Detour from jobs

Last year between changing jobs, I did what I wanted to try 5 years ago - Apply for scholarships to do another Masters from the UK or US.

The only application I could send out during the 2 week break was for was Chevening Scholarship by Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). I sought out guidance from few friends including a Chevening Scholar. I had zero-ed on MSc in Management of Information Systems and Digital Innovation as the course and LSE, Warwick and Leeds as universities of choice. I did make it to two of the three universities which in itself was little confidence booster.

The procedure is the same for years - submit 4 essays, wait for shortlist, pick an interview date, wait for interview, attend interview, wait to see if you are selected. However, in my case special things happened in between. Just 2 weeks before my interview, I had to a surprise in store. While returning from Hyderabad after a sojourn of sorts, I started experiencing stomach pain in the flight. It was the third time I was experiencing it but this time it was getting unbearable.

Long story short, I was told I had stones in my gallbladder and it is better to remove the gallbladder to avoid any future complications. As a bonus, there were stones in the kidney as well. After living in hospital for 5 full days, I went back home after a minor surgery with doubts lingering whether I could even attend the interview.

Come interview day, I got all set and 10 minutes before the interview started, my internet speed crashed to 200 kbps. Talk about Murphy's law. I thought the interview went well but when the results came, I could only make it to the reserve list.

WhatsApp groups and Facebook groups kept the anxiety alive for almost 2 months till end August when I received the final update that I did not make it this year. The process was emotionally exhausting with so many sleepless nights of just refreshing email to check for updates.

I'd guess, if one makes it through this emotional roller-coaster the reward is quite worth all of it.