So You Failed an Examination…

Contrary to what society makes you think, marks are not the be-all and end-all of life. Pankhuri Shukla finds that high scores don’t always mean success and low scores are not indicative of failure either
It’s summer time! This time of the year excites students and makes them smell the scent of freedom way after 1947. But for those receiving the results of their board exams, May is a nasty horror that ruins their sleep. It’s a month, not filled with late night movies and frolic, but with late night willies and cold sweat.

PARENTS, LISTEN UP
We have all heard some parents reminisce their low grades and then laugh it off. But why does that attitude take a 360 degree turn when it’s a question of their kid’s result? Homoeopathic consultant Dr. Zubin Motafram says, “Grades and marks are a pseudo-benchmark that a kid is expected to step on so that they can be ahead in the line of many. Parents must love their children regardless of how much they score. Marks are a child’s journey, not a feeder of the parents’ egoistic hunger.’’ Marks often become the de rigueur but that heyday is short-lived – a couple of weeks, maybe? And are those couple of weeks worth letting minor obstacles crush your self-esteem?

MARKS ARE NO GUARANTEE
Anil Shukla, a maths whiz of his school days and now a manager at an MNC, recalls, “I have finally sussed out that marks are not even the first ladder of reaching towards our goals. But of course, at that level it’s the hardest thing to be able to manifest these lessons of life.” Scoring low is a grief that hits hard but self deprecation is simply not the solution, is it? There’s no guarantee that scoring a 100 will bestow you with the life you wanted, nor is there a guarantee that failing can put a full stop to your prosperity. All that anxiety and pressure before the results is not in our hands sometimes, but once we land, whether on foot or butt, it’s important to decide how to go on from there.

FAILURE CAN LEAD TO SUCCESS
Nobody ever found their niche or became a pioneer and credited their report card for it. Mihir Rajurkar, an aspiring model and MBA candidate failed his 12th, took a break for a year to explore his dynamic calibre, retook his 12th, pursued BBA and was the fastest employee to get a promotion at Tommy Hilfiger! “I didn’t get through, but that gave me a chance to look beyond the horizon and do things I never did,” he says. “And all throughout, I knew I just had to make the best of now!”

REMEMBER THIS
There is no measure of intelligence; all we can do is try to redefine it. You cannot shield yourself from disappointment, but you can decide how miserable you want to be. This world is callous enough, why be cruel on yourself too? And when it comes to what people say, a month from now they won’t be there to scrutinise you.
You failed an examination, so what? It doesn’t make you small. It makes you valiant. Only tough guys have the ability to face failure in their lives as gracefully as success. However, the rest is up to you to turn that around!

Volume 2 Issue 11