I had already appeared for GATE and failed in that aspect (89 percentile is not such a good thing especially for a guy with no quota what so ever). I thought, 'Why! This could be my gateway to professor-hood.' Becoming a professor at a college has been the ultimate goal of my life and I think it is unfair if my students hesitate to ask me for recommendation letters when they apply for these universities due to my lack of qualifications.
I booked a date for GRE during the last week of May, for the 20th of June. I applied online to the university on the 30th of June (which incidentally was the last date for submission of applications). My recommendation letters and sop (or essay) were prepared at lightening speed (with a great amount of contribution of Foo and Bar). These were submitted along with my GRE score by the 2nd week of July.
Then, it was the turn of IELTS next. Within next 2 weeks, I had booked, appeared for and got a score in the band of 8 in IELTS.
With a bunch of great recommendation letters and a fairly good sop and an impressive resume (which was made to look like that), my friends (Foo and Bar) were optimistic of me getting an admit. But, I had lost all hopes of that happening as my score was a meager 1170. However, as it turned out, recommendation letters, resume and sop do matter a lot in these affairs and I got a 40% fee waiver on the 18th of August (An admit in two months is a record time as Foo and Bar have informed me).
After this, I was in my dreamland. I was going to quit my job, return to academia and the three of us were supposed to reach heights in our professional lives, of which, we had only dreamed of. We hardly cared about anything except our VISAs for the next month and had a blast of a time for the next month plotting how to save money, procure education loan etc (We even Googled for accommodations in Adelaide!). It was such a great feeling of accomplishment as we had finally 'achieved' something.
This was the time, when we came across an agency called IDP, which aids students going to Australia for their education. A person whom we referred to as Newton was assigned as our agent/counsellor. I consider him as a very good counsellor as he had an incredible knack of conveying even the worst things in life in a calm, composed and carefree manner. It was in a meeting with him, where he dropped a bombshell in his unique way.
The course that we had chosen (MSITM) was a one-year course. And, here was the root of our problem. In his unique demeanor, Newton said with an air of a guy just about to comment on the day's weather, 'You will have to come back immediately after the completion of your education as you will not be given a work permit, which only accompany a two year course' (and even smiled after this). As with all good things, the dream that we had cherished too came to a grinding halt here.
Returning to India was not our problem. In fact, all of us had planned to return after earning for a period of 2-3 years there. It was the fact that we would not be repaying even a single Paisa of our education loan and return to India as unemployed youth.
Then, it was all plain and simple. Anirudh would not become Master of Anything for another two years and unsatisfied with his current work. Foo, who had dreamed of everything up to his marriage (a 5 year plan) would also postpone his plans. Even Bar would continue functioning as his usual bustling self. We were down in dumps for about a week after which, I started job hunting and Foo went abroad for a month (on official trip of course).
Things have returned to normalcy now (in fact, for about a month), and I have learned many lessons in my life. As they say, 'The journey is what matters, not the destination'. I certainly enjoyed the process of applying to a university until the crazy immigration rules did me in.
I have learned that life is uncompromising, cruel and asks us to be tough and sacrificial to achieve 'something'. So, next time, while doing any grandiose planning about my future, I will certainly think ten times and then leap ahead.
Regards,
Anirudh.
