At any stage in life, all our career decisions are entangled with our personal responsibilities. I have seen people passing out of schools and choosing colleges based on location, on girlfriend’s/boyfriend’s college and so on. When we pass out of the college and take up a job, similar challenges remain. For girls, the parents want them to settle soon and hence do not want them to move to different cities. For boys, right from day one, their family’s responsibilities fall on them. For those who do, they wish to complete their studies before getting married. And herein comes the societal pressure, parental expectations. Eventually most succumb. For others who procrastinate the thought of higher studies; it never happens. For some, I have seen relationships breaking when one partner fails to understand and be a part of the other’s career ambitions and misunderstandings eventually lead to beautiful relationships falling apart.
Why is it that we feel that the two important areas of our lives are always at loggerheads? Why is it that we feel that there is no further scope of studying post marriage? Why is it that for an average Indian family, there are definitions of ‘suitable’ age of marriage beyond which the society declares them either unsuitable or rebellious? Why do we fear that the education may not add too much to our bank accounts?
Well, the answers to all these questions lies within us. There are situations which have seen and opinions we have formed. We are part of the same society and have similar illogical notions in our heads. We feel it is fundamentally more important to buy a real estate first than to invest on our ownselves. We feel education only serves to get a well settled job. We feel that how can we go to study when our kids are going to school. I too continued to live in the cobweb of these social norms for almost 4-5 years, thought of accumulating some more money in my bank a/c before I went for my higher studies, struggled with the question of matrimony versus career. And then I took a chance…
I am glad I did that. It is there that I met these people who had come to study and had kids going to school, people who had risked a lot in the short term for valuable gains in the long run.
Everyone managed, everyone sailed through; backed of course by love, support of loved ones.
My Beloved’s MBA Plans is a collection of 16 extra-ordinary journeys of real ordinary men and women, people like you and me. The book has been liked by many MBA aspirants and even been recommended by none other than Dr. Shashi Tharoor. Apart from giving a sneak peek into life at some of the country’s best B-schools, it teaches the essence of balancing love and career ambitions.
Come and be a part of their journeys, learn from them and get inspired for your own..