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Let us realize that giving up is easy but if we avoid failures, we are also avoiding success.
“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” – Paulo Coelho
It was the year 2000 when I had passed my 10th standard exam and stood third in my school. My name appeared somewhere on the second page of the newspaper in minuscule letters and it made me feel very proud of this little achievement. There was indeed a sense of elation at becoming a mini-celebrity among my family and friends. Success felt sweeter and I was basking in its glory. Little did I realize that I was slowly getting loaded with unseen pressure of being undefeated at all times.
This small victory had fuelled the innate urge in me to impress others. So, I started studying with full fervour and set myself on fire to keep others warm. Extrinsic motivation could not stand the test of time and when my 11th standard first term exams were approaching, I felt sudden tremors of cold feet. Completely unprepared for the exams, I had this impulse to run away from the looming failure, knowing very well that I will not be able to sail through the rough tide.
As part of a ploy, I tried jumping from the mini-terrace. I thought if I break my legs I would be able to escape the fatal exam but alas! my bones refused to tear apart. I tasted failure and it broke me. Two-three more attempts and I came through all the perils unscathed. The ineffectual attempts prompted me to orchestrate a different escapade in order to skip exams but lack of creativity made me decide to plead with my parents instead, for allowing me to leave exams. I gathered all my hidden courage and spoke to them on how the anxiety of scoring poor marks did not allow me to study well and thus I fervently wanted to skip exams to arrest my impending failure. Till then, I did not know that;
“There is no failure except in no longer trying.” – Chris Bradford
To my utter dismay, my father, who had never said NO to me, did not relent to my whimpers. However, he calmly made me understand that failure is a desideratum, just a temporary detour and not a dead end. He told me that if I do not write the exams for the fear of failure, I might get away from the worry of what others will think about my incapability but my inner conscience will still call me a failure! That was undeniably a wake-up call to me. Instantly, I felt elevated in my thoughts and decided to let go of my fear of an imaginary debacle and appear for the exam.
Like this, many times, all of us come across these kinds of situations where we tend to easily succumb to the pressure and give up rather than giving a try. Let us realize that giving up is easy but if we avoid failures, we are also avoiding success.
“Phoenix must burn to emerge” – Janet Fitch
This is an anecdote based on a real story.
Image source: Pixabay
Hi!I am Shubham. I work as an HR Manager.I am a Math enthusiast and also have my YouTube channel - Solve With Shubham which has been started with an intention to help students primarily read more...
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What I loved was how there is so much in the movie of the SRK we have known, and also a totally new star. The gestures, the smile, the wit and the charisma are all too familiar, but you also witness a rawness, an edginess.
When a movie that got the entire nation in a twist – for the right and wrong reasons – hits the theatres, there is bound to be noise. From ‘I am going to watch it – first day first show’ to ‘Boycott the movie and make it a flop’, social media has been a furore of posts.
Let me get one thing straight here – I did not watch Pathaan to make a statement or to simply rebel as people would put it. I went to watch it for the sheer pleasure of witnessing my favourite superstar in all his glory being what he is best at being – his magnificent self. Because when it comes to screen presence, he burns it, melts it and then resurrects it as well like no other. Because when it comes to style and passion, he owns it like a boss. Because SRK is, in a way, my last connecting point to the girl that I once was. Though I have evolved into so many more things over the years, I don’t think I am ready to let go of that girl fully yet.
There is no elephant in the room really here because it’s a fact that Bollywood has a lot of cleaning up to do. Calling out on all the problematic aspects of the industry is important and in doing that, maintaining objectivity is also equally imperative. I went for Pathaan for entertainment and got more than I had hoped for. It is a clever, slick, witty, brilliantly packaged action movie that delivers what it promises to. Logic definitely goes flying out of the window at times and some scenes will make you go ‘kuch bhi’ , but the screenplay clearly reminds you that you knew all along what you were in for. The action sequences are lavish and someone like me who is not exactly a fan of this genre was also mind blown.
When Jaya Bachchan speaks her mind in public she is often accused of being brusque and even abrasive. Can we think of her prodigious talent and all the bitter pills she has had to swallow over the years?
A couple of days ago, a short clip of a 1998 interview of Jaya and Amitabh Bachchan resurfaced on social media. In this episode of the Simi Grewal chat show, at about the 23-minute mark, Jaya lists her husband’s priorities: one, parents, two kids, then wife. Then she corrects herself: his profession – and perhaps someone else – ranks above her as a wife.
Amitabh looks visibly uncomfortable at this unstated but unambiguous reference to his rather well-publicised affair with co-star Rekha back in the day.
Watching the classic film Abhimaan some years ago, one scene really stayed with me. It was something Brajeshwarlal (David’s character) says in troubled tones during the song tere mere milan ki yeh raina. He says something to the effect that Uma (Jaya Bhaduri’s character) is more talented than Subir (Amitabh Bachchan’s character) and that this was a problem since society teaches us that men are superior to women.
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