Connect the Dots...

"Until I was 17 years old I got everything I ever wanted as a student – effortlessly.

I topped my school board examinations. Won the National Talent Search scholarship.

Numerous prizes and shields in quizzing. But when I was 17, I applied to four US universities.

Two rejected me outright, one put me on ‘waitlist’ and the last one accepted me, but without financial aid. I felt crushed. I came back to India with my parents and applied to St Xavier’s College for a Bachelor’s degree.

No luck.

Finally, I enrolled in Sophia College for a BA in Economics and funnily enough, these three years turned out to be some of the best of my life. I grew, I excelled, I became independent and confident. Editor of the college magazine, student council member, inter–collegiate festival circuit.

 I connected the dots. 

The truth is, there is a plan.

A bigger plan.

Every experience in your life – whether ‘good’ or ‘bad’ – has made you what you are.

A chance encounter.

A stray conversation.

An article you read which somehow stays with you.

These are the unexpected turns on the journey of life. experience more. Create lots and lots of dots on the canvas of your life. Paint boldly and rightly – the colours of your choice.

Create a life which is like a work of art. A thing of beauty, a source of joy, an expression of your heart. "

This is straight from the book Connect the dots by Rashmi Bansal.

Her story, and the stories of other people in the book give us inspiration for the simple reason that they evince explicitly that nothing in this world is impossible, and with a gumption to think big, you can defy the limitations put on you by your marks.

The society has an exasperating tendency of judging your capability by your marks. 

But never be disheartened. Breaking the stereotypes is our job, our birthright, our duty.

I have personally seen a plethora of examples wherein people have faced disappointment because they did not score well, or failed to get to the coveted institutions, or bagged a good job after all their friends did, although being more talented.

Here, we must know that in the end, it all happens for the good. If we are deprived of something, it is perhaps because there's something better in store for us.

So,  Amidst the uncertainty of securing a seat in the college of your choice and the consequent havoc, the tumult that our mind undergoes, the best thing to do is to let go.