We're moving some of the interesting stories originally published on our blog to this thread.
Starting with Archana’s unusual love story.
Archana isn’t your typical shy, conservative, gharelu desi girl. And she’s proudly unapologetic about it. After a rocky ride on the personal front, she has got her eyes on the top business schools. Here’s her (true) story in her own words.
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Why MBA: My Unusual Love Story
by Archana
A broken engagement, loads of drama, 100 Lindt extra dark chocolates and 30 pounds later, I have decided to chase my MBA dream once again.
Being above 27 and unmarried isn’t easy, specially if you are an Indian girl. Even more so if you are surrounded by well meaning, yet ghastly relatives who seem to make it their life's purpose to see you married off to a well settled, well behaved(What the!!), teetotaller (holy crap!!) IT engineer son/nephew/friend/neighbour just back from the US of A.
On the other hand, I am NOT an IT engineer. I am a very well misbehaved, at times tipsy and definitely not matrimonially inclined (specially the arranged kind) 28-yr-old girl. Overall, not your quintessential Indian kudi. Yup!! You guessed it right. Another Bollywood pot-boiler in the making.
In spite of clearly stating my intentions of studying further, my dearest, excessively dramatic Dad convinced me to meet "eligible candidate" on "pseudo dates" with "family included" to decide on a suitable life partner.
After quite a few embarrassing, bordering on disastrous sessions of serving chai (lessons learnt: do not spill tea on the groom's mother, doesn't bode well for a long term relationship) and samosas, we (me not withstanding) finally agreed upon a guy. (Yes!! I am straight, in case I got you wondering otherwise).
One I would like to call Mr Teetotaller. Mr T and I got an hour to talk and decide if we could live together peacefully in holy matrimony for the next oh so painful years. I broke it to him, not so gently, of my intentions of studying further.
Surprisingly Mr T nodded his head enthusiastically, which I assumed was in full support of my intentions.
Well! That’s that. Congratulations were in order. I was soon to become Mrs T.
Of course, I was yet to break it to him, of the healthy relationship I shared with Mr Gray Goose Well !! maybe some other time.
Engagement preparations were in full swing. In the meanwhile I did my research on GMAT and stumbled upon BeattheGMAT.com. I was thrilled and inspired to read GMAT success stories. I hope to be part of this elite group someday.
Back to the engagement. Two days before the betrothal ceremony, Mr T and his family decided that a little payment was due to them in the form of a dowry, in view of their superior financial status vis-à-vis our middle class one.
Needless to say, I was not comfortable being bartered for a few lakhs of Rupees. The engagement was called off citing financial incompatibility (me-rich-you-poor syndrome). Or my take on it (you-a-jack-a$$-me-better-off syndrome)
My family was heartbroken, specially my dramatic dad, who was more dramatic then normal. Well, All I can say is good riddance!! Now I can begin my love affair with GMAT.
B-School, here I come. Wish me luck
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So that's Archana's story. If there’s anyone else out there who thinks Archana’s story isn’t an exception and there are many more that don’t get talked or written about, drop in a comment saying – ‘You rock, girl!’ (we’d prefer variations of this rather than an exact copy-paste).
Unfortunately, she will not be able to entertain queries like – ‘Can we have Mr T’s contact information? I’d like to give him a piece of my mind.’
The MBA Crystal Ball team salutes Archana’s spirit and wishes her good luck as she battles traditional societal norms, GMAT test and a dramatic dad, all at the same time.
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Interesting Stories and Articles
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