The past few days have seen heightened activity in my life. There’s been a flurry of best wishes flying around. A palpable sense of excitement seems to be gripping the air. And yes, thrilled I am.
I haven’t ever stayed up so late when I’m alone. I’ve mostly bored myself to sleep. But today is a big day. I’m heading off to a new world. A new beginning, a new life…!!! And as I freeze the moment, a lot of memories come flooding back. The day when the quest began. The day I heard the name....MICA..!!!
It was during my third year of engineering. A friend had got through MICA. The name stuck around, I don’t know why, but it did. And then I met one more person. Both of us were preparing for CAT. And one fine day, we got talking about our career goals. I asked her, which stream would u choose in MBA. She looked scandalized. ‘I am not interested in an MBA’, she shot back. I didn’t know how to react. I might have laughed at her, I don’t know. And I don’t even remember what I said next. ‘I’m giving CAT for MICA,’ I heard her saying.
A year later I was sitting in my CAT coaching class. A senior counselor walks in and says, ‘lets see what questions you have and then we’ll take the session from there.’ A hand shot up, I asked him, ‘If you get through an IIM-A and MICA which one would you choose?’ Yeah, the class laughed. Thankfully, the counselor didn’t. He gave me his reasoning as to why choosing IIM would be a better choice. But somehow, IIMs never motivated me, MICA did.
I got called for the MICA interviews a couple of times only to get rejected. I had decided that the third attempt would be the last one. “Third time lucky,” must have been invented for some reason. And here I stand, packing my bags for the train I’ve come to call the “MICA EXPRESS”. Probably because I read Harry Potter a lot and as Hogwarts, MICA had been a dream too. Too long a dream, but I feel powerful now. Because iv always respected people who chase their dreams, Iv always respected people who have dared to dream.
As I stare into the night, looking at an old friend, we talk about all that has gone by. A life that was, and a life that I hope to be. And we feel happy, content. I realize that life at MICA mite just turn out to be just that, life. But at this very moment, I feel happy, happier than I’ve been in a long long time. This is a moment where I congratulate myself for the life that iv had till now, content that the present life has ended with my dreams turning into reality. Because from tomorrow onwards it will be a new beginning. The time to look ahead has come.
Time to board the MICA express and tell myself, “GOOD LUCK IT IS….!!!!!”
