Being the best you can be

After 3 years of studying at IITM, after getting thulped time and again in the quizzes by practically everyone most of the time(i did come first once!, a miracle), after seeing the stud things stud junta(read as practically everyone but me) do here, i think i can quite be forgiven for not predicting a very bright future for myself, for not being too confident of my
abilities (whatever little i have...(see it shows, the low confidence)). it also resulted in me not showing too much enthu for my studies, how does it matter when you are gonna be last anyway reasoned my tired brain! So it went on like this for quite a while, with equilibrium having been firmly established( w.r.t both my Branch Position and my mind). Now the readers
will have to bear a digression which doesnt really have a bearing on this topic (but this is my blog and I do as I please). Saarang came, the IITM cul fest for the uninitiated, and I as is my wont was wandering around looking at all the "sights" and sounds that make saarang the great event it really is! so what did i see? It was a girl I had met recently at a marriage and a really smart one at that ( how did I know you may ask,but take my word for it... i recognise intelligence in others when i see it... 3 years in IIT hasnt been for nothing after all!). anyway we got talking. It turned out that she was planning to come to the show by KK with all her friends and asked if i would like to come! needless to say i jumped at the chance and brought along all my wing members (and boy did we have fun), ok anyway we all became good friends and started meeting regularly at the beach etc. Then it so happened one day, that one of the girls had a problem with her computer, which i thought was trivial and told her how to solve it... and she said the magic words.. you are so intelligent! boy did it sound sweet. and time passed the girls actually assured me that i was pretty brainy. After the initial feeling of euphoria of having been called brainy eased and i got back to earth, I started thinking( ya i do that sometimes), maybe i really was brainy(ok a little), maybe i wasnt the dunce i had convinced myself to be. Then the answer hit me, it was relative grading at work again, my bane for so many years at IIT.
Then in a flash of lightning i realised the truth of it all!
That My existence on this earth wasnt a complete waste after all, someone could actually find a use for me. I realised it doesnt matter whether you are good/brilliant when compared with others. It is basically 'You Vs You' out there , you Win when you never Quit, when you always fight not necessarily to be the best,but to be the best you can be and to do the best you can do! In the final equation that is what counts and matters. Its ok if you dont make an earth shaking discovery, or earn tonnes of money, but its not okay if you dont work hard, its not ok to set lower goals for yourself, and most importantly its not ok if you dont enjoy the most beautiful thing of all... Your Life!
I urge all you people like me who at some point of time have felt like giving up, to try and put fight once, just once and you will realise there is much satisfaction and joy to be derived from the fact that you tried your best!