A moment of vanity
Allow me this moment of vanity. The 6th Trimester results were announced this afternoon and I am now the official Rank One for our campus:)
A job well done? Yeah I guess.
But so many people came forward and helped me. There were times when I had had enough of fighting for the medal, when I was down and out but somehow there was always someone [ different people at different times] who helped me get out of that rut. I just want to thank them. Maybe I will when I meet them for the convocation.
I remember the day when my first tri results were announced. Before that I was just this quiet girl who used to study too much. I actually used to feel so small in class. I just knew nothing! No fin, no marketing. Hell, not even Microsoft Power Point!
I remember how all of us crowded around the soft board when the results were put up outside G1. The multitude of people. I tried to get in but I just could not. Then someone told me my result.I heard 3.43. Decent, I thought. Nothing great but not too bad either. So, this is where I stand. Beech mein. Na boht achcha na both bura. Two minutes later some one congratulated me. I had heard my score wrong! I had a 3.73/4. I was 3rd in my section and 5th in the batch. I was soo taken aback as I accepted the unexpected but very welcome congratulations! And suddenly I became visible to a lot of people. People started coming to me with doubts and help in project work. And I became the quiet girl who apparently knew a lot.
2nd and 3rd trimester results came out together. It was a Sunday/ Saturday and I was amongst the few doing their summer internship in the city. So I was staying on campus. It was mid afternoon and I had not had had anything to eat since morning. So, I had decided that I would go out and eat.I was on my way out of the quiet hostel when I saw this guy put up the results. From 3rd in my Section I was now 1 st in my Section and 3rd in the batch. I was all alone in the hostel expect for a few other people whom I was not very friendly with. So I had no one to celebrate it with. I remember I went out alone that afternoon just to treat myself!
But I had done badly in the 3rd trimester. As in I was so not happy with the 3rd tri results. I felt I could have done much better.
The 4th trimester results! Hmmm..that result was the turning point. I was in my room in the hostel and I was working on something when a friend sent me a ‘ congrats topper’ message. I remember I called him up franctically. Desparately.
I had successfully managed what could be called an academic coup of sorts. I was the clear Rank 1 with 3.81, 2nd highest was 3.4 I guess and the girl who had been rank 1 till now had 3.2
That I believe changed the whole thing in my favour. 4th trimester was the 1st tri where we had to take up electives and I had, thanks to sensible advice from friends, chosen them very wisely with a potential medal in mind. I had done badly in the 3rd trimester so I worked very hard in the 4th. I knew I had the kind of subjects I could deal with very easily. I worked so hard and ate so little and slept so little that by the time I went back home after the trimester was over that I fell horribly sick and was found to be very weak.
But as I lay at home, sick and tired , putting in all kinds of antibiotics and vitamins into my enervated body, I knew for a fact that I had done the tri to the best of my abilities.
Somewhere along the 5th tri, 4th tri results were changed and mine sky rocketed to 3.91/4 . I remained Rank One and the difference between me and rank 2 and 3 widened further!
I remember 5th trimester exams well. I knew I was very close to a medal and only stupidity could take it from me. So I worked doubly hard. I used to put in so much of effort to make my answer scripts look better than those of my competitors. I remember that feeling of finally going through, for one last time, my answer script right before submitting it. It was all so neat and tidy, there were so many diagrams- complicated ones , it just looked, to my eyes [ and pardon my geekiness here] like a piece of art!
I found the out my 5th tri results after I had come back home. One of my friends who was travelling in the train then got to know of my result and messaged me the same. I was rank 1 again with all As except in a viva which had gone of reasonlay well. I had scored 3.88 and again rank 2 and 3 were far behind.
Today I found out my overall score. I have 3.79 , there is a tie for the 2nd place at 3.59 and the 3rd rank goes to a girl with 3.57
We have another campus and the medals are given to combined toppers. The results for the other campus is not out yet. So I don’t know for sure right now whether I will even get a medal but I have this to say:
All throughout so many things happened and there were times when things took a dramatic turn but even things that were not supposed to favour me just, somehow, upped my score. I don’t know how and I will always wonder why.
I was going through a lot of nonsense particularly during the 4th trimester yet I continued to work hard and the results remained good.
A lot of people helped me. However insignificant being Rank One at a B School might be, but I know for a fact that I could not have done it without their help. So, thank you.
I often felt like someone up there had decided that this girl has to top. I still think that I know very little- it is true. There are absolute Gods in my batch.
It is an honour to be Rank One. But it is double the honour to be called Rank one of the batch that was the 2007-09 batch!
