By Abhishek Namballa
But wait a sec! How did these people become great, distinguished and recognized in the first place?? Yes, they did some things which others might consider crap… Yes, they might have suffered countless sleepless nights brooding about their aims while others were more concerned about earning their square meals or the more fortunate ones enjoying the pleasures of life… and Yes, some of them might have faced humiliation and may have been looked upon with suspicion and abhorrence. But many of us tend to overlook one fact – the rest have been cursed to normalcy. The ‘rest’ have been born to just die with the balance sheet of their lives summing up to zero – nothing taken from the world and nothing offered. They have been born to be normal. Imagine if all the people were to start thinking like Einstein or Newton, we would never have heard of these names in the first place if we were not somehow related to these fellows. Imagine a world with the intelligence quotient so high and the standard deviation almost nil!!
I am no exception to this. You may have different yard sticks to measure how good you are, or rather how normal you are. Some of us might get branded normal in the very first few of the yard sticks used. Some of us might manage to hold around a little longer but to make it to the top of the tree – sorry, you can kindly pack your bags and depart!
There are not many mornings when you get up and have time to reflect – because once again you are a normal person leading a monotonous life. If you want to sit down and argue with me that you do all this crazy stuff, hang around with friends, enjoy life and live life to its fullest and therefore you don’t lead a droning life, then my mate, that is your standard. You will keep doing this all your life and finally depart. That’s it!
Take another example – I am in IIT - An institute that only a select few manage to get into. Suddenly, out of nowhere people start saying this – “Now you are an IITian, you are this; you are that; you will forget us now because we are all ‘normal’…” My question is – “So what if I am an IITian? Why should that make me any different from the rest?” Here the whole cycle repeats itself once again – I am once again an average fellow fighting to stand out – I am good at studies but I am not the best. I am good at sports but not good enough to make it in to any institute team. I play keyboard but I am no master at it. I am good with my communication skills but not the best orator or debater. I realize that all the above things need perseverance and hard work but I have absolutely no scheme or idea where to find them! I find people around me doing things which make me wonder – “Why don’t I think like this?” or “Why can’t I be like this fellow?” Then I realize – even I am cursed – CURSED TO BE NORMAL!
Some are truly gifted, some are freaking lucky, I am neither. Perhaps the reason I don’t put in too much effort, the reason I lack the drive is because I have never had to struggle too much for anything except for a few things. You tend to realize the importance of only those things for which you put fight. Same is the case with me.
Here again one more cycle is at work – people mired in the mass, endeavor to be noticeable and those in the lime light wrestle to find places where they can have time for themselves! Astonishingly talented ones might wonder just the opposite – “What is it like to be a normal person? What is it like to lead a normal life?” I guess its all destiny. According to them it would be – “Some are cursed to be special and others are blessed to be normal!”
I am not saying that all should be equal or that everyone should be of the same caliber. Nay!! That would be a nightmare - the doomsday for mankind! We would have no purpose to exist at all. What I am trying to say is that it is human tendency to strive for excellence. Man is besotted with reaching ever higher on that tree. Probably all my rant also stems from the same rationale.
The reader should not be mistaken that I am in any state of sorrow or depression. NO. That is the least on my priority list. That is because once again I am a commoner and I am fully happy and content with what I have got! I might throw in a little struggle here and there and I will probably get what I want following varying degrees of struggle because I believe in myself. But still the one question remains unanswered –
“Why (not) me?”
About the author: An undergraduate who, when not busy devouring the courses at hand loves to write, play keyboard, badminton and cricket and hobble around the internet hoping to stumble upon something that would prevent his brain cells from dying out..
