(Part 5)

The same applies even to those kids who have been assigned the task of fulfilling their parent’s wishes. It is indeed a matter of pride that the kids happily agree to live up to the expectations of his parents. But the kid must realize that it is very important for him to first “convert” his parent’s wishes into his own wish. For e.g. a parent may dream that his or her child cracks CAT and gets admission into a prestigious B school. But what is more important is that even the child should dream for the same, driven by his own goals and not the ones forced upon him. Parents have to understand that a child should never be burdened with fulfilling their or someone else’s dreams. At the end of the day, every parent wants their kid to be “happy” and a parent must ensure that they aren’t sacrificing their own child’s dreams or forcing him to fulfill those dreams, maybe which they in their youthful days couldn’t fulfill (may be due to reasons unavoidable). So what if “padosi ka ladka” got admission into a renowned B school; your kid is no less. You don’t have to drag or force him towards the MBA path. Your kid’s career path may not have any room for MBA but he may be equally passionate about something else and earn his fame by pursuing that something else, and guess what, he might actually be happy and content with whatever he pursues. And as I had already mentioned before “money cannot buy happiness”, likewise even “MBA cannot guarantee happiness for everyone”.

So the entire discussion boils down to one most important thing- “Having a goal in your life”. Your goal can be anything; it can vary from being a social worker to being a successful entrepreneur. What is dangerous is lacking direction in life. Failures and success are a part and parcel of our lives. It OK if you are among the ones who seriously wish to pursue MBA as a step that would lead you towards their goal of life, fail to crack CAT in 1 or 2 attempts. It’s also OK if within your planned and stipulated time period you failed to crack CAT and have to reluctantly think about chucking it out from your list of short term goals and replace it with a new short term goal. Nobody will disown you for that. Your parents and the dear ones will always love you selflessly, however hard you may fall down in your career. But what is NOT OK is to get daunted by your failures and stop working towards your “Final goal”. And this is also the reason why PURSUING MBA SHOULD NOT BE THE ULTIMATE GOAL of your life. Instead MBA should be just one of the means to achieve your long term goal. Life doesn’t end at having or not having a MBA degree. Instead it’s just the beginning!!!

(to b contnd..)