Series: Finding right doors - 1
I became a Scientist at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Premier research institution in India where only the best in the country are recruited.
So, How did I get there?
Son of two Ph.D.’s in education was a hard headed frustrating kid for both parents and teachers, who always failed and remain in bottom 3 in the class of 40 all through 1st to 9th standard got promoted every time because parents were teachers of the teachers.
I remember being a kid who dreamed a lot about every superhero, cartoons characters or movies. One day I was flying fighter planes in daydreams and another day I was blabbering about curious tv and movie characters. That was the only interesting part of my childhood, my daydreams.
My parents got me admission in very best Hyderabad public school paying a hefty fee which was like a fourth of what they earned. Despite that, I remember being very bad at studies and punctuality. Was always late in everything I could possibly be including classwork and homework. School and teachers were frustrated, I was scared every day. I failed in many subjects every year and was always promoted to higher class because my parents were teachers of my teachers. I had very few friends, got bullied a bit, was even bad at sports and weak in constitution. Only good thing I remember in school was one or two classmates. A couple of good teachers out of many who bored me to daydreams. That kid wasn't supposed to have any future.
Luckily parents are blind in love and never give up hope in kids. They always want best for kids no matter how bad they are. Nature created this attitude so I still would have a chance at success. Thus, I was only harassed about eating well, getting ready for school in the morning and helping in some chores once in a while at home.
My first interest in studies happened because of my school mate who was interested in reading story books and solving puzzles. I found solving the puzzles fascinating in magazines on competitive exams, it was good practice to increase my IQ. Reading all kinds of stories, self help and biographies became the natural step forward to my day dreaming nature of living in fantasies which only got more interesting and inspiring. Thus discovered that my niche was common sense.
When studying for engineering entrance exam, I found the company of my cousin and his friend. These people were so charged to study all the time, they were always competing with each other for 1st rank in their class. Studying with them gave me that support I needed to work really hard, apart from joining very good classes that trained for entrance exams. Most important was I had fun finding out a lot of common sense shortcuts to crack exam questions. Suddenly I found myself in top 0.5% of students in my city and with an admission into best government engineering college in Hyderabad. I was ecstatic about the accomplishment and was dreaming that my days of hard work were over, but then started the struggle.
Engineering college teaching was again boring like school. Except that, I was in the company of some of the best students and amazing people in my city. These friends were what helped me survive those 4 years of graduation with reasonable performance. We were a goofy fun group with a sense of responsibility towards studies at least during assignments and exams. When we had fun or studied, it was this common sense that gave me the respect and insights which others found hard to understand. Still academically, I was just an above average student here. It was frustrating to see others in the group getting better grades than me though I was teaching them lessons during exam preparation.
During job placement interviews, at the end of graduation, to my disappointment, I found that I got lowest marks in core subjects most relevant to the industry. I was instinctive with technical stuff but very naive in handling interviews. I failed in all the interviews one by one. I was more and more creative in making new blunders with each job interview. I was very nervous and scared leading to failure after failure. I was not good enough.
The only interview I was finally successful to my relief was for the scientist at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, where they only cared for common sense. They asked me to explain the balance of rolling coin, and aerodynamics of a football, which are not explained in any textbook. The challenges were exciting, made me introspect and get creative. It was like solving a puzzle that charged me up. Was able to solve all the puzzles but faltered a bit in textbook memory questions, they took pity and were accommodating, helping me remember right answers in that aspect. But my niche was never academics, it was common sense.
That troublesome kid who was no good at studies a year later becomes Scientist in a premier scientific organisation of the nation. which many aspire but few can achieve. It was dream which I didn't even dream that came true. I was part of elite group of people who are considered smartest of the country.
What was the secret of success? Find your niche, good company, and hard work. Failures don’t matter, they are just the wrong doors we were struggling with. When we get to the right door it will be wide open. In retrospect, wish I had someone who understood and lead me to right door sooner so I didn’t have to feel like a failure all that time. This was one of reasons i became a life coach much later in life. Now I help people find the right doors in their life. It gives me immense satisfaction in doing so.
