Bestest, the journey continues #10 

Tej reads through the earlier sections of the book and realises that using the advice and techniques shared by the wise old man, he would be able to start honing his basics that he had not been able to do so well in his school days. He begins to look for subjects and topics that are relevant for the competitve exams he is aiming for and starts preparing his basics. Days pass by, Tej keeps his focus and continues his preparation while following what is suggested in the book. Tej tries to squeeze every minute he can in the day as he balances his work and study. While travelling, during evenings and early mornings, his textbooks and the wise mans’ words were his constant companion. As he gains in confidence with his basics, he begins to prepare on the competitive exam syllabus maintaining the same momentum. Months go by as he persists with his preparation, subject by subject, topic by topic, concept by concept, question by question ….

One fine day as he was travelling to office, he notices an ad for test prep and practice exams for acing competitive exams. He decides to avail some of their course material and also attempt the practice exam. To his surprise, Tej is able to comprehend and respond to many of the questions in the practice test paper. In a few days, he hears back from the coaching Institute on his encouraging scores. They offer him a heavy discount on their study material, access to coaches for guidance, doubt clarification and their nationwide competitive preparatory tests. He grows further in confidence and continues with his preparation routine with the new course materials and makes full use of the coaching sessions and facilities offered by the Institute to gain ground on the difficult topics and his weak areas.

A couple of months down the line, he gets a notification to register for the upcoming national level preparatory test. Tej registers for the same and appears for the test on the due date. He finds that his preparation has helped and he is able to crack the test questions well, but he wasn’t able to attempt all the questions in the paper in the given time. He wonders if he is good enough and hopes the results turn out well.

Results are out soon and Tej is pleased with his scores. It was a complete turnaround for him since what he was used to in his school and college days. However, the coaching Institute had also published the national standing in the test, wherein he realised that based on his score, he was missing the bus for the good Institutes, by a mile. He felt, after all, he was just another aspirant from a less priviledged background, there were so many aspirants from the top schools and colleges who would have prepared and given this test. All of a sudden, Tej saw his dream that was so far appearing within his reach, now began to appear like a mirage. But having got so far, Tej decides that he will continue his preparation and appear for the competitive exam. With some luck, he thought, may be he would stand a chance.

That weekend, as Tej was going through the wise man’s book page by page, he lands on the page that he had first read from the book. He recalls how the page had opened at random that day, and how life had changed for him ever since. All emotional, he turns the page to gain further wisdom shared by the wise old man. The page read – ONCE UPON A TIME, A KING ANNOUNCED A COMPETITION OF FANCY DRESS AND DANCE. THE VILLAGE BOY WHO PERFORMED ON THE STREETS, SAW ALL THE FINE ARTISTS FROM FAR AND WIDE HAD COME IN AT EVERY CORNER HE COULD GLANCE. BUT HE HAD A DREAM, SO HE DARED TO ENROLL THOUGH HE STOOD NO CHANCE. WITH FEAR GONE FROM HIS MIND, ALONE IN HIS HUT, HE TOOK A STANCE. AND KEPT TRYING ALL THE STEPS AND MANOUVRES IN HIS HEART, THAT LET HIS PACE AND MOVES ENHANCE. HE DID IT DAY IN AND DAY OUT, TILL HE STOOD BEFORE THE KING. THAT DAY, HE DIDN’T HAVE TO THINK MUCH ABOUT HIS DANCE, IT WAS AS IF HE WAS IN A TRANCE. HE DIDN’T HAVE TO HOPE FOR A CHANCE, AS HE HAD MADE HIS MARK AND HIS TALENT WAS SEEN BY THE WHOLE EXPANSE.

As he read the story shared by the wise man, Tej knew at once what he needed to do. And so he did. He left his doubts, fears and apprehensions behind. He worked on his approach, comprehension, critical thinking, pace, mental agility, recall and so on. He tried all the topics and areas he was not confident of. In front of his textbook or not, Tej was preparing and practicing in his mind all the time. He didn’t stop, till the day of the exam came later in the year. That day, as the story narrated by the wise man had said, Tej didn’t have to break a sweat to crack the exam. And his scores were up there for all the top Institutes to see.