Hard Work Paid Off...

Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice

and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do. Since my early

childhood, I have been a child with an immense commitment to everything I take

up as a challenge so that I can become a better version of myself. And this is exactly

what causes me to come out of my comfort zone and try out various different

activities and tasks to find out what I actually love and relish doing . After years of

dancing, singing, art and playing almost every sport I possibly could, it is indeed

peculiar how I started practicing one of my most fond hobbies-PIANO.

When I first joined the boarding school I was a very diffident child who almost kept

to herself all the time. Unlike the other students, I took more time to adjust to the

austere environment of the school and did not show much participation for the

first few months. Then came the one competition that brought in a fundamental

Change in me. It was one of the days in grade 9 when the practices for THE

MUSIC AND DANCE COMPETITION was going on, and I was peacefully sitting

my dorm room just when my HOUSE CAPTAIN stormed inside in a state of

complete panic. I asked her if she wanted something to which she answered by

screaming at me “ UNLESS YOU CAN GET ME SOMEONE WHO CAN PLAY

PIANO FOR THE COMPETITION GET AWAY!”. It got me thinking that this could

be the perfect opportunity for me to explore another arena and I

asked her if I could give it a try! Though she didn’t actually say YES but it was

evident from her smile that she was more than happy with me pitching in.

I was a total stranger to the instrument and was expected to compete

against three of the best pianists in my school within a time span of just a month

and a half. Despite that, I started learning from scratch. I learned how to no my

left and right-hand fingers according to the keys of the PIANO, I learned the hand

exercises to be done before playing, I learned chord building, note identifying,

counting beats in a piece of music and a lot more. It took me around 27 days only to

learn the basics that would help me start my composition. On the 28th day, I was

given a composition NOCTURNE in C SHARP MINOR by one of the greatest

legends in history FREDRIC CHOPIN.

The challenge was demanding it required me to grind myself to make the show presentable. There were times when I would play for hours to an extent which would result in excessive swelling in my hands. And despite all the effort I was nagged at by my own roommates and friends. From “ you will never be able to do it”, “you are wasting your and the teacher’s time”, “your juniors could do better”, I heard and let in all this criticism inside me but not for once did I let it affect my will power. Infact I took all the condemnation as a challenge for me to prove it to everyone that I was better than what they expected me to be. This instilled in me my most esteemed values- DETERMINATION, PATIENCE, PERSEVERANCE, HARD WORK, and POSITIVITY.

A day before the show we were to have a rehearsal to see what the show would look like on the main day, my nervousness led me to perform badly that day. This led to a bad apprehension in me but I decided to keep all this aside and to think “I CAN DO IT” these four words gave me the courage to go and perform for the final time.

At last, I did it and I did it well, I could say that from the warm smile everyone gave when I hurried down the stairs after finishing the performance. When the results were getting announced I could hear my heart pounding in my chest, and then I heard the words that gave me inexplicable joy-NISHTHA AGARWALA-1st POSITION. Tears rolling down my cheeks as I collected the award, the only thought that ran my mind was I DID IT!

This journey taught me to believe in myself, it taught me that the way to success is never swift nor easy, it trained me how to deal with condemnation, it provided me with a new recognition, it pushed me to work to my extreme limits and finally gain the success I looked forward to. I have now become someone who is not afraid to try new things work hard and turn my weaknesses into my strengths.And the final learning from this which I will carry is that Success seems to be connected with action. Successful men keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.