Thursday 9 August 2012

Still starving for 1 Mark

I am a Mechanical Engineer, working in top tier software firm. My dreams were different. To be an Electronics Engineer. I don't know what I would have been doing if I would be Electronics Engineer probably the same thing I am doing now, but yes, I wanted to. This dream was shattered when I didn't get admission to Electronics branch as I missed admission criteria by 1 mark. Admission closed at 280 out of 300 and I was having 279 in my hand. So I chose to go to Electrical Branch.
I studied hard in first year of engineering and got highest marks in my class so I was eligible to get branch transfer now. I filled in the form of branch transfer with 2 options. First option for Electronics and Second for Mechanical Branch. And to my bad luck only one seat was allowed for branch transfer and ironically a guy with 1 mark more than me got this seat. Wow !! Second time I missed it with 1 mark. Who else than me can understand the importance of 1 mark!!

Days passed, I came out of college with a degree of Mechanical Engineer and offer letter from one of the reputed Software company in Pune. I joined company, and after successful completion of my training I joined a project. And then I appeared for some certifications for knowledge growth and for compulsory (mandatory)  requirements of project. Yes, you guessed it right I couldn't pass them and every time I was 1 mark short . (You may think if I am dumb enough not to pass these exams but imagine how should I judge my self when I got 59 in every exam I appeared when it was required to get 60 to pass). And then I stopped, I stopped to appear to exams as my certification page was showing 5 exams with 'Fail' remark and 59 marks next to it. I even became paranoid to think that developer of that exam has set default marks against my name.

Days passed, I jumped to a different company. And last week only I decided to appear for another (external) certification. Yet again I failed, this time with 59.5 Marks. Well, seeing improvement in my marks but not well enough to get that 'Pass' remark against my name. As soon as I saw my marks, I could feel the importance of 1 mark more and more. All these instances where I was short of this 1 mark tumbled in front of my eyes. I could feel the starvation for 1 mark, the starvation of a win over this mental block of 1 mark.

I was watching single and double trap matches on TV (Olympics) the same evening. (If you are not aware about this competition then here you can read about it: Trap Shooting). 6 players were shooting clay targets. Michael Diamond who equaled world record (which can't be broken as record is of 125 out of 125 targets) and qualified for finals. In final, unfortunately he missed few and his score tied with Fehaid Aldeehani. So bronze medal match came to a breathtaking tie breaker. And Michael Diamond missed one shot, he lost and couldn't get any medal. It's irony that a person scoring world record didn't get any medal that day. I could imagine nobody else than Michael knows importance of that one target. He must have thought if he could have shot 'that one missed target' to get one more chance, one more opportunity.  

And I thought of 1 mark agony. And I was happy for the first time on that day that I didn't miss any medal due to that 1 mark. I didn't miss anything which I could have got with that 1 mark. I am having many other opportunities to appear for exam and Michael was not having any chance now. And I smiled for the first time on that day .. with a hope to do better (at least by 1 mark) in that exam whenever I will appear for exam again. 


9 comments:

  1. Ahh CK, I know what you mean. I mean missing all those times by just one mark is seriously bad bad luck :-(

    But you see in the banking exam this you have made progress, you missed it by .5 and not 1 mark, keep giving exams, you are sure to cross that 60% marks. That my dear friend is just a mind block,a nd you shall definetly overcome it.

    Wonderfully written :-) I loved your choice of topic.

    Well in Olympics, 6 people clocked below 10 sec in the 100 m final, but only 3 got the coveted medals. That's how it works. At that stage, forgot 1 mark, every decimal point is important and that is the beauty of Olympics!

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  2. Thanks Jenny for your lovely comment :-)

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  3. As I was reading your post, I realized I should make a comment comparing your state with that of the athletes! And bingo, you mentioned the same scenario later... Its even close in the 100m race (that Usain Bolt eventually won).. Jenny has also explained the same thing. We cannoy even begin to imagine what the 6th person who was within the 10 sec limit was going through. Same happens in Formula 1 too or any racing event..

    In your case, that one mark will make a difference, a positive difference in your life, and when it happens, you'll realize it and be happy abt it :)

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    1. Thanks Binu for your comments,.
      As I mentioned in blog, I realized it while watching that match. I have many other chances to prove than that player. So I decided to appear for exams again :-))
      I am watching many Olympic games this time, it's really motivating ..

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  4. Your post made me remember the famous Dialogue of Om Shanti Om.. Suits well in this situation " Ek mark ki kimat tum kya jaano Evaluator Babu" :P LOL..

    Well, I hope that this 1 mark difference gets permanently erased from your life and you always be on the other side on the boundry (of course the eligible side) :)

    Following you now :)

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  5. Thanks Sonia :-) Yes I appeared to that exam again and I scored well above 60 Marks :-)
    All wishes helped me to go beyond threshold .. thanks again ..

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  6. Dude, 1 mark matter here too.
    My sis also got admission in mechanical discipline , and she hated it. though after first year she got good marks and switched to telecom.

    However Every thing happens for best.

    Follow each other.

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  7. Hey ♥●• İzdihër •●♥,
    yes 1 mark matters a lot, and have experienced it many times :-)
    I agree that whatever happens we have to face, we have to resolve and we have to be resurgent. (Not sure if it happens for the best always but yes we can make it the best).

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