Ages ago, people were different. I was distinct. Friends and family always had me as the silver lining of their clouds. In reality, only I knew I was their bleak, black sheep. For some unnatural reason, my life till college was decadent. Don’t get me wrong, I had one amazing childhood. At least I still think it could never have been better.
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| This is the story about how I got into NIT Trichy. |
My life… It had always been full of failures. There are only a handful of areas where I can point out and say I’ve succeeded. Though I don’t know why I’m complaining, I could have shown loads of people who wished (and still wish) they were me.
The day of my 12th board exam results, it was about 5 in the morning. The worst surprise of my life so far, only in my darkest and disconsolate nightmares would I have expected to see what I saw on that page. It was just nauseating (again this is relative to me only). My folks were depressed. Though for some reason, I never saw my dream disappear. All I saw was their dream for me shattering into a million pieces. Still it was sad nonetheless. People kept asking what happened after my exceptional performance a few years ago. It was just miserable. My peace came from a few desolate places. One was from a close friend who said to me that no matter what happened as long as I was strong in faith, I would see miracles. Another was from one of my profs who said that I would be rewarded elsewhere down life's gloomy road.
A period of tension began in my family. It was more of a cold war that revolved with me in the center. Their precious silver lining had turned murky black. I talked to my mom about it, but she brushed it away telling me that it was just my crazy thoughts. Probably it was. But the truth is still unsung. It pained me then to think that everything was just worth some execrable marks. And one by one I saw the doors that were once wide open, shutting up and locking away. All my entrance exams were failures; State, COMEDK, AIEEE. Colleges in and around my state decided I was worthless. SPDC chucked me out as my folks were earning a bit too much. DASA was a lost cause after my PCM, although there was a silent whisper in my head to have hope. I’ve never tensed about my future, because I knew what I wanted and knew I would reach somewhere. But there was always the question of 'where?'.
My bro decided to look for colleges around Pune and Mumbai. Luckily enough there were people willing to look only at my Computer Science marks rather than my PCM. Soon I filtered out two colleges, COEP and PICT. Both were extremely good in terms of ranking, though nothing compared to the NITs. COEP was one with which I fell in love instantly. This college has a lot of history dating back to 1854; the place was just sweet, serene and beautiful. The hostels, though I never been inside them, had this harry potter touch, an ancient castle like feeling. They even had a boating club. Funnily enough, my folks didn’t want me to go there. They chose PICT for me instead, no matter how much I argued they did not feel like COEP was a place for something called ‘study’ to happen. Now, PICT was just another arbit college with a name, centered on studies. Soon I agreed, as I felt that I messed up enough.
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| En route to Pune; The Mumbai-Pune Expressway. |
Those were the days when I took random buses from Mumbai to Pune to fix my own admission because my bro wasn’t allowed leave from work. All alone, in a stranger’s land with no cognition of the local language. The buses used to drop me at different locations all with the same damn name. I admit, the journeys were a lot of fun and the scenery was just breathtaking. Ultimately, my admission was fixed at PICT. Now, when I look back at those days, I laugh. Little did I know that neither of these colleges was one that God chose for me. God is a clown, and it’s only his will that would prevail.
Then a day in late July 2008, I got a call from Delhi. A call that, I would proudly say, changed my life. I had an admit ready in NITT through the NRI quota. I had a few friends there, who had well briefed me what was happening. One of them said that he was just waiting for something like this to happen. I wondered whether I should accept it after all that adventuring in Pune. That faint whisper in my head? It turned into a scream. Everyone cried yes. For the first time in ages, I smiled. I knew the nail hit right through the head.
Two days later, I walked through the gates of NITT with a measly PCM of 78.9; I got the branch that I desired ever so dearly since I was 7. Now, I point out that it was never about me or my doing. And it never will be. It was only for the resplendence of the One above. It was all an elaborate plan, a delicate and fine-spun design. No, I wouldn't call it fate. But an intricate and complex outline, a prodigious scheme that God planned and only he could set in motion. How then can you say that a guy like me could just enroll into such a prestigious college with absolutely nothing? Thus, my search for identity began nescient.
It was about that time I began to follow the flow, counting on my luck for everything. But I hadn’t realized that luck was just futile, something that fools cling onto when they don’t know what else to do during desperate times. Soon, everything turned into an enigmatic conundrum. Pathetic it was. Piteous was I. But all that is another story.
