Thursday 18 September 2008

About me -- Project Speech 1

Mark Twain once famously quoted – “Success is nothing but the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”

Left, right, straight, faaast, sstop !! U –turn. Straight again….Am I talking about Hyderabad traffic ? Nooooo. Is it a video game then ? Naaah, a game it is but not a video game. So, dear friends – good evening all and welcome to the game of the life. The game being played by “Yours truly”, also called as Kishore.

The other day I was thinking about life as a game. What game it resembles the most ? I was asking this question to myself. I found that – life is nothing but a game of treasure hunt in which I am searching for “more happiness” or the “ultimate happiness”. And every now and then , God is giving me clues in the form of opportunities and is helping me to find my “Treasure”.

It all started in October 1982. I was born in 1982 into a family of an engineer and a teacher. My dad , Mr. KV.Rao currently is working as a Deputy manager in the APPMills , Rajahmundry. My mom, or my darling as I fondly call her, is Mrs K.Laskhmi, a teacher. I have an younger brother named Kiran, currently doing his graduation. I continue thanking god for the wonderful family given to me. I started the search to happiness with an advantage of a great family.

My schooling was done in APPM Model high school, RJY. I used to be a bright student back then. Once ,there was this strange thing that happened.In my Sixth class, I lost my first rank to another student in the pre-final exam. In any case, it shoud not matter because for the final exams, i am still leading by a long way. But, my passion to stay at the top was so much so that i could not sleep the whole night.It was 2 o'clock in the mid night and i was wandering in the dark in the balcony. A firm voice came from my back saying "Kishore, are you not afraid ? Its 2 in the night, and you are walking alone in this darkness ?" !!Then i told my dad i am not afraid of the darkness but feel sad for losing the first rank. As you can expect, there were some words of wisdom from my dad that night. The passion, the passion to do well – oh, in our terms to play the game of life well.

Well, for that sixth class final exams -- I was just unbeatable. After all, Harold Stephen once quoted

There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem, and a concerned person solves a problem.

In schooldays, there were some awards that i won in the talent tests -- a town 1st ranker, a couple of district 1st ranks and a couple of state ranks -- that was about the time when my name appeared in the local newspaper every single time a big talent test was conducted. A quiz here, an essay writing there. Add to that atleast 3 awards for various sports events in the annual competitions. And then the big thing – a school record of achieving the school first medal continuosly from 1st to 10th std. That was when I was playing the game of life well. Finding happiness frequently.

It all changed in the X std. I just about managed to get school first, but not a satisfactory total. The expectations on me were very high by one and all – the teachers, friends and all. It all got blasted down.

Now then, the game is getting tougher ? --- Probably YES.

I got free admission from a couple of Intermediate colleges, out of which I decided to join Gautam Junior College, Vijayawada.I didn’t read all too well but then somehow managed to come out with decent EAMCET and IIIT ranks. I decided to join IIIT Hyderabad.IIIT Hyderabad is a dream of a college. There you have everything -- acads, bunking of classes, different kinds of professors and students.It is a world within itself. Worked reasonably hard in first 4 semesters and held onto an average CGPA. But then the comfort zone started.

Albert Einstein once told “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.”

The comfort zone reached its peak in the 7th semester when I used to organise cricket tournaments , but not used to study even one page a day. Add to that , our placement has been over with, and almost all everyone got into a company, including me. So, the game of life or the search to happiness came to a halt temporarily.

My stupidity did cost me dearly, I failed in the 7th semester in a course that is compulsary for my degree certificate. I had to take it again in the 8th semester.

I worked hard again and passed this course in 8th semster to earn my degree certificate. From the heights of a state ranker to the depths of a classroom failure -- I have seen it all, i have done it all. So, what is the lesson learnt ?

"The moment you are giving just 99% of your efforts, you will be beaten by atleast 99% of your opponents". – words of wisdom ? I am not telling that – Serena Williams, the tennis champ told this and this probably applied to me then.

The bandwagon moved to this company in June 2004, I started searching for “happiness” here. The company has taught me virtually everything -- most importantly patience. Variety of projects, different kinds of people; in one sentence -- Unity in diversity. One moment it looks like a place full of workaholics. The other moment it looks like a place of parties , what with the Family day celebrations and all. It is a dream of a company to work with.

Well, the road ahead is unknown, though there are a few overwhelming targets. But then, i can look back on my journey so far with the confidence that I have negotiated both success and failure equally well. So, whatever is in store for the future, probably i will be ready for it.

And oh yes, what about the game that I started ?? Am I winning it or am I losing it ??

Henry B Adams once told the world – “Only on the edge of the grave can man conclude anything”. I hope there is a lot of time for me before that :)

Thanks all… This is Kishore, signing off for the day !!

1 comment:

aizaz said...

may be you should also mention your standing (1st, 2nd etc) for the speech some where...

doubt doubt doubt - 'Only on the edge of the grave can man conclude anything' - whats the point? useless ain't it?