A CBSE student scoring north of 99% reminded me of a couple of friends of mine.
One boy and one girl. I know them for past several years.
Both are immensely talented, creative and hard-working ones.
Both are one of the most intelligent people I have ever met in my life.
Both went to the same college, shared the same stream and also shared a class for a couple of years.
But, their decision-making skills are not similar.
Not at all.
The girl, who had also scored north of 99 in her 10th standard, is a keen yet populist decision maker. If you go by the public opinion, then she has hardly made a wrong decision in her life.
The boy, on the other hand, is more of an outlaw. He prefers to consult his conscience while taking his decisions and is known for taking anti-populist decisions in his life. If you go by the public opinion, then he has taken several wrong decisions in his life.
Though I don't have any right to, I'll still compare both of them (cause, you know, the society already has, and I also don't have anything else to do).
As I have already said, the girl scored to the north of 99 in her 10th std, while the boy hardly managed to score 91 (yes, in today's world, 91 is the new "low score").
The girl decided the smart decision to move to a big city (popular amongst by JEE aspirants) and invest a couple of years in preparing for IIT-JEE (a right decision indeed!).
The boy, who also decided to prepare for IIT-JEE and also joined a class, decided to do most of the study at his home, and at the crucial time, decided to focus on a better his fitness rather than study for JEE, coz apparently, he felt that weight loss was more important than getting into an IIT (such an asshole).
Both of them couldn't crack JEE and ended up in my college, a simple tier-2 college.
The girl, the talented decision maker, decided that she has wasted her life by joining this college, and decided to have more fun. Also, as she knew how to score (the typical study-what-comes-in-exam method), she could easily score good marks. So, she invested the free time to join extracurriculars profile, joined sports and organising teams and built a stellar profile.
Our asshole boy thought just kept studying. He decided that understanding things are more important than anything else, so he just studied and hardly joined any other extra-curricular's. In the end, he built a simple academically oriented profile (nothing glamorous about it. Such a nerdy asshole he is).
Again, our talented girl decided to go for MBA entrance tests, cause she knew where she could earn money. And though she failed to crack those exams, it didn't matter that much, cause she had already taken a job from the placement process. Smart girl.
And the boy, well, he decided to do a boring M.Tech., failed to crack GATE and had to stay at his home for a year, cause this asshole didn't appear for the placement process. Man, he is just a jerk.
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So what do you think, who must be more successful now?
The girl, who apparently, took all the right decisions, or the boy, who apparently, made a mess of his life by taking so many bad decisions in his life?
I know, your answer must be the girl. But what if I tell you, that you are wrong?
Yes, you are.
Our talented girl, who though scored good marks, does not know anything about her field, so she had to take a job in an IT company. Her passion was travelling and photography (which she pursued a while), but as she fell back to a safe option. From last what I have heard, she is still struggling to make a mark there. She has probably lost all her desire to be something and is cursing every day.
On the other hand, our asshole boy, who took so many wrong decisions and (apparently) wasted a year, topped the college, will join a renown IIT for his M.Tech. in coming weeks and is thinking about starting an unconventional business (which, again, will be condemned by the most of us). Believe it or not, that guy is a complete box of knowledge, is respected by several, and is a source of inspiration to me. It's all because he followed his passion (which, shockingly, is engineering) and worked hard throughout his life.
These two people collectively taught me a very important lesson:
Life is not about taking the right decisions, it's more about making the decisions right!
And he is not the only one. There are and were several others like him.
Columbus's decision to find India turned out to be a wrong one, but hell yeah, he found out America.
Ford, maybe took some wrong decisions and 'wasted' almost 20 years of his life, but then he is the reason why you have that new car in your backyard.
So, all those assholes (like me) around there, don't worry if you have taken (or are taking) any wrong decision. Life will give you an opportunity to turn them into the right ones. All you need to have is some amount of passion and an ability to work hard.
The world is yours if you have the heart to take it!