People sometimes call me humble...I know I am not...People confuse 'not bragging' with humility and probably that's where I think people make a major mistake. I know my limitations and many a time I get irritated when people think I am better than what I actually am. But does 'not bragging' make one humble..I don't think so...
I have failed many times in many things that I have tried. Biggest among them have been not getting through JEE and CAT as of now. There can be many reasons why I failed and probably the most important one is not preparing well enough. Putting in long hours is way different from hard work.
Some time back I met a friend of mine who had scored better than me in CAT. I know that he was not as passionate and enthusiastic about CAT as I had been, neither had he put in as much effort. But the end result for both of us was pretty much same. 'Not Selected'. We laughed about it when me met. I remember his exact words....'Dekh yaar! prepare tune bhi nahi kiya aur maine bhi nahi!!! ye to hona hi tha...agli baar prepare karke denge to badhiya hoga aur call bhi aa jayegi".
To him it did not make much of a difference since it was not something he had seriously tried. But to me it did. And that was precisely the time when my ego took a hit. Had he said the same thing again or had repeated it in some other way, I would have definitely told him..."Mujhe tera nahi pata...maine to bahut mehnat ki thi". I did not say that but I would have for sure. That would have satisfied my ego even if it was for a very short moment. But probably he had said a bitter truth I had refused to accept. Had I been well prepared, I would have got through at least one entrance exam among many that I wrote. It was not him that I was trying to convince. It was me all the way.
I know people who would not utter a word about their achievements. Humility reflects in their attitude and behaviour. They don't need the world to know who/what they are. Humility is about being brave and accepting the truth. More importantly it is definitely not about self deprecation. To me, Shahrukh Khan is more humble than Amitabh Bachchan. It may appear otherwise, but that is what I feel.
