Beyond failures

By Vikas Nagori, Executive, Bengaluru

Web Designing has always been my passion and I dreamt of creating great business opportunities for myself even as an adolescent. I imagined myself rubbing shoulders with the legends of this industry. With sheer hard work and an excellent team, I was finally seeing my dreams transforming into reality. Endless opportunities were coming our way, oh yes, we were 'virtually' riding on "Cloud 9".

Just when it seemed like nothing could go wrong, I lost a major project from a prestigious company because of a cross quotation made by an insider whom we trusted inherently. Everything started falling apart. Expansions became debacles. I tried to do all I could to make things work out but somehow, like a pack of cards, so many of our projects just fell through because of this one. My confidence took a huge hit. Like a lost soldier, who had decided to lead his army but was forced to surrender, I decided to quit the web industry. I compensated my colleagues for this sudden closure and joined a family business which didn't thrill me.

My assets which were my diamonds, were then valued as coal. My family was critical of my decisions and me. My journey on clear white clouds was struck with blazing lightning, on a dark stormy moonless night.

During those challenging years of my life, whenever I read or heard anything about web, every strand of my hair would rise almost as though my own cells were telling me, "You are made for web. What are you doing here?" One of those days the passion just took over the fear and doubts, and I decided to bounce back into this industry, this time being more careful about where I place my trust.

I got into the depths of the web technology and started implementing it on my dummy projects. Soon, because of my past records and brushed up (and improvised) knowledge, I started getting projects again; the company began to thrive and it was almost like bringing life to a pile of skeletons.

I started to work more effectively, as technology had advanced. Experience helped me to stay grounded this time. One rainy afternoon while sitting on my leather couch at office, while the fragrance of the moisture laden soil of the garden was teasing my senses, I heard one of my team members speaking to someone and he kept repeating the word "Mahindra".

Tech Mahindra was the company that had taken over Satyam and it seemed they wanted us to execute a project which was half way terminated, due to the scam. They had checked the records and found our previous company's name, relocated us and had thus called!

I was overjoyed and started to dial my family with the great news but a question struck me: In which records did they find my number? Which project are they looking to complete? When I got the answer, it shook me. It was the very project that I had lost years ago. It was not completed then, because of the scam, and now, the new company wanted to start it again.

Realizing what I had got back, I felt the earth within me slip. There was this sudden energy passing through every cell in my body. That day I realized, I would have been down to ruble, if I had expanded my business based on the previous order. Life had protected me by snatching the project out of my hands at that time.

What I had believed was my biggest failure had transformed into an opportunity that could make me a success story. I realized that so often Life may not go my way, but ultimately it chooses a way for me that is even better than what I would have charted for myself. Further, I realized, I too had a responsibility in Life's plans. If I hadn't come back to web designing, if I hadn't risen after my fall, I would never have had this thrill of working on my old, lost project. I now know experientially, that a failure is never an end. Instead, I have to make it into a bend that will show me an even better journey. I urge all of you, to not give up on your passion just because you have failed. Get up, rise, improvise, and see for yourself that just a little beyond failure, stand success, waiting to embrace you.