My Ability To Bounce Back............

Life is one of the most memorable journeys you ever experience, you come across so many bitter things, so many sweet memories so many learnings, it leaves a trace behind you. Sometimes when you ponder over this trace you notice that there are certain things which are repetitive, not that it happens on its own, but you make those things happen, knowingly or unknowingly. I have been observing a certain pattern in my life and I guess that has been the reason behind my success.

The pattern here I mention is to BOUNCE BACK FROM NOWHERE and that too in STYLE. I have done it on quite a few occassions in my life. All of them were never planned though, there is this some element inside me which makes such things happen. I wish it stays with me till I die.

I would like to share each one of these experiences and would like to get an honest feedback from my readers about my thoughts, I believe this one to be a special ability of mine, my strength, but maybe others too posses it and none of them have shared with me!!!!!!!!!

I would like to go back to my school days to begin with. I am passionate about cricket and though I played cricket well enough I was never given a chance in the playing 11, this really hurt me a lot always. Once we were playing a cricket match, this was the very first match I was playing on a leather ball(leave aside practice matches) , and my team was struggling to pile on runs and I was in the team as one of the team members was not keeping well , I was the last batsman to walk in. When I was walking down to the pitch, I had only one thing in mind that I have got a chance, I have to make a mark now and save my team and prove that I belong to the playing 11 and not to the extras. I did it in style, I made a partnership of around 40 odd runs to play the remaining overs. We won the tournament as it was the FINAL match of the tournament and my captain realised that I did not belong to extras, I should have been in the team in the earlier matches too. I made a mark.

The second incident which I remember was during my HSC exams, I wasnt faring well during the preliminaries and the main exams were just a couple of months away, someone in my class said that I wont be able to crack the mains also, this really made me upset, I had a point to prove to this person and everyone who thought the same about me. Dont know what went in me, I slogged for those 2 months and I bagged a distinction in the HSC mains.

This 3rd incident has been the toughest experience of my life and this incident made me beleive in my abilities to bounce back from nowhere.
I had come down to Pune to pursue my MCA course which was of 6 semesters. Until now I had not seen a marksheet with a FAIL result , I had scored low but had not failed even once till this time. 1st Semester results were out and I got 1 backlog, this really upset me a lot. Parents were upset too, I thought I will make up for the loss in the next semester but the things went from bad to worse, I failed in 3 papers in the next semester, I was broken, unable to understand the reason behind my dismal performance. 3rd Semester things did improve, but they improved in my number of backlogs i.e. I bettered my backlogs from 3 to 4. I was going down and down, the 4th semester was the biggest achievement of my all time, my tally of backlogs rose to 6 , so I was now appearing for 12 papers in one semester, 6 regular and 6 backlogs. It was the worst phase of my life , my father had asked me on question " In How many years do you see yourself completing your MCA course? and to remind you, you can appear only for 3 more years after your regular period!!!!!!!!!!!" . This was an insult for me , being a father he was concerned about me and my future so I dont blame him to speak this out, but those words hit me deep down my heart, I thought "What does my dad think of me, I will prove him that though the results are showing failures, I am not dead, dont count me out yet, you have now challenged my abilities , and I need to prove it and I will make sure that you eat your own words " . 5th Semester results were out and I reduced the backlogs to 3, I cleared 9 papers out of the 12 which I gave. During this time campus interviews had started for our batch. And with these 3 backlogs I still had an aggregate of 60+ so I appeared for the campus interviews and I bagged an offer letter amidst all this. I bagged the offer letter leaving behind my class topper and many other so caled BRIGHT students of my class, I had bounced back with some energy and zeal and to silence my critics. For the first time in my life I cried out of happiness, I cried when I had the offer letter in my hands, though no one knows it but I now reveal that I was very emotional for many reasons, I had proved my worth and I had silenced all my critics. But still my father was worried that if I dont clear my backlogs the company might kick me off. I cleared all the papers in my final sem and secured 64% marks in MCA along with a secured job. But hold on, I had made a mark elsewhere also. All these 3 years I was the Class Representative ( I was chosen before my 1st Semester Result) and with such large number of backlogs, I was being considered as a candidate who survives on FAVORISM by the teachers. This too hurt. But with the offer letter in hand, many gulped down their words and many who didnt like my success beleived that I had some internal contacts to make it, I really pity on their thoughts. I started beleiving strongly in my BOUNCING BACK abilities.

Then my career path began, it was a wonderful moment for me, sweet success and the rewards were in front of me, I was experiencing it. I was learning the corporate lessons, I was learning the technical lessons, I was moulding myself to become a professional. After my training days were over I was alloted a project, it was time to be serious and perform in my work. This is when I came across 4th incident of my life.............

