WE’VE had enough!” screamed the pretty college girl, her eyes flash ing with anger as she stood in front of the audience, “and we’re packing up and going! We entered this contest to try and win a prize not to be booed by you all!” There was consternation; shouting and jeering in the crowd of college students in the hall, as another group and yet another stood up to join the girl and leave. I was the sole judge for the IIT Mood Indigo drama contest and suddenly realized I would have to do something so asked for the mike. “I sympathize with you,” I said to the girl as I motioned everybody to sit, “and I know it’s not fair to be booed!” The girl nodded and smiled at me as she went back to her seat. “But, “ I continued, “in real life we’ll hear the booing of the crowd every day! We’ll hear boos when we want to excel, when we want to lead, when we want to do something different from our peer group! Are you going to stop doing what you believe in because of the boos? Will you give up tryingto winthe prize because some one booed?” I found the restless crowd was listening andthis gave me courageto continue, “You’ve come here to act, now act so well that those who are booing will stop, stare and be mesmerized by your performance! Let that be your challenge!” I sat down and watched as group after group performed like they’d never performed before, and at the end of the afternoon, it was tough deciding the winner. As I walked out a small group caught up with me, I knew they were the boys who had caused the commotion, “Sir,” said a young fellow with an impish grin and a mischievous glint in his eye, “Why didn’t you scold the booers?” “Scold?” I asked, “I forgot to thank you! It’s because of you guys we hadincredible performances today!’Yes, it’s because of booers we can scale great heights. Years ago, my dad and I had ventured into the big city to try our luck doing business. I was still in my teens, and we’d come during my college holidays. We stayed those weeks with an aunt and her husband. Day after day I went out on sales, and came back defeated, “You thought you were a great salesman huh?” My uncle would ask with a sneerto a quiet me, but I found slowly that his barbs added fuel to my fire to succeed, and when I landed with a huge order of the producer of the Amitabh starrer, Deewar, his boos went silent. Yes, dear reader, look beyond the boos and use those same boos to succeed..!
