Taking Off…
A long journey coming to an end, it was a very emotional time but it felt good to relax for a while and not have anything on the to-do list. All of us got to connect and play casual fun games just to unwind and have a good time together. I think such a session was important because humans need a little relaxation after a continuous grind of several weeks. Otherwise, the productivity of their work might decrease. The importance of such a relaxing activity was important during the fellowship because it would give all the fellows a compulsory time to stop and experience taking a breath, which many like me wouldn’t have done otherwise because of university and other responsibilities and commitments.
The activities we had in the session involved a riddles’ solving game in which 50 riddles were divided into the fellows in two groups. It was really funny, guessing “Baalti” for a statement that goes like: “A strand of hair + What Abhinandan found fantastic”. We had a full, half an hour or so, long “behs” on who won, sharing a clip here so you can have a glimpse of what happened xD. It was an instance of pure happiness, where everyone was having a healthy competition and some people were getting quite savage with the comments. But all in all, it was fun and games and Team 1, (Sir Saad’s Team) won at the end (not everyone will agree).
Another fun activity we had was guessing childhood pictures of fellows. Here you can see my picture as well. It was such a joy to go through old pictures to select one to send in for the activity. I love nostalgia and the margarita of emotions that comes with it, taking you on a ride itself. To add to the joy, all of us were able to guess almost all the pictures of our fellows. This in my opinion, showed how much of an interaction we’ve had in these three months and how good a connection we have made with each other. But, we couldn’t guess the pictures of our Program Team, as they were unexpected. This activity had no sense of competition and everyone was just having fun together, matching the childhood picture facial features with the current ones. This activity also gave a sense of how far we’ve come in life, both physically and mentally.
Although the fellowship is coming to an end, I’ve developed close and beautiful bonds with many fellows. This way, I’ll be staying in touch with most of them, (Thanks to WhatsApp). They have become great internet buddies and I’ve also planned a couple of meetups with some of them. Moreover, I can stay in touch with them by having little productive discussions with them as we used to have in our course work. We can also just unwind and share a laugh at times. The fellowship team, on the other hand, is a couple of absolutely amazing mentors who have always been and will always be, just a click away, for whatever personal or professional guidance I want.
Developing a network with such hardworking individuals with a growth mindset and a positive attitude is I think the biggest takeaway from the fellowship. Being an introvert, it’s not easy to get to meet or connect with a lot of people. This makes you lose out on a huge number of growth opportunities this world has to offer. Developing such an uplifting circle also helps you view the world from different perspectives and have a glimpse of all the different fields of study and work out there. The learnings from this fellowship will be beneficial for me in the future because now I know how to be the MVTP, how to be an effective leader and how to resolve critical problems in a team setting. These skills along with a first class resume and cover letter are the key ingredients to landing a perfect spot in the professional life and so, I’ve boarded the right flight. In future, applying for a job for instance, will be really easy for me because I now have a readily made resume and cover letter, which would require a little editing and I also know how to give interviews, thanks to the mock session :)
Although the environment during the last session was as friendly and safe as ever, it was also full of emotions, a blend of nervousness about what life has in store for us now, and excitement to see what we will be doing putting all our learnings into action. I’d also mention the sadness of thinking about the free weekends with no pending PW’s, because they’ve become a part of my life. I think the teamwork skills this fellowship has instilled in me, along with the unveiling of my leadership potential, is something I’ll forever be thankful for. The fellowship has made it easy for me to be open and share my narrative which is essential for effective communication and getting results. Now I’m comfortable even sharing videos on not only my own Facebook page, but also on public ones (I’ve never had even my picture as the profile picture before Amal came into my life).
The last session was quite a takeoff on a practical journey. Currently, I’m practicing some applications of my learnings from the fellowship, in the ambassadorship program. In this program, we have to interact with not only the team and our groups, but also with a LOT of unknown people. Being an introverted person, who would get panic attacks due to unknown calls, and even thinking about talking to some relative over the phone, it has been quite an activity for me. Up until now, I’ve made more than 50 calls to random people, and honestly, I can’t even think of the time when I had that call-anxiety. I have found out that I can be an extrovert in a professional capacity and I don’t even have to change my natural introverted self for that.
In short, it’s been one heavenly ride! A dream come true, a chapter closed and a destination reached, paving the way and giving a head start to new dreams and new places to be.
“How Beautiful it is, to have something that makes saying Goodbye so hard”
— Winnie the Pooh
