Completion of a Decade: 10 Years and this is where we are!

It was the second half of 2003 and most of us were worried of what lies ahead. Within a few months, our two year Post Graduation Programme would come to an end and each one of us was keen to get placed. With a batch size of 88 students, everyone had their share of fear, doubts, nervousness and all the other feelings that one gets before an important exam! There were questions on which companies would come on campus and which would not. There were meetings that took place with the Placement Committee where tempers ran high, with each one expressing his or her insecurity disguised in the form of a loud tone or argumentative statement. 

Today, as I write this, I smile at all of that as a decade has passed since we graduated. 

I smile at the fear that we had within us. There were questions that popped in each of our heads like:

• ‘Will I get a job?’
• ‘Will I be able to earn decently?’
• ‘I love brands. Will I be able to manage brands ever?’
• ‘Advertising is my love. Will companies allow me to show my creative or strategic side?’

All these questions and many more have been answered and have lost relevance. With the completion of a decade, when I look around, I see my batch mates and my people from my senior batch who have done phenomenally well across companies, countries, sectors, industries and brands. I see people with wonderful careers.

There are some who took the plunge and went the entrepreneurial route, few others who have been with their first company till date, there are some who still felt that they wanted to study more and went ahead and did another course/another programme, a few decided to get married and stay at home, a few decided to become writers. Some even managed to get very senior roles in the organisations that they are working for. 

So depending on who is looking at them with what lens, their level of success may differ as measurement of success is always relative and a point of perspective. How you see someone and how I see someone may be completely different and each one’s point of view is true in their own eyes. 

According to me, all of us have done quite well and all the trepidation that existed back then was useless. I remember going back to MICA a couple of years back as a Guest Speaker in the Alumni meet and I was asked to share my journey with the students. I said “Irrespective of whatever I may share about my journey, the reality is that all of you will find or create your own paths and ten years down the line, when you do look back, you will be proud of the distance that you have travelled. At that point of time, whatever I am saying today will seem like a distant memory in the past as no one else except you yourself will be able to decide where you reach and how you feel about that journey!”

Personally, it feels great to have completed a decade of corporate life. I know that I have a long way to go ahead, the destination is still far away but I am enjoying the ride, enjoying the wind as I traverse this journey with no idea of what lies ahead. 

I also feel happy, inspired and delighted to see some of my friends doing work which I know that I can’t even imagine doing and it feels wonderful to see each of them continuing on their beautiful journey where they cross different milestones at different phases at their own pace. 

I would conclude by saying:

Completion of a Decade: 10 Years and this is where we are!