A Costly Mistake

How often do we think of unforeseen consequences and potential setbacks of life’s happenings? At fourteen, Diya did not bother much. She was a happy girl; she was so full of energy to pursue whatever she loved doing. To her, pausing and pondering seemed boring.

Of all the co-curricular activities at school, Diya loved public speaking contents the best- be it the debates, elocution or the extempore. She often rehearsed quite rigorously, day in and day out, prior to any competition. It did not mean Diya was perfect at it – far from it indeed. On some days, she would fumble; on some other days, she froze and stopped her delivery midway. On many an occasion, Diya skipped meals up until the competition came to an end. Nonetheless, Diya thoroughly enjoyed what she was doing; additionally, she persistently endeavored to hone her skills. With such elan and panache! 

Diya’s support system included her father, who wrote her first ever speech and inspired her to become an orator; her mother, who took trials after trails until the daughter felt confident – the mother never forgot to pray fervently for Diya; her sister, who not only assessed the important but also the most trivial aspects of Diya’s speech, eventually becoming the best critique and of course, her English teacher, Rama Madam, who proof read each one of Diya’s speeches and advised her on improvements.

One day, right after the Dasara festival holidays, Diya was informed of “Declamation” contest at an Inter-school fest. She grabbed it happily and began to prepare right away. She hardly spent a few minutes scanning the rules and regulations of the event. All she intended to do was, jump right into the preparation phase for there was only 3 days left for the competition. Like always, Diya gave her 100 percent in enhancing her delivery- she had made an elaborate and a rather meticulous schedule.

When Diya delivered a stupendous performance at the event, she received a huge round of applause as well as a standing ovation from the jury. The host school and the members from her own school cheered loudly.

Three hours later, the participant list was exhausted and the event-in charge came up on stage to announce the winners. 

When the five names of the winners were announced, everybody in the audience was as shocked as Diya and her teacher. Rather hesitantly, the lady quickly added few important details to the results.

“While all the three judges gave Diya maximum marks in all the categories of evaluation and in spite of the unanimous public voting for her outstanding delivery, we have had to disqualify her.”

Diya was a little emotional by now.

“As per the rules of the game, participants are supposed to choose the speeches of the personalities listed by us. Choosing on your own is not allowed. Since Diya made her choice of speech and the personality, we have had to exclude her from the winners. We would love to give her a special prize though for such an excellent performance.”

Everybody clapped and meant to cheer Diya. Many looked around to spot her and waved at her. Diya managed to smile in a thankful way.

Post lunch, on her way back to school, Diya paused and pondered.

“If only I had turned the leaflet and read the one last instruction of the event.”

“If only I had been slightly more cautious.”

The competition and the prize were a minuscule part of Diya’s life. However, the life lesson she took away was priceless.

“Sometimes, we neglect small things and do not believe in the significance of our actions as much. It may not be wise to be hovering around silly things without forging ahead; nonetheless, to not pay attention to the crucial details and merely hurrying can only land one in soup. No matter how good we are. We get disqualified. Sadly so.”