Monday, August 18, 2008

The 3 turning points of my life

Before you jump to any conclusion about the title being borrowed from Chetan Bhagat's "3 mistakes of my life", let me clarify one thing: The title is very original and was thought of even earlier than the book itself was named. But due to my habit of procrastination, my article got delayed and that damn book got released .But even then I would not like to change the title or the content. Here I have summarized three important incidents in my life from where my life would change dramatically.

First of all them is my birth itself. It was such a wonderful thing that I was born in this beautiful world. To borrow a line from Gracie Allen I would agree that "when I was born I was so surprised I didn't talk for a year and a half”. Without this incident I would not be in a position to write this article and I very well know that you people will agree with me at least in this turning point...

My second tryst with a life defining incident was my very poor marks in my first year PUC (11th grade).For your information ( and not for my self-flattery) I was in the top 3 in all my school years and due to that had got my seat in one of the best colleges in Bangalore. But I don’t know what struck me at that year, but I fared poorly in all subjects. I saw such low marks that I had never dreamt of. And to add to all these my final exam maths marks was an all time low 35.Phew I missed that failure by a whisker!!. And above all I was now worried about the reaction at home. They too would not have expected such a poor display of form from my side. Expecting the worst I told my marks to my parents and surprisingly they acted as if it was normal and 1st year marks was not at all a big deal. Had they shown their disappointment that day, I would be further demotivated and depressed and who knows I would again have not been in a position to write this article.Devara varavo punyada phalavo kaanenu (By gods grace), my father was transferred to chikmagalur and I had to take the risk of changing the college for II PUC, a risk many would not feel worth taking .But my marks in I yr made me so eager to change the college no matter what risk. I simple would not be able to sit in between 90% scorers for another year (After claiming that I had scored 94% in SSLC and showed no promise in Ist yr).I changed the college, went to CKM ,got into some random college and was able to get 5th rank in II PUC at college level. Now it was time for engineering and it meant changing college to meet new challenges which I dreaded so badly. But talking lesson from my previous experience I vowed to never let that happen again and went for the kill from the first day in Engineering .From there for the next four academic years there was no looking back. The rest is history for which I am still proud of :-)

If the first one came during my birth and the second case during my academic life, the third one came during my initial years of professional life in my first company. < I removed whatever was written here as I am still living my professional life though in a different company.Also I feel it has reached the intended audience. In case you did not read this and are eager to know what was here do mail me ;-) Sorry for inconvenience caused >

11 comments:

  1. In your last turning point, you mentioned that you changed the game plan to suite the environment which is great thing but I personally feel that we have to be what we are rather than what it is.

    In Sarkar Raj BigB says to Abhi that we have to see the future loss before reacting to the present profit.

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  2. Hi santosh,thanks for the comment.
    If U notice I have written that I changed my gameplan for that opponent only and last line says I am back to my old ways ..I am what I was..The only difference is that I have proved to myself that if something wrong happens to me I can handle it :-)

    and again there is more than that in that last turning point..as I hv said it there..I have drastically cut down the story

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  3. I always that this quirky sould would have in him a story to tell the world. Like Mr.Bhagat. If you can spin the same into a few pages it should make an interesting read.

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  4. Mr. Praveen G. Nellikeri, what i personally believe abt u is, you are wasting a wonderful(god gifted ) talent by wrking in the IT industry.

    I would suggest you to erite an AutoBiography on ur own.

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  5. Intresting one... good work, keep it up

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  6. good work dude....just needs editing at few places....yes u should definitely move out of IT...coz IT sucks...and yep u can do much better things(anythings better than IT) which can make ur autobiograhy even worth more interesting a read for all

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  7. Super Maga....

    Even i went through the same in my appraisal. Ur blog it gave me new strategy and strength to face my issues...

    Thnx a TON...!!!!!!!

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  8. Blog has turned out to be 'Two Turning Points ' then!

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  9. Praveen, the content, emotions associated with it are all very well in sync.. since you are a good writer, do ensure that you give a spell check before you submit. Also the English language gives a lot of importance to orrect usage of articles(a, an, the). Its just a suggestion to re-read before you submit. Keep the spirit going !!

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  10. Hi Nefertinee...thanks for your comment.I had been told this earlier by one of my friend but had not taken it seriously citing the reason that ppl dont read my articles and so its not worth spending time on re-checking.But now that I have got a second opinion,I promise from now on I will take care

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