I passed out from IIM Calcutta in 2008,and am the Business Planning Manager with HewlettPackard at present.

I'm a member of this group since last 5+ years. I hailed from a pure academic family in Kolkata, my father was Prof in IIT-KGP. I have an elder brother who is mentally handicapped. When I was small, Father quit his job in IIT and started his own electronics mfg firm. A pure academician with no business acumen, it flopped within few years and our family was thrown into poverty. I was in mid-school then. I never got any private coaching/tuition for my 10th,12th, Grad and post-grad, since we couldn't afford it.The only way I had to outwit my peers having 5-6 tutors was only by hard studies and self-determination....and it paid. I stood 1st in JNU International Economics MA entrance exam (it had only 20 seats). I took admission but parents couldn't afford my hostel fees, so I left my dream and joined a small consulting firm in Kolkata as Office Assistant for Rs 1500 p.m. I cried a lot, but promised myself that one day, I will earn myself the best degree and branding possible in India. Since then, the dream of joining the top-3 IIMs was embedded in my brain. As I couldn't leave my job, I did my Masters in Economics from Madras Uni thru correspondence so as to strengthen my CAT application. Meanwhile, our financial position was fast weakening.All family savings were gone, and Mom started selling her gold jewelry.I still recall the day she took off the last piece - a gold chain I always used to wear - she burst into tears, and I said,"Don't cry,Maa. For every rupee you spend today for me, I'll return in 100 times more in few years.That's my promise to you." Various relatives and 'friends' used to visit us and scorned and taunted Maa for being poor and having a 'mad' son.I once asked her why didn't she cry hearing such cruelty? She replied,"Because YOU are my weapon. Shine yourself enough so that one day, your success and establishment will act as the reply to them.That will be my best revenge." The 4 months before CAT 2005 was nightmare.Dad went to hospital with critical illness and we lost each Rupee we had, and were left with begging bowl.As usual, I could never join any CAT coaching institute, and did total self-prep.My only mode of prep was visiting net parlor twice a week for an hour each (couldn't spend more money),write down all the hurdle messages the moderators sent, and solve them back at home.I can't express in words how much this group them meant to me.... Nov 3rd week came, and we had no money to buy food. We all starved for 3 consecutive days, and on Day-4 was CAT.I went to exam hall weak with hunger,dizziness and blackouts.For others, it was addition of Brand IIM.For me, it was survival for my family. Admittedly, CAT 2005 was the toughest in the past 30 years.And I got 99.52% overall, and got calls from IIMs-CLIK. I still recall how madly I used to mail the moderators, asking about my chances of getting a call.....and I am EVER grateful to them for being so excellent support during my deadliest days. Finally, I joined IIM-Calcutta.I had to opt out of mess and live on bananas and bread as I needed to save money for my family expenses.But then, one day those 2 years were over, and suddenly I found I have changed my destiny...... Today I have more money that I want or need.But I can never forget those dreadful days which converted an impoverished, deprived, under-privileged girl to a successful MNC Manager. If any of you are reading this post, and comparing your situation with mine, I request you never to give up.Never lose hope.Remember, if you are determined enough, you can do miracles - just like I did.You are at least that privileged that you can access this message, many deserving girls and boys can't even do that. NEVER ACCEPT DEFEAT EVEN BEFORE FIGHTING THE WAR. You may wonder why I'm writing all this.I wrote a similar message right after I got admitted in IIMC (2006), and encouraged people never to feel defeated by the cruelty of luck. But just few days back, a current IIM-C student sent me a message thru Facebook, thanking me, since he believes he is here today only because of me.He comes from a similar deprived background he read that post 6 years back, and then thought:If Sulagna could, so can I. For all these years, he has been trying to get into IIM-C - and with each failure, he again told himself: "Sulagna could, so can I." And today, he is into IIM-C, fulfilling his dreams.So I thought - at least one person has changed his destiny because I shared my trauma, experiences, and my

life.May be some more people can benefit if I again write this? Never die before death.Only cowards do that.