The tough lesson

"So, what do you think life is for?" said the old man.
"Sir, the life is for keeping the promises, the promises I made to myself, to my parents and to the society," the young man answered warily.
"Good", said the old man in an affirmative tone. "And what do you think about the subject?" he asked to another man sitting in front of him.
"Sir, I never gave a thought about this subject, I take my life as it comes and I think this is the simplest way to lead the life indeed."
"You mean you have never planned for the future, aren't you futuristic?"
"No, not literally, I plan my days, I plan my weeks but planning the life and sticking to the plan is something which I think is not a pragmatic approach." The young man answered.
I heard those words and was getting really very interested in the discussion holding over there. And the familiar voice of my friends made me more involved. I was holding the door half opened with my eyes on the face of the man who was in his fifties. I knew the man was a senior scientist at DRDO India. He was a short person, slightly overweight with a clean fair skin. Few bright white hairs were left on his head, which were elegantly combed aside on his head. He was wearing a white shirt which made his appearance brighter. He has putted his glasses on the tip of his nose and was watching my friends, over the specs, with his experienced wide brown eyes; he was discovering the hidden information in their faces. My friends had cleared the written test, which I flunked, and were in the interview room for the final scrutiny. As a placement representative, of M.Tech course, I was there to inform the scientist about the conformation of his train ticket to Delhi. He was at our college for recruiting some students whom he finds suitable for the job of a junior scientist.
The man sensed my presence and gave a glance at me. I was also wearing a white full sleeves shirt and a dark blue trouser with self lining. I was looking very fresh and energetic. I had always been admired for my looks whenever I wore formal clothes.
"yes, Mr. …" said the scientist.
"Tushar", I said.
"Tushar. Yes tushar, tell me what made you to come over here?"
"Sir, I am pleased to tell you that your return ticket to Delhi has been recently confirmed."
"Oh! Thank you very much for the information. I was bit worried about it."
This was my turn to say "mentions not sir". But I didn't say so. I was eager to hear the next question from the scientist and was more eager to listen the answer from my friends. I didn't move and took a moment to sneak the next question.
"What's the matter with you? Do you have some other thing to tell?" old man figured the situation out and asked. His old eyes didn't miss the excitement on my face.
"No Sir, I don't have anything more to tell", I replied.
"If you think that we are discussing something of your very interest then you are also invited to be a part of the discussion", he asked me in a questioning ascent.
I thought for a moment and entered the room. He offered me a chair and I sat comfortably to hear the proceedings. I looked at my friend's face and smiled cheerily.
The man turned his face to me and asked me to share my ideas on the last question. I was balked.
I said, "Sir I didn't had any intention to be a part of your philosophical discussion. I was just interested in the story you guys were about to make."
"Ok, then be a part of the story", he said.
"Life", I muttered and gathered the courage to speak out my thoughts.
"Sir, life is an opportunity." I said tersely.
"Explain", He said.
"Life comes as an opportunity to everyone, as an opportunity to realize your dreams. This life has given us a time bound to which we will be on this earth. What is the most necessary thing that a man will ever need to make himself a successful person? Time, yes the time is the most vital part. Now while you are given a healthy body with an agile mind, what else do you need to be successful? The answer is time, Lifetime. So I think the life is an opportunity given by the almighty to realize our dreams."
"Well said Tushar, but what opportunity do you see in your life, I mean what is your dream?"
"I don't wish to tell you the answer of this question", I sounded slightly truculent. I regretted it the very next moment but the next thought that came to my mind gave me a respite. I thought that these DRDO people deserve to be treated in this way. I was bit relaxed as I know that my words has won a little revenge for me.
Actually I had gone through an agony caused by the recruitment department of DRDO. DRDO calls the engineering graduates, by public issues, to prove their candidature for the post of a scientist. The final selection requires an aspirant to clear the concealed cutoff criteria and the procedure follows an interview as the final process of scrutiny of a candidate. The interview is taken by a panel of senior scientists.
With sudden resentment and slight astonishment he asked me "what's the issue in telling me about your dreams?"
"You guys don't care about dreams", I said it plain.
This kind of attitude was somewhat unbearable for such an eminent person. But my answers were of little attraction for him. He tried to convince me over his question and said, "Who told you that?"
