So long...Farewell...

It is an exceptionally clear bit of memory I've got from back in school. Our family was going somewhere...and as we inched ahead painfully on the Sri Aurobindo Marg...my father pointed towards the right and said.."IIFT is there...good place for MBA in International Business". "Though IIMs are what one should aim for," he said in the same breath.Frankly speaking...I had no idea what MBA was...being more interested in Aeronautics, FBI, and Journalism as career options (alternated religiously between the 3)...but "International Business" sounded way cooler than only MBA..whatever that was...IIFT sounded a better bet than the IIMs :D

But then I grew older...not particularly wiser...and like all others decided that CAT was THE exam to give...and IIMs were worth dying for...IIFT was long since forgotten.

But there it came up again...T.I.M.E said it was a great institute...so zi dutifully filled up the form. November 20th...I went and messed up my CAT, and on 27th with the last bit of ambition and self confidence snuffed out of me...I gave the IIFT entrance.

13th December...I was dressing up for a wedding when my best friend called and blabbered excitedly.."You...IIFT...you...congrats!"....I nearly choked...
One thing led to the other...and I found myself entering the gates for the first time to pay up (had happily locked my car keys in...sigh...signs of what was to happen regularly).

The moment I entered...I felt like I belonged here...the campus was small..and no big grassy football field like the one I had back in college...but I fell in love with the place....and the love affair continued...2 years went by faster than ever.

From being the reserved girl...who had never been out of her house for more than a couple of hours a day...I spent many a night under obscure streetlights on campus...in order to study in peace!

At the end of the 1st Trisem...studies were no longer that important...and I had developed the knack of studying with 5 other people and plenty of activity in the room!

Time went on...friends were made...relationships changed...NEW friends were made...some were just discovered in the fag end of my stay...but I know they are for keeps....

Night life was discovered...from sleeping at 10 religiously...I realized that the star-lit sky is a lot prettier at 3-4 in the morning...walks then are amazingly educative...Delhi roads are amazing to drive on post 1 in the night...24/7 is a boon...CCD is heaven...Big Chillz is the ultimate gastronomic delight...the laptop is a necessity...as is music...there are tonnes of amazing movies that are a lot more educative than any book you've ever read...What people do does NOT define them...there is always more to them than meets the eye...

My first party at IIFT was the first such event I had ever attended! Never before had I seen so many drunk people together at once!

I realized the importance of differentiating between following one's heart...and simply bowing to peer pressure...

That watching movies is most fun when you are doing it on the sly in the middle of a boring lecture...

That ....
I can go on forever...

Life at IIFT has alas come to an end...and I know that these have been the best 2 years of my life...Loads to look forward to again...but these memories will be cherished forever :)