Life after Jan 8th..

The day I was eagerly waiting for arrived. After finding a computer in the net lab finally, I became very anxious and nervous. One year of some hard work, some sincerity was at last going to bear fruit. At least I presumed it would. For all the answer keys released by various coaching institutes said I would. But……

The dreaded sms arrived (the webpage didn’t open!) and it said

“Regno:8120974;NAME:A.R.SRIVATHSAN;
QA(%age):49.00;QA(%ile):99.51;
DI/LR(%age):56.25;DI/LR(%ile):98.53;
Verb(%age):12.00;Verb(%ile):69.09”

I was shocked!! The %ile in verbal meant I had no chance of getting any calls!! It was unbelievable. This isn’t real, something is wrong with the sms system!!! I had expected 32 marks and got 20 less!! 32 would have given me above 95%ile and would have got all IIM calls. I did eventually check up in the website and it said “Sorry, Your name is not found in shortlist of any IIMs”. My overall percentile of 99.16 is of no use then. It was THE END.

Suddenly the world seemed cruel to me. Why should this happen to me? “Oh come on, it happened to 98% of the people who wrote”, someone tried to console. But am I not in those elite 2%?? Didn’t I prepare verbal very sincerely, reading editorials of newspapers, getting P.G.Wodehouse’s books etc?? Wasn’t this the only exam I fancied myself to do well?? Yes but life can give surprises and shocks often. I felt cheated literally. On hindsight, what would this mean to my career, the career I thought was safe till yesterday? Well, it hasn’t changed anything. I still have a good job in hand. And people say that having work experience is always better when it comes to doing MBA. I will try again surely but as Dad always says (I disappointed him yet again!), my first attempt at anything is always my best. More than myself I feel I have disappointed many who wanted me to do well. And to all those juniors who think I am their inspiration and who promptly wished me the day before the exam and the results, all I can say is “I am sorry, I wasn’t good enough this time! :( ” And thanks to all of you who tried to console me. Though people found me laughing and roaming as I would do any other day, beneath I was indeed hurt. My popularity or my ‘coolness’ doesn’t allow me to crib in public does it?? I wish I hadn’t given all that build up after the exam (here is another.. my XAT really went well! he he ). My orkut profile had said “CAT went well is an understatement”. But now I can say for sure that "WELL, CAT WENT…IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT!!! "