"No one, I had an experience, the experience which I am afraid to recall", I murmured.
The man was grim. But he further asked me to tell me my story and experience.
Now this was the time I was annoyed. "Whatever it is, how it is supposed to help me or you anyway?" I said.
"It may win you a job if there has been any injustice with you", he said.
I thought this was only to placate me because that old man wanted to hear my story, a failure story, which has always been a sense of amusement for people, especially the old ones.
Now, as a result of my momentary thought and the bitter memories, I got impudent. "No thanks for your mercy job, but yes, I will surely tell you the story." I was going to confess the things I left unconfessed to my own mind. I added, "The day was 21st Nov 2008, I had a call from your recruitment and training center at New Delhi. I was all set to go to interview room. I had prepared my life's' best for the job of a scientist. For whole 4 months I had made the most sincere efforts anyone could possibly make. I had turned the hell to earth during those days. I could have given my eyeteeth for this job. I prepared hard for the written test and then on the harder side I prepared for the interview. I heard that in the interview I would be asked about my engineering project, I was not convinced with mine, so I engineered another project for the sake of that mere interview. I didn't leave any stone unturned. I was confident before entering the room. I went into the interview room and got seated at the front of the panel. The interview began with some questions on my favorite subjects. I answered the questions politely and precisely. I continued answering almost all of the questions asked to me. The session extended for few more questions but this time the topic has been flipped. All the panel members exchanged a suspicious smile to one another. Then suddenly one of the member started asking irrelevant and absurd questions. I acted astonished on the questions and that was obvious, I continued answering them as far as my knowledge allowed me to, but I knew in my heart that I am not answering them properly. I asked them to flip the topic because I was not comfortable with the current one. But one of them said "It's up to us". Those hungry vultures were merciless. I showed them my project report and the man at the center put that report aside without glancing at it, and said "I know you are prepared for it". I couldn't keep my calm and now the situation got even worse and so were the questions. I plainly kept showing my inability to answer. They took half an hour to prove me that I was no good for the job. Now you tell me where was I wrong? I gave all the answers I was supposed and they knew it that I was quite good at the technical side. I was a dupe"
I ended the last sentence with a fury. I was about to leave the room and gave my last glance to his face and was hoping to see a red face. Contrary to my thought, he was smiling.
"What? Ok you don't bother to answer, I will better leave the room", I said and stood up.
Now the man had a broader smile. He said "you have just told me the answer."
I was astonished. "And what is that?" I asked, being little down at tone.
"You are feeling so bad because you have just failed a project of life which you kept feeding with your blood for 4 months. In our organization, I have seen many projects, which were down after sucking the matter from a group of scientist for 20 years. If you were at their place, you must have committed a suicide and would have left the whole organization in an agony. But those soldiers never said a die and kept working on the same project for next few years after fixing the bug out and at last they made the whole country proud. Don't you know, what are the other things that make you a successful scientist besides the knowledge? "
"What else?" I said.
"Courage; never tiring attitude; calm; patience." These are the other things which you lack and these were the things which they read on your face and were testing you for.
I popped up out of the blanket; the dream caused me nightly cold sweats. This was the month of February, and the result of DRDO had come approximately 2 months before. I flunked it. For these two months I always had some prominent thought in my mind, those were not exactly the thoughts, those were the question which I kept asking to myself. "How could a man fail after making all his earnest efforts? Does this fate thing matter this much? Then why a man should aspire? He must set himself free and let the fate decide. What was the blunder I happened to make?" I stopped enjoying the friends gathering, I quit watching movies. I was about to push myself in depression. I began reading motivational texts, all of them preached the way to quest your dreams. I would have done quite well if those texts were to take as a guideline. I couldn't found any possible answers to my ineluctable questions.
In my younger days, seldom, I was able to solve the most baffling mathematical problems in my dreams, and I was always able to remember the solution in the morning. But still, on the day today I can't believe that my most important lesson was taught by a dream. Next day I stuck a large white sheet on the wall of my room which said my learning in a very aesthetic way. I still have that poster, it says "If you are not rewarded with what you expected, don't gloom. Just believe, the day will come, the day will come when the stars will ally in your favor, the taste of victory you will savor, just have to carry on with the same vigor and people will call you a soldier."