Fly like a seagull....with feet firmly on ground.

It has suddenly become awkward to crack those ‘life sucks’ and ‘I am an underachiever’ jokes.

Success (real/perceived) is like a heady cocktail. And for first time drinkers, it can give a very bad hangover in the morning if not handled properly. My Ma is a Hindi teacher in a high school nearby and she has a way to share her wisdom through one-liners, which she seem to have for almost every life situation. I have grown up learning from these adages. This is what she told me the day after I got my ISB admit.

“Udaan jitni bhi unchi lo, dhyan rakho ki pav zameen par hi rahe” ..which translates to (However high your flight maybe, keep in mind that the feet stays firmly on ground)

I had long believed that modesty is one of the most attractive qualities in a person but it is not for everyone to enjoy. Not everyone is automatically eligible to be modest. You need to posses something worth praise in the first place before you can be modest (about it).

When he was not the star he is today, Shahrukh khan could easily stand on the seashore and shout “i will rule this city someday” and nobody thought it was immodest of him to proclaim that. It would be a different matter if he does that today though. There are good reasons why he would not do that today.

It has been around 3 weeks since I seem to have ‘become someone’. Yeah I know it sounds funny but that is what someone congratulated me for the other day for….’becoming someone’ (‘good for you, akhir kuch ban hi gae”). It feels good to know that someone is acknowledging your efforts, but at the same time there is an (unintended) insult hidden somewhere. It would really suck if my only identification from here on will be that I attended ISB.

I am not sure how this next year is going to change me. I am going to be in company of some very intelligent minds, going to encounter some very different schools of thoughts, will have to challenge a lot of my beliefs and am scared of what will I be able to bring to the table for every one's consumption. I am sure each and every one present in the class will be an achiever in his/her own rights and each will have an interesting story to share. The opportunities to know, to share, to grow and also to fall will be immense. I expect to learn and unlearn a lot of things from everyone but amidst all the noise which is going to engulf me in next one year, I hope I will still have the strength to hold my ground. I will still be able to remember the things which have been important to me. I hope I will manage to maintain an identity which is independent of the college I attend, courses I chose, groups I associate with, job I get, or friends I make. I hope I suffer from no hangovers.

Year 2009 has been very kind on me, personally and professionally, and in many ways has changed my life. Year 2010 will be a test to see how I handle those changes. For a while it had been an empty room, a wandering treasure hunter, a long drive to nowhere, a fruitless tree. It will be interesting to see how things change when the room is filled up, the treasure is found, destination arrives and fruits weigh down the tree.

Funny how the more the number of fruits there are on a tree, the closer it stays to the ground.

thaati