Then, on a what i thought was a good day, i got through Adventity. And then I didn't want the results to be declared because I wanted to have a shot at Nomura. And then i got that too. But, after a despicable second round of interview, I knew i had missed my (easiest) chance at the 'best' job at NM. As when the wounds were still fresh, Adventity dropped a bombshell "Our client requirements have changed and we won't continue with the internship program". Till then a strong advocate of free labor market, for the first (and the last) time I was sympathizing with the Left front.
Ashamed, broken and shattered, I decided not to forget all of this that i had gone through, for the fear of it's recurrence would keep me going . And internship at IIFCL was just the beginning of what was set to be a huge transformation - of confidence, of image and of self. CFA preparations were intertwined with Internship work & Family obligations. But by the time all of it ended, there was no debris left. It was only hope, backed by self-determination, to carve out a future for myself - amongst the best of GPAs (henceforth, of course), amongst the best of jobs (at NMiMS) & amongst the best finance guys!
IIFCL and CFA were 2 of what i used to call 'the 3 best things that happened to me in 2009'. The third: SFM. I would never be able to thank my SFM Professor (for reposing his faith in me), my SFM group-mate (for pestering me to make one presentation after another) and Anshu (for putting me in a group where there was only one other person from my division) enough, because all of them played a role, which on a hindsight looked indispensable if things were to progress the way they did. The self-confidence that I got from being able to present original and independent ideas to Prof. Sircar, and to be able to argue it out and defend it in front of the finance maestro, was, to say the least, tremendous. Thank you folks!
Then there was this li'l elder sis of mine, who without my realizing, grew up so much so that she was getting wedded. It was an all-MBAs marriage! It's part of a larger upcoming culture - Intra-profession marriages (Doctors marrying Doctors, Software Engineers marrying SEs, etc.)... Well, I am not at all inclined to break the culture either!
SFM was undoubtedly the best course, until Trim 4. Then came the unnerving Dr. Rastogi to teach us nuances...no, to teach us to smell....to smell MONEY! After SFM, I&PF was another groundbreaking experience. The time spent over cases, and over case discussions went a long way in clarifying various concepts of project finance. Another expression of gratitude is to 'This is Ramji', our old-looking young prof who taught the subject most dear to my hear - Fixed Income & Debt Markets. Thank you sirs!
Placement season started, and I was given just 10 hours... yes 10 hours.. to prepare myself for the company which i had been awaiting for 7.5 months. The company, the desire to get into which, kept me propelling to work harder, smarter and faster. But 10 hours proved to be too less, and I didn't make it, as i didn't make it to through 4 other companies that were to follow. With 3 I-Banks slapping a rejection stamp on my face, the so-far forgotten feeling of Summers began to haunt, albeit mildly. Finally, i got through Irevna and was successful in getting a profile of Equity Research.
Trim 5 went along nicely as well. The Evertrust presentation made at M&A class will be remembered, at least by myself, for a long long time. And as they say, good things don't come in isolation...they come in batches. While I was enjoying my vacations in chilling winters of Ranchi, I results of Trim 4, for which i had gone to the examination department upmteen times, were declared. I knew i would do well and I had kept several application-related decisions on holdd, waiting for those results. I secured a GPA of 3.75, next only to the Great Cuckdoo Koo!
It was the second last day of the year, an year which had been, by far, the most eventful, memorable, value-additive yet happening year of my life.
What an year....
Thank you lord...thank you NMiMS..thank you folks!
P.S: Some special friends are conspicuous by their absence in my list of gratification. Well, they deserve much more than that :)
