It Wasn’t Me…They Did It…

Who doesn’t like their peers coming up and shaking hands after you have achieved something good or won some thing etc? I am no different.

I don’t know for sure if it’s coz’ I have too much spare time on my hands due to the lull in the college activities post-placements or coz’ I’m a forced-single (girlfriend out of town) but I have been doing quite a lot of reflection these days. I am bad with names…I mean, how embarrassing it is when someone spots you from across the street on a busy Saturday evening and then rushes to greet you by name and all you can come up with is a…”Hi…(pause to think for the last time what his/her name was)…how are things?”

But there are some…I can never forget. The other day, I got a call from an old friend of mine from junior school who I had lost touch after coming to Pune for my MBA. Being congratulated by someone I regarded as one of my biggest rivals at one time made me swell with pride. I guess there was a hint of arrogance creeping in too. Just a bit. However, it only lasted till the time I slipped into my bed that night…

As I lay there thinking how I had reached here, one by one all the people started coming to my mind that shaped this dream for me. I can still distinctly remember coming out of the maths exam in my 10th boards and matter-of-factly telling my friend that I’d score a 94 on 100…coz’ I had left a 6mks question! Mr. M. Balasubramniam, my maths tutor had given me that confidence. I was never a natural at maths but he made me a master at it (P.S. I am no great shakes at it now though!). In class 3rd or 4th, at a PTA meeting, the only one probably that my Mom & Dad both attended, Mrs. Camphor had declared without any hint of emotion, that I was suffering from “acute rascalitis”, in a lay man’s term, it meant I just couldn’t keep my mouth shut in class! But Mrs. Camphor spent hours clarifying my stupid doubts. She never gave up on me despite me beiing...well...ME! I can never forget the way she looked at me with pride when I went to meet her while was working, as if she was admiring a piece of her work. She was…in fact doing just that!

Advanced Data Structures was supposed to be a tough paper during my BIT at Delhi University. We had a teacher named, Mrs. Anuja Agarwal for the subject and she was brilliant at it. One time, when I had really bombed in an internal exam coz’ I hadn’t studied…just for kicks…she met me and said, “…If you are getting such marks, I think I should reconsider teaching the subject…” I aced the final paper.

During MBA, I met some of the finest teachers ever. If Mr. Prantosh has an uncanny knack of getting the point across, Mr. G.D. Apte would take you through his professional (at times personal…and really hilarious) experiences in a manner that would not only do justice to the subject at hand but would give you an insight or two into the real world. “At some point in life, define a concept of ENOUGH for yourself”, another amazing teacher, Mr. Ranjan Banejree said this line and I don’t think I’d ever forget it. One way or the other, they all left a mark.

I am sorry if this post looks more like an “Acknowledgement” than anything else. It’s not.

Because the correct word is “GRATITUDE"...