Mystory@Sairam Chennapragada: How I chose my college and career path

Mystory@Sairam Chennapragada

My schooling has been very conventional, just walking the safe path chosen by everyone and also suggested to me as the best path. Engineering and Medicine seemed to be the only two paths available to me which would please my job savvy parents and relatives. Yet, there was a voice always within me questioning me ‘is this the real life? Is this the only way to happiness?’

With this whisper in my heart as my only companion I started cruising the same waters that everyone had been diving in as the divine holy waters. I touched many shores, but still kept sailing towards the so-called happy life of being a government employee. The long awaited dreamland arrived only to surprise me with its monotonous stagnated islands. The distant dream of being happy again and spring back to life put me on another sail. Then my whispering soul put me here proposing that this where I belong. It has been a couple of months being here in this B-School, but still I feel the freshness of day-1. Being a born leader, my people skills and leadership qualities bought me close to myself as a class representative. I have joined the PGDM General course with Operations and Finance as my areas of interest and specialisation. Hopefully, this may take me to my dreamland of happiness.

How I cracked college admission

I prepared very well for the entrance exam after my working hours. Though everything seems to be simple, it is a matter of speed and accuracy. My self-training has yielded me good fortunes in the form of ATMA result with 85 percentile. MAT and CAT were the seeds of efforts which never grew into trees but gave me a good level of practice. No coaching classes were taken by me or in other words given to me. Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE), Hyderabad was the only college I wanted to join and I did so.

This all started with a single decision in a single moment. It was a pretty routine day in my life, going to work and returning back completely exhausted. Though there was nothing new I was learning every day, there was no progress I was making at that point of my career, but I felt fatigued every day. One day I was back home from work and started browsing some random webpages. All of a sudden there was an advertisement regarding some B-School admissions. That was the epiphany moment when I thought why shouldn’t I resign from this monotonous job and go for a full-time MBA. Then I prepared a list of colleges and went through the process and at last good news and good times came to me by way of gaining admission to this college.

What I gained from my college experience

This college is a platform where I found myself again. It has been seven months of relationship with this place but I can still smell the freshness of the first day. Students of my class have come far from their homes and reached close to my heart as my brothers and sisters. I spend most of my time helping my classmates, participating in events, organising, volunteering, leading and learning. I took part in many papers presentations, B-plans, clubs and other inter-college fests.

If given a chance I would like to enhance the vibrancy of my institute, putting every friend of mine to achieve the ultimate mission and vision of the institute. My college has changed my very nature and perspective about management studies. IPE has helped me hone my leadership skills in many aspects. Management fests, events and other clubs have been like the true places of learning and enjoyment. Being a student of B-school like IPE is a memorable phase in every student’s life, especially a person like me with good work experience.

Every day is a new opportunity to meet people, make new friends. Life was never the same before. I can enjoy each moment that I spend here in this college. Since it was my wish and effort to see myself sitting in this class, no class felt boring and no subject felt difficult. Faculty is like seniors and seniors are like best friends. It feels like being a member of a very big family. Surely, I am going to miss this place. Though this is a launch pad which is going to put me into a global orbit I won’t get disconnected with this bond.

I have been a Class representative, a volunteer for Manthan, Samvaad 2017, volunteer for Sanskrithi our annual fest, organiser for startupedia, summer internship project coordinator and volunteer for many other events, and worked in people handling roles.

About the Author:

I am Sairam Chennapragada, a business management enthusiast, book worm, humanitarian, and a leader by birth, an analyst by nature, engineer by trade and a manager by passion. The activities I call my hobbies are book collection, blogging and volunteering for events and social causes.