Life is a competition! A very cliched phrase used by old and young. But I believe life is about enjoying every moment, rejoicing every small little success. Even failures can be enjoyed. Thinking how? Read along..
Years back when I was in the eleventh standard, my school - St. Thomas' Boys' participated in an inter-school festival organized by a reputed co-ed school in Ballygunge area of South Kolkata. I was representing my school in the singing competition. However, there was a twist in the story. We needed a team of three. Quite surprisingly, it was very difficult to get two more singers from the higher secondary classes. Somehow we managed to convince Deb who was trained in Indian classical music. But who would be the third one? The search went on, the school co-ordinators were all perplexed. Finally, Shubhayu, one of the student co-ordinators volunteered for participating. Shubhayu had no formal training in music. Then? Can he do justice in representing his school? Questions were many, however, we were left with just one option - Shubhayu. Initially hesitant, Shubhayu finally acquired enough courage to join in. Rehearsals started. School classrooms and my home were the rehearsing venues. Yummy food motivated the tired souls. We did not lose hope.
It was the prelims and we reached late. However, the good host still accommodated us. The second round of the prelims was 'judge's choice' where any one of the team members selected by the judges would have to sing a song of their choice. Yes, I repeat it could be anyone of us - me, Deb or Shubhayu. The anchor very slyly said "This round will prove the worth of the team. Aisa na ho ke do gana gane aye aur ek Pepsi peene (It should not be that two members have come for singing and the third for a bottle of Pepsi)". Shubhayu looked pale. How have the anchor come to know about the secret dynamics of our team?
We were the last team to be called. Shubhayu prayed hard "God, please let me be able to support the team. I promise to learn music in the next two years if I am not the one chosen in the judge's choice round". I was nervous not just because of Shubhayu but also to have been burdened of being the lead vocal. God was quite merciful as we finished our chorus performance. Then was the real test. Who would it be? Shubhayu? Fingers crossed. It was... Deb. We were slightly relieved. However, as a thumb rule whenever you think you are relieved, the real stress begins. Deb could not sing any of the first two choices given by the judges. Only one more chance or we are disqualified. The judges optioned any Bengali song. I felt Deb had the entire world in hand to choose from. But guess what...
Quite confidently, Deb started singing "O amar boudimoni chander kona..." (Oh my beloved sister-in-law; you resemble the moon)
A long silence prevailed amongst the audience. Smiles.. Giggles.. and then they all burst into laughter. Me and Shubhayu standing behind and watching Deb still go confident, could not resist ourselves. We were louder than the audience, almost falling off at the side wings. Five minutes of complete entertainment. Everyone enjoyed as our chance in the competition went for a stroll. But we still participated to the audience's delight. However, after a point, me and Shubhayu realized that being team mates it was extremely rude of us to have laughed at Deb. But I am sure, even if it was a zombie in our place, he wouldn't have been able to control.
The prelims result was then announced. Five teams would qualify for the finals. Four names were called one after the other. Who would be the final name? The sly anchor announced, "The judges would like to hear the rest of the teams once more to decide the final position."
Can you imagine? After all that happened, God gave us a second chance. And this time we could select who would represent us. I did the honours, singing the ever popular patriotic song - "Aye mere watan ke logo". Silence also prevailed this time, but it was long. The audience seemed swayed by the emotions of the song.
St. Thomas' Boys' School took the final position.
On the D-day, we were all ready with greater vigour and higher hopes. The stage was well set and the finals began. Teams performed their best. Like every interesting story, this also had a second twist, but this time it was not well-spirited. The organizing body had taken the song list from us in advance and the host school staged the same song as we had prepared ("Koi Kahe Kehta Rahe") before our performance. We were shattered. Is this why the song list was taken? We understood the equation. We felt cheated. As the competition (if I can still call it so) progressed, we made justice to whatever we had prepared. And finally, as expected, the host school was declared winners. Yes, we lost the unhealthy competition. However, I was not surprised. The very reason why our song was taken proved the worth of our team. Deep at heart we were upset not because of the loss but.. you know what.
Looking at the bigger picture, this experience was so much fun. We may not have won the competition. We may have felt foul played with. But the journey was such a learning experience that it still motivated me to blog about it. This is why I say enjoy your failures and learn from them. They are indeed the stairs to success.
