Few weeks back I returned home after having a particularly bad day. It appeared as if problems have surrounded me from all sides. A friend suddenly called and I blurted out that I feel I was getting crushed under the weight of my problems. Very calmly, the friend said – but what makes you think that easy tests are rewarding? Our very brief conversation ended, but after giving me food for thought – IIT/IIM/IAS/AIIMS etc. started dancing in front of my eyes.

I have often tried to draw inspiration from the military history. Indeed, many scientific, management and business concepts have evolved from the battlefields. ‘Marketing Warfare’ was a celebrated book written on the marketing strategy based on military strategies. Even a cursory look at war history will throw up names of some famous Generals. All the forces get many generals. But the ones who win wars, or lose them, are different. Field Marshal Manekshaw, General Sundarji, General Malik, Lt. Gen. Harbaksh Singh etc. were the ones who delivered great results for our country. To do this they had to go through very testing times and they came out with flying colours. But what is lesser known is that even before they were given these difficult responsibilities they had been severely tested on the battle field. FM Sam Manekshaw had seen action not only on the toughest battlefield of the Second World War in Burma, but had received nine bullets in his body and no one believed he will survive. It is the tough battle field experience that made him a General who could win the most decisive war for the country. We have also had Generals who lost wars or were changed quickly on the battlefield – and without giving names I’d say that most were not battle hardened, they had not been through the crucible of fire and earned laurels there. Till the time times were benign they prospered but the moment weather became turbulent they fell to the wayside. Reason I have narrated this is to emphasise that successful war time generals are different not only because of their qualities but more because these qualities were generally honed over a tough period of time. Without the tough periods these gentlemen could have never given the victories which they gave us. Indeed, soldiers in our Special Forces are the normal soldiers who have passed the toughest tests to qualify as SF. Their motto says it all, “Men apart, every man an emperor”. To be an emperor one has to pass through a tough grind. But the best part is their insignia ‘balidaan’ – martyrdom, ultimate glory for a soldier.

I decided to write this today not to write about war time generals alone but because I see many people around me who are facing tough situations in life, either personal or professional or both. And one of the reasons for me to write My Little Thoughts Of Life is that I feel current education system is skewed towards academics with no emphasis on teaching and preparing children to live life.

When we were students and living in hostels life was quite difficult initially. Hostel life actually started with intense ragging – yes, we used to have ragging in those days. I’m sure most of my batch mates would agree with me today when I say that the ragging taught us a lot. Our seniors who ragged us the most became our best friends and guides. By the time we passed out of our hostels, after getting ragged, sharing rooms, buckets, beds, food, pains and pleasures, hard work, pathetic mess food, travelling in trains without reservation etc. we were fully transformed.   Often we used to talk among ourselves that the students who didn’t stay away from parents could never grow up. They could never be as confident as hostellers. It is also true that when we were there we were often in awe of the day scholars since they were getting the same education at lower cost and above all while staying in the comfort of their homes.

As we stepped in the professional world life started showing very different colours. Generally, after studying professional courses like engineering and management first job is that of a trainee, either Graduate Engineer Trainee or Management Trainee. There are some organizations that have a very structured training module for 12-18 months and some where one gets on to the job roles as a trainee only. Structured ones generally have an intense programme where young managers are taken to the field and they have to do some very menial jobs – it could be like pushing a cart of soap cakes to be distributed to the retailers, or distributing parts on the shop floor, wiping the floor clean, doing simple data entry, standing behind the counters at retail stores etc. Recently I had to visit hospital wards often where I saw medical interns working very hard, often awake for 24 hours, advising patients and nurses with eyes red which were ready to pop out any moment. Senior doctors would come on their rounds, spend few minutes and pass their instructions. My profession is half legal and commercial. This is where I see young lawyers and CAs working long hours preparing accounts, doing data entry, preparing briefs, replies, notes etc. But the seniors come, have a quick look at the documents and take decisions. Worst of all is that often they identify errors in those few seconds.

The inquisitive nature that I have, I often end up speaking with the senior doctors, lawyers and accountants etc. In almost every case I am told by them that they have had a very difficult training which has made them so proficient in their work today and enabled them to be able to handle most difficult situations now. Most are candid enough to admit that without the sleepless nights that they spent in their professions they would have never reached where they are today and could not have managed the challenging assignments. As a professional manager I can say with great degree of confidence that the managers who deliver the results, not necessarily all those who reach the top, are the ones who have had their share of tough times and trial by fire in their professional lives before they could reach the top and deliver good results. Even in the promoter driven organizations iconic promoters ensure that their children are exposed to all challenges before they are handed over the reins of organizations. It is said that the best doctors are found in the government run hospitals since they work harder, see more patients, difficult cases, don’t work in comfortable situations, don’t earn as much etc. But fact is that they are best doctors. In India the verdict of the doctors of AIIMS is almost always the final verdict. Professionally speaking, they are the best. They may not get best rewards in material terms but reward is better in terms of self-satisfaction, just like the soldiers’ reward.

During the time of joint families in India often there used to be one elder in the family whose judgement was respected and his word final. Often it was not only in the family but the whole village or locality. One reason was of course his being older in the family. But the bigger reason was that he had seen many summers in his life, had seen ups and downs and difficult situations. He had seen the difficult situations easing out, winters leading to spring, coping up with grief and losses and understanding that just as difficult situations always come in the life of people they always go also. But most of all, he had learnt from these difficult situations which gave him the wisdom, due to which he was respected and people came to him for advice.

My Little Thought Of Life today is focussed on two categories of people. One, people who are undergoing challenging times and two, youngsters who are stepping in the real world with dreamy eyes. To the first category my message shall be that the tough times will come in everybody’s life, more for some and less for some others. Like the best generals, doctors, lawyers, managers, accountants, toughest challenges come in the way of chosen few who are destined for higher rewards, which may not necessarily be in material terms but in being the best and respected in their own fields. Only caveat is that the person needs to learn the lesson from each situation rather than just facing it and feeling victimised by destiny. To the second, the dreamy eyed ones, my message is that life is not only about dreams. It is also about challenging situations; it is also about difficult life tests and not only class tests; it is also about learning not in the class rooms and class tests alone but also from challenges of life and tests that life throws at us; and above all, about the people who use challenges as catapult to rise higher and the ones who wilt under them. Challenges and tough tests are inevitable, learning from them and rising after each challenge is not. In fact I dare say that learning is only in difficult circumstances. Fun time doesn’t give us any learning. So the people who want to learn from life must embrace difficult situations and draw out every possible lesson rather than cribbing and feeling distressed by them.

To my friends and readers, I wish an ability to see an opportunity in each of the challenge and test that the life throws at them, learn from it and emerge stronger, but never for a moment consider oneself as a victim of circumstances.