How it feels to be leaving IIMA
Hi, there.
Yeah, I am sending you another issue of the almost dormant newsletter after three months. An admirable senior once told me they had a “monthly-email” thingy but could not keep writing because life happened. At the time, I told myself I would not fall into that trap and keep writing. I am sorry; I was wrong. Anyway, we are here three months later.
I have written a few essays since the last issue. They are centered around my IIMA experience and coursework at IIMA. While completing my admission formalities, I had a funny experience, so I tried to document that. Then I went ahead and reviewed first-year courses as well as the courses that I took during term 4.
Most likely, term 4 was my last term here at IIM Ahmedabad. I say most likely because there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding my dual degree abroad. Oh, did I not tell you about it? I will spend a year abroad for the remainder of my degree. More specifically, I will spend two semesters at WU Vienna, take a bunch of courses, write a thesis, and at the end of it all, get an MSc in Strategy, Innovation, and Management Control in addition to an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. You can find out more about it here [PDF].
However, I am still waiting to sort my paperwork so that I may join the classes there on time. Every day, I wake up thinking, “today is the day I’m going to get that email.” Every day, I go to sleep with the sad realization, “today was not the day.” There is something about the human mind: uncertainty causes more anxiety than a flat-out rejection. The fact that you cannot track your application status does not help at all.
I never canceled a flight ticket in my life, so when I had to cancel my Qatar Airways flight to Vienna today, it made me quite sad. I also had to cancel my train to Delhi to rub salt on the wound. Even though both IRCTC and Qatar Airways refunded the fare amount, it does not make me feel better one bit. I am still hopeful about going to Vienna, though.
Please pray to the gods that they grant me the residence permit soon, and I can send you newsletters from Austria.
A few days ago, I tweeted about missing IIT Kanpur. Prof. Anuj Kapoor rightly pointed out that I would feel the same about IIMA sometime later. I am not sure about it right now. I am pretty excited about the prospect of leaving this place and going to a totally new country.
It would be pretty tragic if I had to continue the rest of my MBA here. As I said, I am pretty hopeful about the dual-degree still happening, so I packed my things a few days ago. Yeah, I still hate packing; that has not changed one bit.
I’ll be honest with you here. I did not feel a sense of sadness or that I was missing something after I had packed my things and moved out of my dorm room. I don’t feel a sense of “parting ways” when leaving a place. I realize how much I miss a place after a year or two. Lately, I have been getting a lot of such feelings about IITK, making me want to go back. But, I wonder if that engineering train left the station long ago. I’ll keep you posted.
I hope you all are doing fantastic, though. So, yeah, in summary: I completed my term 4 (pray, hopefully, the last term) at IIMA, wrote a bunch of reflective essays, tweeted an insane amount, am stressed with bureaucracy, and moved out of my dorm. That’s what I’ve been up to between the time I last sent you an email and now.
More newsletters will follow shortly, so make sure you are subscribed. I would also be happy if you shared the newsletter with your friends. Feel free to <reply> if you have anything to say about this issue.
Take care. Be kind. Until the next issue. 👋🏻