more clear and evolved in my thoughts now. When i speak something, i know that i need to define the "something". For somethings its best said, " Its not the destination, but the journey that makes a difference. " Indeed, it doesn't matter where one would have landed in the end, what mattered is the fact that journey of self exploration is irreversible.

There are years ahead and a life ahead. Hope, i can look back in time and smile.