It doesn't even matter

Life has more twists and turns than the most exciting of movies. And not one of us can gainsay that. Whether it is fair, is a different question. But if it was always fair, then the world would have more happiness than it could handle. Life would have become boring in utopia. The irony today is that it is this boredom which we all seek. And we are all right in doing so. Just that some times, we get the cake, other times we get the cherry.

Like today morning, I knew I had done well. My belief was further strengthened by the official results. I was one of the top 2700 from a set of 270000 who took an exam. I thought I deserved a call. But they did not. I thought I will sail through, but the script was written differently.

I was happy when I saw my CAT score card. 95.1, 97.37 and 96.67 percentile in the three sections and 98.91 overall. In my opinion the score was good enough for a call. But the happiness was short-lived. As I scrolled down the sheet, I had not one call from any of the seven IIMs.

I cleared all the preliminary cut off criteria of at least four out of the seven institutes.How could I have missed all seven then? I was hopeful there will be a mistake somewhere, some undetected bug in the system, some problem with my machine. But nothing. It remained what it originally was.

After taking the better half of the day off from work due to my completely distracted frame of mind, I realized that I was not alone. There were others who had shared a similar fate. The exam was just one of the many factors. It always was, but not until people were given a chance to prove themselves in an one-on-one interaction. Now they had taken that opportunity away from us. We were going to be judged on the performance in our 10th,12th and graduation only on the basis of our marks, notwithstanding the fact that they are not the truest indicators of intelligence. Work experience would be measured in terms of quantity, and not quality. We would not get a chance to showcase many other skills that could have proven us to be better managers than many others who did.

All the faith I had before CAT, all the celebration after CAT, all the expectations from the result, nothing matters today. You either have a call or you don't, and I am on the latter side. It hurts more when you are at striking distance.

A tiger can go hungry for days, if he miscalculates a hunt, but that doesn't stop him from hunting again. I will be back too, hungrier than ever before, after I have overcome the tiredness of the hunt. And that will be soon, with a better strategy for the elusive prey.

Comments

Labyrinthine said…
Great dreams and aims don't come true so easily.You just shouldn't get too disheartened.Where there's failure there is hope and opportunity.I am sure you'll do even better next time.All the best for that.
dude frankly one never knows on what basis they judge! Sometimes I feel they are a little biased towards the top notch institutes coz way too many of my friends end up scoring 99 percentile every year and they are yet in their undergrad years.Its cool! Life has its phases! and Im sure you will move on well and next year you will be having the work ex in quantity too!! Congrats man!
Unknown said…
Proud of u, mere sher! U wont let urself down the next time around. And if there is something u must remember, it's that you've done better than most first timers, and will outshine every other by your second time. Cheers.
Pallavi said…
Hmmm..I know exactly what you are going through. I was in the same position like you, a week ago. It was an earth shattering and heart breaking experience, to say the least. But then again, the world doesn't come to an end.
You might be down for now but certainly not out. Get up, shrug off the disappointment and go after that prey again. Happy hunting :)
Seeker of Truth said…
"The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. They are there to stop the OTHER people!"
-Randy Pausch

The key is to make sure that we don't end up being the OTHER people!
joie de vivre said…
aahaa
someone sounds very optimistic..
mee too a victim of CAT, but not with such a good score..
actully i knew what diaster i did in xam so want expecting much..

al d bst..
The Illuminator said…
@all
Thanks. Yes the initial disappointment was there, but now I have a bit of consolation with a call from one of the other top institutes so I have something to look forward too.

@MB
No, the scores are not dependent on the institute. The calls are for sure.
Anonymous said…
argh. it's the stupid system. even if you get called by institutes, attending an interview is no guarantee of getting in.

but good luck to you! bell the stupid CAT, as all these unoriginal newspapers say every single year.
Vishesh said…
might be you should try some foreign colleges
Sthupit Girl said…
Hey,

That's a brilliant score. CAT sucks and so does the Indian system. The preliminary criteria is not "the person" but "the marks" and I think that sucks.

Thankfully, by the time I went into the hall to write the exam, that's all it was to me, an exam- not some life defining moment.

If you're looking for the entire experience of doing an MBA degree- even though the IIMs are the IIMs there's a whole lot of other colleges abroad that are equivalent if not better, and they're just waiting to grab the all rounded candidate.

So me says- don't be so sad. It IS just an exam after all.

Best of wishes!

SG.

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