Bestest, the journey continues #7

Year’s go by and Sid has managed to do quite well in his academics. But he had also realised that to be competitive at a level where hundreds of thousands of candidates appear to get into Universities was another ball game. He found his current skills and techniques lacking. Sid comes across an online forum offering counselling & tutorials for competitive exams, and decides to register himself.

Few weeks go by and Sid starts getting useful tips, suggestions and lessons on the group. He keeps working on his preparation accordingly. He also tries one of the open preparatory tests offered by the forum but the report wasn’t that encouraging. He gets to know from Vic that the BESTest group had also appeared for the open test and they had fared much better. Never-the-less Sid keeps working on the curriculum basis inputs from the forum. After all there were experienced tutors and past meritorious candidates offering guidance there.

One fine day, Sid is going through his lessons, focused on the more tougher and rewarding topics from the test point of view. He is not able to gather his mind around some of the concepts, so he decides to browse for some tips on the forum. He realises that he is not alone and there were many posting queries and concerns on the topic. He is browsing through the content when he comes across a comment by one of the popular guides online. In his comment, the guide had offered some tips and concluded it by mentioning – When the end of the road is out of sight, is when champions start developing their strength and might. The line rings a bell, and it takes a few seconds for Sid to recall where he had read this earlier. And then Sid is frozen in his seat when it strikes him that these were the same lines he had read in the wise man’s book when he had started reading it years ago. His heart is pounding and possibilities numb his thoughts. Could this person posting the comment be the wise man himself, or could it just be a coincidence that he has posted a similar motivational comment like in the book. Or could he now be having the book in his possession that Sid had lost?

After gathering his senses, Sid thinks through. The book itself looked so ancient when he found it, how could the wise man be online offering guidance. He looks online for books authored by the person who had written the comment, but doesn’t find any. He starts wondering if it was a freak coincidence that the comment was so similar. Sid finds out more about this person online. Not much was worth noting about him apart from his outstanding academic achievements in his competitive exams in the last few years. He had also completed his degree from one of the top Universities a couple of years ago with distinction, but what was surprising was his age. He had these outstanding achievements in the recent years, he was a late bloomer! Could it be possible that this person have got his hands on the wise man’s book that had turned around his success? Sid was rearing to find out. He opens the ‘connect’ option available in the forum and sends a request to this person. Sid waits all day, looking at his computer every now and then hoping for a response.

Its late evening when Sid gets a beep on his screen. He opens the forum page and finds that the person has accepted his connect request. Sid opens the chat options and starts typing ….

Hi … I have been reading your tips and suggestions on the forum … its been so helpful … how do you come up with some amazing advice … is it by your own experience with competitive exams … did you learn this from your master …. or do you read a lot and then share your wisdom … like could you suggest me your favorite book … can you share it with me please ….

Sid couldn’t contain himself, he sends across the message in a hurry. Only when he calms down, does he realise he had dropped more hints than required about the wise man and the book. And he had hardly even bothered to get familiar with the person. What if he sensed something amiss and disappeared from the forum. Sid’s chances of getting to the book would also disappear! And so would his chances at excelling at the competitive exams! Sid is disappointed at himself, and waits online hoping that the person responds. Waiting at his desk, Sid falls asleep. Its late night when Sid gets up to the sound of a beep on his screen. He opens the forum chat in excitement.
He can barely see whats on the screen with his drowsy eyes, he wipes his face with wet tissue and tries to read …

Hi. Thanks. Glad to know that you found my posts useful. Well, to be truthful, my profs didn’t like me much for my disinterest in studies so didn’t have any master as such. Wouldn’t say that I have had some amazing experience with my academics either in the past. But I was fortunate to receive some learnings as I read more and more. These learnings changed my life, so I felt I should share the learnings with those who are less priviledged like me. That is why I am on this forum. I can’t refer you to a specific book, but I can share my learnings depending on what difficulties you are facing.

Sid heaves a sigh of relief. It appeared that the person had not got any doubt from Sid’s message. But the person hadn’t been direct either. He hadn’t mentioned about wise man’s book but rather said he read more and more. And he hadn’t recommended any books either, as if he had something to hide. Usually on asking, people would have suggested some book. He mentioned about not being so good at studies, not being liked by profs and now his life had turned around all of a sudden. To Sid, this success story sounded so much like that of his own. Sid was convinced that the wise man’s book had ended up with this person. Now he needed to get to know this person more, and get more out of him. After all he had agreed to share his learnings with Sid. That would be a good starting point he thought. It was almost dawn. Sid hits the bed with new hopes of getting his favorite book back.