Chetan Sharma
Personal Assistant at
(Rajya Sabha Secretariat)
There’s a certain peace in finding what you were looking for after having lost everything else, a certain wonder in experiencing joy after immense gloom and a certain triumph in winning after countless defeats. This is my story, the story of a boy who fell deep in dark places and then recollected his broken pieces to soar to his dream job. It might seem a little long, but that’s because unlike most success stories, it is replete with more daunting failures than poetic success.
In all honesty, I was a model student majority of my school-life – the class-monitor, student body, popular and prominent kind – always winning most of the co-curricular competitions I’d participate in ranging from sports, oratory, theatre, music to every other category you can imagine, and bringing countless accolades to school. I’d manage podium finish in class rankings almost every year, with a perfect 10 CGPA in class X. Last minute studies even allowed me a 90.75% in Class XII considered decent back then.
Then comes the downfall part. After Class XII, I decided to pursue the then latest fad of Bachelor of Management Studies course. One of the reasons I chose to be a Manager was because I had always wanted to wear suits to office – a childish dream, I know. I enrolled in a preparation institute with a hefty fees that obviously my parents paid, but I had lost the sincerity & dedication of preparing for any exam. And that showed when the results came. I didn’t even make it to the finish line, let alone podium finish while my best friend, whom I had introduced to the course in the first place, got into the best college. First major failure. I locked myself in a room and cried for a whole day while being crushed under the guilt of having wasted so much money of my parents. Consequently, I got admission in Economics Hons. in Delhi University and despite the recent failure, still continued on my co-curricular inclination with full time theatre, organising fests and participating in every competition I could get my hands on, leaving studies completely at bay. If you want to be successful, don’t forget how it feels to be a failure and don’t forget how much you hate being a failure like I forgot then. So this time I my new muse was CGL preparation. Again a hefty fees left the pocket of my parents and I was again partying and jollying around while missing classes and living the life any college going guy would dream of. No points for guessing, a chunky file of certificates, trophies and transient fame did nothing for my CGL attempt and I failed even the Pre Exam. Failed again. But then the three years of college were about to get over and real life was about to start. I didn’t sit in any of the campus placements in my aloofness and by the time I realised that most people were going for a Master’s Degree or fresher job, it had been at least 6 months past the last date to even apply for Master’s examinations. Another failure. It was in that moment that it dawned upon me that in all probability, my life and future were already doomed and I panicked big-time. All the old trauma of past failures came back cumulated to haunt me and I felt like I was drowning in life while everyone else had a boat that was taking them to their paradise.
But I was not done and defeated in spirit yet. My family counselled me, picked me up and pointed me towards Government exams once again. They supported me to try stenography this time. For months I learned the skill of stenography, still a little callous in the beginning of the classes, even left it mid-way a couple of times, but this time something in my heart had changed. I was in love with the skill and somehow I kept getting back even after leaving it, kept getting up even after failing and all just because of the love for this amazing art of stenography.
For TWO AND A HALF YEARS, I confined myself to the four walls of my home/institute and only studied stenography. I didn’t see any of my friends, I didn’t even celebrate my birthdays. But the most difficult and life-changing thing I did was to completely shut down my social media for the whole of two and a half years. I lost nearly all of my friends, I lost all of my social skills, so much so that I transformed from being a life-long confident extrovert to an under-confident introvert. But that was a pivotal step. Anyone who knows anything about steno will now understand the magnitude of hard work that I did for this exam. I studied for 6-8 hours a day for Tier-I exam. I took AT LEAST FIVE 1000 words transcriptions, every single day, add to that at least four 1000 word dictations for reading and sometimes even more. I’d always strive for less than 1% mistakes and I have even finished one whole volume of Kailash Chandra book in a single day. My parents gave me dictations till 2am in the morning. I have taken dictations till my hands have started to shake. I would sandwich my hands between my body and the bed to sleep because they’d pain so much that I couldn’t sleep otherwise. I have cried with tears in despair upon not getting a single job offer even after having attained a speed of 120 wpm and I have spent countless nights getting counselled by my family so that I do not go into depression. But I never lost faith in God even at the lowest time of my life. I trudged forward and even challenged my father that I’d have more Offer Letters than him one day even though I wasn’t getting a single one despite giving every possible exam and tooth & nail efforts.
And it was exactly two years ago on this very day, 8th of Feb 2019 that I joined my first Govt. Job, straight in the Supreme Court of India. All the hard work that I did even when I saw no ray of hope then suddenly started to bear fruits aplenty. And with utmost humility I can say that I have now worked in all the three arms of the Government Machinery – Judiciary, Executive and Legislative. I have been offered amazing jobs by the most premier institutes in the country, from Supreme Court of India, Delhi High Court, Ministry of Culture, Press Council of India to Ministry of Defence and finally, my dream job since always – Rajya Sabha of the Parliament of India where I currently work! Once I took a photo in front of Parliament that I would work here some day and then I took another photo at the same spot on the day I actually fulfilled my biggest dream and joined Rajya Sabha. I come here to work every day with a heart filled with immense gratitude and never have I ever dreaded Mondays here. I am finally where my heart wanted to be, still working hard to be the best Personal Assistant in the whole of office and preparing for departmental exam. The cherry on the cake? I get to wear a suit to office every single day!
I still am one offer letter short of my father, but my family is immensely proud of me nonetheless. This journey of mine wouldn’t have been 10% of the success it is today without the constant, multifarious support of my family, especially my younger sister, who were all always my biggest supporters, mental counsellors, financial and emotional support and the very reason of my success. I always say that whatever good I get, is 50% because of my family’s blessings and the rest 50% because of God. Added to this was the endless wisdom and guidance of my teachers, strong support of friends and in absolute honesty, the channel of Likho Steno Academy. I am fortunate that I know Mr. Rakesh Nautiyal not only as a teacher, but also a personal friend and even colleague during my time in the Ministry of Defence. The utter quality of his classes, the clarity of his dictations, the variety in his content and the consistency in his videos are undoubtedly unparalleled by any other Youtube channel. I do not have words to quantify how much help his “Previous Year Dictations” video series was to me when I was full of fear and uncertainty during my first attempt, something that was not available anywhere else. Many of us think of becoming a teacher of Stenography but it is only someone like him who can devote his leisure time to the betterment of others and carry the responsibility of the future of so many of the aspiring students in his hands with his consistency, who can actually be a GURU of our field. I thank you Rakesh -- my friend, my teacher and my guide for the selfless service you are doing.
Friends, and if you’re reading this, the only two biggest pieces of advice I can give you are to remove the word “Complacency” from your life and to shut off social media till you get your job. But that’s not all. I have confined this post to my “story” but if you are struggling in your life like I was, I am here for you. Connect with me on Instagram @_sharpedges and I will give you all my secret tips and suggestions to get your first job. I will empower you all with the wisdom I have gained from years of struggle there & I will help you with any doubt you might have. Alongside, be a nice person, help others, God will help you. I leave you with a quote that I wrote to summarise my life’s journey – “Success stories are just a collection of a lot of failure stories, just with a happy ending”. God bless you!
Dear sir,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations. I feel very positive and inspired by your story. Surely one day i wrote my success story here. Thanks for motivating
THAT'S SOMETHING ELECTRIFYING TO READ.
ReplyDeleteVery inspiring. Keep it up.
ReplyDelete