I still remember how the first year of my college started. I thought everything I had was perfect – my friends, my knowledge, my body, my hair, my clothes, my accessories, and my entire life. But gradually by the end of first year, I realised that I was caught in the rush of college life. I didn’t know where I was going. My so-called-perfect-friends started becoming jealous of me (I still have no clues for what reasons). Hanging out with those friends was a mundane task. At one point of time, I realised that they were just fair-weather-friends. I started putting on little bit of weight. My permanent straightened hair was no longer poker straight. I was not the topper in the class anymore. I didn’t win either in the basketball tournament or in the badminton tournament or in the national level best manager event! To make it worse, I didn’t have a crush on any guy. No guys in my batch were handsome (at least for my eyes), leave alone the senior guys, they were worse. I had even reasons to run into depression. I was kind of going nuts about everything. But before all these issues could get on my nerves, I decided to take things lightly.
So, in the whole of second year, I made entirely new friends. Some of them were very out-going but some were introverts. I was able to strike a balance between both set of friends. I kept myself busy after the college hours. I hanged out with friends only twice in a week. I involved in more extra-curricular activities. I concentrated more on the college fests. I was able to make it to the finals of most of the national level management events. I gave up playing basketball and badminton. I gave up my strict diet. I indulged in pizzas, burgers, ice-creams and chaats once in a while. I ensured that I exercised at least 5 days in a week. I had proper updated notes. I started preparing for exams well in advance. My grades improved. I may sound like a geek but I didn’t want to compromise on my character. This way, my college life seemed to be way better! The reason was- I was no more obsessed with perfection! I was well organised but I was not perfect yet I was happy!
Second year was like a turning point for me (in a good way). But unfortunately for most of my batch mates it was in a bad way. Many didn’t realise that being perfect is not the only thing to do on earth. Thus most of them couldn’t cope up with pressure and dropped out of college. Others indulged in excessive boozing, fagging and pulling hookah. Some even got heavy on drugs. I was in no way associated with them, so I couldn’t do anything to help them fight the pressure of college life. But I’m glad I learnt that it is ok not to be perfect and didn’t give in to all the above mentioned concerns.
In the third year, I continued to be the way I was in second year and now everything looks like candy floss and it actually is! I know that I’m not perfect. So what! I have true friends, good percentage in all semesters, job offer from Infosys, and offer for MBA seat from eight B-schools. Moreover, I have learnt how to deal with ups and downs of college life. What else could I ask for! I gained confidence by every experience and most importantly, as a business management student, I have learnt to manage myself first! (Ok, I’ll stop here. I have bragged enough about myself). I have had the almost-perfect-college-life!
