PUZZLE OF PERPLEXITY: A MUST READ FOR ALL SCHOOL & COLLEGE STUDENTS
Every member of the human race has a
puzzle to solve in his life. One of the puzzles he has to put together is that
of perplexity! We do face confusion in all aspects of life. Right from the time
when a new day kicks off till the time we want to languidly lay down on our
cozy bed and enter the carefree world of reveries.
Majority of the modern day Homo
Sapiens are perplexed beings due to the wide variety of options available to
them! In the days of our ancestors they had to mandatorily stick to a certain
set of things and never had to look left or right. But the multifariousness
of the times we live in leads to our minds musing harder and harder! Everything
seems to be better than everything else.
The most important head scratching session
that the youth of today faces is when it comes to choosing their future path of
action! Some will do what their parents want them to do without ever giving it
a thought whether it is actually their cup of tea or no. Others will fall prey
to herd mentality and choose a career path that is the most well recognized and
the most lucrative without even getting into the nitty gritty of it! So, these
are easier ways of keeping Lord Confusion at bay. Just be under somebody’s
influence and take things as they come.
But a person who
really wants to solve the puzzle of perplexity will think and be in a brown
study till the time they reach a satisfactory conclusion! They will listen to
one and all and contemplate for days, weeks and even months but reach a
destination that their heart leads them to.
SO ALL OF YOU OUT THERE WHO ARE ‘CONFUSED
SOULS’
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
YOU HAVE A BRAIN AND YOU ARE AT
LEAST THINKING…
Now, here begins my journey of confusion as
I was preparing for my MBA Entrances and landed up getting an Admission Offer
from a reputed Institute. In India, the MBA Admission is a rigorous process and
after going through all the drill of the Aptitude Test, Psychometric Test,
Creative Writing Ability Test, Group Exercise and Personal Interview, I was
shortlisted at one of the nation’s finest Institutes for Strategic Marketing
and Communications. Out of a total of 7700 Applicants only 180 were
shortlisted. I was among the lucky few but you may have guessed it right, I was
confused whether to take up the Admission or wait for another year, give all
the exams again and then probably aim for an even better Institute.
My Confused State of Mind snatched away all
the joy I should have experienced on being offered Admission to an MBA
Institute. In the one week I spent on coming to a final conclusion and being
decisive, I went through a lot of Yes and No in my head. I met so many people,
“UNCLES” to be specific, and I thank them all from the bottom of my heart as
had it not been for those tiny conversations with all these Uncles from
different backgrounds, I wouldn’t have ever come to a satisfactory conclusion
that would have given me peace of mind. I am not going to be naming any
Institute or any person in this blog post as in my quest to be humorous I do
not want to end up hurting anybody’s sentiments.
In about 7 days of the week, I had 7
different opinions from 7 different UNCLES. Here’s to what they had to say:
UNCLE A – Beta, why waste a year? A year is a lot of time and time is precious.
And XYZ has a big name in the market. Just go for it!
UNCLE B – Do not compromise on the Institute of your choice in the quest of
saving a year. You will make up for that year lost when you get placed in a
company from a better Institute.
UNCLE C – Why do you think you cannot do it next year? You need to slog it out
girl. Moreover, XYZ Institute is not in Bombay. You’ll have to go away from
your family for two long years. Will you be able to survive?
UNCLE D – Ohh, XYZ has really good companies with great pay packages coming on
Campus. And moreover, since it is a residential programme you will have a
holistic experience. You need to learn to be out of your comfort zone and away
from the family. Come out of your cocoon and face the world.
UNCLE E – What do you really want to do in life? As far as I have known you, I do
not think you need an MBA. You’re ready to spread your wings and fly.
UNCLE F – The Course that XYZ offers is very niche and will restrict your
horizons at a later stage. Moreover, it’s the best in the field of Marketing
Communications but you know Investment Banking pays much more than that. Don’t take
a hasty decision. Give finance a thought as well.
UNCLE G – This is a confirmed offer so please grab it, and that too from a Top
Tier Institute like XYZ. You never know
even after waiting for a year whether you will be able to get into a better
Institute or no. But if you are aiming even higher then what I would suggest is
take up the Admission at XYZ but still give the entrance exams and then in the
next year if you get into a better Institute take it up there. You will then do
a 3 years MBA over a 2 years MBA but there is a lot of value addition.
I was extremely happy to have received an
honest opinion from all the UNCLEs whom I had approached and then I could
decide for myself what to cherry pick from each conversation. Amidst all these
words of wisdom, were a few more uncalled for wise sayings. Other people giving
me their expert advice even when I did not ask for one. It instantly reminded
me of that dialogue from Jab We Met
on Dubsmash:
Kareena: Aap jo yeh sab bol rahe hai, uske paise charge karte hai ki yeh muft ka
gyan hai?
Station Master: Nahi yeh to muft hai!
Kareena: Good! Kyun ki Chillar nahi hai mere paas!
So, after that Roller Coaster Week, I got a
perspective into what I should be focussing at when it comes to taking a call.
Thinking about what I want to do in life, where I see myself five or ten years from
now and what will make me that independent woman I have always aspired to be deserved much more importance
rather than emphasising on petty issues like the Rank of the Institute, Pay
Packages offered to it’s students, Companies coming in for recruitment, which famous alumni has that Institute got and whether I will be able to stay away from
my family or no. I had a few days of introspection followed by a SWOT Analysis
purely on the basis of what I wanted to do for the rest of my life that
actually made my life worth living! Even if I was paid a million Dollars but I
did not enjoy my job, is that the kind of life anyone would like to lead? It’s
tantamount to dying of boredom every single day!
The Institute, Companies, Pay
Packages shouldn’t act as carrots luring me towards them but my drive to do
something that I love and make a mark in that field is what should be a motivating
factor. And then I arrived at my answer…
So, who took the final call? Neither my
parents, nor my friends and nor the great UNCLEs in my life. It was ME! I
solved this tiny puzzle of perplexity at this juncture in my life. So, tomorrow
whoever I am, wherever I go, whatever I do, I have nobody to blame but MYSELF.
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