I joined a team where there were 8 senior members , all of them with atleast 4-5 years of experience behind them, so I was an amateur, definitely, but always eager to know things. My seniors were excellent , they made me feel comfortable as I was new in the field, they trained me , taught me many things, I was eager to perform. I had this manager of mine who was a dynamic person and a motivational person too, but since I was inexperienced he never paid that much of heed to me, I always felt bad about it, on personal front he was excellent but since I was working with people who had around 5 years of experience and the kind of appreciations they got, the kind of work they did, even I was eager to sail the same boat, was eager to stand on the same level as they were. I really felt ignored and it was natural for my seniors and managers for not allowing me to do things LIVE as my inexperience would have spoiled the things as far as work was considered. But then I was unable to understand it, and I decided that I need to prove something to these people, dont ignore me, I have it in me, give me a chance. Opportunity came knocking, all my senior members left , some left the company, some joined another team. I was the lone member left along with my immediate supervisor and a junior member. And when this happened , a critical problem popped up its head which I dealt with by working late at night and resolving it thus avoiding a major failure. The very next day, my manager who ignored me all this time, had a chat with me and was all gaga for my work and appreciated my efforts in written. Thats the time I heaved a sigh of releif. Point proved again...............
But today when I look back, I feel that my manager was doing his job, things shouldnt be thrown in inexperienced hands, that can cause problems, severe damage to the projects, so hats off to my manager who pressed the right buttons at the right time.

5th and the final incident to finally make myself beleive that I have it in me, but the worst situations bring out the best in me.

Fame, who doesnt like fame and name. But unfortunately for some reason the project which I worked on , wasnt considered amongst the most important projects. But when I worked on my project, I thought that my project wasnt so worthless that it can be ignored. As a result we did feel ignored at times despite performing so well. This was a trigger to another mission, prove that we as a team can do wonders and dont count us out, I just wished deep in my heart that I should contribute so well that one day our project should be known to one and all and besides us everyone should be proud of it. Or better say "Other's Envy and My Pride" . This did happen, we as a team bagged appreications and achieved results which no other team did and we were now people who belonged to a project with overall rating of 5/5. Another mission acoomplished.........................

This was all my school, college and profession life, I do have a few incidents in my personal life also, but I wont cover them out here ..............

Kaam Kar Phal Ki Apeksha Mat kar

"Kaam Kar Phal ki Apeksha Mat kar"....................... must have heard this famous quote, I wonder who thought about it, but whosoever did definitely did it after his appraisal period, I am sure about it and had he not done it I would have defintely done it on the 29th of June 2007 at 4:35 p.m.

After reading my appraisal letter, many phrases passed thru my mind, one of them was " Kaam karna PAAP hai" and I decided I will religiously follow this one and try to do as less PAAP as possible.

One of my friends over the chat asked me "how much was your appraisal this time? " I replied back "Appraisal, when did that happen dude? ", poor fella he didnt understand me and thought I was serious, and again asked me "Didnt u check ur appraisal letter? It has been sent already" . OMG, cant he understand what I wanted to tell , tell him that my appraisal was pathetic and despite working so much all year through, my efforts were ignored completely. I closed the chat window immediately to avoid further embarassment. Then suddenly I felt guilty, I felt very bad not about closing the chat window and ignoring him, I felt bad about my deeds all year thru, why should I be rude to him so I messaged him back saying " Yaar maine paap kiya tha saal bhar, to uski sazaa to milegi na " , he wasnt getting anything out of my words, he asked me "ye tu kya bol raha hai " I told him, " maine saal bhar bohot paap kiye hai, infact I didnt even leave sundays to commit my PAAPS, so how can i be rewarded? " Then he got my point and understood my level of frustration and didnt ask me anything ask me anything related to appraisal.

My friend was consoling me over the phone " do not worry these things happen, they havent realised your worth , just dont take tension" I asked him back "Why me?". One more friend of mine she called me up and was talking about the same , she said " This is ur testing times and now that this has happend to you , I am sure you will prove your worth to these people out here" , all these morale boosting talks n advices flowed in from my good friends, and all these good friends were those whose appraisal was good, far more better than my appraisal, anyways they atleast did their bit of responsibility of friendship with me. Even I would have done the same.

Finally one more proverb in hindi struck my mind "Laato ke Bhoot Baato se Nahi Maante" , I do fall in that category, unless I get a kick on my A** i wont bounce back, but one more thing , when i do bounce back i do it in style, my past records say it all, i have bounced back from nowhere in the blues and stunned one and all. Just waiting for this time again................

Now is the time for me to bounce back....................