I remember in 11th standard, I used to go to
Vidyarthi Academy. Deemed to be the best coaching class in town. It had this
habit of targeting the best students from the BARC colony. So the best people
from my colony (read: 10th board toppers) were all in Vidyarthi (and
they all swear, by the way, that they screwed up their JEE results BECAUSE of
it). And somehow, I got in too. And then I somehow found myself in the
Vidyarthi Top 40 batch (which did NOTHING for my JEE result). But it was an
interesting batch to be in. It had the best among the best students. And they taught
us all kinds of things that DIDN’T come in JEE. I still learnt a lot.
One thing was getting to meet newer people. And then to be
treated like you are some highly intelligent person who knows-it-all. You were
supposed to be the fastest and brightest. And those were the times when I actually
would study. And try to emulate a superhero.
To my friends, I was a superhero. My friends weren’t as good
as I was at the JEE stuff. They were decent. And my dad always had to have a
problem with my company. “Why can’t you find friends who’re smarter?” It’s like
asking a kid to make friends with someone who’s rich cause it’s all about the
money. How demeaning that used to be for me. I would never miss a chance to
pull off my emotional-blackmail-cum-I’m-always-right role. It would never work.
It still doesn’t work, damn.
And now I’m surrounded by the nerdiest of nerds. There are
IEEE nerds, academic nerds, computer nerds, backstage nerds. And while I can
hope my dad’s happy with my company, he’ll still not leave a chance to pin
point how I’m not the best among them. Not the point.
You know how the superheroes were always the underdogs...
And then they were almost never prepared to battle the super villains. There
are a lot of super villains out here too. Most of them have ‘Dr’s attached,
which makes them all the more dangerous (remember Dr. Octopus?)
Still, the superheroes do manage to save the world at the
end, don’t they? Life at BITS is like living a superhero every single day. You don’t
transform back to your normal self for 4.5 months at a stretch. And sometimes
the super villains ensure that you don’t transform back even during your summer
vacations. Sigh.
But while there’s no superhero who’ll rescue you from this,
in the first place, all you can do is accept that you need to be awesome and
save the world. And that the world won’t be able to do without you. And now I
should stop sounding like Drake. However, it’s true. Be a narcissist. And be
the superhero you always envisioned yourself to be (or whatever else you may
want to be). You won’t regret it, trust me. And while it may get to you at
times, you’ll get a lot back too. So try not to give up on it.
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