Thank You Mentor!

I have been working in innovation and intrapreneurship domain. New ideas, doing feasibility study, making business cases, taking them to market , its all so much fun. I fell in love with my job when i joined Infosys. The organization gave me ample opportunities to do what i love to do irrespective of my degree. I told at the time of interview that i earn well and i will earn well, but i want to grow intellectually, give me job where i can be a thought leader and not just a servant to an MNC. One of the seniors picked up my profile and took me in his team. We were just two, him with 12 yrs exp and me with 2.5. :) He said i have no clue what Portfolio Consulting in IT would mean. We have to find this out, we have to create a business model, we have to grow a team and we have to do all this in one year. Movement started and probably the person i admire the most in life till date, joined the team in a month or two. Working with him was fun, he made everything fun, he let me think openly, talk and argue freely. We came up with a business model and moved on to get it patented. The beauty of learning with my mentor was that everything he made me do, was simply fun. After a while i started getting hungry to learn something new and asked him if i could move into some new role and he said yes, i will not hold you. Grow and learn.
I started preparing for GMAT and moved into new team. Work was amazing, i went ahead and learned various things in multiple domains. I learned to do financial planning, marketing, domain analysis and what not. But, still i can say that working under my mentor was the best phase of my life. He can talk from politics to strategy to philosophy and it all derives out of work, you can never get bored while working with him. He is not prejudiced by your age or your experinece. All he looks forward to is your thought process. Its very rare that you get a senior like him. He has activated grey cells of many people who have worked under him. A few days back he shared a mail by one other guy who had worked under him and it said that whatever i am, i think a lot goes to what i learned under you. While reading it, i smiled, i said can i say that too to you someday? :)
There are some people who impact your life and you can never forget them. I think he had more faith in me clearing ISB that me myself. A day before the interview i was very nervous, lots of thoughts were passing through my head, and all i knew was that i wanted to probably talk to someone who can clear all my doubts and out my brain to rest. My mentor works from Chennai, suddenly i got a message on my communicator, JUICE? I was like how? I am in Bangalore for some meetings. :) This was it, i knew i will crack the interview. I met my mentor, asked him about new strategy, why infy share value is falling down. This and that. He replied to all my questions with a lot of other insights on management. In the end came the best words,he said, dont think much, be yourself and live those 30 minutes as king khan says.
These words were magical, i slept peacefully, did not bother about interview. Walked in relaxed. I think i was extremely myself in my interview. I did not fake a word, but yes, i think 30 mins over a glass of juice had a lot to do with my state of mind. People say that i associate with all, but i respect and listen to one in millions. I can only say that they are right, i really listen to one in millions and thank them for the impact they make on my life. Thank You Sir, for opening up my thought process and encouraging me to be myself on one of the toughest days of my life. It was difficult, as i was really desparate to crack it,i had not apped for any other b school and i did not want to die non MBA.(Read Mediocre But Arrogant) :)