A those-were-the-days kinda post!

If I had to choose one phase from my student life, it would be my MBA days. I am usually a very living-in-the-present kind of a person, but my MBA days are the two most beautiful years of my life that I wish to go back to.

I did the course because my friends were doing it. We went to the best coaching centers in town, we spent thousands filling out admission forms and we religiously took the Mock test every week. I even fought with my family so that they would let me go to another city to study. That was my first and only act of rebellion! Eventually I took admission in the same town, for comfort and for easy dating!

Yup, I had my priorities figured out!

The Boy and I had been chatting online for a while. In two years we had only met twice. If our relationship was to move further he had to be in the same city as me. Not that I didn’t believe in long distance relationships, he just had to be around me for a while to understand me and my situation a little better to be able to think of a future with me. As fate would have it, we both studied in the same city for two whole years.

That time was glorious. We had tight schedules from 8 to 8, Monday to Saturday and semester to semester. In between classes, projects and tight schedules, we use to find time for each other. It wasn’t easy, but we made it. Our institutes were some 25 kilometer apart. I use to courageously drive across highways to meet him! It was my hometown, he was an outsider and so it was me who had to make extra efforts. But they were so worth it! I just love, love those memories.

My favorite spot at the Boy's college. Yes, I am terrible at photo editing!

Don’t get me wrong, we were good students as well. When it came to studies, we didn’t let our love life affect it. Sometimes he tutored me and gave me his project reports. In return, I cleaned his messy room! We did well in our respective colleges and secured good positions in the end. Awesome balance, you see!

The interior of my Institute

Those classes where we tried to study!

The only corridor where you had some privacy.
People were often found here chatting on phone with their 'loved ones' !

I made some life-long friends during this time. Noor* studied in the same college as me when we did our bachelors. But our paths never crossed. While doing MBA, we got close because of our roll numbers. That was the beginning of a life-long affair. We had a love hate relationship from the beginning but we survived. We got close to Nik* as well – roll number you see. Also, Nik needed a scape goat for his projects. I was the most sincere of the three and played a big role in him getting his degree. We made friends with Pri and then we four were inseparable. It is Pri* who makes me laugh the most. It is Pri I turn to when I need advice on life. Different friends – different specialities!

And then there was the course. The one thing I learnt from MBA was how to Google effectively! No, seriously. I also learnt about the PE ratio, Brand Management, Organisational Behaviour and the works. Even though I never applied much of the above, I remember most of it. That’s the thing about doing Business Administration. You learn practically more than theoretically.

I gained a lot of self confidence during this time. The crowd was pretty average and that always kept the ego high. I met people from diverse backgrounds and learnt how to adjust with each one of them. I let go of my inhibitions and learnt how to face an audience. I learnt I needed to be more emotionally mature to handle angry professors. I learnt I could do well if I wanted to...

I wish I wrote this post 6 years back when the memories were still fresh. I'm nostalgic today since its Noor’s birthday and I happened to look at old pictures (I bought a new camera phone during the last semester!). Noor taught me how to never say no to fun. I love her for that. Happy Birthday my babe.

Noor - Most of her pictures are like this.
For some weird reason she hated being clicked!!

*Names are not real!