Careless!!!

I knew that life is a great leveller, that we will have some good times now, but expect some bad times also. This is what life has taught me. Even after knowing this I goes overboard at times due to sheer arrogance or carelessness. And then life will remind me of that simple truth by giving me a small jolt which helps me shed all those and stay focussed. This is a similar incident that happened today...

For last two weeks the amount of work was less compared to my first two months at onsite. And I started to relax a bit and take things for granted. I started to behave as if I am some one great and I can manage most of the things...

Meanwhile I got a mail from the company HR saying that I am supposed to write on internal exam before this appraisal for better results. I applied for one exam and started preparing for that. In fact I didn't prepare, but I got the mails and user id and password for the test. The test was scheduled for today morning...

Last week, while I was talking to a good friend of mine here, he told me that he also have the test on 15th itself at 10.00 AM. I was happy, coz he is very familiar with SF and he can find the test center very easily and moreover I was happy since we both had same timings for the test. This means that we can go together for the exam...

Days passed and came Monday. I was just two days away from the exam. I started dowloading the material and started to prepare. I kept an alarm for the eve of the exam to remind myself to take all the necessary things like ID, invitation printout etc. I was very happy with myself that I am planning things very well...

But I did not study anything that day. Then there was only one more day left for exam and I had 4 big modules to cover. I became a little sceptical. I planned of going home early and working from home. And I came back from office by noon and started preparing. I was just going through the materials fast just to see everything at least once before the exam. By 8.00 PM the alarm rang and I took the necessary things for the exam...

Wednesday - The exam day. I had kept the alarm at 6.00 AM. Woke up by 7.20 AM. Nowadays, even I am a little lazy. :-)). So got up and got ready, went through some more material and I told myself that no matter whatever happens, I have done enough. This is a trick to eliminate some tension before such exams and all...

Since it was supposed to be at 10.00 I relaxed and came out of house by 9.15 AM. The friend had to go early. So I had to find the place myself. But since the building was just beside the metro station, I found the place very easily. I was there by 9.45 AM, still 15 minutes to go. I was again proud of myself for timing everything so perfectly. Now just one more hurdle, I told myself...

I went to the exam center and I gave my invite letter to the receptionist or manager as no one else was visible there. She asked me which is the time slot for my exam. I said "10.00 to 11.00". She asked my name again and looked at her list. Even I looked casually into that and there I saw...

Arun Jose T F - 9.00 AM to 10.00 AM....