One Dreamy Jokar and the watch
Today is a milestone day for me. It is not related to the fact that India took Presidency of G20. Though there is a similarity too. Since for both India and for myself, it is a watershed moment. This day adds a feather in the cap for India and me, which both has been striving for some time. In order to understand, let's go back in time a bit.
TRIVIA: Indian Insitute of Management Calcutta pass outs call themselves “Jokars”.
Year 2007:
Three young men, Sameer, Pravin and Darsh, are standing in front of the hallowed gate of “Indian Institute of Management Calcutta”. All three are couple of years into their corporate lives. They are bit dreamy eyed, but there is a sense of confidence as well. Each has their own struggle stories, till date, which has drilled that confidence in them.
But today, they are trying to take a step towards a common goal. At the time of submitting the form, Sameer was looking wistfully out of the window of the administrative office and looking out at the lakes of the campus. A dream has been ignited. Unaware if the dream shared by other two or not, he got lost, till Darsh’s nudge brought him back to reality. Sameer thought he saw the same dream in Darsh and Pravin’s eyes.
Cut!! Cut!! Before you go to the opening scenes of “3 Idiots”, I need to step in. This is a story of “3 Jokars”. There is an exam to be given. The first hurdle towards gaining the right of passage of entering the “Harvard” equivalent of Asia. And all three failed to cross the first hurdle.
Before they could retry, life happened for each of them. The rush of corporate world took them and sprayed them across the globe. But the dream just would not die for Sameer. He was in contact with Pravin and Darsh. But he never really felt comfortable talking about that one dream, that keeps him awake at night. But he always felt the time has gone, and he has too many responsibilities now. The dream will remain a dream. Then this happened…
Year 2022
In the middle of Covid, one day Darsh called Sameer:
Darsh: “Dude, I am thinking of going for a long-distance executive course from Joka” (pet name of IIMC)
Sameer (ears perked up): “Why? How? That program has the highest rejection rate among all equivalent programs of parallel universities; do you think we can crack it? “
Darsh, always the optimist of the three: “Bro, we will not get rejected, and if we have to do, we have to do it from there.” Darsh continue to give his reasoning, like the oldest flagship program of its kind, etc.
Sameer, already sold, argued softly: “Not sure, in middle of covid.”
Darsh, always a bit headstrong, just ignored what Sameer is saying: “Shared the application link in WhatsApp.”
Pravin, who was abroad at that point of time, hesitated. He said, cannot do now. Knowing Pravin, no one argues with him. He always has a sense of finality in his decisions.
Year 2023
In winter of 2023, Sameer and Darsh are standing in front of “that” gate once more. This time they have earned the right to enter those gates.
One year has been tough, balancing work, family, giving away all the weekends to study and classes. Travelling to campus in middle of most active time for their companies. There have been days for Sameer, when he has been up all-night organizing product roll outs, and then taking a 2-hour break in the morning to appear for exam and switching back to work. Of course, there are co-workers who have volunteered to help out for time when he was away. The family has accepted that on all Sundays, this joker will be a student and will disappear from their lives for hours. Sameer has not taken long holidays over a year. He has relocated to a new city, but never missed a class.
3 December 2023.
Convocation Day. One by one names are being called out. Sameer is waiting patiently. He is Roll number 123. Currently, it is only 5.
He looked at wrist. He looked at the watch.
It is the first watch he bought with his own money in 2005. This is the exact watch he wore in year 2007, when he submitted the form. This is the watch which he looked at when he was giving admission test. The same exam, where he did not get enough to crack IIMs. This is the watch, which kept telling him, he has succeeded but also failed to touch his dream. Every night the alarm of that clock calls him out.
When he bought that watch, he has accidentally set that alarm. He never tried to switch it off. He wanted to ensure it keeps reminding him when he is about to doze off, there is a reason to stay awake. Over 15 years, the watch has got rusted, buckle has been damaged and many repair shop said it cannot be fixed, so he cannot wear it. It gives time perfectly, and never missed to let Sameer know it is midnight. It told him he has succeeded and failed as well.
Coincidently, his wife forced him to take the watch to a repair shop. She knew, Sameer loves that watch. Sameer said it cannot be fixed. She ignored the protest. That repair shop fixed it in year 2023.
He got nudged back to reality. It’s Darsh, with his certificate in hand: “They are calling your name”.
Sameer smiled and went up to the Program director. The watch glistened, it probably said, “Don’t worry, I will keep ticking, and find some other dream for you to keep awake at night!” Since, another dream has been ignited as Sameer shook hands with the Program Directors.
Meanwhile, Pravin is going to start his tough journey for this exact moment next year. He has been accepted for the next batch!!
