The Day arrived.. July 3rd.. it was time to leave to IIM Indore.. Lot of thoughts - should i have continued in technical lines or should i leap into management lines that i have no exposure to! Last morning, that is, July 2nd, i had got up from my sleep contemplating whether i must get back to Cisco and forget all about this IIM stuff.. one of those very rare days, where sleep seemed to be a remedy for reality.. Now, back to 3rd July, i knew i had to leave home to Indore in a couple of hours.. A lot of my peers from Bangalore took the 6:30AM flight to Indore.. i took the 12PM one but that had no one accompanying me.. There was a connecting flight at Mumbai that i had to take to reach Indore.
It was, in fact, Guru Poornima day.. I was unable to go to Shirdi Baba's Temple near my house on this very auspicious day.. however, with a few tears, and as though i forgot that i was away from my family for about 5-6 years already before Cisco and that this was no big deal to me, i was a bit upset leaving Bangalore..
Somehow the day went by, with my reaching Indore airport by 830PM.. Some fellow students in the same flight (in the connecting flight), who were to join IIM Indore as me, went along with me in a cab to the college.. These guys became my neighbours at hostel for the next 2 years..
On the way to IIM, the car came to a sudden halt, midway.. i was wondering whether someone wanted a drop.. it was well past 930PM, and it was dark.. The roads seemed quite empty.. A stranger tapped on the window.. On sliding down the window, the person passed on some "sabudana khichdi" in a leaf-cup.. he further mentioned that this was "Shirdi Baba Mandir Prasad" !
my mind came to a sudden halt.. i was hungry.. and more hungry for some strength.. and was not at peace basically..
this incident put them all to rest at one go! a master stroke, as HE always does..
now the strength flowed into me.. Peace reigned in.. GuruPoornima Prasadam reached me!.. and most importantly, the message that Sai Satcharita conveys, "food offered is a sign of success!, hence accept it with humility..", continuously rang in me.. i realised it was Baba's Sign of Blessing before my joining IIM.. thus, it took a few kilometers of the cab drive for me to comprehend what actually happened.. i was reminded of Swami's Words which were close to "I wait to act like a train engine, where a lot of bogies will be pushed at one go.. "
and hasn't HE kept up HIS Promise, as always.. that "I Will be ahead of my devotee, waiting for him, wherever he goes!" :)
