Choices Decide Chances

Three pillar subjects during the first semester of the Engineering, EM( Engineering Mechanics) , ED (Engineering Drawing ) and ET( Electrical Technology) , one of which,  invariably for most of the engineering students would get stuck. And only about 30 percent would be lucky enough to escape the twinge of  these so called “Tridevs” .  A night prior to EM ( Engineering Mechanics) final exams , somber mood prevailed in the entire hostel . Two of the best friends , I and Mrinal sitting in our room mulled over our insufficient preparation and time wiled away in movies and outings during the inter exam breaks. Least realizing that the more we mulled over it, more time slipped out of our hands and a last few hours of make and break would also be gone. During the stressed situations the bladder pressure would reach its peak frequently and hence a compulsory off , what we used to call a SSB” Short Susoo break”. Heading for my destination as I walked through, I observed a distinct silence prevailed  in the entire corridor as oppose to cacophony in normal days.  I observed most of the talks coming from rooms were about force resolving, frictional force, pendulum and other typical mechanics jargon. The skin deep preparation of mine instilled the fear in me, and a sinking feel mixed with lots of guilt ran through my head. Sitting on the study table, me and Mrinal opened our books to finish at least the easiest chapter on "friction". I picked a question to solve, when a thought came into my mind” this one chapter wouldn’t make me pass, leave it, nothing can be done, it’s too late”. At that point I almost gave up my fight of EM and pronounced to call it a day ,retiring to bed. Mrinal gave me a butt, asking me to rejoin him in at least finishing the chapter we had started. I instead told him  “he too should wind up and push off to sleep, mountains can’t be dug overnight”. His all attempts to persuade me to study table were of no use and I didn’t pay  heed to any of  his calls.  Next day in the examination hall , nothing unexpected ,bizarre at the sight of question paper, it didn’t take me more than a  few minutes to realize that there was nothing much that I could actually figure out till the end. However there was a ray of hope , the question from friction’s chapter which I and Mrinal were solving a night prior ,when I had raised  the white flag and surrendered, it had actually appeared  verbatim in the exam .More than trying to solve it ,I was trying to recollect flash of my memory to figure out what I had seen in the solution, unable to recollect, I saw the last ray of hope diminishing with fading signs of memory.  A night prior God gave a chance, unable to read the cue, I decided my fate. I was thinking what must be Mrinal’s state of affairs , but I was sure it must be certainly better than mine. After the exam he told me, he too couldn’t complete the solution in the exam, but, since he had been over the question the previous night, he remembered the final answer, which he had written in bold and boxed it around, rest depends on fate. The results were as expected I flunked by 2 marks at 38  and he just managed over the other side of boundary by over 2 marks at 42. I was bound to meet this fate as a night prior only I had made my choice “nothing can be done” .And Mrinal’s will to fight it out, though at last moment, made the difference. I was happy for him as he needed more than me to be all clear in exams , in order to change his department stream from Electrical to Computers Technology. And stragglers were not considered for this option.

Two years later, in the  exam hall of  Electronic devices and circuits  (EDC), once again a heavy weight among  third year of degree subjects. It was a grody  question paper and perplexed most of the students in hall. Making an eye contact with contemporaries in the hall clearly revealed the situation of the others wasn’t good either.  The hallucinations from my EM experience in first years haunted me and fear of failing in  exam rattled my spine. Next fifteen minutes I was contemplating and collecting reserves of my mental energy, reassuring my self of my resolve of not giving it up. I knew, I had fared well in the internal exams. And my internal assessment score would be nothing less than 19 out of 20. So making my calculations right, I just needed 20 in externals out of 80 , to take my total(internal plus external) to 40 crossing over to the other side of fence. By now I knew, how much humiliation it meant being on flip side of the results. But since my preparation was adequate this time unlike the previous, my resolve was firm. Careful scrutiny of this numerical oriented paper revealed that I still could score about 10 odd marks from theory section . So now the fight was only for balance of 10 marks to reach up to 20. The stress levels were so high that even the simple appearing problems were getting stuck midway. Then appeared a streaks of silver lining in the darkness, as I got to eavesdrop on the numerical value of the answer to one of the questions. And the real engineer in me came to work. Doing a backward calculation from the known answer and given values in question, I figured out the formula  to be used . And then putting things straight, I solved the question in the answer sheet. For me, I was putting  my entire analytical skills to work to produce something in an unconventional manner. 

Two months later, when the results were out, my eyes were only looking for one subject marks. And I had swayed the baton on to the other side of the finishing line by a margin of 2 making a total of 42 and learning an important lesson in life. It’s the choice that makes the difference.  Had I not chosen ,  to give  up on EM night , I would not have had that taint of clearing in supplementary on my first year’s mark sheet . Because The unseen supreme power also help those who decide to help themselves. . In life, when ever we are pushed against all odds to the  brink of  frustration and quitting, then only those of us, who at  that  time decided to chose a forward path, make their leading journey . Moreover it’s only in the dictionary that “chance” comes before “choice”, in life, choices we make, decide chances we have.