#SpreadTheVibe – Emerged to Be A Winner

“It’s easy to stand in the crowd but it
takes courage to stand alone”― Mahatma Gandhi

Life is the most uncertain thing in this
world but we insist on making it certain, thriving all our ambitions and
expectations on it and that keeps us going.

Robert Frost has rightly said, “In three
words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.”

In spite of all hiccups, it goes on and
on.

Normally people tread on the most common
path followed by others and make their life but there are very few who stray
out from the normal path, I call them path breakers, who amble on the less
travelled road in order to achieve their aim. In course of it, some make it and
few break out. It’s not easy to freak out because close and related people do not wish you to take up sighting the risk
involved, which can cause to lose precious time of your life which won’t return
back if you lose it but there are
courageous minds who ready themselves to
stake their precious hours of life and energy. They
step forward to take up with a conviction to do their best.

Even I’m blessed with a path breaker,
who broke the rules and made his own way in spite of bearing the resistances
from close quarters and finally succeeded in taking up his passion as
profession. Here, I have said “blessed”, because he made it else I would have
used the word “curse” for him, as I’m not unique from earthly stuff. I too
resisted, but it was a silent resistance from my side because being a mother, I needed to be supportive
else he might have succumbed to the pressures of life. The constant supporter
of his dreams is his elder brother who stands by his side, whenever and
wherever needed.

He is my younger son, Mayank, who was
the mischievous & witty one in his childhood, but gradually turned out to
be a silent one in his late teens. I never bullied them but kept a close vigil
on their movements, which needs to be taken care of in growing stage of
children. He was okay in his studies, scoring
invariably dangling within 70% to 80%. After passing boards, he thought of
getting into engineering stream after Plus Two on his own. I gave my kids the
freedom to choose their field of education, though
insisted to excel.

He did his Plus two from Narayana
School, Hyderabad and the preparation of engineering and finally chose SRM
Chennai for his engineering studies in Computer engineering. In the meantime,
he had started blogging and his blogs drew a large number of followers and his
writings were quite realistic and the way of expression excellent. I was
unaware of this facet of Mayank, not only me, most of the people who knew
Mayank too were astonished with
his writings. In his school days, his English language was so-so, but his
writings and usage of words were quite dignified contrary to our belief. His
flair for expression has boosted his writings and more of his writings spoke of
his quality of storytelling. I read his blog often but been a parent gave him
regular reminders to be more concentrated on the ongoing study and give his
free time to blogging.

He completed his four years of
engineering with an average score nearing 7 point and sat in campus placements
but could not make it at first two three rounds of campus interviews. After
rejections, he got bewildered but his passion of writing infuriated him from within
to change the course of his subject and he attended few seminars at Chennai
which boosted his confidence to take up the passion of writing further and
changing his subjects to journalism. He knew it wasn’t easy at this juncture to
change but he was sure that this was his last chance where he could take a
chance to freak out risking his career. Even he knew it was not an easy task to change our perceptions
and he confided in his elder brother who stood as a pillar of confidence at
every juncture of life & blindly supported him.

At first, he too was aghast but he took
the task of convincing the parents. When at first I learnt the news, my mind
was out of control and darkness seemed to dawn on me. I was mentally prepared
that in 2014, I will be at ease as both my boys would be in their respective
jobs and I would be a proud mother of engineering professionals, it came as a hard blow to my dreams. I
spoke to him and even scolded him releasing my fears which had bottled up inside
me.

Mayank told me that he is going to take
up All India entrance exams for the course of PG in journalism and afterwards
be selected in leading newspaper of the country and would lead a life of
adventure and his passion of writing will get a space. Again, I had to spare a considerable sum on his PG but I readied myself
seeing his conviction or being a parent I had
to stand to guide him. This time I gave him a strict notice that he has to
excel at any cost as he is risking his career and engineering course and if he
won’t make up, he will lose his career forever.

Practically, one can’t be too rigid with
a boy of 22 years seeing the existing scenario where kids commit suicide on the
lightest pretext but I
coaxed him and it was the need of the hour and few times, we have to take the
risk and this was the matter of his whole life.

The field of journalism was new to us as
nobody in our family or related blood was in this profession. Way back in my
college days, fascinated by the adventurous life of press personnel, I nurtured
a dream to pursue journalism but it was instantly snapped by my father
considering unsuitable for girls. There and then it was buried forever, but
watching my son contemplating a life of a journalist, it felt as if he had
stood tall to fulfill my incomplete dreams. I contacted few friends who were in
senior profile in journalism and enquired about the career possibilities and
avenues and their satisfactory feedback relaxed me.

The luck favoured his side and he got
selected in entrance exams and zeroed in to join The Times School of
Journalism, New Delhi. He joined the institute and since that day, he never
looked back. He put all his efforts and time into it to excel and carved a
niche for himself in this absolute new arena. His engineering qualifications
did help him in the course as now the reporting work is too digitized. He
devoted all his energy into it and did well at the institute and the institute too recognized in him the potency of a
reporter and they supported him a lot.

His efforts paid him and he got selected in The Times of India
at rather higher package than engineers in their first job. When I
heard the news, I was overwhelmed and tears of joys rolled down my cheeks
releasing me from the stress forever. 

It’s
true, ““Not all those who wander are lost.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien

Mayank carved a place for himself in one
of the top newspaper of the country and joined his job in 2015 March and his
efforts & devotion in profession made him the cynosure of all eyes at work.

It wasn’t easy but if the final result
is the best, the rest is ignored. After great disappointments, he came out with
flying colors and his success boosted his morale to flap his wings to soar
heights.

His life, his struggle is a real motivation to people and it feels
great when they talk about it. How well he stood firm on his decision and made
it work, only makes me proud and I always pray he gets all the good things in
life.

“When you find your path, you must ignore fear. You need to have
the courage to risk mistakes. But once you are on that road… run, run, run,
and don’t stop till you’ve reached its end.” ― José N. Harris

I am sharing the story of Mayank for the campaign of Spread the Vibe whose dream to stand alone against the crowd and make a career of his own choice and his determination and courage helped him to conquer against all odds of life. Youth Ki Awaaz