Year: 2018

Community

Luna: From Abandoned to Adored

On January 1, 2018, six days after I moved to Bangalore, I wondered: what if….I rescued a dog? I had seen this on Facebook a few days before. Ankit had been feeding this dog for a couple of weeks, but could not take her in because he was preparing…

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Community

DJAC 2018: Celebrate Inner Conflict

As humans, most of our daily decision-making is patterned and predictable. However, if we could zoom in on those instances where we stop and consciously think through our decisions, we might see our minds attempting to answer a single question: Who am I? In order to answer that…

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Self-Knowledge

Therapy: A 2-for-1 Deal

I begged and begged to not have to go to therapy. But my Class Dean at Babson College wouldn’t have it. By the third year, she knew me as an ambitious, high-performing student who was determined to graduate a year early. And she saw what I couldn’t see at the time – that I needed…

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Self-Knowledge

In Search of Home

As a girl of Indian descent growing up in Chicago, I was taught to regularly seek blessings from elders in the family, particularly my paternal grandmother. She would place her hand on my head, and pray that I would be blessed with good health, success in school, and a good home. One day, I stopped her and said, “But grandma…

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Self-Knowledge

Embracing My Insecurities

Now that life has returned to a slower pace, I have started to unpack the learnings from 2017. I am slowly beginning to see where my insecurities are because for the most part, they remain hidden deep within us, until triggered by specific situation and often through a specific someone…

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Self-Knowledge

Are You My Alma Mater?

Finding the right MBA program is like finding the family that speaks your language. They may not look or talk like you, but you feel “at home” because they understand and value you. I knew that INSEAD was the only school that speaks my “language” i.e. could decode my resume and understand who I am…

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Relationships

Diversity + Conflict = Maximum Growth

It’s Sunday night and nearly 2 am. I have class in 6 hours, but I have an urge to sit here in silence and write. It feels like a month has gone by. Flipping through my notes from a week ago compels me to check the date again. Yep, it’s only been a week. I don’t know…

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Self-Knowledge

INSEAD: MBA Powered by Mindfulness

Since we arrived at INSEAD about 3 weeks ago, there’s been a tremendous amount of encouragement and support for us to develop a mindfulness practice. Yes, that’s right – the #1 international MBA program teaches its students about the importance of regular…

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Self-Knowledge

Spin the Globe

The overwhelming joy of welcoming my mom to INSEAD was indescribable. I was beaming. She has never seen me happier. And it’s only been 6 weeks since I arrived in Singapore! When she asked how my quiz went that morning, I happily responded: I know I passed. Passed?! She was confused and rightly so. She distinctly remembers…

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Community

Sufi Poet at INSEAD

We were born in the same townhouse in Chicago, but we never got along as children. My cousin was 9 months older and was always taller, fairer, and prettier. She was popular everywhere she went. As a young adult, I based my entire identity on everything she wasn’t – she went away to NYC for college, so I went…

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