What defines me......

The other day, I went and watched Salman Khan and Govinda starrer Partner. Before you close the window - this post is not about the movie.

Then, same day - late night Star Movies or HBO was showing Hitch - the Will Smith starrer that Partner is a rip off of. Before you get really interested and lean forward to read, this post is not about Hitch either.

Slight digression - a friend of mine has predicted that Will Smith will be the first Black US President. I thinks its quite possible. What do you guys think? Disclaimer again - this post is not about politics either.

Okay okay - am getting to the point.

Somewhere in the movie - Eva Mendes, Will Smith love interest is narrating an incident to him about something that happened to her when she was a kid. And she says, "It kinda defines you - doesnt it". Meaning - the incident had such an impact on her that those 15 minutes shaped the person she had become.

It kinda got me thinking. I dived into the recesses of my past to look for something similar. And came up with no equally jolting, mind altering events. However, there was this small incident which in its very subtle way, altered one aspect of my personality. If you have read till this far, I am assuming you are interested - so here goes -

Once upon a time, there was this kid. Let call him Tom. He had a slight bent towards academics (credit goes to sundry temptations given by parents if he did well). He also had two friends - no prizes for guessing the names - Dick and Harpreet. Turns out - they also had a similar bent of mind. Basically, they were all maggoos (nerds) and mostly the parents were to blame. TDH had been in the same section since class first. Till Class V - end of the year class ranks were as follows -
Rank 1 - Dick or Harpreet (depending on whose parents were better at whipping their progeny's ass)
Rank 2 - Dick or Harpreet (depending on whose parents were better at whipping their progeny's ass)
Rank 3 - Tom
Bottom Line - Tom was always third.
Hidden Bottom Line - He was a satisfied third Class VI

2nd term results are out - Marks are as follows:
Rank 1 - Dick - Marks - 729
Rank 2 - Harpreet - Marks - 728
Rank 3 - Tom - Marks - 727

Tom's class teacher calls him to her room. They talk, something dawns on her, she asks Tom to call his parents for a PTA. Tom - the intelligent class Rank 3 bugger that he is - thinks she is going to praise his ass off. Goes home and arrives at the school with parents and co.

Scene - Meeting room
Teacher, Parents and co, Tom sitting around the table

Parents - (thinking - what has he done again)
Tom - (thinking - wow ...my ass is going to get praised and this is strategically the right time to ask for Media - the new video game)

Teacher - to P&Co - your son has done well again. Am sure you are really happy
P&Co - (thinking - thank god - no class fights discussion) (smiling)- Ya - he works really hard
Tom - external - nice studious smile (Internal - Media - My beloved video game - here i come yippeeee)

Teacher - But i wanted to discuss something else also.
P&Co - (thinking We knew there was something !!!!! Toooooom Grrrrr) And What is it ?!?
Tom - (thinking O shit - does she know about my crush on her - Dick, you told her, I am going to immobilize your dick - Looking to bolt)

Teacher - I looked at his past record. While he has been doing well, he has been consistently coming third in his class. And the troubling bit is - He is happy about it and totally satisfied. (Looking at Tom) Dont you want to come first Tom?
Tom - (looooong sigh of relief) - Well I want to but..... its oK (thinking what crap conversation is)

The meeting went on like that but Tom had mostly switched off. Uninterested as if this was a non issue and the teacher by calling the PTA and discussing this was jeopardising his chances of getting Media.

No, after this meeting Tom did not become the ass hole maggoo. Did not become the rat that he has probably become now. And still did not want to come first in the class.

One minor change - Year end results - Rank status -
Rank 1 - Dick (celebrating)
Rank 2 - Harpreet (celebrating)
Rank 3 - Tom (celebrating)

But this time - there was a subtle shift - somewhere inside along with the old happy feeling of coming third - there was feeling part two - slightly sad that he had not come second or even first. For me, that was the start of (no - not becoming the rat) but actually visualising and believing that I could come first.

And I did in class VII and VIII.

IX onwards I started taking active interest in the female species. A lot of FIRSTS happened there. But that is for another post.

So... what defines you?