So, How did I get there?
Son of two Ph.D.’s in education was a hard headed frustrating kid for both parents and teachers, who always failed and remain in bottom 3 in the class of 40 all through 1st to 9th standard got promoted every time because parents were teachers of the teachers.I remember being a kid who dreamed a lot about every superhero, cartoons characters or movies. One day I was flying fighter planes in daydreams and another day I was blabbering about curious tv and movie characters. That was the only interesting part of my childhood, my daydreams.
My parents got me admission in very best Hyderabad public school paying a hefty fee which was like a fourth of what they earned. Despite that, I remember being very bad at studies and punctuality. Was always late in everything I could possibly be including classwork and homework. School and teachers were frustrated, I was scared every day. I failed in many subjects every year and was always promoted to higher class because my parents were teachers of my teachers. I had very few friends, got bullied a bit, was even bad at sports and weak in constitution. Only good thing I remember in school was one or two classmates. A couple of good teachers out of many who bored me to daydreams. That kid wasn't supposed to have any future.
Luckily parents are blind in love and never give up hope in kids. They always want best for kids no matter how bad they are. Nature created this attitude so I still would have a chance at success. Thus, I was only harassed about eating well, getting ready for school in the morning and helping in some chores once in a while at home.
My first interest in studies happened because of my school mate who was interested in reading story books and solving puzzles. I found solving the puzzles fascinating in magazines on competitive exams, it was good practice to increase my IQ. Reading all kinds of stories, self help and biographies became the natural step forward to my day dreaming nature of living in fantasies which only got more interesting and inspiring. Thus discovered that my niche was common sense.
When studying for engineering entrance exam, I found the company of my cousin and his friend. These people were so charged to study all the time, they were always competing with each other for 1st rank in their class. Studying with them gave me that support I needed to work really hard, apart from joining very good classes that trained for entrance exams. Most important was I had fun finding out a lot of common sense shortcuts to crack exam questions. Suddenly I found myself in top 0.5% of students in my city and with an admission into best government engineering college in Hyderabad. I was ecstatic about the accomplishment and was dreaming that my days of hard work were over, but then started the struggle.
Engineering college teaching was again boring like school. Except that, I was in the company of some of the best students and amazing people in my city. These friends were what helped me survive those 4 years of graduation with reasonable performance. We were a goofy fun group with a sense of responsibility towards studies at least during assignments and exams. When we had fun or studied, it was this common sense that gave me the respect and insights which others found hard to understand. Still academically, I was just an above average student here. It was frustrating to see others in the group getting better grades than me though I was teaching them lessons during exam preparation.
During job placement interviews, at the end of graduation, to my disappointment, I found that I got lowest marks in core subjects most relevant to the industry. I was instinctive with technical stuff but very naive in handling interviews. I failed in all the interviews one by one. I was more and more creative in making new blunders with each job interview. I was very nervous and scared leading to failure after failure. I was not good enough.
The only interview I was finally successful to my relief was for the scientist at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, where they only cared for common sense. They asked me to explain the balance of rolling coin, and aerodynamics of a football, which are not explained in any textbook. The challenges were exciting, made me introspect and get creative. It was like solving a puzzle that charged me up. Was able to solve all the puzzles but faltered a bit in textbook memory questions, they took pity and were accommodating, helping me remember right answers in that aspect. But my niche was never academics, it was common sense.
That troublesome kid who was no good at studies a year later becomes Scientist in a premier scientific organisation of the nation. which many aspire but few can achieve. It was dream which I didn't even dream that came true. I was part of elite group of people who are considered smartest of the country.
What was the secret of success? Find your niche, good company, and hard work. Failures don’t matter, they are just the wrong doors we were struggling with. When we get to the right door it will be wide open. In retrospect, wish I had someone who understood and lead me to right door sooner so I didn’t have to feel like a failure all that time. This was one of reasons i became a life coach much later in life. Now I help people find the right doors in their life. It gives me immense satisfaction in doing so.
Nice article..A good company can give lots of experience to solve different problems ..
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