Mystory@Sheekha Girish: How I chose my course and college

Mystory@Sheekha Girish

Since my 2nd grade, I was really into outer space and most of my projects and conversations included a reference to space which used to irritate many people. Over the years my passion for Science grew a long way. In 11th and 12th grade, the introduction of Genetic Engineering and Quantum Physics opened a whole new world of possibilities for me. This led me to develop a strong interest in Science fiction books.

By the time I graduated, the field of IT was in boom and in great demand. From an economic stand point of how my life would be in the next 10-20 years, I chose IT engineering for my bachelors. Coding used to be a bit cumbersome for me. From there pursuing an MBA was the next goal as I didn’t want to delve into the technical aspects more and was interested in the management aspect of the IT field. My specialization would be Operations in Logistics as a major with Business Analytics as my minor subject. And all this hasn’t prevented me from being up to date with the passion I had towards the above mentioned topics. It’s like I have the best of all worlds with a certain emphasis on the current market scenario.

How I cracked college admission

I have the audacity and pride to say that where I stand today is all my hard work and dedication. In school, I have not attended a single tuition in any of the subjects from 1st grade till 12th. Even when I was on the verge of flunking Chemistry in 11th grade, I studied and managed to get a 57/100. And I prepared for all the entrance tests on my own with a lot of reference taken from external books not just restricting to the books at hand.

Even for MBA admission, aptitude test preparation was done based on the knowledge and tricks I have acquired over the years. Most would disagree and say that I’m a bit pompous, overzealous and arrogant for refusing external help but my thought process goes to say that unless you don’t try and think there are others to do it for you and make the process easier, you won’t realize the potential and limits up to where you can go. ASB, Amritapuri was the only college I applied for an MBA program through which I got in. Similarly, in my Bachelors, CHARUSAT was the only college I applied to. It might be because as an NRI, I wasn’t aware of the college and their competitiveness in India. But if given a chance to go back in time, I wouldn’t change a thing as this is who I am and I embrace it.

My college experience

The college schedule of ASB, Amritapuri is from 8:30am to 6:00pm. Some days we have college extending up to 8pm. Initially, it was a very tiring process which turned very monotonous and tiresome. The college kept saying that this was our practice for the corporate world where everything is unexpected, and to be agile and flexible was the quality being inculcated into the academic process.

As a 1st year student, we have to cover the basics of all subjects in the field of management through specialization taken up in the 2nd year. Operations as of now has been the top subject from a learning perspective in my case. I’m part of the Colloquium committee of the college where various experts from several fields who come to visit the ashram give talks. It’s an astonishing feat accomplished that this college extends its presence and grace beyond international borders.

There are a lot of cultural activities conducted in the college and most of them are undertaken by my batch. This involves event coordination and planning which leads to spending late nights in college. During free periods, I spend most of my time in the library searching through various repositories available. The college is located in a remote area with not much places to visit around and with the busy schedule of college, it doesn’t free up any time to go either.

Joining ASB has changed me as person who could be flexible and adaptable if any given situation. My journey from Abu Dhabi to Anand to Kollam has proved useful to me. ASB focuses on having not just education but education for life. Initially, it portrays itself as a spiritual college but it has a much deeper meaning and knowledge at its core with the wise words and movement led by the Chancellor Mata Amritanandamayi.

About the Author:

My name is Sheekha Girish. I’m born and raised in Abu Dhabi, UAE. I did my BTech IT from CHARUSAT in Anand, Gujarat. I’m currently pursuing MBA from ASB, Amritapuri. I know 5 languages: English, Arabic, Malayalam, Gujarati, Hindi and French. I’m an avid reader and love to rap. I’m a strong believer of Karma. “What goes around, comes around”.