Sheer determination and dedication to become someone in this competitive world enabled Swapnil Bambale achieve his goal
Like father, like son. This, in a nutshell, speaks about Swapnil Sanjiv Bambale. But he seems to be a step ahead of his father, who is also an electrical engineer. He did take up engineering like his father, but in Instrumentation and Control, and while his father works with the state electricity company, Swapnil starts off his journey as a management trainee with Bharat Petroleum Corporation. But it has not been a cake walk for Swapnil-only sheer determination and dedication have taken him where he is.
Taking on responsibilities and fulfilling them to the utmost is the success mantra for Swapnil. Although it was easy enough during school days, being a pampered child, the real test started when he moved to the X standard for his first board exam. A resident of the eighth largest metropolis in India, Pune, Swapnil first tasted what life was all about when his parents let him take the call on whether he wanted to walk five kms to school or cycle, and Swapnil opted for the latter. He studied with the Shikshan Maharshi Dr D Y Patil English Medium School at Chinchwad in Pune, securing 91.45%. But after getting out of the school where everything was monitored, his performance in higher secondary education at Jai Hind Junior College at Pimpri in Pune was not as good. He secured only 72% in his HSC. He had to choose between two professional courses, medicine and engineering, where again Swapnil’s parents left him to take the call. He opted for engineering, like his father.
He remembers school life fondly-the school bus, lunch box, punishment for not doing his homework, et al. “My early school life was both awesome and had some struggles, but I have good memories-travelling in the school bus with friends, eating their lunch boxes, bunking, punishment, and many more,” recalls Swapnil. It was a bit of a roller coaster ride until he made it to the X standard. “It was a struggle, cycling to school, carrying school bag weighing over 3 kg, attending special and coaching classes after school hours.” But all this paid off, as Swapnil secured 91.45%. However, he failed to keep up in academics in the XII standard. He got 72% in the HSC exam.
After passing the HSC exam, he was in a dilemma as to which course to take, medicine or engineering. He chose engineering, following the footsteps of his father. “I didn’t have much interest in biology, but was good at mathematics, and more importantly, I had a tutor as home, my father, who has vast knowledge of different engineering subjects,” says Swapnil. He got his admission at the College of Engineering, Pune. “Everything was new to me. I would go to the college and return home immediately after college, making no friends,” says Swapnil about his early days in the college. “Being home-sick and depressed after being separated from old friends, I didn’t even participate in any clubs or extra-curricular activities. But that reflected on my studies, as I managed to score 5.55/10, luckily without any backlog.”
Swapnil soon got acquainted with others and Pranay Deshmukh and Sushant Chavan were his early friends. Deshmukh was a topper since childhood and Sushant, despite being physically challenged, never underestimated himself. “These two formed a great combination and were examples for not giving up or losing hope. They were an inspiration to me. Then Pratik, Saurabh, Apurv, Vaibhav, and Kunal were my classmates I began my engineering with an SGPA of 5.55/10 and ended with 8.55/10, with an overall CGPA of 7.13/10.” This boosted his morale, and he became one of the most sought students in the class.
Being one of the best in the class, he was picked up to be the Class Representative (CR). This changed his approach, not just as a student, but most importantly as a person. “When one is bestowed with responsibility his approach changes, and that is what happened to me,” says Swapnil. Taking decisions, making initiatives at the department level and coming up with a solution taking into account all perspectives were among the things he was tasked to do. “Being a CR, one has to know the syllabus of every subject, communicate with the faculty to shift lectures and adjust extra lectures, etc. This helped me and brought about a complete change in me.”
Placement was in a different league altogether. Facing people with experience, who had seen what the corporate world was all about, was a testing time for him. With not much knowledge in the field, he could not make it in his early attempts, but failures did not hinder him in making the move ahead. “The first company that visited our campus was ZS Associates. But I was not eligible as my CGPA was low. Then there was Johnson Control, where I failed to clear the aptitude test. Honeywell was the first company where I reached up to the interview stage. Like everyone else, I was nervous too. But the fact was that I was not prepared at all. I didn’t even know enough about the project I was working on (B.Tech project). Somehow, I managed to cope with those interviewers and came out after 25 minutes. Those were the worst 25 minutes of my life.” Though it was bad experience, he learned many things in the process which helped him to overcome his fear of interviews. Many companies came-Honeywell, Vedanta Resources, Pernod Richard, Wipro, L&T, Sun Pharma, Air Products, Reliance Industries, Rockwell Automation, Hindustan Petroleum and many more, but he could not make the cut. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited finally changed his life. “Though I was not that good in solving the aptitude test due to time constraints and lack of practice, there was one positive skill which I had developed during my mentorship programme-I was able to clear every group discussion and this boosted my confidence to overcome the feeling of being worthless.” He was picked up as Management Trainee with the BPCL, the government-owned public sector undertaking. “That was the best day of my life and at that moment I felt like it was one of the sought-after placements for me after lots of failures.”
“Getting rejected by companies which visited early was actually a blessing in disguise for me. If I had got placed in any of those companies I would have missed the chance to try for BPCL. You don’t have to be successful to be happy”
There were many mentors and friends who played their role in his life. But it was his parents who are responsible for his success. When he faced failures, they stood by his side. “They believed in me and they still do. Besides, my mentors and teachers helped me bring out the positivity within me, which boosted my confidence.”
The many failures and setbacks were like a blessing in disguise for Swapnil. “Getting rejected by companies which visited early was actually a blessing in disguise for me. If I had got placed in any of those companies I would have missed the chance to try for BPCL.”
“You don’t have to be successful to be happy. You may be happy and success will follow. It’s on how you take failures in life, in a positive or negative way. One should try to find happiness in the smallest things and live life to the fullest without expecting anything from anyone.”
By Joe Williams
