Quint blog and more!!

The below mentioned is an elaborate version of my blog that I wrote for Quint - https://www.thequint.com/blogs/2017/05/28/class-12-cbse-board-results

People who know me know for a fact that I am particularly bad with dates. However, there are some dates that you simply can’t forget.

The Dreadful Day

It was on 27 May 2006 that the CBSE decided to announce my Class XII exam results. At about 9 am, my father switched on our desktop to check my results. Half-an-hour went by and the site wouldn’t load. At 9:30 am, my father called me and said – “Yeh dekho kya ho gaya (See what happened)”.

I saw that I had failed my chemistry exam. Till date, I have no recollection of the 15 minutes that passed after I saw my results. But the next three months would be the worst phase of my life. While all my close friends had scored over 80 percent and made it to prestigious institutions like IIT, NIT and BITS, I just locked myself in a room.

The Aftermath

Within minutes of having viewed my results, theories/information/myths started flooding in. “You won’t be allowed to sit for campus placement; you won’t get admission in engineering; banks won’t allow you to sit for hiring exams; your marksheet will have a ‘C’ on it...” and so on. The funniest of them all was: “No smart girl will ever marry you”. It got to me. I will admit there were times I contemplated suicide, but somewhere, my will to fight overpowered my feelings of disappointment.

The world saw me in a different light. Most friends stopped talking to me – one of them told me I was “finished”. I went into clinical depression. I ate all the time. In the three months after the results, I gained 15 kg. My only companions were two other boys who failed Class XII. We would call ourselves – ‘Losers United’.

I still shiver in horror as I recount those events.

The Struggle -

I entered a modest Government Engineering College that year. First six months were demoralising. Everyone I knew was at a way better institution. However, one fine I was offered to host a quiz.(something I loved). Week after week I kept working on quizzes and I must admit I was very very lucky. While my classmates enjoyed, went to college fests,treks, my full time job was to write quizzes and before I knew I had already hosted over 60 quizzes and written for over 200 quizzes.

Within no time I got an opportunity to assist on a one day quiz hosted by SRK. The sheer opportunity to see the scale, set, camera and charisma of SRK. I was living 16 hour work days (college included). This just helped me understand that this lights camera action is something I love.

In a year's time I joined Star India which was expanding and growing at a rapid pace and well now I am where I am with new set of struggles and the story continues...

The Present

God has really been kind to me. I now have two post graduate degrees – one from Ashoka University and the other from the University of Oxford. And till date, no one has really asked me about my Class XII results. Today, I have my own set of struggles, but my Class XII results aren’t one of them.

As for ‘Losers United’ – one of them is a pilot with Jet Airways, and the other just appeared for his IAS interview. I ended up marrying a girl way smarter than I am.

The Advice

If you’ve read this far, all I have to say is – DO NOT lose hope. This result is important today, but that won’t be the case tomorrow. Speak to people, but don’t lose heart. Don’t worry, no matter what your results are, they do not don't define you. Your parents will always be there for you! All the best.