Patience Pays

Who says that people cannot change…there can be numerous hurdles in the way, if you have the right attitude and the desire to overcome the hurdle, trust me no one can stop you from reaching to the pinnacle.

I am glad that I could mentor one of my students who succeeded in breaking the cocoon, the old rudiments and free herself from her negative thoughts.

Initially, Shikha felt that she was a slow learner. She always considered herself inferior when she compared herself with her PGDM friends, hostel room-mates or so.

Well, it was in the month of August,five years ago  when I met Shikha for the first time during my training session on Interview Techniques. In the mock interview session, she looked nervous, shy and had covert behavior. I could guess that due to her inferiority complex she was not able to concentrate well over her studies, nor she was able to present her thoughts confidently.

I met Shikha after the session, inquired about her background and she said that she belongs to an orthodox family, a typical Maithil Brahmin from Bihar, where education of girl child is always considered as wastage of money by the parents, (may not be by all). Rather what they believe is, an added expenditure on the girl – generally which increases the amount of dowry that is to be paid to the bride groom before getting married, by the bride’s parent– which  is still persisting and prevailing in our Indian Society.

Let me admit a fact too, that parents always care for their children. Though the society and other family members were not in favor of Shikha’s further studies, yet her mother was determined and with her conviction was able to convince her husband for Shikha’s education. Even when she joined the institute, unfortunately Shikha could not find a suitable friend or must say the perfect environment which could have allowed her to groom her personality. She spent her evenings in her hostel room, doing her assignments and projects.

When her friends were thinking to prepare for big brands and high pay packages, Shikha failed to gather her confidence even in getting registered for any company’s interview process. She always feared to face the interview. In much perplexed state, when she gave her mock interview, I could sense the stress that she was going through.

Let me admit now, that her interview was pathetic. Her statements, sentences were meaningless. But I did not let her sense this. I appreciated her and said that she can do better only if she can write what she said and hand it to me. I told her that she is in fact very brave and confident child she could answer even that question which was not answered by the best of her buddies.

Shikha looked at me in surprise, not believing my words but somehow I convinced her. She wrote the answers and trust me, I could notice that she wasn’t bad. She needed that hand to hold which can show her the right direction and can let her search her own strength areas.

There was another student of mine, who was into his e-commerce business. He was looking for some tele-callers who could help in cleaning the data and in branding his product. I told him about the incidence and requested him, if I can arrange for an interview with Shikha. He agreed instantly and said that he will be able to pay only 3000 rupees per month.

The meeting went on very well. Shikha spoke confidently in my presence and agreed to accept the job offer. Her first job offer was in her hand just 3000 INR. Her heart was pounding and I could not stop tears which rolled out of my eyes, seeing Shikha, so happy.

Shikha, started her career. Though it was not the best start, but I wanted her to go with the offer. The change of environment was must for her inner growth. She did perform badly in the initial stages. Even on phone calls, she used to get those panic attacks, when her call was rejected by the other end. I told her that this is very common. I did few calls. The speaker was on and when she heard the negative response even when I tried to convince the listener, she broke the myth of her brain.

Shikha realized that this is not a failure. It will go on she has to overcome these. For next six months I was in regular touch of her, to know more about her difficulties. She shared her problems but she always added a solution to her problem at the end of our conversation.

Shikha joined a big, reputed press house of India. By now, she learnt the art of handling different situations. In the busy go life, she got settled and I got busy with my other training programs related to soft skills.

After five years, I received a call from an unknown number. When I responded to it, I was surprised to know that Shikha now runs her own e-paper. In her career journey, there were number of accolade s and appreciations that Shikha had earned for her work, innovative ideas and application of techniques. She wanted to contact me so that I could train her 7 employees whom she thought, someone like me could help.

Shikha made me feel proud. She will remain in my memoir forever. I went and met her, signed the MoU to help her employees. I could see plethora of changes in Shikha. She has overcome her nature of being timid and shy. She accepted challenges confidently and was ready to challenge others. The confidence could be seen in her bright eyes, which had many number of ambitions.

I don’t know, to how many more will I be able to help but there is one thing, if I meet any Shikha in future, my dedication to bring change in her will be positive as I do have an example who has proven, given an opportunity, no one will be left behind. People look for a push and I will be a factor to give that push to the needed person.