Each one of us has some or the other qualities in ourselves which differentiate us from other people. The vital need is to search it out of our soul and when we have sought it, excelled in it, and the need of the hour then is to be humble and not be over-confident. When we excel in a particular field, all have high expectations from us to perform well. There the humbleness and sincerity of our mind comes into play.

I too possess a talent and this is how I became aware of it. One day, I went to play badminton and I was astonished to find that the traditional and basic shots came naturally to me. I thought that this was an extraordinary trait gifted to me. I started to pursue my career as a badminton player. I worked hard for two years until I became the champion at the district level. I had stepped into the professional panel of this game. I thought that I was the best in the district and this thought convinced me to decrease the length of my practice sessions and my mind was on the seventh heaven. I stopped paying attention to senior players or the coach's advice.

Days passed, it was time now for the state level tournament. After winning districts, I had lost my humble attitude and was full of over-confidence. I thought that I would conquer the state level forgetting that there were many other district level players like me. To my utter surprise, I was knocked out in the first round by a player whom I had defeated at the district level. It was an extremely shocking and traumatic moment for me.

I had let down my parents and my coach and I felt ashamed to show my face to them. My coach came searching for me and I feared that he would lash out at me for losing such an important match, but rather he was calm and affectionate. In a matter of five minutes, he taught me the greatest lesson of my life- hard work and humbleness.

He explained he had been noticing my change of attitude which was the cause of my downfall. He also pointed to my over-confident behaviour and advised that one should always be rooted to the earth, no matter whatever height of success one reaches. Moreover one should always be humble and respectful at all times even to our opponents. From then on, I vowed to follow my guide's advice all my life.

My coach wanted to teach this lesson in a practical way, therefore didn't point my shortcomings earlier. Though I suffered a big defeat, but it is never too late to pick up the shreds and weave a bed of roses for yourself.

A surprise test

When I was in the ninth standard our school offered a choice of a foreign language. Since I always wanted to be a translator I decided to take up German.

The classes started with full zeal and enthusiasm. I attended every class sincerely.

But I soon realized that mastering the language at that moment was not my cup of tea. Being in class nine demanded a lot of hard work as I was to appear for the Board Exams the very next year.

I could hardly find time to study German. The only time I studied it was in the School Bus amidst the chaos in it.

One day when I went for the class our teacher announce she would take a surprise test. If we qualified it we would get a scholarship. After our board exams we could pursue our German language study at Germany.

The scholarship was being offered by the Goethe Institute of Germany.

Now Germany was the place I dreamt to visit. So I rushed to the library and studied the grammar exercises. German grammar is the most difficult. I learnt all the verbs, the articles associated with them.

Soon it was time to take the test. The paper was tough. But thanks to the concentration I had put in that last half an hour I managed to qualify it.

Now I am in Germany fluently conversing in Deutsch. I hope to start work as a translator when I am back home. I have learnt my lesson that we should never neglect any subject.