Journey Continued

He was unemployed till he was married at the age of 29 to a government teacher. She was the eldest daughter of  a government teacher and wanted to marry a person, without giving dowry. She got a government job at the age of 18. She rejected many alliances and finally chose him. His employed wife added fuel to the fire of his aim of being a government employee.He still stayed in the same single room along with five others as his wife stayed with her parents in her hometown because of her job. When his wife paid  her first visit to his room, he wanted to change the usual menu of pickle to a delicious dinner with options. For that he had to sell the only gold ring which was a present for his marriage as it was month end.

His self respect stopped him from staying with his wife as he didn't want to be her dependent. He continued to stay in the same room for more notifications to be out and preparing at the same time. He took his first failure in the competitive exam as his main source of inspiration. He prepared sincerely with increased effort. He knew no time, no hunger while studying. Thus he gained immense command on his subject. But, he didn't know for how many years he was going to work like that without knowing when his hard work would be rewarded. As he waited long, his burdens increased and his hope faded. He was frustrated more when there was no notification even in the year he was married. And the next year he also had a daughter to manage.

There came the occasion of his daughter's cradle ceremony in his wife's hometown. There was not even a single penny left in his hands. One of his well settled sisters wanted to gift some gold to the new born baby. He asked her not to gift the baby anything and give him the money as substitute. His sister who knew everything gave Rs.800 to him. With that money, he took his brothers and sisters to his wife's hometown bearing all their bus fares along with a frock to the newborn.

He waited and waited with increased despair. He lost all his hope. He had faced the worst phase financial crisis possible and peaks of people's embarrassment during his long wait for 4 years after his first attempt. He was totally frustrated when the notification came again, this time for degree college lecturers. But there were only two posts in his stream for the whole state. His hard work knew no bounds and his frustration, at the same time knew no limits. He was supposed to give two papers on the same day with lunch break in between. He gave his first paper and decided not to judge anything. In the break, he met an old friend who was in the same situation. Both of them shared their agonies. Unable to bear anything anymore, they went to a bar. They came back to write the second paper. After he finished the second paper, he had a very good feeling that his paper went very well. But he was unable to trust his feeling because of his hang over. When he mentioned about his visit to the bar to his wife, his wife was recklessly angry and was immersed in deep sorrow. Then he realized how irresponsibly he behaved. That was it. He now had to kill his desire of being a government lecturer as he would be over aged next year for any government job!

He now concentrated on continuing his career as lecturer in private institutions. He forgot all about the exam and its results. He came to know about the results through his fellow lecturer who also gave the exam but didn't manage to get through. He was initially afraid to check the results. He prepared for the worst and then went through the result. He was startled and happy as well to find his number. The next phase was personal interviews.

He came to know that a professor from the panel of interview for his stream stayed close to his vicinity. He met the professor and asked him about the pattern of the interview. Professor just said 'Be confident about whatever you are and whatever you know' and asked him to leave. He went to the interview. He knew all the answers of the questions asked by the panel. He was asked to demonstrate a topic. He demonstrated it with ease. He would demonstrate any topic with ease as teaching has become his passion by then. But he was surprised to find the professor, he met silent during the whole interview. Next day he met the same professor and enquired about his performance. The professor just said ,' I don't know where you stand in written exam. But, you stand first in the interviews'. He didn't remember how he thanked the professor. He didn't remember how he reached home. For the first time in the life, he felt like floating in the air. When the final results came, obviously he stood first in the state. Out of two posts, he grabbed one. His long interim break of 7 years finally came to an end!

Now, he coaches students for M.A. entrance exam every year and the top rankers would be undoubtedly his students. He was selected as one of authors for Telugu Academy textbooks for intermediate which were published in the year 2010. He now earns more than twice the earnings of his wife. He is revered by all his students as their favourite professor. He now stands as a respectable personality in the society. He is an all time learner. He never forgot the principles that placed him in his present position- sincerity, punctuality and hard work. He describes any journey as an appropriate combination of objective, vision and mission.

Success and failure are two imposters in life. A most strenuous journey is destined to yield the sweetest possible results.

He is my father and inspiration begins at home! :-)