Many have asked me to watch the movie ’12th Fail’ — people are raving about this wonderful movie.
Manoj’s story (who battled extreme adversity to become an IPS officer) is inspiring beyond words — and I am so happy for him! But we tend to forget that for every Manoj, hundreds of others spent many years writing the exam, without any success.
And when people don’t succeed despite so much struggle, they feel a misplaced sense of failure and deficiency.
For many people, the cost of writing the exam is just too high and often not justified.
My view about the exam has changed over the years. Today, unless someone is passionate about public service, I don’t recommend writing the exam. And even if someone does that, spending more than a year or two is dangerous.
I hope the movie ’12th Fail’ inspires people to battle adversity. But I hope it does not cause more youngsters to spend the prime of their lives preparing for an exam with 0.1% odds of success.
Today, the world is full of opportunities — go explore them. And if you are looking for challenges, don’t worry. Try anything ambitious, and challenges will come and find you.
– Rajan