Attitude and Faith in the Almighty

Many a time circumstances take such a turn that we are not able to decide what to do. At that moment our attitude plays a very prominent role in deciding our future course of action. That attitude is the determinant of our success or failure in that particular endeavour. I would like to share a personal experience on it with my ilander friends.

You might be aware that there exist Town Official Language Implementation Committees (TOLIC) in major towns of India. In Northern belt, these are popularly known as   Nagar Rajbhasha Karyanvayan Samiti. My employer, a public sector insurance company, nominated me to participate in a Noting and Drafting Competition for Senior Executives of Public Enterprises of Govt. of India. About seventy public sector organizations of the Union govt. had nominated one officer each for the examination.

In the Subject column of my nomination letter, the date of the competition was mentioned as 16^th September. I cursorily glanced through it and kept it in my drawer. On 15^th September, I reached my office around 10-20 A.M. As I opened the drawer and read the main text of the letter, I noted that the date of the competition was 15^th September, i.e., the same day and it had been inadvertently written as 16^th September in the Subject column. The examination centre (India International Centre, New Delhi) was situated about eight Km away from my office. The duration of the examination was two hours, i.e., from 10-00 A.M. to 12-00 noon.

 It would take me about 30 minutes to reach there. I did not ponder for long, informed my department and left for the examination centre. When I reached there, it was 11-05 A.M. and all other officers were busy in writing the paper. A time of just 55 minutes was left.

The examiners allowed me to participate and gave me the question paper. I don’t know why the officer sitting beside me remarked, “You will stand first”. Taking his remark lightly, not thinking with what purpose he had said so, I just greeted him with a brief smile. There was no anxiety or tension visible on my countenance. It felt as if I was working like an instrument in the hands of the providence.

 There were questions on comprehension, vocabulary, translation and official correspondence etc. Five minutes before time, I completed the paper and then revised it. It was, in fact, the first occasion in my life that I was late for the examination. However, I was fully satisfied with my performance.

After about one month, the results were declared and to my surprise, I stood first among all the officers of the public sector enterprises. I was surprised and really overwhelmed on the grace of my Almighty Father, God Shiva.  Now I understood why the officer sitting beside me in the examination had commented so. It was the first time in my life that someone had commented in the examination hall that I would stand first, though I had stood first on many occasions.

Now, my dear friends just ponder: Why did I not leave the idea of quitting the examination, as the time available was too short?

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