So, I started writing to improve my chances at XAT. It wasn’t much, but I drifted in the passion. Sometimes I even felt that if anything stopped me from being a great writer, it was the lack of a beard. Weird?

I wrote something everyday. And on those days when I felt like a clogged kitchen sink for the lack of ideas, I read whatever I could find. Now, with a perspective of an acclaimed writer judging the work of a counterpart. Some of you may choke on my choice of adjective here but that is exactly how I feel! The anonymity also gives me a high while saying stuff like this. (Grinning)

I realized that some writers were wonders. Some were crafty and some lofty. Some were selfless but some others subtly embedded proud facts about themselves in their art. Some pushed their views, while others helped me understand my views with their discreet clues pointing me to the right direction. I wish I had known about this dimension in reading when I was preparing for CAT.

Anyway, I was on a roll. I was familiar with most topics people bothered to write about. I modified my accent slightly to do justice to new royal additions to my vocabulary. I now spoke confidently. It was the brand new me. A polished one!

Side effects? Yes, there could be a little. Sometimes we may tend to get a little too carried away and complicate simple lives (also read lines). You must at least know what you are talking!

For the want of a true-life example to drill that last point in:

Gustavo, one of our managers on-site, is super sweet in every way. Our team just loves him. This day, he was frantically giving me instructions on our company instant messenger. After 2 to 3 lines, I started getting blank messages. It had to be a technical problem and the brand-new-polished me pointed out;

“Gustavo, You are shooting blanks. Technical issue. Guess, we should discuss this later.“

I wasn’t even sure if he got my message but his messages stopped. He also seemed to particularly detest the messenger after this incident because all further correspondence involved the e-mail with other people in CC. After all blank messages were no laughing matter!

Ignorance was indeed bliss.

I came across my own phrase on the internet today and all I wanted to do was to roll off my chair and fall dead.

[P.S. If you still didn’t catch it, do a ctrl+shift+P and google shooting blanks. Sniff!]