Band of Brothers

We did not know one another till we applied to ISB Round 1. A few email exchanges , a couple of telephonic conversations, and we felt that we knew one another since ages. Just read the "Huddle-Up R1 Folks!!" post of Dip on the Yahoo groups and realized that in the last few weeks , the overseas R1 applicants have shared a special relationship among them. We have been become a band of brothers... helping, motivating and encouraging one another.

MBA dreamer helped me by conducting a mock interview for me. He even recorded my conversation and sent the mp3 to me. He reviewed my essays and gave a honest feedback (“They are raw! “ ).Thanks B. I owe you one for this.

I discovered that Kaushik is my cousin's pal. On the day of my interview, he explained me the different telecom terminologies.I felt good every time I spoke to him in Oriya. Made me feel at home.

Rohit and I had our interviews on the same day and talking to him made me feel better.We shared our concerns and nervousness before the interview day. He took the pains to explain me about the case study problems –pencils, tie, mobile users etc.

And Dip, the man was always there. I remember that we both had not received our interview invites and were scared as rat. Once he got the invite, he immediately called me up and told me about it and asked me to find out.He sounds to be as a very affectionate guyz. When he told me in his Bengali-Hindi accent that an hour before his interview, he was playing with his little daughter,it brought in a smile on my face.

And Metal…Yup, the guy from the same organization as mine…The R2 applicant wishing me a day before the interview.All the best dude !

As I continue blogging..I wonder who these guyz are .Do I know them.
To be honest, I have often asked myself the same question in the past few days….
The answer to my questions is that I know them and I don’t know them at all.

I don’t know them because I have not met them. I just have a mental picture of them in my mind. And I know them coz in spite of not meeting them, they have had an impact on my life.

The results will be out on Jan15th. Yes, I called up the admissions office and got it confirmed. It will officially be over in a few hrs from now.

A few of us might make it and a few will have to accept the result as our destiny and return to live our normal life.If the decisions were in my hands, I would want each of us to make it to ISB. But lets face the reality…A few of us will meet each other at ISB and for a few of us these friendly names will just be imaginary characters that will slowly get erased from our memory.

How do I feel when I write all this...Nervous..
You bet..am nervous..I wish I was back home at India now.

I know I have a plan B and joining CMU won’t be a bad option. But, what I want is to return to Hyderabad and study at the Gachibowli campus.

If I sit back and think practically, I feel my chances are low .A competitive IT pool, a low GMAT score- does not put me anywhere…But then if you listen to the emotional me ,I still see some hope.

I know I have worked hard. I have given my best.With whatever skill, resources and time I had, that is the best I could manage.
My friends, relatives have made sacrifices for me. I have gone through different moods..have been rude to them…have neglected them…and they have tolerated and supported me.They pray for my success and If there is anything I could do for them, it would be to make them proud by getting an admit to ISB.

Whatever be the result, am sure that up there God will take the best decision for us. If I don’t make it, yes, I’ll be disappointed. But then I’ll carry on with my life. The world does not end here. In a few days, I’ll forget it and I will go for my plan B.

My blog has had many hits over the last one month. There have been people who have been book-marking my blog and following it every day and a few who found this blog through a google search.

I never wrote keeping an audience in mind. And this post is my also my heart speaking. Am sure a lot of this blog readers will be wondering what would be the fate of this blog.

To be honest, I myself don’t know..If I make it, this blog would continue. It’ll share my happiness and joy. It’ll talk about my story at ISB. It will tell what I did to make it to ISB.

If I don’t make it, I would feel like deleting this blog…I would feel awful…But on second thoughts, no I won’t delete the blog. I’ll leave the blog the way it is. It is a good repository of information and some ISB aspirant might find it useful. It might even end up inspiring a few more ISB wannabe bloggers.I have my own personal blog elsewhere and I would continue to share my feelings there.

So guyz as the clock ticks, let me once again wish you all the best. Let’s huddle up, cross our fingers and hope that destiny and our wish come to a common agreement.

Lets pray for our success and I sincerely hope that the best ones make it to ISB.
And I hope everyone of us here is the BEST.

Good Luck !