Meet The 2 Young Mothers In The PGPX Batch '23 At IIM Ahmedabad!

The 2022 PGPX batch at IIM Ahmedabad is one of the most eclectic and diverse ever! Among the 140 students in the PGPX batch, there are three young mothers, a twin, and students with backgrounds ranging from a farmers' son to an entrepreneur owning a startup.

29-year-old Komal Agarwal who hails from Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh is one of the three young mothers in the PGPX batch at IIM-A. She told a leading media house that she was 'over the moon’ when she first found out that she had secured a seat at IIM-Ahmedabad. However, her happiness was short-lived as the very next day she got to know that she is pregnant.

Also read: Meet Oindrila Ray, The Mother Who Made It To IIM-A, 13 Years After Graduation

This news forced her to postpone her B-school plans for one more year and tend to her newborn. After one year of waiting, she decided to finally take the leap and start her PGPX at IIM Ahmedabad. No wonder she had to leave her 11-month-old toddler with her in-laws to ahead with her dream of attending IIM-A.

"Getting MBA from a premier institute was always on my wishlist. But after I finished the engineering course from DAIICT, I got placed at Morgan Stanley and deferred the plans," she said.

Now that Komal Agarwal is at IIM-A, she is having to balance motherhood with the skills and tricks of management professionals.

"When I got into IIM-A, with my family's support, I made the tough call of leaving my 11-month-old toddler home and chase my dream," Komal Agarwal further said.

In fact, IIM-A officials confirmed that the PGPX batch this year has the highest number of mothers with toddlers below 2 years of age on campus; a significant statistic that may be no one will remember or care to notice. But for mothers like Komal, each day is a tough ask.

"Do I get worried? All the time! It's just a fortnight, and I'll try to keep video-calling home and check on him - as I fear that he might forget my face," Agarwal said.

"But my family is very supportive, helping me put him on track - right from formula milk to sleeping with grandma. It's for the realization of my dream and betterment of his future that I've taken the studies - I want to either work towards a CTO position in a tech startup or start something on my own," she added.

Also read: Meet Laxmikanth Reddy; The Son Of An Autorickshaw Driver Who Made It To IIM Ahmedabad

Another young mother in the IIM-A PGPX course is Sakshi Chadha. She said that she never left the child's side before or after birth and carried on with her preparation while simultaneously tending to her newborn.

Sakshi's husband is an alumnus of IIM-A, and she always knew the IIM-A campus well.

"I had fallen in love with the campus. Thus, it's a kind of homecoming for me - but this time, the roles have been reversed. My husband stays with my one-and-a-half-year-old son for now," Shakshi said.

Talking about how she navigated the entire preparation schedule, she spoke about how difficult it was to balance everything.

"I would bend my schedule around the baby's timings - but it was the desire to study further that kept me going. I have studied digital marketing and have worked for a long time in the industry. After the PGPX, I want to broaden my horizons into marketing profiles," Shakshi further added.

Both the mothers also pointed out how Covid played an important role in their lives and proved to be a turning point for them about what they wanted to achieve. For Sakshi Chadha, the lockdown enabled her to prepare for GMAT and try a shot at a premier B-school.

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