Bestest, the journey continues #11

After finding success with the competitive exams, Tej applies to the top Institutes that he had once only dreamt of. But to his dismay, he couldn’t make the cut. He waits Institute after Institute hoping for a fair chance, only to be disappointed. In the end, he had to drop the idea of getting into a Institute of his choiice. With a heavy heart, he gathers all his preparatory material, and puts it away in his storage. He picks the last book, the one that got him so close to his dreams, looks at it with teary eyes and reaches out to put it into his store.

Just as he was about to put it back, ‘Let me read it further’, he thinks to himself. After he had gotten so far, his heart said he should not stop now. His faith in the wise man’s words had shaken but not broken. So he opens and turns the page to the next chapter. He reads further –
WHEN YOU CONTINUE RACING AGAINST COMPETITION, YOU GET BETTER
WHEN YOU CONTINUE RACING AGAINST TIME, YOU GET FASTER
MOST STOP BECAUSE THEY COULDN’T WIN THE RACE
REST STOP BECAUSE THEY FEEL THEY WERE CLOSE ENOUGH
WINNERS CONTINUE RACING BECAUSE CLOSE ENOUGH IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH
CHAMPIONS PUSH ON FURTHER BECAUSE WINNING IS NOT ENOUGH, THEY NEED TO BEAT THEIR OWN WINNING TIME OR SCORE TO SET NEW RECORDS

Tej thinks over it. He didn’t want to end up as one of those who stopped trying because he couldn’t win the race or because he was close. He had to continue. With a new found hope, Tej starts his preparation. This time with a resolve to race even harder against time and competition. With one eyed devotion, Tej prepares and attempts the next competitive exam. The duration till the exam that he felt to be far off had fled faster than he thought. This time when the results came he had bettered his scores further by a good margin. And to his surprise, his application was considered by couple of Institutes that he was aspiring for.

Tej was glad about what he had achieved. But he remembered the wise old man’s words he had read when he had not made it the last time. He thinks to himself, getting close enough was not enough, winning was not enough, as the wise old man said, next was to be a champion.