Take no stress, wait for your time

Everybody in the world is under stress due to one reason or another. Those who are able to overcome it are successful, but those succumb to it have to suffer a lot. These days, children are under tremendous stress due to board examinations. After school board, examinations are due for colleges and universities. I am citing my personal example for the benefit of youngsters, which people normally hesitate to reveal.

I did not have any stress during my Class X board exams when we had to appear for two papers in a day continuously. I appeared confidently and passed with a good score. As soon as I joined college, I started feeling the heat. The reason being Hindi was my medium of education in school, but in college everything was in English. I was perplexed. For example in coordinate geometry, my teacher used to say that this line is a tangent to circle and I wondered how this line is making opposite side/ adjacent side of a right angle triangle. In school I was taught about ‘tan theta’ only. It took me a lot of time to understand that teacher is referring to ‘sparsh rekha’. I started lagging behind. Still, I graduated successfully with a good score.

After my father retired from Hyderabad in 1964, we shifted to Chandigarh and I took admission in BSc (Honours) in Panjab University. There was a huge difference in the environment from my previous place of living. The campus of the university and its majestic library inspired me to excel in my studies. Soon, I had the reputation of answering all questions asked in class by teachers. I invariably finished at the top. Accordingly, I was tipped to finish at the top in the final examinations of graduation. All practical exams were over and two of the five theory papers were completed. The syllabus of third paper (which should have been split in two papers) appeared monumental. I became nervous. My family had gone to attend a wedding and I consumed 14 sleeping pills. I kept sleeping for three days. On return, my parents counselled me to appear for the exams. Fortunately, there was a gap of four days. In the remaining three papers, I appeared without any preparation. I still got the first division which was rare in mid-sixties. It affected my career initially until I rose from the ashes by clearing All India UPSC exam with a high rank which no one else could even clear, to become a Class I officer directly. I have cited my example to emphasise that everyone cannot stand first. With this experience in mind, I never asked my daughter to stand first in her class. I told her to score as many marks as possible and if in the process if she stands first, well and good. Have a healthy competition and take no stress. I request the parents not to put pressure on their children. Students should understand that even if they fail or get five marks less, it does not matter. That’s not the end of the world. God provides opportunities to everyone sooner or later. Wait for your time, and the time will come if you live. Don’t take any drastic step. Relax. A bright day will dawn on you too. 

Dr Gurdev Singh