Here I come after a long long long self-imposed exile... !!! I don't know if it was lack of motivation or lack of new ideas that forced me into this hiatus... But I am back now with a new 'tale to tell'...!!!!
The title of this article is definitely bound to remind you of the novel - A tale of two cities by Charles Dickens. But trust me, this article has nothing in common with this novel..!! Or has it???
As is the case of most of my articles, let me take you back down the memory lane to the 90s when I was in my school... Precisely, let me take you to 1997 when I was in 9th standard. It was a cricket match again between the two neighbors divided by the Palk Strait - India and Sri Lanka. I am quite sure you remember those days when India was often whipped around by the Matara Marauder - Sanath Jayasuriya. It was one such match and India needed around 250 odd runs to win but as was the case almost always, as soon as Sachin got out, there was a big batting collapse and India was tottering and on the brink of yet another mammoth loss at the hands of our tiny neighbors... Two of India's all-time tallest cricketers were at the crease.. One a thin and frail individual.. Other a massive and intimidating individual... One known for his leg-cutters and the other, ahem, I am not sure if you remember his name even... No pun intended.. Well, let me take off the lid now, the two gentlemen at the crease were Venkatesh Prasad and Abey Kuruvilla...!!!! India needed around 70-80 runs to win.. The die-hard fan and the never-say-die individual named 'O-Manish' was still hopeful of an Indian victory...!!! But there was this other individual named 'P-Manish' who had predicted Indian loss the moment Lankans posted above 250 runs...!!!
This was well a precursor to the great fight that would keep on ensuing between 'O-Manish' and 'P-Manish'...!!! Let me represent these two as OM and PM respectively for ease of typing... !!!
OM always hoped for the best... PM always predicted the worse...!!!
OM always saw a silver-lining in every cloud... PM always saw spots on the moon...!!!
Let me now recount the story of OM and PM..!!!
- When I gave up cricket for the sake of education, OM saw a new opportunity in it. PM thought it was the end of the world..!!!
- When I could not make it to IIT, OM saw an opportunity in EAMCET... PM again thought it was the end of the world..!!!
- After my life's first ever interview with the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services, where I was rejected for being a bit too undiplomatic and forthright in the HR interview, OM was imagining job with a better company... whereas PM again thought it was the end of the world...!!!!
- After faltering in my first attempt to crack CAT in 2003, OM saw an opportunity in CAT 2005 where PM, as usual, thought this to be the end of the world...!!!
- After debacle in CAT 2005, 2006 and 2007, OM saw opportunity in CAT 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively.. But PM gave up any hopes of making it to IIM..!!!
- After making it to IIM and then giving up the seat, OM still saw an opportunity in software industry again.. but PM was just inconsolable...!!!!
Even today after some debacle or the other, OM finds newer avenues and opportunities whereas PM finds newer ways at self-destruction...!!!!
Well, reading this story, some might think about their own life-story albeit with different scenarios... I am quite sure each and every individual has two 'selfs' within. One OPTIMISTIC and the other PESSIMISTIC..!!!
In my case, O-Manish was always Optimistic with life... P-Manish was always Pessimistic with life...!!! But time and again, OM was always proved right. His belief in good things always brought about good results. He never let PM get over him..!!!
I feel when we are born, all of us have 50% optimism and 50% pessimism within us... It is up to us to ensure that the P-component reduces as we grow... The more the growth of O-component the lesser the influence of P-component..!!!
Now then, even as I write this article, OM says people would love it but PM says they would despise it...!!!! To this OM says - Even if people despise it, I see an opportunity to improve my writing skills..!!! And the battle continues...!!!!
10 comments:
Mannu Bhai, one thing i can say which distinguishes you from others is the ability to take decisions. I don't know if its OM or PM, that is the driver of decision making. But you do what you love to do and no wonder why success follows you:)
Another masterpiece by you...loved it as always....
Thanks a lot Aditya... :) .. So, OM was right... at least one person liked this article... :)
Its true that most of time optimism brings out the best in us, it is important to keep in mind that most of the things are beyond our control. The outcome of every event is not cannot be tied back to our performance coz there are many other factors involved. Being optimistic can help to bring out the best in us in the situations we can control!!
Yup.. u r right Yash.. This reminds me of the verse from Bhagwadgita...
We just need to give our best and detach ourselves from the result and result is not in our hands... :)
Optimism always helps... :)
Manish,simply superb.Most of the people, well everyone has O and P. wanted to share a quotation what everybody's O says - "If not now then when, if not you then who ". keep rocking mama.
Thanks a lot Mahanth... :)
Totally agree with the saying... :)
Manish, wonderful article !! The way you used these two terms - O-Manish & P-Manish was very creative.
Somewhere in this article you wrote -
"OM was always proved right....He never let PM get over him..!!!"
O-Tarun in me says that by "PM" you meant P-Manish and nothing else, P-Tarun in me says that by "PM" you meant your Project Manager. I hope that O-Tarun is right ;)
Thanks a lot Tarun.. :)
O-Tarun is right here... Again u see, even in your case here O-Tarun prevailed over P-Tarun... :)
OV says this is nice!!!
and yes, being optimistic helps a lot. I wouldn't be doing what I am doing if it werent for the OV in me.
I enjoyed reading this
Thanks a lot Vikram.. Let OV always win over PV.... :)
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