Apparently, this is a big enough condition to automatically disqualify a candidate on medical grounds. That is, when I stand upright with my heels touching, with the toes of each foot pointing away from each other, my knees touch. You see, I have a congenital ‘disorder’ – knock knees. Even after clearing the Combined Defence Services (CDS) examination, the Services Selection Board (SSB) and acing the Pilot Aptitude Battery Test (PABT) I was, evidently, not selected. My answer to every aunt and uncle and relative strangers asking “Boro hoye ki hobe?” (what will you be when you grow up) had always been an unequivocal “fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force”. So how did I end up here? A short story, through a combination of the opportunities presented by life (or ‘fate’, if you would) and my reaction to those choices. To me that has not been a problem, and this argument goes down the drain when you consider that the New England region and entire mid-West has similar weather. The only ‘negative’ is the snow and cold. In fact, for the last 3 years, 3 different suburbs of Minneapolis has been ‘selected’ as the “Best Places to Live” in by CNNMoney – 2010, 2009, 2008. It is not too big like New York or Chicago/not too small, relatively crime free, one of the best level of lifestyle for the buck. To the contrary, it is probably one of the best cities to settle in (and raise a family -> future). Not that I have anything against Minneapolis. Heck, I couldn’t place Minnesota on a map till 2004. I mean, if someone would have asked me where I saw myself in 10 years – when I was 16 (after 10th grade), when I was 18 (12th grade) or 22 (completed engineering) – ‘settled in Minneapolis, Minnesota’ wouldn’t even be in the list of things I could have thought. I have no business of ending up in Minnesota. I would like to believe that where I am today is based solely on choices, decisions and their consequences and practical responses to external stimuli, but chance occurrings have had their day-in-the-sun, in my life. Lennon had put it, but pretty darn close.
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